The Sacramento Kings’ first playoff appearance in 17 years ended with a heartbreaking Game 7 loss on Sunday afternoon. For many fans, though, this season’s turnaround was an unexpected miracle.

Restaurants around Golden 1 Center reaped the benefits of that sudden rise. As Kings basketball went from an afterthought to must-watch TV, customers poured into sports bars

More than 100 fans chanted “light the beam” inside the Bank after the team’s Game 6 win. Beam-themed drinks , food and decor became beacons of their own at dozens of area bars, signifying Kings-friendly environments where fans found camaraderie and the establishments enjoyed an uptick in business.

Downtown Commons’ Punch Bowl Social became busier during Kings games near the end of the regular season, then saw a 20% uptick in customers from that benchmark during the playoffs, said general manager Dennis Dilosa.

DoCo was imagined as a new central hub for Sacramento’s social life, with restaurants, bars and shops encompassing the arena. It spurred development on surrounding avenues too, as the Hardin opened along 7th and K streets and the Bank greeted customers a block away.

But throughout the Kings’ losing seasons, downtown Sacramento businesses have experienced a mixed bag of fortunes. Restaurants were flooded two hours before games, only to empty out by tip-off, a feast-or-famine dichotomy that made staffing difficult.

Downtown commercial rents are among Sacramento’s most expensive at around $5/square foot, and that’s often reflected in menu prices. Then the pandemic hurt downtown restaurants in myriad ways, not the least of which was state employees’ sudden lack of happy hours and lunches out as they worked from home.

In the playoffs, though, people came downtown even if they weren’t able to afford tickets to the games. Instead of pregaming at Punch Bowl Social, they stuck around to watch the games, fueling up on loaded fries and boozy milkshakes as the quarters went by, Dilossa said.

And watch they did. Punch Bowl is known for its bevy of entertainment options across 25,000 square feet, from bowling to karaoke to its arcade. But every customer was glued to the TVs during Kings playoffs games, until it came time to walk out onto Punch Bowl’s balcony to watch the beam pierce the night sky, Dilossa said.

“(It was a) significant difference,” Dilossa said. “Especially early in the season, we were getting mostly a lot of people who were going to the game. And once the game started, we wouldn’t necessarily have a lot of fans in the building to watch the game. Whereas in the playoffs, we really had a dramatic increase in people sticking around to watch the game.”

Downtown Sacramento came out of the pandemic with a new convention center, performing arts hall and high-end hotels. Yet even the buzziest conferences resulted in about the same revenue for Punch Bowl as a regular season Kings game this year, Dilossa said.

The playoffs were on another level. Kings fans, and downtown Sacramento businesses, hope the team gets back there next season.

What I’m Eating

South’s closure last June left a gap atop Sacramento’s fried chicken pyramid, one that Bawk is vying to fill. The R Street Corridor restaurant has slowly improved since opening in 2019, to the point where it won the inaugural Sacramento Hot Chicken Battle last year (disclaimer: I was a judge, and it earned my vote).

Bawk is owned by Rob Archie and Peter Hoey, the duo behind Urban Roots Brewery & Smokehouse and Cervecería at the Shack. An attached speakeasy called the Roost opened last year, creating a dark, reservation-only cocktail experience hidden behind Bawk’s graffiti-covered dining room.

You could eat in the Roost when my dining companion and I visited, a deviation from the norm brought on by a Kings watch party. The title-winning fried chicken sandwich ($16) was as good as remembered, a beautifully straightforward balance of poultry, garlic herb mayonnaise, slaw and crunchy housemade pickle slices on a fluffy bun.

Those cooling elements made me comfortable cranking the spice level up to “Nashville.” As with all Bawk sandwiches and burgers, it came with perfectly-salted shoestring fries that are crispy outside and fluffy inside.

Executive chef Greg Desmangles’ chicken game was more plainly on display in the Bawk bites ($12), deep-fried nuggets of dark meat served over a slice of white bread. I went for the maple hot sauce this time, which hit the sweet/spicy equilibrium just right but rendered the chicken a bit soggy.

Bawk

Address: 1409 R St., Suite 102, Sacramento.

Hours: 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-midnight Friday, 10 a.m.-midnight Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday.

Phone number: (916) 376-7531.

Website: https://www.bawkfriedchicken.com/

Drinks: Full bar, with Urban Roots beers on tap and intriguing cocktails.

Animal-free options: Not many. Fried cauliflower bites are available as an appetizer, French toast is a brunch option and salads could be made vegetarian.

Noise level: On the louder side during busy hours.

Openings & Closings

Kings Playoffs 2023

Kings revitalized downtown Sacramento. DoCo bars and restaurants reaped the benefits

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