A free Sacramento food magazine returns, and a much-loved classic restaurant endures
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I penned an in-depth exclusive on cannabis edibles’ newfound sophistication for last Friday’s Sacramento Bee. Today, I’m here to talk about a different kind of local “edible.”
Edible Sacramento food magazine has relaunched with a spring 2022 issue after a three-year shutdown. It hit shelves around the region in early March. A zoomed-in matte photo of Hawks Provisions & Public House’s English pea deviled eggs graces the cover. Inside, readers can find a profile on Elk Grove winery Christopher Cellars, tips for hosting brunch from local chefs and a piece on how Restaurant Josephine embraces Auburn’s rural roots.
Journalists are competitive, and it might seem odd for me to dedicate column space to celebrating another food publication. But I’m thrilled to see the magazine (originally founded in 2001) back in action.
As the food and drink reporter at The Bee, my work tends to explore shifting trends like outdoor dining parklets coming down and breaking news like Faria Bakery’s expansion to Folsom, highlighting the good but also using a lens of accountability. Edible Sacramento is dedicated to celebrating unsung heroes of the local dining scene and teaching people how to DIY.
There’s so much going on in Sacramento’s food scene, and room for many approaches. Edible’s twin objectives are most visible in the magazine’s gardening/farming coverage, which makes sense given that new owner/publisher Anastasia Murphy’s first Edible impression came when the Butte chapter profiled her parents’ Gridley farm in 2016.
Edible Sacramento provides something unique locally, but in more than 90 Edible magazines cover specific communities around the U.S. and Canada, all independently owned but with a shared mission.
An Elk Grove resident and engineer by trade, Murphy bought Edible Sacramento after seeing an online ad. She has clear ideas of what she wants — and doesn’t want — from a team of freelance writers and photographers.
“I won’t do reviews,” Murphy said. “It really is trying to bring attention to people that are working in the back-of-house, front-of-house, growing the food ... that are working really hard and putting their life and passion behind something, and telling their stories, and some of the ‘how can I do that in my own home?’”
Edible Sacramento’s quarterly issues are free digitally or at their 25 sponsors’ businesses, or available via home delivery for $20 per year.
What I’m Eating
You won’t find infusions or edible foams at Jamie’s Broadway Grille, a restaurant that feels even older than its 36 years. Yet some classics stay classics for a reason, and this is one that’s held up well to the winds of change, even adding DoorDash delivery service in recent years.
One really needs to eat at the nondescript shack at 427 Broadway in Sacramento to experience Jamie’s in full, though. With dark wood, green trim and wild game heads sticking out of the walls, it feels like a homey blend of American heartland and Irish pub, accented further in $5 pints of Harp Lager.
The unfamiliar patron might not associate Jamie’s and seafood. Old-school Sacramentans know the calamari ($14 for a small, $16 for a large) is not to be skipped, a light layer of garlic- and basil-inflected breadcrumbs covering the rings’ outside while leaving the sides naked. Jamie’s piping-hot clam chowder ($7.50 for a cup, $9 for a bowl) is still probably Sacramento’s best, too, a velvety concoction that’s hearty without being sludgelike.
Meat formed most of late founder Jamie Bunnell’s masterpieces, and the garlic steak sandwich ($15.50 for a small, $21 for a large) endures. It’s just sliced filet mignon nuzzled between soft garlic rolls, with all other accompaniments — mayonnaise, tomato, lettuce — available to add on, but man, is that meat flavorful. With a crunchy pickle spear and crispy fries included, it’s a timeless lunch that’s hard to be beat.
Openings & Closings
- Who knows what’s up with Track 7 Brewing’s The Other Side? The East Sacramento restaurant and beer bar pivoted from rotisserie to prix-fixe menus in January, but isn’t taking reservations now and still lists the February menu online. Track 7 owner/head brewer Ryan Graham didn’t respond to my request for comment, and no one answered a call to the business Tuesday afternoon.
- A San Jose restaurateur is opening an upscale Mexican restaurant and bar called El Cabron Kitchen & Cantina where Holy Diver once was in midtown Sacramento. Yes, my Spanish-speaking readers, that is quite a name.
- Thin Line Brewing owners Scott and Cory Anderson are moving to Tennessee and closing their Rancho Cordova brewery by late May, according to a Facebook post Monday. The brewery’s identity has been shaped in large part by its vocal support for law enforcement personnel and other first responders.