![Hand-carved al pastor tacos are among the diverse offerings available at Sky River Casino’s food hall. (Photos by Joe Wong)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/cs_skyriver-7466.png?1687803937)
Gambling on Dining Dollars
Local casinos amp up their food offerings to attract a younger and more diverse clientele
Chris Gibase, president and chief operating officer of Sky River Casino in Elk Grove, goes so far as to assert that Sky River “is a place for foodies.” And the new casino, which opened in August 2022 and is owned by the Wilton Rancheria tribe, isn’t the only local gambling spot that’s placing its bets on food service.
![Chef Lop (Edward Youman) cooked up 10,000 pounds of crayfish each day of the Isleton Crawdad Festival. (Photos by Steve Martarano)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/copy_of_2-june_17_2023isleton_crawdad_festival-2.png?1687500957)
A Crayfish Craze in the Delta
Isleton Crawdad Festival returns for the first time in more than a decade
Isleton’s Crawdad Festival — a defining event from the mid-1980s to the late 2000s for the tiny city along the Sacramento River — returned to Main Street for the first time in 14 years on June 17-18, swelling the city of less than 800 residents to an estimated 60,000 over the two-day event.
![Wet years mean flooded rice fields in Davis. (Shutterstock photo by Alessandra RC)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/shutterstock_561138739.png?1687196682)
Farming to Save Water
Water experts seek new ways to capture groundwater
During a typical year, aquifers provide around 40 percent of the water the state uses; in drought years, that percentage soars to 60 percent or more. The state’s aquifers can hold a lot of water, but that number isn’t infinite, and California’s current rate of overdraft isn’t sustainable.
![The New Orleans-influenced menu features daily specials such as breaded pork chops with mac ‘n cheese, Creole jambalaya and Cajun chicken pot pie, along with classic Southern sides including fried Brussels sprouts, red beans and rice, cornbread, and hush puppies.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1-march_31_2023the_workshop.png?1683828970)
Hometown High School Sweethearts Bring Cajun Cooking to Benicia
Lines often form for their homemade cooking
The story of The Workshop, the popular 600-square foot Cajun-Creole walk-up restaurant in Benicia, starts with a teen romance between Danny Glassmaker and Naomi Buskirk more than 30 years ago.
![Clockwise from top left: Loobia polo, sturgeon kebab, tahdig, chicken kebab, koobideh and ash-e-reshteh are on the menu at Stand Up Kabob. (Photos by Jennifer Fergesen)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/spread_2.png?1684877758)
Neighborhood Favorite: Stand Up Kabob
A Persian restaurant at a Davis car dealership aims to support the Iranian women’s revolution
There are many clues that Stand Up Kabob, a Persian restaurant
literally welded onto the side of a used car dealership on the
outskirts of Davis, is no ordinary kebab shop.
![Gary Gragg, a nurseryman, points out buds on one of his mango plants at his residence in Winters on May 4, 2023. (Photo by Rahul Lal, CalMatters)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/05042023-experimental-farms-rl-02-cm-1.jpeg?1683652156)
Mangoes and Agave in the Central Valley?
California farmers try new crops to cope with climate change
Hustling to adapt, farmers around the state are experimenting with new, more sustainable crops and varieties bred to better tolerate drought, heat, humidity and other elements of the increasingly unruly climate.
![N’Gina Guyton, the latest chef to take over storied Sacramento diner Jim-Denny’s, plans to bring a more “elevated” and intimate experience to the 90-year-old restaurant. (Photos by Andrew Calisterio)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/lead_calisterio-3__final.png?1683645996)
The Next Best Thing
Chef N’Gina Guyton, formerly of South, reopens Sacramento institution Jim-Denny’s while building her own brand
When the restaurant opens in late spring, you will still be able to get a chili dog or a hamburger griddled to a dark sear on the flat top grill. But you can also order a hot dog called a “Catalina wine mixer”: chicken based and topped with kale, avocado and pungent garlic-anchovy mayonnaise.
![Zhongli Pan is the founder of AIVision Food. (Photo by Terence Duffy)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/0523_startup_terenceduffy.png?1683301916)
Startup of the Month: AIVision Food
An early detection tool to protect crops from pests
Insect infestation affects crops worldwide, and manually
monitoring food processing and storage facilities is a costly and
time-intensive endeavor. SmartProbe technology aims to make pest
control easier, cheaper and more effective.
![The ceremonial coffee at Kind Bean Cafe and Ethiopian Cuisine in Arden Arcade is served in an earthenware vessel called a jebena. (Photos by Nolan Wong)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/ceremony.png?1682365147)
Neighborhood Favorite: Kind Bean Cafe and Ethiopian Cuisine
This cafe serves ceremonial Ethiopian coffee — and breakfast burritos
The coffee ceremony at Kind Bean Cafe and Ethiopian Cuisine
unfolds like a sacrament, each tool imbued with significance like
objects on an altar. The beans, roasted and ground throughout the
day, steep in a jebena, an ebony-colored earthenware vessel
developed more than 800 years ago.
![Owners Matt and Fred Haines (front), with chefs Victor Cruz and Antonio Mejia, sit in the egaming room of Roc&Sol Diner, a restaurant that offers both food and games. (Photos by Jayson Carpenter)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/taste_1_final.png?1681161580)
The Restaurant at the Edge of the Metaverse
Longtime restaurateurs open egaming-friendly diner near R Street Corridor
Go by the business that recently opened in the former home of Waffle Square Country Kitchen and there are still some remnants from what was there before, such as the brown pleather booths. Otherwise, though, something very different is going on here.