Elizabeth-Rose Mandalou is a partner and cofounder of the restaurant group WM Restaurants and holds the title of Advanced Sommelier from the Court of Master Sommeliers.

Co-owner Peter Hoey is optimistic for the future, saying, “It’s not pre-pandemic numbers, but we’re in a good spot as far as restaurant sales.”

Fufu is a West African staple food made from boiled, pounded cassava or other starches, and it’s trending on TikTok.

While many small and not-so-small businesses were roiled, some have seen a windfall with people desperate to hop in their cars and do something, anything, besides cook another dinner at home and watch more Netflix.

Sacramento has been invaded by Nashville-style hot chicken.

A 20-year study led by a UC Davis scientist and his colleague at the University of Haifa in Israel was recently recognized by the U.S.-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund.

Neighborhood Favorite is a new monthly web column that profiles independent restaurants around the Capital Region to showcase the diversity and resilience of our local food entrepreneurs. In the first installment, we visit one of Sacramento’s longest-standing Lao restaurants.

As farmers and event organizers adapt to climate change and the ongoing spread of the pandemic, mandarin oranges have offered a bright taste of normalcy during grim times.

As pandemic shutdowns intensify, more than a third of jobs in three California industries that rely on events — sports, performing arts and catering — have already disappeared. And they’ve been slower to recover than the state workforce as a whole.

In September, UC Davis was awarded the first federal funding given to a university to research cultivated meat, positioning the Capital Region to serve as a hub of the advancing technology.