Downtown Sacramento’s best restaurants include a new Moroccan breakfast-and-lunch spot, a sourdough with a daily vegetarian option and a couple of high-end concepts ideal for a special night out (or expense account).
These five options aren’t just the best in downtown Sacramento. They’re among the Top 50 Restaurants anywhere in the Sacramento region, as published in a sortable list last week.
Don’t see your favorite downtown restaurant? Write them in to The Bee’s poll. The five most popular write-ins will be added to the Top 50 list as “readers choice” inclusions.
Camden Spit & Larder
$$$$ — British
Glitzy and glamorous on Capitol Mall, Camden Spit & Larder is a restaurant true to chef/owner Oliver Ridgeway’s being: British by birth, modern Californian by choice. Attentive servers in gingham shirts always seem to have some pleasant special to pitch, including a crispy, dill-forward salmon Scotch egg topped with trout roe and laid over housemade tartar sauce on a May visit. While the restaurant’s 2018 genesis revolved around rotisserie meats (that’s the “spit” in its name; “larder” refers to a cool, dry pantry, and Camden is Ridgeway’s son’s name), its meat pies have become defining dishes in their own right. You might find them filled with the classic steak and ale, or shredded pork accompanied by cotija-whipped potatoes and a mini pitcher of pour-over chile colorado. Chunky, gamey sausage rolls wrapped in flaky puff pastry have become a flagship dish as well, served with coriander bread-and-butter pickle slices and mustard that will clear the sinuses.