Neighborhood Favorite is a new monthly web column that profiles independent restaurants around the Capital Region to showcase the diversity and resilience of our local food entrepreneurs. In the first installment, we visit one of Sacramento’s longest-standing Lao restaurants.

As farmers and event organizers adapt to climate change and the ongoing spread of the pandemic, mandarin oranges have offered a bright taste of normalcy during grim times.

As pandemic shutdowns intensify, more than a third of jobs in three California industries that rely on events — sports, performing arts and catering — have already disappeared. And they’ve been slower to recover than the state workforce as a whole.

In September, UC Davis was awarded the first federal funding given to a university to research cultivated meat, positioning the Capital Region to serve as a hub of the advancing technology. 

As they talk up their brands from Cambridge to Nashville, the brothers are working to build generational wealth for their families — and to reclaim the value that might once have been associated with the Burgess name.

The future of vertical farming begins on the genetic level. That’s the philosophy of Unfold, a Sacramento-based startup focused on innovating fruit and vegetable seeds to better serve indoor growing facilities.

The cofounders of Last Supper Society describe their project as “a culinary collective that designs food experiences,” as well as “a first-of-its-kind interactive TV show.” 

In the Capital Region, there’s an emerging market among boutique vineyards and wineries focused on low-intervention farming and production methods.

Ranchers and those in the conservation industry know there’s an inherent value to working lands, such as cattle ranches. But how do they monetize that value?

The Granite Bay farm was established in 1911 by a Japanese immigrant and is still run by his descendants, including his 104-year-old daughter.