Michael Thiemann is reentering Sacramento’s restaurant industry in a high-profile job: chef at Mulvaney’s B&L.

Thiemann will link up with Sarah Wasson, who’s gradually taken the reins as the midtown restaurant’s managing partner throughout the past year. Her mother and stepfather Bobbin and Patrick Mulvaney founded Mulvaney’s B&L in 2006 at 1215 19th St. Now grandparents, they’re ready to transition to life’s next stages, Patrick said.

“For the 25 years or whatever that I’ve been involved in the city, it’s changed a lot. And now we kind of want to see what’s next and what the people who are next are going to do,” Patrick said.

The co-founder and chef of Mother, Empress Tavern and Jim’s Good Food (all now closed), Thiemann has spent the last two-and-a-half years getting his record-pressing business Sonic Archives Consortium off the ground.

All-vegetarian Mother and meat-centric Empress Tavern were two of downtown Sacramento’s most popular restaurants during the mid-late 2010s, rivaled only by stalwarts such as Ella Dining Room & Bar, which Thiemann was also the chef in the earlier part of the decade.

In fact, Mulvaney’s B&L postponed its 2015 staff holiday party so that it could be held at Empress, as Sactown Magazine reported at the time.

But Thiemann, who didn’t respond to requests for comment Tuesday, closed all three of his restaurants in 2020, and appeared burnt out on the restaurant industry as a whole. Empress Tavern reopened last month, but it’s owned and run by different people and the menu is far more casual.

Mulvaney’s B&L, too, emerged as a star of Sacramento’s 21st century restaurant scene. The converted firehouse appeared in both editions of the California Michelin Guide and The Sacramento Bee’s Top 50 Restaurants, earning critical acclaim for its decadent pork chops and local produce purchased from growers at the front door.

Patrick and Bobbin Mulvaney developed reputations around town as a result: the former as a leader of Sacramento’s farm-to-fork movement, the latter for feeding those in need, both as advocates for mental health support within the restaurant industry. The Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce named the couple the 2018 Sacramentans of the Year.

Now, Wasson and Thiemann will step into the primary roles at Mulvaney’s B&L. The Mulvaney’s say they can’t wait to see where they take it.

This story was originally published February 14, 2023 at 2:55 PM.