Signature Dishes of Sacramento

Must-try dishes

Hangtown Fry

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

History: 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.

Where to try it: Fox & Goose Public House, Magpie, Bacon & Butter

Watch out for: Egg, Shellfish

Sacramento Delta Crawfish Boil

Spring and early-summer crawfish boil from the Sacramento River Delta, the freshwater crawfish capital of California. Peak season is Father's Day weekend.

History: The Sacramento River Delta has been one of the largest US sources of freshwater crawfish since the early 1900s, when Louisiana growers imported the red swamp crawfish to Delta ponds. By the 1980s the Isleton Crawdad Festival had become the Father's Day fixture across the Delta, with boils on Main Street pulling thousands of visitors. The boil is the same as the Louisiana home version, with crawfish, corn, potatoes, sausage and lots of cayenne and Old Bay, but the catch is from California growers and the season runs March to October with a Father's Day peak.

Watch out for: Shellfish

Tower Bridge Dinner Heritage Course

Annual long-table chef gala served on the Sacramento Tower Bridge each September, the centrepiece of Visit Sacramento's Farm to Fork festival.

History: The Tower Bridge Dinner started in September 2013, one year after Mayor Kevin Johnson declared Sacramento America's Farm to Fork Capital. The format is one long table running the length of the Sacramento Tower Bridge over the Sacramento River, with the bridge closed to traffic for the night. Chefs from Sacramento's farm-to-fork rooms each contribute one course, drawn from Capay Valley, Sacramento River Delta, Yolo County and Sierra foothills producers in season. Tickets are drawn from a public lottery and sell out within hours; the event is the city's most-photographed food night of the year and fundraises for Sacramento food-system non-profits.

Watch out for: Varies by course

Stockton Boulevard Pho

Long-simmered Vietnamese beef pho from Stockton Boulevard, Sacramento's Vietnamese commercial corridor between Florin and 65th Avenue.

History: Vietnamese refugees settled in Sacramento in waves after 1975, with the largest community along Stockton Boulevard south of Broadway. By the 1990s the boulevard between Florin and 65th had become the Vietnamese commercial centre of the Sacramento Valley, with pho counters, banh mi shops, Vietnamese grocers and karaoke clubs lining the strip. Pho Momma on Folsom Boulevard near Stockton earned a 2025 Michelin Bib Gourmand for its long-simmered beef broth, the highest US recognition for a Sacramento pho counter. The Stockton Boulevard pho is heavy on the rare slice, the meatball and the house pork wontons, and it travels south to nearby San Joaquin Valley pho strips in Lodi and Stockton itself.

Where to try it: Pho Momma

Watch out for: Wheat, Soy

Frank Fat's Banana Cream Pie

Banana cream pie with a flaky crust, custard-set bananas and whipped cream, the signature dessert at Frank Fat's downtown Chinese-American room since 1939.

History: Frank Fat opened the room at 806 L Street, Sacramento in November 1939, two blocks from the State Capitol, and the banana cream pie became the dessert order for legislators and lobbyists working into the night across the street. The pie was a Wing Fat family recipe from Frank's wife Mary, with a flaky pastry crust, sliced ripe bananas folded into a vanilla custard and whipped cream on top, and it has been the signature dessert at Frank Fat's continuously since the late 1940s. Three generations of the Fat family have kept the pie on the menu unchanged, and it has appeared on every list of Sacramento's defining dishes since the 1990s, the city's longest-running named restaurant dessert.

Where to try it: Frank Fat's

Watch out for: Egg, Dairy, Gluten

Santa Maria-style Tri-tip

Coffee and chile-rubbed tri-tip roast carved across the grain, served with chimichurri or smoked salsa. The Central Valley's defining beef cut and Sacramento's barbecue centerpiece.

History: The tri-tip is a Central California Spanish-ranching cut from the bottom sirloin, popularized in Santa Maria Valley in the 1950s when butchers started roasting the previously discarded triangle of beef over red oak. The cut travelled north through Central Valley ranches into Sacramento by the 1970s, and by the 1990s tri-tip had become the standard backyard barbecue centerpiece across Sacramento County. Sacramento's barbecue rooms generally serve it with chimichurri on the Argentinian model, a nod to the city's strong cattle-ranching heritage and the Tank House style of cooking. The Tower Bridge Dinner has featured tri-tip on its menu in multiple years, and it sits permanently on the Tank House BBQ menu as the house steak.

Where to try it: Tank House BBQ and Bar, Hawks Provisions and Public House

Stockton Boulevard Banh Mi

Vietnamese baguette sandwich with pate, grilled pork or roast chicken, pickled daikon and carrot, cilantro and jalapeno. The Stockton Boulevard corridor's defining lunch.

History: Vietnamese refugees who settled along Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento after 1975 brought the Saigon-style banh mi sandwich with them, and by the 1990s the corridor between Florin and 65th was lined with banh mi counters baking the rice-flour French baguette daily and stacking it with pate, grilled pork, pickled vegetables and Vietnamese coleslaw. The Stockton Boulevard banh mi is heavier on the pate and cilantro than the LA or Houston versions, and it travels with the corridor's pho counters as a complete Vietnamese lunch under $10. The corridor remains the Vietnamese commercial center of the Sacramento Valley, with Pho Bac Hoa Viet, Pho Saigon and the SF Supermarket bakery counters running the city's banh mi supply.

