‘Vegan before 5 p.m.’ Sacramento restaurants remember Kamala Harris’ foodie ties to the city
A product of San Francisco’s pressure-cooker politics, Kamala Harris has no shortage of Bay Area connections.
Her ties to California’s capital are fewer.
During her six years as California’s attorney general, Harris based her operations out of the Department of Justice’s San Francisco office, according to former staffers. Regularly, she took day trips to Sacramento for briefings with attorneys and meetings with outside entities.
While she spent far less time in Sacramento than she did in the Bay Area, the future vice president forged strong relationships in the capital nonetheless.
The connections she did make in Sacramento were often through food. Capital eateries that she frequented in the 2010s recalled fond memories of the attorney general’s visit. Chefs and owners said Harris was a connoisseur of farm-to-fork cuisine and always generous with her time and conversation.
“We’re excited to have someone who loves food in the White House,” said chef Patrick Mulvaney.
‘Vegan before 5 p.m.’
As one of the state’s most powerful leaders, Harris took business lunches at upscale eateries around Sacramento.
During her tenure as attorney general from 2011 to 2016, she was a regular at two downtown favorites: The Waterboy and Mulvaney’s B&L. according to staff members who worked for her at the time.
Harris “was super excited about food,” recalled Mulvaney, describing her as a “gracious,” “friendly,” and “always super generous” customer who made direct eye contact and treated staff well, he said.
Mulvaney’s hosted one event for Harris’ Attorney General campaign where her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who died in 2009, made sure there were samosas from her favorite Indian restaurants.
“We knew … that she was super into food,” he said. Like many in Sacramento, she was interested in where ingredients were grown and where her food came from.
She also kept a unique diet, once announcing to staff that she was vegan, despite having eaten meat at the restaurant before: Harris told Mulvaney that she stuck to a vegan diet during the day, but evenings were a free-for-all.
In the restaurant’s reservation system, staff made a succinct note under Harris’ name: “Vegan before 5pm.”
The Waterboy head chef, Rick Mahan, also remembered Harris as “polite, always gracious,” and confirmed that she was eating a vegan diet at the time.
“She was a dream to have in the dining room,” Mahan said. “We all have fun memories of her.”
One dinner companion at The Waterboy would go on to become Mayor of Sacramento.
“She has many, many friends now, and is in a different stratosphere,” said Darrell Steinberg, who served as Senate Pro Tempore while Harris was Attorney General. But before her rise in national politics, the two would talk shop at The Waterboy, “that great restaurant on Capitol,” Steinberg said.
Steinberg and Harris
He remembered a “down to earth” but also impressive Attorney General, particularly when the two weathered the settlement for the 2008 national housing crisis and made sure California received $210 million of the $1.5 billion payout.
“I was a witness to that,” Steinberg said. “It was an impressive moment.”
He’d known Harris for years before that point.
The two were both part of a 2004 delegation to Israel hosted by the Jewish Public Affairs Committee, and they “spent a lot of time on a bus,” Steinberg said. Harris even introduced him to something he’d never seen before.
“She had this thing, with earplugs,” he said. He asked her what it was, and she said, “It’s an iPod.”
She taught him how to use it, and let him borrow it.
“I got my own after,” Steinberg said. “I was a little behind the times. I probably still am.”
Watching Harris’ rise from District Attorney to Attorney General, from Senator to Vice President, and now potential first female President of the United States, has been unsurprising for Steinberg.
“I always admired her and saw in her what millions in the country now see. I knew that she would rise, and that she would be a national leader.”
More surprising is how close she has stayed to her California colleagues, and a the humility Steinberg said can often allude others so high in national politics.
“She never was too much or too important to talk to the people who were also leaders, even as she was going to greater heights,” Steinberg said. “She was always very down to earth, easy to talk to, always very interested in what was going on in politics in every city in California.”
‘Ken, Debbie, I’m coming’
When asked, Terry O’Reilly immediately remembered Harris visiting Goodie Tuchews, the cookie shop she’s owned and operated for 43 years.
While Harri’s detail waited outside the shop just opposite the Capitol, the then-attorney general and O’Reilly chatted inside the narrow bakery amidst the ever-present smell of fresh baked cookies.
“She was a normal, down to earth, really likable person,” O’Reilly said. “I was always very happy to see her come in.”
O’Reilly didn’t recall the specifics of their conversations over the ten or so times Harris came to buy baked goods for herself and her staff, but she did remember her favorite cookie: butterscotch-walnut.
Since the pandemic, O’Reilly was forced to pare down the number of flavors she bakes each day, from 19 to 10. Butterscotch-walnut is no longer among O’Reilly’s daily offerings, but she does make them upon special requests.
O’Reilly didn’t care to speak to Harris’ politics. Instead, she maintained that the presidential candidate was approachable.
On a number of occasions, O’Reilly would stop by to see her friends Ken Chan and Debbie Rajkumar who own the neighboring lunch spot Cafe Connections, where she would see the attorney general enjoying lunch with colleagues.
Chan and Rajkumar have co-owned the Caribbean eatery for nearly two decades. While Harris was in the AG’s office, they said, the now-presidential candidate came in to eat once or twice a month when she traveled to work in the DOJ’s Sacramento office.
If customers wanted an autograph or take a picture with the attorney general while she was eating lunch, Chan said Harris was happy to oblige.
“She has a very good heart,” Rajkumar said. “She always showed the same amount of respect every time she came here.”
Chan added, “And sometimes she would come in and dance to the music.”
Chan laughed remembering when the California attorney general would call the restaurant before she stopped by to say, “Ken, Debbie, I’m coming.”
As the chef who arrives at the restaurant daily at 3 a.m. to prepare the cuisine, Chan recalled Harris’ order was jerk chicken, curry chicken, rice and beans, roti and hot sauce.
Photos on the wall, next to an artful mural of a jungle waterfall scene, show Chan and Rajkumar posing next to an array of influential politicians — including Harris.
Rajkumar didn’t want to comment on the election given the polarization that characterizes American politics these days. She recounted a previous incident in which someone came into the restaurant and stole photos of the owners posing with prominent Democrats who visited the restaurant.
After the incident, she posted a sign on the cafe’s door that said the restaurant doesn’t have a political stance. Rajkumar said she was just a proud parent. Her daughter worked in the Capitol with several politicians.
When she was the state’s chief law enforcement officer, Harris recommended Cafe Connections to other officers in Sacramento, Chan said. He said Harris recommended the Caribbean restaurant to others in law enforcement because Chan and Rajkumar treated their customers well.
“To this day a lot of cops come in here and eat our food,” Chan said.
This story was originally published October 26, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
