Best restaurant meals I ate around Sacramento in April | Food reporter’s notebook

My April explorations of greater Sacramento’s food scene brought me to Greta Gerwig’s favorite hometown restaurant, a dumpling house that expands the offerings at a Roseville shopping center and the kind of barbecue I’ve missed since moving back from Texas.

Each of these reviews were first published in my free weekly food and drink newsletter, which hits inboxes at noon each Wednesday. Visit bit.ly/bee_food_drink_newsletter to sign up.

Hog Wild Bar-B-Que

My first job out of college was covering business for the Amarillo Globe-News, the Texas Panhandle’s newspaper of record. While I missed many things about California (family, mountains, etc.), I’ve yearned for one thing in particular since returning to Sacramento six-and-a-half years ago: top-tier Southern barbecue.

In Placerville, of all places, I believe I’ve found the region’s best Texas-style barbecue. Hog Wild Bar-B-Que is Mary and Steve Fulmer’s ode to meats cooked low and slow, available by the pound or as a gut-stuffing lunch.

Unbeknownst to me, I visited Hog Wild a few hours after a local TV station aired a package on the restaurant’s participation in Guy Fieri’s new Food Network show “Best Bite in Town.” That meant the two most popular items, baby back ribs and 16-hour brisket, were sold out by 3 p.m. — they might last until 5 on a normal day, but call ahead to reserve yours if worried.

No matter. The pulled pork was perfectly balanced, a rich, stringy mess that charred up at the edges. St. Louis-style ribs might not be native to the Lone Star State, but their sweet glaze caused the edges to crisp up into delicious little meat candies.

You can try those along with oozing jalapeño-cheese sausage on three-meat, three-side platters for two to eight people ($51-$186). Meals for one ($21-$26) are priced based on the number of meats and sides.

Housemade desserts from Mary’s mother Margie are worth tasting as well, including whole pies available to-go. A dense crème de menthe brownie ($6) topped with green frosting and an Andes chocolate mint made for a fudgy end-of-meal refreshment.

Address: 38 Main St., Placerville.

Hours: 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday. Regularly sells out of most popular items before closing.

Phone: (530) 622-3883

Website: https://www.hogwildbarbque.com/

Drinks: Beer, soda and cider. Twenty-two-ounce draft pours, including Texas’ classic Shiner Bock, are half-off from 2-4 p.m. Wednesday-Friday.

Vegetarian options: It’s a barbecue joint. But sides such as cranberry-studded coleslaw, potato salad and macaroni and cheese are delicious across the board.

Noise level: Relatively quiet.

Outdoor seating: Four patio tables.

Tres Hermanas

Tres Hermanas ranks among Greta Gerwig’s top restaurants in Sacramento, and she’s not alone.

The “Lady Bird” and “Barbie” director shouted out her hometown favorite in singer Dua Lipa’s newsletter in December 2022, the same month that The Sacramento Bee’s readers said it was snubbed in a list of the region’s Top 50 Restaurants.

Sonia Saenz originally opened her Northern Mexican restaurant in midtown Sacramento in 1997 with siblings Dora, Norma and Sergio before they split off to open sister concepts in East Sacramento and Davis. The midtown Tres Hermanas remains the flagship, its colorful walls and weaving iron vines painting a quaint interior that fills up even during weekday lunches.

The ensalada ceviche ($19) is made for summer, a cooling concoction of beautifully fresh romaine lettuce and red cabbage topped with lime-cured diced basa, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and avocado. A house cilantro dressing was the bright finish this dish needed.

Tasha’s quesadilla ($20) is, as the Brits say, an absolute unit, an un-closeable flour tortilla comes jammed with sautéed red and green bell peppers, seasoned chicken, onions, garlic and Monterey Jack cheese, served with rice, beans, sour cream and guacamole. Yet it was a cheeky sprinkle of cinnamon throughout the quesadilla that stood out the most, a welcome complement that cut through heavier items nicely.

Tres Hermanas’ burrito de chile colorado ($18) carries a higher price tag than your average taqueria burrito, but it’s a hefty fellow as well, stuffed with beans, cheese and savory pork hunks in a mild New Mexico pepper stew, then served with rice and beans on the side. Make it wet for $1 more by having the cooks pour tasty red enchilada sauce over the top.

