This story is part of our October 2026 issue. To read the print version, click here.

It’s a morning on the edge of autumn as Marcos Popar blows leaves away from the front of a deli that he’s owned in downtown Sacramento for 35 years. He casually drops an A-frame sign onto the sidewalk, its sound muffled by a low hum of early traffic at the corner of P and 11th streets. Popar starts raising umbrellas over a smattering of cafe tables that are spread to the north and east of his doorway. Before long, the tight confines of Le Croissant Delicatessen Shop hold the merging aromas of soft bread, cold meat and grilled veggies.  

“My secret is everything is fresh, and I’m not buying ingredients from the big companies,” says Popar, who grew up in Greece and Turkey and has been cooking for decades. “I go shopping by myself all the time to get what I need. The secret is that: having a clean kitchen and making specialty sandwiches.”    

There’s a charming simplicity to the closet-sized cooking space he often works alone in, and its setup is ideal for making lunches to-go or a quick treat to enjoy under the elm trees. Popar has had many longtime customers express gratitude that he is keeping the modest magic of the little delicatessen going. But he also acknowledges that the corner his deli stands on — a couple of blocks from several state office buildings — doesn’t have the level of foot traffic that it did before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted nearly all downtown office workers to go remote. 

So far, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s return-to-the-office mandate for state workers, which required at least four days in the office per week starting July 1, hasn’t really changed that.

“Seeing more people from that? Not so much,” Popar says. “It’s been sort of the same thing. I thought it was going to be very good when that happened — but no. When I ask regular customers why that is, they say, ‘Because gas is so high, and my salary hasn’t gone up at all, we bring food from home now to save money.’”

He adds, “And that’s true, because all of the food prices are so high right now. I still try to keep my prices down, even with what that does to my profits.” 

For the moment, Popar is adapting to the realities of his corner of downtown. But for those who worked on the grid between 6th and 16th streets in the years leading up to the pandemic, so many changes have come to the sights, sounds and rhythms of the urban core’s lunch scene that they’re hard to quantify — or overstate.

Nevertheless, some of downtown’s lunch destinations are optimistic about the return of the state workers, signaling a belief that the heart of Sacramento is on its way to finding a new noontime identity. 

Then and now 

They say that food brings together people from different backgrounds, and certain bygone downtown restaurants exemplified that. There was Blue Prynt Restaurant & Bar, where off-duty servers and bartenders mingled naturally with state scientists, elected officials and attorneys. Relaxed conversations were always flowing over its plates of sliders, fish tacos and crab-stuffed jalapeño poppers, with everyone present knowing their tab wouldn’t break the bank. The restaurant closed in 2018, and the diner-like building on 11th Street is now an office for a transitional housing agency.

Then there was Ambrosia Café on K Street, where political staffers and lobbyists used to hunch over eggplant sandwiches and tuna melts just a stone’s throw from the halls of power; and Lucca on J and 16th streets, known for serving up penne pasta and handcrafted cocktails for whoever needed that kind of lunch. Ambrosia’s eye-catching marquee still juts over its big windows, but its interior is empty while its courtyard is blocked off by construction barriers. Lucca’s abandoned building was being torn to pieces by backhoes in early September. Both restaurants closed in 2020, reportedly collateral damage from the COVID-19 lockdowns.

But on a sunny Friday afternoon, it becomes clear that some of the local attorneys are excited about a new lunch spot. They form a small line at the door of Maria’s Empanadas & Paella as they chat about different cases and court dates. A few are already digging into their orders on its front patio facing a busy stretch of 16th Street. Owner Maria Perez says it was the official return of state workers that prompted her to take the leap from a Midtown Farmers Market pop-up to a brick-and-mortar spot on the edge of downtown. 

After the governor’s announcement, “I quickly tried to organize everything and have this ready,” she says. “I knew that some businesses around here had closed down, so I thought, ‘Where are they going to eat?’ I understood the key to this would be making something that is easy, delicious and affordable.” 

In the end, Perez was ready to open her lunch hub about 10 months before the return-to-work order went into effect. She says that buffer gave her time to contemplate how to best reach the state workers. She had previously worked at the Midtown Mexican restaurant Zócalo during the Great Recession, back when state workers were constantly being furloughed. Perez remembers Zócalo engineering lunch specials specifically for patrons tightening their belts and doing so to great success. She’s now whipped up a similar affordable boxed-lunch concept. One option features a bowl of paella, a salad and two cookies, while the other includes two empanadas, cookies and a salad. 

“It brings life to this area because it’s fast and casual and perfect for office workers,” Perez says. “In that respect, Sacramento is very similar to my hometown in Sinaloa, Mexico. I lived in its state capital where there were lots of government jobs. I see a connection to all of it.”

New life in an old place

Haroon Khan and his family held their official re-opening of Bud’s Buffet on July 1 — the very day state workers returned in droves to their downtown offices. This wasn’t a coincidence. 

Under its previous ownership, Bud’s Buffet had been a staple on 10th Street for three decades. It closed in September 2020, and its inviting deli space then sat empty for nearly six years. Finally, the Khan family, who own a successful Pakistani restaurant in Rancho Cordova and were constantly catering downtown, decided to reinvigorate Bud’s under the same tried-and-true name, but with a very different kind of menu. 

Haroon has two chefs who specialize in Mexican food and two more who have mastered Pakistani cuisine. Together, they put out a menu for the lunch spot that’s both versatile and satisfying. The Khans also make sure to offer halal meat, which allows them to reach even more patrons in the area. 

“July 1, when they all came back, we had a huge turnout that day,” Khan recalls. “We put balloons outside, and it was attracting them over here. … People have attachment to the old Bud’s name, and 90 percent of the people who come in here are open to the new menu and everything we’re doing.” 

That includes hulking burrito bowls that fuse Mexican rice, black beans, chicken, pico de gallo, guacamole, and shredded and melted cheese in a way that sends a customer floating on a cloud of comfort. 

Khan remains optimistic that better days are ahead for downtown Sacramento.   

“We see state workers every day,” he says. “We have groups of them that are committed to coming in on a regular basis. It has been pretty dead here for a while — very quiet. We want to be part of helping this part of town come back to life.” 

–

Stay up to date on business in the Capital Region: Subscribe to the Comstock’s newsletter today.