Gold Rush bacon, oyster and egg scramble. Named for the town of Placerville, then called Hangtown. Served at California brunch counters across Sacramento.

The Hangtown Fry was invented in Placerville (then Hangtown) in 1849, when a miner who had struck it rich asked the saloon at the El Dorado Hotel on Main Street for the three most expensive things on the menu. The cook brought eggs (rare and shipped from the coast), bacon (rare and shipped from the East) and Pacific oysters (rare and brought up from San Francisco on ice). The combination was scrambled together and named for the town. The El Dorado Hotel later burned in the 1856 fire and the Cary House Hotel was built on the site in 1857. The dish travelled into the saloons of Old Sacramento with the miners after their gold ran out and has been a California brunch fixture ever since.

3 editor picks for Hangtown Fry in Sacramento, ranked by editorial score. All Sacramento signature dishes · Hangtown Fry across every city.