‘News & Nosh’ — Join this exclusive event with Kru chef Billy Ngo and The Bee’s Benjy Egel
Billy Ngo invites you to The Sacramento Bee’s newsroom. And he’s bringing food.
The founder of Kru Contemporary Japanese Cuisine, Kodaiko Ramen & Bar and Fish Face Poke Bar, Ngo will join me on March 26 for an event called “News & Nosh,” where we’ll discuss his career, the local dining scene and “Sacramento Eats: Recipes from the Capital Region’s Favorite Restaurants,” my cookbook that was published in November.
“News & Nosh” will feature bites from each of Ngo’s restaurants (he also owns high-end dog food store Healthy Hounds Kitchen in East Sacramento), along with a Q&A between the two of us, audience questions and cookbook signings.
The event will run from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on March 26 at 1601 Alhambra Blvd., Suite 100 in Sacramento. Tickets are $50 apiece and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
“Sacramento Eats” is a 160-page, hard-cover compilation of recipes from 60 beloved local restaurants and bars. Each entry includes a paragraph about what makes the business special, and pictures, many of them shot by The Bee’s photographers, accompany each recipe.
Two of Ngo’s concepts have recipes featured in “Sacramento Eats” — Kru’s warm mushroom salad, a menu staple since the restaurant’s days in midtown, and a spicy-sweet Japanese curry that Kodaiko chef/partner Takumi Abe makes at home.
Born in a Hong Kong refugee camp, Ngo immigrated to Sacramento as an infant and began bussing tables at a now-closed local restaurant while in high school. He was just 23 when he founded Kru, considered by many today to be the region’s preeminent Japanese restaurant.
That includes James Beard Award judges, who named Ngo as Sacramento’s lone semifinalist for “Best Chef — California” this year. Finalists will be announced on April 3.
Ngo’s next project is Chu Mai, a modern Chinese and Vietnamese tribute to his late mother Mai Chu, which will open in Richmond Grove near midtown Sacramento later this year.
What I’m Eating
A promising new Indian restaurant hides among the big-box stores in Delta Shores Shopping Center, the sprawling retail complex along Interstate 5 by Sacramento’s southern border.
Chaat Bistro sits across from Koshi Eats and Firehouse Crawfish in Delta Shores South, an enclave of local businesses in a sea of national chains. Opened by Barinder Kaur last April, its intriguing small plates and thoroughly-spiced main dishes — “medium heat” is still pretty darn fiery — make it a destination restaurant amid shopping trips.
If there’s one dish you need to order, it’s the fish pakora ($12), brimming with cardamom pods and other aromatic spices that inspired me to take a long whiff before diving in. Freshly fried in an orange batter in the style of Amritsar, a 1.5-million person city in Punjab, it came out steaming hot with a slow, simmering kick.
The mango curry ($17 with chicken or fish, $19 with shrimp or lamb) was a table favorite as well. We opted for the same fluffy swai in this sweet-savory auburn curry served with basmati rice, rarely seen around Sacramento and a welcome deviation from hotter items.
Meatless options are stellar, from cumin-tossed potatoes called jeera aloo ($14) to samosa chaat ($19) smashed and topped with chole bhature (stewed chickpeas), yogurt and mint and tamarind chutneys. Don’t forget an order of cherry naan ($5) stuffed with a sweet red paste, or dive fully into sugar land with kulfi falooda ($5) ice cream sundaes.
Chaat Bistro
Address: 8128 Delta Shores Circle South, Suite 140, Sacramento.
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Phone: (916) 629-9347.
Website: https://chaatbistro.com/
Drinks: Beer and wine, including a couple Indian imports such as 22-ounce bottles of Flying Horse Royal Lager.
Vegetarian options: Many, and several are vegan.
Noise level: Medium.
Openings & Closings
▪ Armenian American steakhouse V’s Paradise has opened at 1001 Front St. in Old Sacramento, transforming the former Fat City Bar & Cafe space into a swanky cocktail bar and dining room. Look for rib-eye steaks and lamb khorovats skewers as well as some Asian-inspired or veggie-forward dishes from consulting chefs Tyler Bond and Joe Pruner.
▪ Yang Kee Dumpling’s new Roseville location began its soft opening March 6 at 1470 Eureka Road, Suite 170 in Eureka Ridge Plaza. It’s the second location for this Davis-based Chinese restaurant known for its handmade dumplings and noodles.
▪ Gold River Distillery, Sacramento County’s first legal post-Prohibition distillery, will close at the end of March, owner Greg Baughman announced on Facebook. A founding member of Rancho Cordova’s Barrel District, the distillery at 11460 Sunrise Gold Circle is selling bottles of its Wheel House line of spirits for 50% off until March 30.
