Visiting Sacramento, America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital

Last year, I went to Sacramento for the first time. I was attending the International Food Blogger Conference in downtown Sacramento. Everyone that attended wrote a post about the host city from which Visit Sacramento would pick a winner to win a free trip back. Guess who won? This lucky girl! I just got back from my amazing trip and this post, Visiting Sacramento, America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital, is all about the fabulous time my family and I just spent there.

I was born in San Diego and have spent the majority of my life there. I have always thought it was the best place on earth – great weather, fabulous food, and don’t forget about the beautiful beaches. Well, if San Diego is dubbed America’s Finest City, it has some competition. I am also in love with America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital, a.k.a., Sacramento. So much so that I could totally live there. Thankfully, Sacramento rubbed off on my husband too because he told me that he could also live there, which is great because I was really going to miss him.

One of my favorite things about Sacramento, especially the Midtown area, is how it somehow attains small town charm with nice, friendly people and also has the restaurants and activities of city life – but without the craziness, traffic, and hurry-up-to-get-nowhere-fast mentality.

So you drop your luggage off at the hotel. What’s the first thing you want to do? Probably check out the Capitol Building. It’s where California gets their government business done and it is centrally located in the heart of the city, so it’s a great place to start off and venture out.

Visiting Sacramento, America's Farm-to-Fork Capital — The Capitol Building

Right beside the Capitol Building is one of my all-time favorite parks, Capitol Park, which is a gorgeous, lush green park that’s filled with a plethora of different kinds of trees – tall palm trees, majestic eucalyptus trees, cork oak trees, evergreen trees, and many others. Before Sacramento was “America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital” it was “The City of Trees” – and rightfully so! The park is a great place to enjoy a shaded picnic and see the sites. While you’re there, take a stroll through the beautiful World Peace Rose Garden or visit one of the California Veterans Memorials.

If you enjoy walking like I do, you can easily walk from Capitol Park to Old Sacramento, or Old Sac, as the locals call it. It’s a quaint, historical town along the Sacramento River that is an all-in-one stop for great restaurants, museums, shopping, train rides, and tours. Say what you will, but the first thing I did in Old Sacramento was go to River City Saloon and have a Bloody Mary! The saloon, which was originally established in 1871, still offers 25 cent sarsaparilla!

While in Old Sacramento, I went to the Sacramento History Museum where I learned about its time as a booming town for gold miners and the early history of Old Sacramento regarding their way of life and the tragic fires and floods that the challenged city persevered through multiple times. The museum doesn’t take a lot of time to get through, but it’s a nice stop in Old Sac, and it’s air conditioned!

Old Sac is also host to a Hornblower Cruise since it’s right on the river. My family and I spent a fun evening on the Hornblower Alive After Five Cruise. It’s a happy hour cruise that has a DJ and takes you up and down the river for a fun 1 1/2 hours of sights, music, and cocktails. My whole family enjoyed this outing!

Two other places I got to try in Old Sacramento are Rio City Cafe and Delta Bar & Grill. Rio City Cafe is located right on the river and they have a great view of the Tower Bridge and the boats passing by on the water. They have a fantastic brunch menu! I got my favorite breakfast, Eggs Benedict, with unlimited mimosas. My whole family loved their breakfast!

The Delta Bar & Grill is located on the Delta King, a riverboat that was turned into a hotel. I sat outside on the deck with a nice view of the river and had a Bloody Mary. If you like a Bloody Mary that has a big horseradish kick, you would love theirs. Next time I come back to Sacramento, I would like to stay a night on the Delta King. It’s so much different from traditional hotels – plus, you’d be right in the heart of Old Sac!

If you know me or read enough of my posts, you know that seeing the sites of a new city is just as exciting to me as trying the city’s food. I went on this trip planning to only go to restaurants that I didn’t get a chance to try last time I was there. Well, like a magnetic force, Station 16 pulled me back in for another luscious lobster roll. Yes, they are still amazing! I also tried their red sangria and it was a perfect!

Hearing great things about Cafeteria 15L, we made sure to stop by for dinner one evening. They focus on “farm to table fresh homespun creations”, which is exactly what I was looking for on my farm-to-fork adventure in Sacramento. Being the pasta lover I am, I opted for the shrimp scampi and my husband got the chicken & waffle with Tabasco-black pepper country gravy. We both thoroughly enjoyed our meals and would definitely go back again!

