I spend hours each week eating at some of the Sacramento area’s most interesting restaurants as The Sacramento Bee’s food and drink reporter.

In February, that took me to a modern Korean destination in midtown Sacramento as well as a Belgian-inspired brewpub in Roseville. I ended up at a Michoacán-focused Mexican restaurant in south Sacramento one week, then a Palestinian beacon in Arden Arcade the next.

All of these reviews were first published in my free weekly newsletter, along with other local dining and drinking news. Sign up below for future editions.

Molcajetes Apatzingán (5701 Franklin Blvd., Suite A, Sacramento)

Fans of niche Mexican food should check out Molcajetes Apatzingán near the intersection of Fruitridge Road and Franklin Boulevard in the Lemon Hill neighborhood. Burritos and tacos are on the menu, sure, but it’s maybe the only place in town you’ll find certain dishes with roots in Apatzingán, a city of about 125,000 people in the state of Michoacán.

Michoacán borders the Pacific Ocean, and Molcajetes Apatzingán’s menu is essentially split into meat and seafood items. The menu carries regional variations on dishes both familiar and less so: chilaquiles lindo Michoacán, bistek lindo Michoacán, guilotas estilo Apatzingán (fried mourning doves in red or green sauce).

Though Apatzingán is the focus more so than molcajetes, we still ordered one of the loaded stone bowls with shrimp, chicken, beef and tongues of cactus dangling over the edges. The star of our molcajete mixto ($25.60) was the nuanced broth, at once tangy, rich and a little spicy. “It’s everything,” as one of my friends said.

You could pick your molcajete’s proteins, as with cazuelita ($24.60), where caldo de siete mares seemed like the best topping for a layer of cornmeal in an earthenware bowl. Mussels, fish, octopus, imitation crab and more piled into the seven-seafood stew, which was the spiciest dish our table ordered.

Morisqueta ($20.55) was another hit from Michoacán, this time featuring costillas (spare ribs) and queso fresco in a tomato-based salsa over rice. Fluffy, housemade corn tortillas held up well under the dish’s saucy pressure, and I’d put Molcajetes Apatzingán’s refried beans up against any others in Sacramento.

Address: 5701 Franklin Blvd., Suite A, Sacramento.

Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday, closed Tuesday.

Phone number: 916-428-7844

Website: None, really. No social media posts since 2018, and the website listed on Google has been overtaken by spammers.

Drinks: Aguas frescas and horchata are the best options.

Animal-free options: Few, though many seafood options for pescatarians.

Noise level: Lively without being obtrusive.

Basha Taste of Jerusalem (1833 Fulton Ave., Sacramento)

Basha Taste of Jerusalem is a bit of an oasis on a relatively industrial stretch of Fulton Avenue. Murals of olive trees and the Temple Mount (a holy site for Christians, Jews and Muslims) graces the back wall behind cerulean chairs as camel figurines and swords watch over the dining room.

“Taste of Jerusalem” is diplomatic phrasing because, to be clear, Mohammad Abboushi’s Arden Arcade eatery is a Palestinian restaurant. Dinner entrees such as maqluba (a tower of chicken, rice and vegetables flipped upside-down) and qalayet bandora (seasoned chicken or beef sauteed with tomatoes, onions and peppers, anglicized on the menu “kalaya”) come from that territory and are scarcely found around Sacramento-area restaurants.

This halal restaurant has simpler Palestinian items as well, such as the bright pink beet/tahini dip mutabbal shamandar ($9) with complementary pita. A pleasantly bitter starter with taste more muted than it looks, its eggplant-forward cousin mutabbal batinjan is also available for the same price.

I really enjoyed the complex flavors behind Basha’s molokhia ($6 for a cup, $9 for a bowl or $24 for a family-style dinner entree). An oily green chicken stew made from jute mallow leaves, it was a little tangy, a bit rich, almost fishy despite the abscence of any seafood — the kind of flavor that grabs you and makes you say “oh wow.”

The lunch menu is more fusionized than dinner, as evidenced by kofta burgers and sumac-dusted fries. The Basha pizza ($15, add chicken or beef shawarma for an additional $3) was homey if simple, a chewy medium-thick crust layered with tasty mozzarella and sprinkled with za’atar.