Address: 2416 K St., Sacramento.

Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m-9 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday.

Phone: (916) 443-6919

Website: None.

Drinks: Full bar, including a dozen varieties of margaritas.

Vegetarian options: A few, including quesadillas, chiles rellenos and squash-mushroom enchiladas.

Noise level: Medium-loud.

Outdoor seating: Shaded patio.

Uncle Dumpling

Roseville’s dining scene saw a welcome boost with the September opening of Uncle Dumpling in Stone Point Retail Center. A marriage of traditional and contemporary Chinese elements, its star dish is xiaolongbao, Shanghai-style soup dumplings that have become a 21st century U.S. favorite.

Large plexiglass kitchen windows show aunties crafting dumplings by hand, illuminated by a neon sign declaring “You Only Live Once.” Bamboo steamer baskets and a giant folding fan decorate the brick-walled dining room, where each table has a guide on how to eat xiaolongbao (place it on your spoon, poke a hole, suck the broth out and eat the rest, with black vinegar or chili oil if desired).

Classic pork xiaolongbao ($15 for eight) are the standard-bearer, soft-bottomed vessels of meat and salty broth. The truffle Berkshire xiaolongbao ($21 for eight) is a more decadent, Instagrammable option tucked in dough dyed black by squid ink and sprinkled with edible gold.

While dumplings, even the soupless varieties, are the clear focus, don’t sleep on the stir-fried green beans ($14) tossed with crumbles of pork and garlic and a subtle layer of spice. Jajang noodles ($14) have a more omnipresent heat, which runs through the tofu, mushrooms, pork and cucumber strips to tingle the tongue and lips.

For dessert: more dumplings! Chocolate xiaolongbao ($10 for five), created by legendary Taiwan-based chain Din Tai Fung and previously unseen in Sacramento-area restaurants to my knowledge, are tinier than their porky counterparts and filled with strawberry and chocolate syrups. Served with a semisweet cheese foam dipping sauce, they came together like bite-sized dessert crêpes in the mouth.

Address: 1485 Eureka Road, Suite 150, Roseville.

Hours: 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 4:30-8:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 4:30-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 4:30-8:30 p.m. Sunday.

Phone: (916) 886-8132.

Website: http://www.uncledumpling.com/

Drinks: Beer, sake, smoothies and fruit, milk or hot teas.

Vegetarian options: Egg-mushroom dumplings, a few appetizers and hearty plates of garlic-laden spinach, broccoli or bok choy.

Noise level: Quiet.

Outdoor seating: Four patio tables.

Essy’s Kabob

Esmail “Essy” Tork worked in his father’s extravagant restaurant, first opened in the 1950s, when he was a teenager in Iran. Tork then swapped cotton tablecloths for butcher paper at Essy’s Kabob, his comparatively casual Persian restaurant in Old Foothill Farms, but still pays homage to his father’s restaurant with photos on the walls.

There are photos of Tork, too, catering halal feasts for northeastern Sacramento County’s sizable Middle Eastern population. The slogan of “Best Kabab in the World” is a stretch, but Essy’s Kabob has a strong fan base near around the Madison Avenue-Auburn Boulevard intersection.

An order of joojeh sultani ($20.50) offers a chance to try gamey ground beef and chicken breast kebabs, the latter dyed yellow from a saffron-yogurt mixture, atop an hulking plate of basmati rice. You can elevate further with barg ($30.50), twists of salty filet mignon cooked medium-well.

Outside of kebabs, Essy’s tart fesenjoon ($19.50) stood out. A deep green stew of grilled chicken cooked in a mixture of ground walnuts and pomegranate molasses and served over rice, it formed a fruit-forward counterbalance to the heavier meat platters for which Essy’s is known.

Address: 5207 Madison Ave., Suite A, Sacramento.

Hours: 11 a.m.- 9 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, closed Monday.

Phone: (916) 331-1194.

Website: None.

Drinks: Sodas, yogurt drinks and bottled water.

Vegetarian options: Appetizers and desserts.

Noise level: Quiet.

Outdoor seating: None.