If you’re a pickled foods aficionado like myself, check out a little store called Preservation & Co. This “Sacramento Born & Brined” company sells everything you need for a social gathering. I had my eye on Jalapeno Margarita Mix, Bloody Mary Mix, and pickled Hickory Brussels Sprouts, but fearing breakage in my luggage, I opted for a jar of Habanero Pickle Slices. They survived the journey home to be devoured by my 7-year old, who is a major spicy food fanatic.

You would be remiss to take a trip to America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital and not visit a farmers market. There are many to choose from depending on what day you go, but we went to the Midtown Farmers Market that takes place on Saturdays. They have stands of gorgeous produce, local artisan products, food trucks/stands selling breakfast, and the most beautiful flowers for sale. I saw flowers that I’ve never even seen before! We ate a wonderful breakfast sandwich called Midtown at “The Pop Up Truck”. It had scrambled eggs, chives, cheese, caramelized onions, and sriracha mayo. Amazing! It was inhaled before I could take a picture.

Also at the Midtown Farmers Market is “Wheel Lemonade“. It was fresh, slightly tart, all natural lemonade that was created to be not too sweet. We bought a bottle of the original lemonade flavor and it also didn’t last long enough to take a picture.

You’re on vacation and already ate breakfast and shopped at the Midtown Farmers Market, so what’s next? How about a Bloody Mary from De Vere’s Irish Pub. No, this isn’t the diary of a Bloody Mary enthusiast, I’m on vacation! De Vere’s is a family-friendly pub that makes a killer Bloody Mary! Whether it’s all the snacking goodies like bacon, celery, green olives, green beans, pepperoncini, and lemon that makes your Bloody Mary special or the spicy drink itself, you will love theirs!

So you want to relax, see the sights, drink mimosas, and pan for gems? The RiverTrain Excursion from the Sacramento RiverTrain is what you want. On a peaceful 2 1/2 hour train trip, you’ll get to see a lot of Sacramento you wouldn’t normally see, some of that being the Sacramento River. They serve continental breakfasts, sandwiches, and beverages including unlimited mimosas that you order before your trip. At the half-way point of the train ride you get off and pan for gems in a recreated old mining town. My kids loved it! If you are coming to Sacramento with a family, this train ride is definitely a worthy stop! Note: they put real gems in your bag of sand to be panned, so you will definitely walk away with gems!

I’m going to end at Midtown since it’s my favorite part of the city. In Midtown I had not only one of the best Mexican meals I’ve ever had, I had one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Period. You must go to Zocalo! This restaurant resides in a building that was a car dealership almost 100 years ago! The ambiance is anything but antique; it’s colorful, fun, and vibrant. I highly recommend you get the Mayakoba Ceviche – it has shrimp, habanero oil, pico de gallo, and avocado. It was the best ceviche I’ve ever had! My entree was a plate of Guanajuato Enchiladas that were stuffed with poblano, jalapeño, tomatillos and cilantro. Incredible doesn’t describe them. I would go back to Zocalo in a heartbeat! Tip: get there early, they’ll have a line!

Getting back to my favorite thing about Sacramento being its small town charm is so true. Everywhere we went, the people were so friendly – the business owners down in Old Sac that were opening their doors for the day had warm, inviting smiles, people in public actually said hello, the strangers on the street didn’t hesitate to help when Google failed me with directions, the Uber drivers all kindly offered suggestions on where to do this or that – except for one, but he did tell me he had just moved there from Los Angeles!

Thank you to everyone at Visit Sacramento and their partners that put this incredible vacation together! My family and I had the best time exploring your wonderful city and I honestly can’t wait to come back. Maybe one day we’ll be neighbors ;) You’ll find me on a tree-lined street in Midtown in one of those stunning Victorian homes.

If you’re interested in reading the post that won me this amazing trip back to Sacramento, check out my post, A Foodie’s Weekend in Sacramento.

Looking for more foodie destinations? I gotcha covered!

Disclosure: I was given this trip to Sacramento and the opportunity to visit some of the establishments mentioned in this post for free, but that in no way altered or swayed Visiting Sacramento, America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital. These are my genuine opinions.