Address: 1833 Fulton Ave., Sacramento.

Hours: 2-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Sunday.

Phone number: (916) 486-1944.

Website: https://bashasacramento.com

Drinks: Sodas, coffee drinks and Laziza, a nonalcoholic sparkling malt beverage.

Animal-free options: A few, including vegetable skewers and falafel wraps.

Noise level: Quiet.

The Monk’s Cellar (240 Vernon St., Roseville)

If you’re a fan of abbeys and their ales, like me, you need to visit The Monk’s Cellar in downtown Roseville. Owner/beermaster Andy Klein has captured Belgian pub charm in his 8-year-old restaurant and bar, where daily rituals include brewing beer and baking soft pretzels.

Klein’s monastic-inspired beers can be bought as four-packs in cans or slugged down at the brick-walled restaurant, where decor consists of grain sacks, old whiskey barrels and views of brewing appliances. I downed the powerful Schellhous Stout ($8.50 for a 12-ounce pour, 10% ABV), named for one of Roseville’s founders, in hopes it would stave off some of the February chill.

It helped some, as did carbonnade flamande ($18), a thick Flemish stew made with beef chunks, bacon, sherry vinegar and The Monk’s Cellar’s abbey ale. Lumpy mashed potatoes gave the stew some body and also made it similar to the cottage pie ($18), though the latter included ground beef.

The Monk’s burger ($16) was relatively lean, its liquefied Gruyere oozing out from the beneath the buttery brioche buns. I’m not sure if Lowbrau inspired the accompanying duck fat fries tossed in parsley, but it’s worth noting that The Monk’s Cellar serves sausages from the midtown Sacramento meatery as well.

Address: 240 Vernon St., Roseville.

Hours: 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday.

Phone Number: (916) 786-6665

Website: https://monkscellar.com/

Drinks: Full bar, including beers brewed in-house and an extensive whiskey list.

Animal-free options: It’s meat-centric, but there are salads, veggie boards and vegan burgers that use Beyond Meat patties.

Noise level: Conversations ricochet off cellar walls, creating a fairly loud environment when busy.

Seoul St. Midtown (1521 L St., Sacramento)

The former de Vere’s Irish Pub space is unrecognizable as Seoul St. Midtown, Minnie Nguyen and Trinh Le’s exhilarating Korean restaurant and bar that opened in a bustling segment of Sacramento’s urban core in September.

Most of Sacramento’s Korean restaurants are either traditional, family-run joints in Rosemont or Rancho Cordova, or all-you-can-eat meat dens (including Daikon Korean BBQ in Natomas, one of Nguyen and Le’s other restaurants).

Seoul St., by contrast, is a vibrant metropolitan going-out spot with happy hour bites, murals of Korean nightlife and creative cocktails such as a reinvented Midori sour or a mojito with Malibu, coconut milk and mixed berries.

That social air is best exemplified in the chimaek ($12), a terrific value that gets you two pieces of Korean fried chicken and a draft beer. Both wing and drumstick were nicely crispy and coated in a smoky-hot gochujang marinade, so I cooled my tongue with Track 7 Brewing’s Bee Line blonde ale.

Galbi baos ($14 for two) weren’t the enclosed steamed buns I expected, but rather open-ended wraps that more closely resembled tacos. The boneless short ribs inside were tender and tasty, but at that price, it’s far less of a deal than the chimaek.

Lovers of banchan, complementary trays of pickled vegetables and other snackables served with Korean mains, will want to order a hearty skillet dish such as the spicy garlic prawns ($20). But don’t miss the buffalo kimchi wings ($10 for five), as their fermented sauce adds a layer of flavor you won’t find at sports bars around town.

Address: 1521 L St., Sacramento.

Hours: 3-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 3-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Phone Number: (916) 292-9744.

Website: https://www.seoulsteats.com.

Drinks: Full bar, with specialty cocktails.

Animal-free options: Not much — a hot tofu skillet is the only vegetarian main.

Noise level: On the louder end.

This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 6:00 AM.