What do you love about Sacramento that makes it special?

[wburg]

Originally Posted by robertpolyglot

Bingo on the Chinese and Vietnamese. The Chinese date back to the building of the railroads. Never noticed much of a Japanese contingent. Were did they historically reside? I always thought that NorCal (SFO) was the port of entry for the Chinese, and that SoCal (LAX) was the destination for the Japanese, seeing how many friends I had in LA from Japanese ancestry. I know that South Sac has quite a few Vietnamese folks...maybe even Citrus Heights and Rancho Cordova.

Sacramento's old Japantown was right around the Tower Bridge, from roughly K Street to O Street or so, east to around 6th or 7th. By the early 1900s Los Angeles had numerically more Japanese, but by percentage of population there was no city in the US more Japanese in ancestry than Sacramento. Notable residents of Sacramento's Japantown included Congressman Bob Matsui, and character actor "Pat" Morita (of the "Karate Kid" movies.) The only remaining sign of our old Japantown is the Nisei VFW Hall at 4th and O Street, a building dating from the 1950s--all of the rest of the neighborhood was demolished as part of redevelopment, just a few years after the residents came back from internment camps during World War II.

Sacramento's Chinatown dates back to the Gold Rush, although you are correct that the railroad brought many more Chinese to Sacramento. Speaking of character actors, Victor Wong (best known for "Big Trouble in Little China") also grew up here--his son Lyon was in legendary Sacramento rock band Tales of Terror.

[NorCal Dude]

Yea ethnic cuisine is definitely very good in Sacramento.

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by NorCal Dude

Yea ethnic cuisine is definitely very good in Sacramento.

Mmmmm....
...not a lot of good mid-priced authentic Italian restaurants
...no good selection of Greek restaurants
...no Portuguese restaurant that I'm aware of
...I think there is one reasonably priced good French restaurant in Roseville (forgot the name)
Those are the cuisines I like.

I think that, for Asian food or Mexican food, the choices are many.

Hey, and if you like comfort food or American food, quite a few steak houses, and a lot of them do NOT belong to chains.

[wburg]

Depends on what you consider "authentic Italian." We have a lot of northern Italians so if you're really into southern/Sicilian stuff your options are limited, but there are some good Italian places, including a lot of great places for a pizza. I'm not sure what the deal is with Portuguese restaurants, considering how many Portuguese there are in Sacramento. I think they just don't like the restaurant business or something. There are a few good Greek restaurants as well as a smattering of other Mediterranean/Middle Eastern places worth visiting.

So our European food scene isn't as good as our Asian food scene (if you are willing to lump Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, etc. into a single category) but it still has some standouts.

And yeah, in terms of places to eat meat, this is a seriously good town for some burgers, steaks and assorted comfort food--although I'm not sure where a place like Kupros Bistro (best known for poutine and bone marrow, technically "comfort food" but not really in the traditional steakhouse style) fits into that category.

[ryuns]

Originally Posted by robertpolyglot

Mmmmm....
...not a lot of good mid-priced authentic Italian restaurants
...no good selection of Greek restaurants
...no Portuguese restaurant that I'm aware of
...I think there is one reasonably priced good French restaurant in Roseville (forgot the name)
Those are the cuisines I like.

I think that, for Asian food or Mexican food, the choices are many.

Hey, and if you like comfort food or American food, quite a few steak houses, and a lot of them do NOT belong to chains.

I'm starting to think it's just really bad luck you ended up in Sacramento. It seems like all the things you care about, Sacramento does poorly (southern European cuisine, pronounced topography and the view from the freeway, to name a couple) while all the things Sacramento has, you don't care about!

And I mean that in the nicest way. It does seem like bad luck. Because when I see your list of restaurant styles, I realized I don't really care that much about not having good Italian or French nearby, but I'm stoked on being close to the Broadway corridor with 2 ramen joints, 2 Vietnamese places, 3 Thai places, 4 or 5 Mexican places, some Chinese places, pizza, Japanese fondue, and a bunch of burger/American/bistro spots all within about a mile, with an average plate costing less $10.

(By the way, what's a good Portuguese dish you would order at a Portuguese restaurant? I grew up next to a huge and absolutely delightful--literally the nicest people I've ever known-- Portuguese family from age 0 to 18, and they made some tasty food, but honestly nothing I'd go out of my way to buy.)