Debbie Cunningham of DL Cunningham Photography is a freelance photographer who specializes in food, editorial and event photography, but sees pictures everywhere and in everything. She is a contributing photographer for Comstock’s magazine, Sacramento Magazine and Edible Sacramento, among other publications, and has been published nationwide. When she comes out from behind the lens, you can find her loving on her pets, making messes in her kitchen and eating her way through the Capital Region. Her work can be viewed and purchased at www.dlcunninghamphotography.com.
By this person
![LPAS Architecture + Design won Best in Show and Crowd Favorite for this design at the Merge Fashion Show. Modeled by interior designer Isabel Ramirez, this cocktail dress made from interior design materials includes a detachable skirt that transforms into a peacock-like frill.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0819_dept_sustainability_debbiecunningham_lead_cropped.jpg?1577874530)
Designing the Future
Sacramento designers transform architectural materials into future-forward fashion at the International Interior Design Association Northern California Chapter Merge Fashion Show
Outside the Hyatt Regency in downtown Sacramento, tower cranes rise above the skyline, harbingers of the city’s burgeoning building boom. Inside, the designers who are determining the new face of our city took to the runway to envision our future through fashion.
![From left: Yvette Rincon, Charmaine Magale, Christy Decelle and Hola Motuapuaka toast with a drink of Legado Whiskey at Revival at The Sawyer in Sacramento.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0819_dept_taste_embed3_debbiecunningham.jpg?1577874530)
Riding Their Rye
How four women are turning the Legado Whiskey passion project into an international brand
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.
![Customers dine at Culinerdy Kitchen during the restaurant’s opening week in June.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0719_dept_taste_embed3_debbiecunningham.jpg?1577874530)
For Food Trucks, a Road to Success
Sacramento food truck owners graduate from nomadic life to traditional brick-and-mortar dwellings
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.
![Mad Will’s cooks, bottles and labels products onsite that its customers then distribute and sell as their own house-branded products.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0619_dept_taste_embed1_debbiecunningham.jpg?1577874530)
New Recipe for Success
After a change in ownership, contract manufacturer Mad Will’s is cooking again
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.
![Dawne Franklin has participated in Short Center North’s art program for 17 years. “I love how the paint feels, especially acrylic,” says Franklin, one of the center’s top-selling artists.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0519_feat_outsiderart_debbiecunningham.jpg?1577874530)
Outside’s In
Outsider art continues to captivate collectors in Sacramento and beyond
Defining “outsider art” isn’t easy — the term encompasses work by self-taught artists and the artwork of the developmentally disabled — but its popularity is soaring. In Sacramento, Short Center North’s art program is one example.
![Sonny Mayugba is a partner in the soon-to-open Solomon’s Delicatessen in downtown Sacramento.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0519_dept_taste_lead_debbiecunningham.jpg?1577874530)
Hungry for More
How Sonny Mayugba went from struggling musician to restaurant entrepreneur
It’s around 1992, and a long-haired dude in his early 20s is sitting with his friend at Taco Loco, a popular Mexican eatery on J Street in Sacramento. They’re eyeballing the customers, waiting to pounce.
![Chef Brad Cecchi of Canon says trying to nab a Michelin star “adds a lot of pressure to the day-to-day.”](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0419_dept_taste_embed3_debbiecunningham.jpg?1577874530)
Star Search
Can a California guide boost Sacramento’s chances of nabbing a Michelin star?
After several weeks of rumors, two years of lobbying from Visit Sacramento and over a decade of fruitless attempts by local chefs to capture the attention of the most influential food guide in the world, Michelin finally rolled into town in March.
![Anna Sadovnikova, CEO and cofounder of LiquidGoldConcept](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0319_feat_healthcare_lead_debbiecunningham.jpg?1577874530)
Women’s Health is Long Overdue for Fresh Eyes — And Needed Funding
Throughout the region, public and private-sector players are rethinking women’s health, expanding and diversifying their approach to maternal and infant health.
![Grass-fed beef bone marrow with sourdough baquettes served at Backbone Café. Bottom: vegan cauliflower topped with thyme sauce and grilled onions.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1218_dept_taste_lead_debbiecunningham.jpg?1577874530)
The Best of Both Worlds
Sacramento restaurants look to capture meat-loving and vegan diners with one menu
How are Sacramento’s restaurateurs appealing to new diet preferences?
![”Rick Mindermann films Darrell Corti for Corti TV, which the store director created in 2011 and now has an archive of more than 800 videos.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1118_dept_taste_lead_debbiecunningham.jpg?1577874530)
Mr. Fixer
Corti Brothers’ Rick Mindermann brings new ideas to the time-honored market
Corti Brothers’ Rick Mindermann is bringing a new-school mentality to the old-school market.
![GOOD CO-OP has stopped producing its popular brownies while the company sets up its new operation.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0918_dept_taste_lead_debbiecunningham.jpg?1577874530)
Barriers to Baked Goods
Supply of edible cannabis dwindles during regulatory waiting game
Mike Appezzato has only been in business for a year, but he’s already uprooting his company to move it to Sacramento.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/dsc_0058.jpg?1577874530)
Realty One Sacramento HQ Grand Opening
Realty One celebrated the grand opening of their second office in the Capital Region with the new Sacramento headquarters at 2335 American River Drive. More than 150 guests enjoyed the festivities including a ribbon cutting, photo booth, red carpet entrance, live DJ, prizes and more.
![(design by Darren Ragle)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1016_feat_launch_lead_design-dr_elements-ss.png?1577874530)
The Family Fund
Immigrant entrepreneurs are twice as likely to launch new businesses, and their startup success often hinges on family
There are good reasons to focus on the special challenges posed by family businesses, like how to keep family resentments from turning to business rivalries and avoid nepotism that results in the wrong people working in key positions. But for some Sacramento immigrant family businesses, blood ties have been the key to survival.
![Chef Scott Ostrander creates the menu for The Restaurant at Park Winters.
Chef Scott Ostrander creates the menu for The Restaurant at Park Winters.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1016_blog_winters1.jpg?1577874530)
Park Winters a Gem in Yolo County
The Restaurant at Park Winters offers true foodie experience
Out on County Road 26, just west of Interstate 505 in Yolo
County, Park Winters sits holding court against a backdrop of the
Vaca Mountains as it has since George Washington Scott built the
mansion in 1865. Now under the ownership of partners John Martin
and Rafael Galiano, this 151-year-old
10-acre property is thriving with new life.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0916_feat_strategy_embed1_debbiecunningham.jpg?1577874530)
Game Face
For Kevin Nagle, Capital Region sport connoisseur, failure has never been an option
How did Nagle, now 62, go from weed-puller to angel investor? He shares his maxims of leadership, including how he somehow reads 300 emails a day, makes work an obsession and why he feels soccer is the future of America.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0816_feat_veterans_lead_debbiecunningham.jpg?1577874530)
The War Back Home
Local service providers work to keep military families together — during and after deployment
A veteran’s inability to find and keep employment is a main cause of homelessness, according to Bettis. A stable income and stable housing go hand-in-hand. That’s where the VOA of Northern California and Northern Nevada comes into play.