Holiday gifts for food lovers? 6 cookbooks from Sacramento-area authors to put on your list

It’s a common predicament for food writers: We’re eating out all the time, yet can’t stop stockpiling cookbooks at home.

Some cookbooks I buy for the recipes, some for the storytelling and some for the artwork. Then there are those that friends and family gift to me because they know I can’t resist adding another to the collection.

These six cookbooks from Sacramento-area authors, all published within the past 16 months, could be the right holiday gift for some locavore in your life. Check if your local bookstore carries them, and read up!

The Unofficial Ted Lasso Cookbook: From Biscuits to BBQ, 50 Recipes Inspired by TV’s Most Lovable Football Team (Aki Berry and Meg Chano): America’s favorite fictional Premier League coach is getting a fourth season from Apple TV+. Is a loved one getting these Fair Oaks and Roseville authors’ guide to making “biscuits with the boss” (and 49 other recipes)? Inspired by the standout foods of “Ted Lasso” Seasons 1 and 2 along with some British classics, it’s a fun, easy way to score this holiday season. (HarperCollins, 160 pages, $20)

Pistachio: Savory & Sweet Recipes Inspired by World Cuisines (Barbara Bryant and Georgeanne Brennan): Brennan is the Sacramento-area representative of this duo, a James Beard Award-winning author on Provencal food who now lives on a small farm in Winters, where she co-owns California’s lone apertif bar, L’Apéro les Trois. Her latest publication with Bryant is a must-buy for any pistachio “nut,” a culinary journey through California, the Middle East and Europe that flexes the title crop’s full range of uses. (Abrams Books, 160 pages, $30)

Savoring Sacramento: An Artists’ Cookbook (Sacramento Fine Arts Center): Watercress meets watercolors in this 300-page visual stunner, filled with home recipes as well as artwork from artists affiliated with the Sacramento Fine Arts Center. You’ll need to visit the Carmichael gallery’s gift shop to pick up a copy. ($45)

The Perfect Plate: Easy Restaurant Styling Hacks to Make Your Home Cooked Meals Epic (Jeff Solberg): More than 118,000 people follow Solberg on Instagram, where he’s known as @sactattooedfooddude, for his mouthwatering shots of the neatly-styled food. Those images and recipes culminated in “The Perfect Plate,” released on Nov. 26, which is the home chef’s first standalone cookbook (he contributed to “The Office” fan favorite Brian Baumgartner’s “Seriously Good Chili Cookbook”). (Page Street Publishing, 160 pages, $23)

In The Kitchen With Linda: Loving Memories, Favorite Recipes and Handy Hints (Linda Carsman): Carsman’s debut cookbook at age 83 traces a life from Brooklyn to South Florida to the Sacramento area, where she’s lived for the past 49 years. This Jewish grandmother shares recipes for matzo ball soup and brisket as well as American dinner party favorites from over the years, accompanied by heartwarming stories that’ll make you feel like you had a seat at the table all along. (Munn Avenue Press; 176 pages; $20 paperback, $40 hardcover)

Sacramento Eats: Recipes from the Capital Region’s Favorite Restaurants (Benjy Egel): Who’s above a shameless plug? Loyal newsletter readers may have already bought my collection of recipes and photos from 60 of Sacramento’s most beloved restaurants when it debuted last year. But the initial print run of 3,000 books sold out in three weeks, leaving some holiday shoppers empty-handed. A second printing means it should be widely available this holiday season, for yourself or a friend in need. (Pediment Publishing, 160 pages, $36)

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What I’m Eating

It’s rare to see a classic Thai restaurant with as deep and international a beer list as Auburn Thai Garden Restaurant. That’s a testament to owner/operator Nu Boonkham, who also co-owns Rocklin’s tremendous Moksa Brewing Co. and offshoot restaurant Moksa Barrel House in Roseville.

Boonkham was born in a small town in northern Thailand and learned to cook from his mom’s former boss at long-closed Citrus Heights restaurant Bangkok Thai Cuisine, a woman they lovingly called Grandma Yupa. His Auburn restaurant takes pains to capture Thai food’s rich flavors, albeit with a few personal influences.

Take the yellow curry with gnocchi ($13), an unusual combination that also includes the more standard sliced chicken breast, carrots and onions. Boonkham’s parents each worked two or three jobs when he was a kid, and a fancy dinner out meant Olive Garden, where he fell in love with gnocchi. This dish combines two childhood flavors: the coconut curry he enjoyed at home, and the light potato dumplings signifying a special occasion. Note: Garlic butter mushrooms ($12) have a similar backstory.

Roasted duck noodle soup (MP) is more traditional through-and-through, and arguably the house’s best dish. Eric Vong, a fried of Boonkham’s who works at Vinh Phat Supermarket in south Sacramento, roasts ducks that swim with caramelized garlic, bean sprouts, scallions and fresh rice vermicelli (Chhun’s Supermarket, also in south Sacramento) in a terrific five-spice broth.

Auburn Thai Garden offers a standard pad Thai ($10-$15 depending on protein) as well as pad Thai chaiya ($13), a South Thailand variation that uses glass noodles in lieu of rice noodles. The tiger prawns, chicken, tofu, eggs and accompanying ingredients are tossed in a housemade tamarind sauce in both stir-fries: a more typical pad Thai chaiya would use coconut and curry paste, which Auburn Thai Garden can also do if customers call ahead.

Auburn Thai Garden Restaurant

Address: 175 Palm Ave., Auburn

Hours: 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. and 4:30-9 p.m. Monday-Friday; noon-9 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday

Phone: 530-887-8696

Website: auburnthai.com

Drinks: A wealth of American craft beers and European imports available for as little as $5 a pint, along with locally-produced wines and an array of soft drinks.

Vegetarian options: Most dishes are or can be made meatless

Noise level: Relatively quiet

Outdoor seating: None

Openings & Closings

▪ Australian-style downtown Sacramento cafe Camp Cove began its soft opening Nov. 21 at 1401 O St., Suite B. Look for avocado toasts, acai bowls and loaded veggie sandwiches on Acme Bread Co. focaccia, with drinks made from Los Angeles County-based Amigo Coffee Roasters beans.

▪ Chick’s 500 Degrees will begin its soft opening Wednesday before Saturday’s grand opening at 4040 Sunrise Blvd., Suite 100, in Rancho Cordova. The halal Nashville-style fried chicken joint has been operating out of a food truck since 2021.

▪ Bear Dive will close its doors on Dec. 14 with a final goodbye party on Dec. 28, the LGBTQ+ dive bar in Sacramento’s Mansion Flats neighborhood announced in a social media post Sunday. Opened at 1330 H St., Suite 101, in 2020, it was sold earlier this year to Caroline Sailor, who plans to build “a truly inclusive queer space” with her next business at that address.