From grilled eel over omurice in midtown, torched burrata and brisket tacos in Elk Grove, vegetarian sushi rolls in Newton booth and sisig in Curtis Park, these were the best restaurant meals that I ate as a Sacramento Bee food and drink reporter this summer.
Sunny Side Breakfast
Brunch classics meet Korean and Japanese flavors at Sunny Side Breakfast, offering maple syrup with gochujang, hollandaise with yuzu and most importantly, rice.
The family-run, breakfast and Asian fusion restaurant soft opened last October, replacing Devine Gelateria & Cafe in midtown. Co-owner Angela Kanjanasiri, who has lived in Sacramento for eight years, opened the business with her family after years of working in restaurants. Though her family is Thai, the menu at Sunny Side reflects an appreciation for Korean and Japanese cuisine.
Her brother, Sakrapee Meeisara, who previously worked at a Korean restaurant, helped develop much of the menu. He is responsible for the restaurant’s most popular dish, the Unagi Tornado Omurice ($24). A thick slab of grilled eel dripping with sauce sits over a large mound of ginger fried rice enveloped in a soft “tornado” omelet, referring to a technique where the scrambled egg is twisted in the pan using chopsticks. The dish is finished with tobiko and unagi sauce, made from soy sauce, mirin, sugar and sake. As someone who enjoys a little extra unagi sauce on my rice bowls at home, I appreciated the pooling overflow of sauce in this dish…