Thank your lucky lone star that this former food truck turned restaurant and its Central Texas-style low-and-slow brisket exists. Sacramento natives Ryan Metzger and Tony Nguyen use coast live oak and an offset smoker to give their meats a well-balanced, smokey richness that seamlessly pairs with the bracing do chua (pickled carrots and daikon) on the Vietnamese-inspired beef-cheek pastrami banh mi. Don’t miss out on the dino beef ribs on the weekends. This is the best barbecue in Sacramento, period.

Originally known as Cora Lorraine’s and located in South Sacramento, the McCree family may have packed up and rebranded, but they’re still serving the same delicious soul food that they have since 2015: smothered fried chicken, shrimp and grits, fried catfish, black-eyed peas, collard greens, red beans, and mac and cheese. Don’t forget the cornbread, and make sure to try the ribs, which are smoked and then deep-fried. On Sundays, there’s gumbo and oxtails.

Does Sacramento need another sushi restaurant? This part of town, which has been revitalized every decade to no avail, certainly needed something different. And that difference is...sushi. Lou Valente used to be the face and name of Lou’s Sushi in Midtown, but he has moved on and taken his vegan spider roll with panko-crusted oyster mushrooms to old Del Paso Blvd. Get the grilled oysters with red curry sauce or the off-menu chirashi — some of the freshest, most delicate fish served over a bed of fragrant rice.

Named after Sacramento native Russ Solomon, the founder of Tower Records, and kerplunked into an original Tower Records on a main downtown thoroughfare, Solomon’s is one of the city’s few Jewish delicatessens. With a restored psychedelic mural from 1973, it’s also one of the most aesthetically unique restaurants in Sacramento. This is the place to get your pastrami, lox, whitefish, and knish fix. Don’t even think about passing up the pastrami bacon, egg, and cheese bagel.

Brought to you by Mymy Nguyen-Voong and husband Jimmy Voong, owners of the now-defunct Delilah’s by Make Fish, Saigon Alley is an upscale, contemporary homage to Nguyen-Voong’s Vietnamese heritage. With a modern palette of white marble and neutral tones, it would be easy to confuse this restaurant for any other generically trendy spot if it weren’t for the food. The menu consists of expected dishes like banh mi, sugarcane shrimp, and summer rolls, but there are unexpected nuances — banh mi tacos and the pho broth that’s poured tableside from a tea kettle.

An R Street corridor fried chicken sandwich spot opens up with a faux-graffiti laden interior and an oversized mural of Muhammad Ali. A partnership between the Selland restaurant empire and Rob Archie, owner of Pangaea Bier Cafe, Bawk serves juicy fried chicken on its own with the bone, in between a bun for on the run, or in a bucket for a ducat (or, well, $30). What distinguishes Bawk are its Gus’s-inspired wet-style batter and its secret “magic” seasoning, which is reminiscent of Popeyes Cajun Sparkle.

Originally located inside of a gas station, Don Chuy developed a cult-like following for its quesatacos de birria before it closed last year. Now risen from its ashes, like a glorious phoenix-goat combination, the new food truck incarnation of Don Chuy is once again serving tacos stuffed with beef or cinnamon-laced goat (you want the goat) and melty cheese, placed on the flattop, and showered with the cooking broth, which turns the corn tortillas bright orange and crispy. Pair these with the fiery “orange salsa,” and don’t skip the rich, meaty consomé — it’s necessary for taco dipping like a pro. (Note: On weekends, the truck parks at a different location, at 6035 Stockton Boulevard, outside of a strip mall.)

Open as a tamaleria since the 1990s, last year Yolanda’s decided to convert a portion of its factory space into a family-run restaurant: Yolanda Vega and her son Andres Yanez work the line while Andres’ wife Sandra operates the register, and their young son runs around the shop. The tamale masa here is soft and buttery, whipped until fairies float towards the heavens. Try the chile verde; the crispy shrimp tacos; and, during special times of year, the magical mole estilo Michoacán that’s used for tortas ahogadas and, in a special twist, to cover tamales.

In a town that harbors very few black-owned restaurants (and, among those, even fewer that serve gumbo), Louisiana Heaven is an important addition to the local scene — even when it’s tucked into the corner of a micro-parking lot near a grocery store that’s set to close. Come for the perfectly crispy fried shrimp and fried fish, as well as harder-to-find menu items like boudin balls (boudin blanc sausage and dirty rice rolled into balls and deep fried). The chicken-and-sausage gumbo has shrimp and Dungeness crab laced throughout. Shrimp and grits and oxtails are served Sundays only.

The new Bruceville location of this Northern California chain offers Mediterranean food in the form of fresh gyro sandwiches: soft pita, thinly sliced gyro meat, shredded lettuce, hummus, and a savory sauce. You can also get a towering Badmash burger (an all-beef patty, gyro meat, grilled onions, and cheese) or a simple shawarma plate. Whatever you do, don’t skip the Philly fries.