Making good food responsibly brings praise to Sacramento-area producers
Sustainable farm-to-fork efforts across the Sacramento Valley are once again being applauded on a national stage.
Three capital region food producers were acknowledged on Friday by the Good Food Awards for the 2025 edition of its annual competition. Two caviar farms and an oil mill from the area were named finalists in the Good Food Foundation’s 15th anniversary awards, which exclusively honors previous years’ winners.
The Good Food Awards celebrate producers across the U.S. that uphold the foundation’s main tenet of sustainability in food production. The awards are given to products that meet a strict set of standards, including having high-quality and locally sourced ingredients, responsible and transparent farming practices, and a safe and equitable workplace environment.
The awards are split up into 18 food product categories, so a triple-creme cheese is never judged against a hazy India Pale Ale. Five products in each category — except confections, which had six — were named finalists, for a total of 91 products in the running for a gold ribbon.
As part of the 15th anniversary festivities, the finalists and winners are selected in a vote by members of the Good Food Foundation community. The top three most-voted products in each food category will be announced as winners on June 28.
Concord-based Tsar Nicoulai Caviar could win its seventh Good Food Award after winning every year from 2017 to 2020. This year, its “fish burnt ends” smoked sturgeon pate, a 2020 winner, was in the spotlight.
Tsar Nicoulai — which houses its eco-certified sturgeon farms just east of Elk Grove in Wilton — hatches its own fish and smokes sturgeon meat in its onsite smokehouse for products like the smoked pate, to minimize food waste from the roe harvesting process.
Sterling Caviar in Elverta received the accolade for its supreme-grade white sturgeon caviar, which the company describes as having a “complex combination of hazelnut and earthy flavors” with a “velvety finish.” Sterling first won a Good Food Award for the white sturgeon caviar in 2019.
According to the company’s website, Sterling traces the origin of its roe and fish at every step of the process in accordance with international endangered species trade conventions. The Bee previously reported that the caviar company sells its sturgeon meat to wholesale and area seafood vendors to reduce waste.
In October, Tsar Nicoulai acquired Sterling after the latter company faced financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Bee previously reported. The two caviar titans still sell products under their respective brands, but they are now owned by the same parent company.
La Tourangelle is an oil mill based in Woodland that produces a broad range of oils, including its Good Food Award-winning pistachio oil, which is once again a finalist this year after winning in 2015. The mill’s nut oils are made with upcycled California nuts that were rejected for other products.
California had more finalists than any other state, with a total of 17 food producers acknowledged in 13 award categories. These 14 other finalists span the entire state:
- Oils: Calivirgin in Lodi
- Drinks: Diaspora Co. in Oakland
- Chocolate, Confections: Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate in Eureka
- Grains: Kouzeh Bakery in Los Angeles
- Cider: Lassen in Chico
- Pickles: Local Culture Ferments in Grass Valley
- Pantry: Mama Teav’s in Oakland
- Snacks: Nana Joes Granola in San Francisco
- Confections: NeoCocoa in Belmont
- Oils: Olive Truck in Emeryville
- Cheese: Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. in Point Reyes Station
- Elixirs: Purely in San Leandro
- Preserves: Saba Jam in Berkeley
- Cider: The Far West Cider Co. in Richmond
What I’m Eating
Kind service and cultural pride shine at Queen Sheba Ethiopian Cuisine in Land Park.
Ethiopian artwork peppers the walls of Zion Taddese’s restaurant, which was nearly destroyed in 2019 after being hit with an arson attack that managed to cause only minor exterior damage, The Bee previously reported.
Cultural education is front and center at Queen Sheba. The restaurant’s menu features a full page of Ethiopian food glossary terms and another highlighting the sacredness of Ethiopia’s coffee traditions.
Combo platters ($18.50 per person) for one to four people provide a sampling of Queen Sheba’s meat and vegetarian dishes. The one- and two-person combos come in a mild and spicy variety. I tried both of the one-person options, which came with a total of six entrees and a side salad.
Chicken tibbs, stir-fried chicken breast with mixed vegetables, is one of the two meat options on the mild platter, along with fish tibbs, which is similar to its chicken counterpart but with flaky catfish.
The mild combo is rounded out with gomen, a spiced collard greens and spinach dish that has none of the bitterness that cooked greens often come with.
The spicy platter features awaze chicken, a hot and flavor-packed version of chicken tibs. Awaze beef is made with the same warm and smoky sauce that brings a lick of heat to the braised meat dishes. A punchy, slow-cooked red lentil stew called misr kik wot is the spicy vegetarian entree.
The spice levels were perfectly manageable as someone who typically goes for mild to medium options — though I’m not sure if the staff quietly reduced the amount of the hot berbere spice blend they normally use upon seeing a flash of fear on my face.
The spectrum of strong flavors were all amplified by the eating utensil they were created for — injera, a sour flatbread made with the ancient teff grain native to Ethiopia. Everything from meats to greens to leftover marinade is designed to be soaked up by the tangy, spongy bread.
Queen Sheba Ethiopian Cuisine
Address: 1704 Broadway, Sacramento
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Phone: 916-446-1223
Website: queenshebas.com
Drinks: Bottles or glasses of Tej — Ethiopian honey wine, imported beers, red and white wine; Ethiopian coffee and tea, mango nectar, soft drinks make up the non-alcoholic beverages.
Vegetarian options: Plenty. Weekday vegan lunch buffet and all-day vegetarian and vegan options.
Noise level: Low to moderate, depending on crowds
Outdoor seating: None
Openings & Closings
▪ Pushkin’s Bakery opened its third location, at 2920 Arden Way in Arden Arcade, on Saturday, the company posted on social media. Danny and Olga Turner’s newest bakery joins the midtown Sacramento and Roseville locations, as well as their gluten-free Sibling by Pushkin’s restaurant and vegan Babes Ice Cream & Donuts shop.
▪ Track 7 Brewing Co. permanently closed its Curtis Park and Natomas locations on Saturday. The Bee reported that employees were not given advance notice of the closure and were informed two hours before the taprooms were set to open. The owners reportedly cited financial issues as the reason for closing.
