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.

Comstock’s spoke to Lau about leading the country’s sixth-largest community-owned electric utility and about his plan to reach zero carbon emissions within 10 years.

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.

Look back on 2020 with a list of our top-read stories and our editors’ favorites.

As they talk up their brands from Cambridge to Nashville, the brothers are working to build generational wealth for their families — and to reclaim the value that might once have been associated with the Burgess name.

The City of Sacramento is banking on the relative health of the technology sector and other insulated fields to help displaced workers get back on their feet.

Tens of thousands of acres of almond orchards are pulled up each year in California. Knotty Wood is out to put those trees to better use. 

In September, women made up 80 percent of the people who dropped out of the workforce. We asked the first female president and CEO of the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce about the reasons behind the discrepancy.

A wide range of projects and initiatives on and off the Davis campus are set to be funded by the campaign, called Expect Greater: From UC Davis. For the World.

Comstock’s spoke with Rodriguez Aguirre about SHCC and how it has worked to meet the needs of its members during the pandemic. 

Culinerdy Cruzer, which was part of Sacramento’s first wave of gourmet food trucks when it opened in 2014, is hitting the highway next month.

Folsom’s Sutter Street banks on its dining options to draw foot traffic. Now, the community is working to lift restaurants out of record-breaking lows. 

Chelsea Minor has spent the months of the coronavirus pandemic ensuring that customers are informed about new measures and adaptations at the 126 supermarket locations that Raley’s operates. 

Lisandro Madrigal knew 2020 would be a landmark year for Chando’s Enterprises, the Mexican restaurant group he started in 2010. But after dining rooms closed in March, every taco, burrito and mulita had to be packaged to go.

Comstock’s spoke with Law about the ways both the center and the local entrepreneurial scene are evolving in the face of a crisis.