After two quiet years, concerts and music festivals are thumping through the Capital Region once again. While the COVID-19 pandemic has not ended, many are ready to see live music at outdoor venues.

The California Honey Festival returns with vendors, music and neighborhood restaurants celebrating the state’s sweetest product.

Companies and researchers are finding ways to use mycelium, the vegetative body of fungi, to solve problems including plastic waste, greenhouse gas emissions, antibiotic residue in water supplies and more.  

We’ve rounded up some of our previous Art Exposed interviews with photographers to learn how local artists make a living out of drawing with light.

The Boulevard Park corner cafe serves Brazilian baked goods such as cheese bread and fried dumplings, as well as an assortment of sandwiches and beverages.

After five years of planning, Aggie Square has broken ground in Oak Park. We chat with Chancellor May about how the project’s partners are responding to concerns and what Aggie Square aims to bring to the region. 

The frozen meal company expands its operations following an increase in demand for delivered food options. 

As a woodworker and metal fabricator, Nancy Sayavong uses her training both for art and remodeling jobs. Her work is interested in the contrast between the romantic ideal of the home and its lived reality.

State government leaders take a break from making California laws to make California rolls for the Capitol Roller Competition, part of a recent summit for rice industry stakeholders.

Gloria Salazar is preparing to ride off into the sunset as she retires from a robust career in public transportation. 

Sarah Hemly is the president of Hemly Cider, an award-winning cider company that uses fruit from one of the oldest family-run orchards in the Capital Region.

The market-kitchen hybrid offers Afro-Caribbean favorites like jerk chicken, curry goat and oxtail.

PODCAST: Young restaurateurs in the Capital Region are rewriting the definition of authenticity.

Capital Region restaurant owners with mixed backgrounds are channeling their points of view into creative dishes.

After more than 20 years selling Korean specialty items, the owners of Smile Food Market opened Smile Market 2, which serves fresh dishes like spicy seafood noodles and sweet-and-sour pork.

We interviewed a local banking expert about how optimistic national trends are being reflected in the Capital Region.

From an homage to a burned Delta restaurant to a history of Cornish pasties, here are this year’s most-read stories.

The Chulla’s Cafe menu borrows influences from African, Asian, Latin American, South European and Pacific coastal regions. 

At Kehaulani’s Cafe in Vallejo, the loco moco starts with short ribs braised for 12 hours.

This fast-casual restaurant serves a cuisine that germinated in Kolkata’s Chinatown and is now popular across the subcontinent.

A first-of-its-kind credit program is helping to fund the redevelopment of a former soup factory in south Sacramento. 

From the corporate world to a rolling piece of land, a husband-wife team runs Bella Grace Vineyards in Amador County.

“It all started with the sausage,” says Christine Chang, the second-generation owner of Taiwan Best Mart.

Small, iconoclastic wineries, vineyards and bars may be set to impact the California wine scene in the same way the microbrewery boom challenged “Big Beer.”

The University of the Pacific’s three campuses in Stockton, Sacramento and San Francisco have reopened — with COVID-19 vaccinations required.

Deneva Shelton, the Sacramento community manager of JPMorgan Chase, wants to use her expertise to increase Sacramentans’ financial opportunities.

Anyone who has visited the coffee houses of Vienna will see the resemblance between those venerable institutions and Konditorei Austrian Pastry Café in Davis.

Margaret Wong, a leader in U.S.-China trade for over three decades, used to travel between the two countries up to eight times a year. Here’s how she shifted gears when the borders closed.

Gaspachos in south Sacramento does not serve gazpacho, the Spanish chilled tomato soup. Here and in Morelia, Michoacan, gaspacho is something else entirely. 

A new generation of entrepreneurs is bringing fresh concepts to restaurant and bar spaces that shuttered in 2020.

Juliana Almanza is chief of staff of the West Sacramento-based construction trade association Associated General Contractors of California.

Growing the Table is a statewide initiative that connects farmers from underserved communities with families in need.

The Woodland Opera House reopened June 15, 1896 after a fire destroyed the original building. On June 15, 2021, it reopened after a different crisis.

Amazon Grill is operated by the nonprofit Brazilian Center for Cultural Exchange of Sacramento, which serves as a hub for the Capital Region’s Brazilian community.

Comstock’s spoke to Wardell-Ghirarduzzi about what she plans to achieve at her alma mater. 

A startup incubator aims to bring a new generation of food and agricultural technology innovators to the Yolo County seat.  

To walk along Elena’s deli counter is to explore the diversity of the former Soviet republics.

Comstock’s stories, designs, photographs and illustrations won awards in 14 categories in the California Journalism Awards, hosted by the California News Publishers Association. Here’s a list of all our awards, with links to the winning content.

Cornish pasties are an edible trace of the gold rush, connecting Grass Valley to a global history of migration and extraction. 

Aria Afghan Restaurant in North Highlands serves a cuisine that hails from the crossroads of South and Central Asia, including one dish that takes over 10 hours to make.

One year into the pandemic and two into its existence, Chévere has managed to hang on with a combination of flexibility and dedication to its craft.

The Capital Region depends on water resources engineers like Mary Paasch, principal engineer and vice president of Stantec. 

Women make up less than 10 percent of workers in the construction industry. NAWIC sees opportunities in that gap. 

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.

June Steckler is optimistic about the Capital Region’s art scene and her role in it as both artist and curator.

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

PODCAST: In December 2019, a few months before the fastest drop in global stock markets in financial history, Mark Otero launched Alice Capital, a hedge fund designed to bypass emotion. This profile is part of The Next Chapter, in which we check in with Capital Region professionals who moved into new pursuits or retirement after successful careers.

In December 2019, a few months before the fastest drop in global stock markets in financial history, Mark Otero launched Alice Capital, a hedge fund designed to bypass emotion. 

PODCAST: Listen to a six-part series about Capital Region professionals who found new pursuits after successful careers. 

Sacramento has been invaded by Nashville-style hot chicken.