![Duck Confit and Pork Sausage with green lentils, duck fat fingerlings, frisee, bacon, stonefruit and champagne vinaigrette paired with Original Formula Manhattan made with James E. Pepper 1776 rye whiskey, Vya sweet vermouth, Small Hand Foods gum syrup and house citrus bitters Duck Confit and Pork Sausage with green lentils, duck fat fingerlings, frisee, bacon, stonefruit and champagne vinaigrette paired with Original Formula Manhattan made with James E. Pepper 1776 rye whiskey, Vya sweet vermouth, Small Hand Foods gum syrup and house citrus bitters](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0713_taste_main_0.jpg?1577874530)
Ad Hock
Paragary displays new vision with Hock Farm Craft & Provisions
Across the street from the bustling Capitol, a new establishment is making the most of the region’s history of agriculture and abundance — at the hands of three owners willing to supply the gusto and know-how.
![Local restaurateur Chris Jarosz found success with his Wicked ‘Wich food truck before turning his eyes to a full-scale restaurant in West Sacramento. Local restaurateur Chris Jarosz found success with his Wicked ‘Wich food truck before turning his eyes to a full-scale restaurant in West Sacramento.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0613_Taste_main.jpg?1577874530)
Roll Out!
Food truck owners are driving new opportunities
Food truck success is leading to brick-and-mortar spin-offs for mobile restaurateurs ready to expand in Sacramento and beyond. For some, a fixed kitchen was always the goal, but for others, the choice to settle down was unexpected, the result of cultivating faithful patrons spreading the good-food word to more and more hungry friends.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0513_Taste_Main.jpg?1577874530)
Double Taste
How Rick Mahan hedged his bets on two very different business models
In the past 13 years Rick Mahan has not only learned a lot about launching, financing, owning and staffing a business, he has also experienced first hand some of life’s toughest lessons. Today, as the well-respected proprietor of The Waterboy restaurant in midtown and One Speed pizza shop in East Sacramento, he is willing to share those lessons.
![Quinoa citrus salad, soft taco, chili relleno, vegetables, cedar roasted tofu and mango chutney. Paired with 2011 ZD Chardonnay, California Quinoa citrus salad, soft taco, chili relleno, vegetables, cedar roasted tofu and mango chutney. Paired with 2011 ZD Chardonnay, California](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0413_Taste_1_Main.jpg?1577874530)
Seasons Greetings
Arden Fair Mall gets a farm-fresh eaterie
To this day I lament the closing of the California Café at Arden Fair Mall.
For years I would describe it as “my favorite restaurant that I never go to.” It had a great vibe, comfortable ambience, cool bar, eclectic wine list, intelligent bartender and a seasonal, farm-fresh menu long before that was trendy. I just couldn’t get over the fact that it was located in a shopping center. I take partial blame for its demise nearly a decade ago; I should have frequented it more often.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0413_China_wine_0.jpg?1577874530)
The New Wine Country
Opportunity abounds for California varietals
Let’s say you’re in a glitzy Beijing restaurant. Your waiter uncorks a $300 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. He pours you a glass and you sip it, savor it, let it breathe. But around the table, everyone else gulps theirs down one swallow, like a shot, yelling “Gan bei!”
Welcome to wine culture in China.
![Paulette Bruce (far right), owner of Good Eats Cooking Classes, teaches a Sunday morning group at East Bay Restaurant Supply. Paulette Bruce (far right), owner of Good Eats Cooking Classes, teaches a Sunday morning group at East Bay Restaurant Supply.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0313_FR_Alternative_eats.jpg?1577874530)
What’s Cooking?
The best reservation in town might be in your own kitchen
These days, the best reservation in town might not be at a restaurant, but at a chef’s table — in the chef’s private home or yours. Congenial chefs are inviting clients to stir and chop to their heart’s content before sitting down to a meal.
![Allyson Dalton, owner, Fox & Goose Pub & Restaurant Allyson Dalton, owner, Fox & Goose Pub & Restaurant](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0313_Taste.jpg?1577874530)
Breakfast of Champions
I’ve long believed that just about the worst way to begin a workweek is scheduling an in-office staff meeting. Employees start dreading it by mid-day Sunday. The gatherings usually get off to a late start, drag on and are deemed worthless by most participants.
Enter the breakfast meeting.
![Biba Restaurant Chef Steve Tosso Biba Restaurant Chef Steve Tosso](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0213_Taste.jpg?1577874530)
Cuisine Under Construction
Biba Restaurant endures some neighborly development
What Biba Caggiano describes as the “bing, bang, bong noises,” began on Jan. 26, 2007. That’s when the building next door to one of the region’s most established destination restaurants was being demolished. What followed was a three-sided, multi-year Sutter Medical Center construction project that continues to this day.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/hook-and-ladder.jpg?1577874530)
Men on Fire
Nine years ago, Kimio Bazett and UC Davis classmate Jon Modrow opened The Golden Bear
Nine years ago, Kimio Bazett and UC Davis classmate Jon Modrow opened The Golden Bear, an American restaurant and bar at 24th and K streets in Sacramento. The location came with a beer and wine license, so the two took what they had and ran with it.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/holiday.jpg?1577874530)
The Bubble Buyer’s Handbook
Choose the right Champagne this holiday season
We live in a world of labels. And right or wrong, the labels we choose have an impact on how others perceive us — even during the holidays.