Planning the perfect Mother’s Day in Sacramento, one special bite at a time
Mother’s Day 2025 is on Sunday, May 11. Though it’s just over a week away, there’s still plenty of time to figure out where to take her out to eat for the special day.
But with so many mothers in the capital region to celebrate (Hi, Mom!), it can be tough to get a table at some of the most popular restaurants in the Sacramento area. Consider this your reminder to make a breakfast, brunch or dinner reservation to avoid the last-minute scramble.
If you’re thinking about where to dine this Mother’s Day but shudder at the thought of being on the Tower Cafe waitlist, here are some spots with special holiday menus to try this year.
Breakfast/Brunch
There are dozens of holiday brunches to choose from in Sacramento, but this restaurant’s on-the-nose name adds a bit of whimsy to the festivities.
Mother, at 2319 K St., is serving up a special menu with some of its most popular vegetarian options for brunch on May 11 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The menu features breakfast classics like beignets, chilaquiles, eggs Benedict and a two-egg combo. To enhance the celebratory mood, you can order a stack of pancakes with a birthday candle on top.
More savory choices include a strawberry-faro salad, a mushroom po’ boy and a beet-avocado tostada topped with pickled onions, radish, cilantro and cotija cheese. Although you can’t get any traditional pork bacon at Mother, the fettuccine carbonara includes a meatless “trumpet mushroom bacon.”
Reservations are available through Mother’s website.
Dinner
Mom deserves to be spoiled on her special day, so take her to Paragary’s in midtown — the staple Sacramento bistro has a three-course dinner menu for Mother’s Day.
The $89 per-person prix fixe menu includes a rosemary focaccia to start, followed by a selection of dishes for each course.
The starter course features four options, including a strawberry gazpacho with cucumber, striped beets, basil and garlic croutons; and a yellowfin tuna carpaccio with almonds, a Calabrian chile aioli and a baguette.
For the main course, there is a choice of Parmesan-prosciutto risotto, halibut with vegetables, a wagyu bavette steak and a pork chop with asparagus and sunchokes.
Closing out the dinner is a dessert course with a choice of strawberry-rhubarb ice cream sandwich, flourless chocolate nemesis cake and carrot cake.
The restaurant does not require reservations, but they are “highly recommended.” You can reserve a table through the Paragary’s website.
Dessert
If you’re still hungry after brunch and dinner, pick up some sweet treats from Ettore’s European Bakery and Cafe at 2376 Fair Oaks Blvd. in Arden Arcade. The longtime resident of Fair Oaks Boulevard has a range of themed desserts for celebrating Mom.
Ettore’s is offering cookies shaped like flowers and ladybugs with colorful icing and sugar toppings in a springtime palette, petit fours with even more petite piped flowers and elegant “Mom” lettering, and a vanilla sponge cake cup with white chocolate mousse and a delicate cherry blossom topping.
For something larger, you can order a domed 8-inch torte with vanilla sponge and raspberry filling, topped with a layer of marzipan and decorated with molded sugar flowers and intricate piping to look like flower stems.
You can order the desserts online at the bakery’s website through Mother’s Day.
What I’m Eating
If none of these Mother’s Day menus feel quite right, take mom to Hiso, a family-owned Thai and Lao spot on the edge of Alkali Flat. After working at a Thai restaurant for years, sisters Annie and Alina Manikhong opened their small 12th Street restaurant in 2021, hoping to introduce downtown Sacramento to home-style Lao food.
The restaurant’s name comes from a slang term meaning “high society.” The sisters embody this energy with a refined menu featuring classic dishes from Thai and Lao cuisine and an intimate, chic atmosphere that evokes the feeling of dining in an exclusive club.
Hiso is open for lunch and dinner, but is closed between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays to transition to the evening menu. A daily happy hour from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. includes $8 appetizers and $6 draft beers, while the weekday lunch special offers a reduced midday menu with $14 dishes.
Annie’s favorite dishes include the Lao sausage ($17 for two), a sweet spiced pork sausage served alongside a smoky-spicy sauce and a ball of sticky rice, and Khao Piak noodle soup ($17), which has silky noodles made from tapioca and rice flours, crunchy bean sprouts and juicy chicken in a fresh, herbal broth.
Even the mild spice option brings a sneaky heat to the intensely hot-and-sour Tom Zapp Pork Ribs soup ($16), with succulent pork short ribs submerged in a pool of tangy, spicy broth.
The presentation of pastel-colored Thai tea and Thai green tea ($6 each) provides an Instagrammable moment — the tall, flared glass pitcher with a long straw is perfect for a video of tea and milk swirls.
If you get your food hot or even “Lao hot,” the Thai tea ice cream with roti ($8) is sure to soothe the heat. A scoop of creamy, spiced ice cream tops the warm, flaky flatbread covered in a sweet sugar syrup drizzle. Finishing the dessert left me simultaneously deeply satisfied and devastated; I will be ordering this every time I visit.
Hiso
Address: 524 12th St., Sacramento
Hours: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4-9 p.m. Monday-Wednesday; 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4-10 p.m. Thursday and Friday; noon-10 p.m. Saturday; noon-9 p.m. Sunday
Phone: 916-603-8309
Website: hisosac.com
Drinks: Thai teas and coffee, soda, draft and bottled beer and wine
Vegetarian options: Many, including appetizers, salads, curries and entree plates. Some dishes can be made meatless with tofu or no protein options.
Noise level: Loud
Outdoor seating: None
Openings & Closings
▪ The Oakland-based Horn Barbecue opened its third location on Saturday at 9700 Railroad St. in Elk Grove. Owner Mark Horn brings his award-winning barbecue menu to the Sacramento area, including smoked brisket, beef and pork ribs, burnt ends and an array of classic barbecue sides. Horn’s Oakland location received an esteemed Bib Gourmand distinction from the Michelin Guide in 2021.
▪ Device Brewing Co. quietly closed its three locations around Sacramento on Sunday after more than a decade in the region. The closures came in the wake of a lawsuit alleging Device owed more than $23,000 in rental payments for its 14th Ave. brewery and taproom. Device’s owner, Ken Anthony, did not respond to questions about the shutdown reply to a Bee reporter’s request for comment.
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