Where to try it: Pho Bac Hoa Viet South Sacramento, SF Supermarket

Watch out for: Wheat, Soy, Egg

Sacramento Delta Asparagus Risotto

April risotto with Sacramento River Delta asparagus, the green-and-white spring vegetable from California's largest asparagus growing region. Served with parmesan and lemon.

History: The Sacramento River Delta was the largest US asparagus growing region from the 1920s through the 1980s, with thousands of acres of asparagus farms across the islands of Walnut Grove, Isleton, Locke and Rio Vista. Stockton claimed the title of Asparagus Capital of the World and held the Stockton Asparagus Festival annually until 2017. The Delta still produces a major California asparagus crop each April and May, and Sacramento's farm-to-fork rooms feature the spring vegetable on every menu during the season. The asparagus risotto at The Kitchen, Localis, Mulvaney's B&L and Camden Spit & Larder has been a defining spring plate of the city's farm-to-fork era since 2012, when Mayor Kevin Johnson declared Sacramento America's Farm to Fork Capital.

Where to try it: The Kitchen, Mulvaney's B&L, Camden Spit & Larder

Watch out for: Dairy, Sulphites

Stockton Boulevard Pho Ga

Vietnamese chicken pho with poached chicken thigh, ginger and star anise broth, rice noodles, Thai basil and lime. The Stockton Boulevard corridor's lighter-bodied pho sibling.

History: Pho ga, the chicken version of Vietnamese beef pho, traveled to Sacramento with the Stockton Boulevard Vietnamese community after 1975 and became the lighter daytime alternative to pho bo at every counter on the strip. The Sacramento pho ga uses Central Valley free-range chicken simmered for two hours with charred ginger, charred onion and a smaller spice bag than the beef version, lighter on cloves and heavier on coriander. Pho Momma on Folsom Boulevard near Stockton earned a 2025 Michelin Bib Gourmand for its pho, and the chicken version is the late-morning order across the corridor. The pho ga garnish plate runs the same as for beef pho: bean sprouts, Thai basil, lime, sliced chillies and sometimes a side of saw-tooth herb the beef version skips.

Where to try it: Pho Momma, Pho Bac Hoa Viet South Sacramento, Pho Saigon Stockton Boulevard

Watch out for: Wheat, Soy

Capay Valley Peach Cobbler

Summer peach cobbler with Capay Valley stone fruit, biscuit topping and vanilla ice cream. The August dessert of Sacramento's Capay Valley farm-to-fork rooms.

History: The Capay Valley west of Sacramento has been California's premier organic stone-fruit growing region since the 1970s, when Capay Organic and Farm Fresh To You established the valley as the Sacramento Valley's organic farming center. Sacramento's farm-to-fork rooms switch their dessert menu to Capay peach cobbler each August when the Suncrest, O'Henry and Elberta varieties peak. The biscuit-topped cobbler is the home version, with a butter and buttermilk biscuit dropped onto sugared peaches and baked until the juices bubble through. Magpie, Bacon & Butter and Selland's all run a version each August, and the Tower Bridge Dinner in September traditionally closes the meal with a peach or stone-fruit dessert from the Capay Valley harvest.

Where to try it: Magpie, Bacon & Butter, Selland's Market-Cafe Broadway

Watch out for: Wheat, Dairy

Apple Hill Apple Cider Donut

October apple cider donut from the Apple Hill farms on the Camino-Placerville road, 45 minutes east of Sacramento. Sold warm at the farm stand.

History: Apple Hill on the Camino-Placerville road in El Dorado County took shape in the 1960s when an apple-grower cooperative banded together to keep family farms in the Sierra foothills viable. The cider-donut tradition came from the Northeast US apple-cider mills and travelled west with the apple farmers; by the 1980s every Apple Hill farm had a donut stand and a press. The October season runs four weekends with traffic backed up on US-50 east from Sacramento, and the donut, fried in apple cider with cinnamon-sugar dredge, is the photograph everyone takes across the long-running grower anchors of the cooperative.

Where to try it: Freeport Bakery, Pushkin's Bakery

Watch out for: Gluten, Egg, Dairy

Sacramento Selland's Rotisserie Chicken

Daily rotisserie chicken brined and air-dried before turning on the spit, the Selland Hospitality Group signature plate across all three Sacramento Selland's locations.

History: The Selland family has been a Sacramento institution since 1991 when Randall Selland and Nancy Zimmer opened The Kitchen, which later moved to 915 Broadway in Land Park and earned the city's first Michelin star in 2019. The Selland Family Hospitality Group added Ella Dining Room downtown in 2007, OBO' Italian Table and Bar in East Sacramento in 2016, and the Selland's Market-Cafe counters across Land Park, East Sacramento and El Dorado Hills. The daily rotisserie chicken at all three Selland's counters is the signature plate, brined overnight and turned slowly until the skin crackles. The chicken comes with seasonal market sides from the Capay Valley and Sacramento River Delta farms.

Where to try it: Selland's Market-Cafe East Sacramento, Selland's Market-Cafe Broadway