WalletHub ranks Sacramento "foodie" scene best in state, top 3 in the country
SACRAMENTO -- The Farm-to-Fork Capitol is getting national recognition for its robust food scene.
Sacramento is ranked the 3rd best "foodie city" in the country in a new study released by WalletHub.
The top 10 cities are listed as:
- Orlando, Fla.
- Portland, Ore.
- Sacramento, Calif.
- Miami, Fla.
- San Francisco, Calif.
- Tampa, Fla.
- San Diego, Calif.
- Las Vegas, Nev.
- Austin, Texas
- Seattle, Wash.
"We are heavily looking at how to be a foodie on a budget. That's hard to do in New York or Vegas or L.A.," said WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez.
The diversity of local restaurants and where they get their ingredients is what ranks Sacramento among the nation's best.
"The diversity makes it a destination point. The more restaurants you have creates a culture," said Ray Ballestero, owner of Alaro Craft Brewing, Sacramento's first craft brewery and a stop on the popular SacTown Bites Midtown Sacramento food tour.
That doesn't just include cultural diversity. Gonzalez says the best foodie cities have access to a lot of options.
"In Sacramento, you have the best of both worlds. You are not sacrificing quality and you are able to afford to go out on a date as a family and not break the bank," said Gonzalez.
Another important metric for WalletHub's ranking is sustainability, meaning proximity to farms and locally sourced food. Our local restaurants take that to heart.
"If we can't get it here, we take it off the menu," said Ballestero.
Mike Testa with Visit Sacramento says that sets our food scene apart on a national level.
"You look at how restaurants are sourcing a lot of the ingredients that go into their products. Because they are grown here, because they are buying direct from the farmers here, there's an affordability that you are not seeing in other parts of the country," said Testa.
For that reason, Testa says he is not surprised Sacramento ranked #3 in the country. Last year, Sacramento ranked #6.
"There are 1.5 million acres of active farmland that surrounds this region. There's more than 160 different crops that come out of the ground year-round," said Testa.
Local food with local taste is putting Sacramento on the map nationwide.
"How beautiful is that? To be able to get ingredients right here, make it here, serve it here, and you are tasting that. You are tasting Sacramento," said Ballestero.
Testa says a decade of marketing Sacramento as a food destination and leaning into its strengths as the Farm-to-Fork Capitol is paying off.
"We were for a long time under the radar, but Sacramento's food scene is not anymore," said Testa.
