She was the owner and host of Biba, the guiding force behind the menu, and, in those roles, she was everybody’s favorite Italian mamma. Free of gimmicks and trends, Biba was not trying to be edgy or innovative. The kitchen did things the right way — use excellent ingredients and classic technique while paying attention to all the little things from start to finish.

New beer releases at top-notch craft breweries usually come with plenty of fanfare, attracting the connoisseurs and the curious. In some cases, lines form hours before the beer goes on sale.

Though Legado Whiskey is a dark American rye, the company is as unaged as moonshine. The owners have leveraged their story — homegrown, women-owned — to reach consumers around the Capital Region, a key strategy in the crowded craft beverage market.

Prior to 2019, the California Retail Food Code had strict limits on which facilities could store, package and serve food at the retail level. These restrictions were put in place for health and sanitation purposes.

Across the Sacramento region, food truck owners are riding their mobile success into more stationary ventures, from sit-down restaurants like Culinerdy Kitchen to food-court outposts and drive-through kiosks.

With full participation in California’s food stamp program, the state’s poor would receive an additional $1.8 billion in federal funds each year. Pending legislation would require the state to close in on that goal. Some say it’s too ambitious for a state where 58 counties manage an arduous application in a variety of ways.

Brad Squires and Matt Brunner wondered what would happen to the agricultural land that housed Tom Tomich Orchards — the sole remaining commercial fruit operation in Orangevale — when the business shuttered in 2017. Would that really be the end of an era?

Sacramento has struggled with its branding for more than a century. Recently, the farm-to-fork movement has raised awareness of the local food scene, but as the region also tries to highlight its growth in business, tech, art and culture, a new brand is in the pipeline.

Customers who visit select craft breweries in the Sacramento region with “guest taps” — as in, beers from another brewery — will be offered two limited treats beginning this week as part of a new beer import program.

Amid the clatter of machinery and the beeping of forklifts, workers wearing white hair nets tend their stations around the assembly line in the warehouse-like production kitchen of Mad Will’s Food Company on the outskirts of Auburn.