Localis serves a global cuisine that changes every five weeks.  They offer a twelve-course tasting menu using as many locally sourced ingredients as possible.  Two levels of wine pairings are available as well as a wine list, bar and non-alcoholic beverages.  They have been awarded one Michelin star.  When the theme of the menu changes, the entire menu changes except for the 2 first snacks.  On our visit it was an Argentina theme but they have also used Portugal, Thailand or ‘something like Middle Earth’.  The counter has 2 seatings every night at 5pm and 8:15pm while table times are staggered.  I’d call it medium-sized and the dining room tables are irregularly cut pieces of wood that are attractive in a window-sided room that felt like an enclosed porch.  The background music was fairly loud and parking is on the street as you can find it.  Opening about 9 years ago, Chef Chris Barnum-Dann also serves as sommelier.  Service was friendly and helpful and portion control was good, as it’s a long menu.  The menu at your table is marked with your name and it has great descriptions of the food, if you don’t write fast, which is nice.  The courses varied in their success but overall it was a very positive experience, so I encourage you to give it a try when you are in Sacramento.

Set-Up

 

Food

The first bite was a fried slice of potato topped with a quail egg whose yolk was liquid.  It was a big one bite but very tasty with a nice richness.

 

A potato pillow was stuffed with an aerated French Onion dip and topped with Tsar Nicoulai Golden Reserve caviar, pickled shallot and champagne and gold pearls.  This one was light and crisp with a tasty filling that contrasted well with the caviar for a yummy bite.

 

Ferrari Fisheries (in Ft. Bragg) rockfish tartare and sashimi were in a persimmon-habanada-Aji Amarillo Leche de Tigre and topped with cilantro, radish, and pickled habanada.  This one had a nice spiciness and left a good tingle in your mouth from the peppers.  It was a great blend of flavors.

 

Variations of beets were with house-cultured pine needle yogurt, pine needle milk crisp, Primus pine nuts and foraged fennel fronds and blossoms.  The fennel fronds explode with flavor when you bite them, so if you like fennel which I do, it’s great.  The yougurt sauce was thick and blended the other ingredients nicely.  The crisp bits had been long roasted to add a delicious crunch to the dish.

 

Dry-aged Mt. Lassen Steelhead trout was plated with grilled parsnip purée, Hakurei turnip and apple soubise, pistachio salsa macha, trout roe and marigold.   The fabulous fish was silky  and tender and excellent when mixed with the apple and parsnips.  A wonderful blend of flavors here.

 

Three Empanadas were filled with Chanterelle mushroom, cream braised greens or sagyu picadillo with garlic purée.  The greens were my least favorite both in flavor and color.  The mushroom was good as was the picadillo.  The crust was good on all, simply shaped differently.

 

Fire-roasted Kabocha pumpkin purée, squash frites, sweetbread, pomegranate and beef demi-glace, pickled butternut squash, and pomegranate seeds were combined in bowls made by a classmate of the chef.  Here the sweetbread was way overcooked and dry.  The crunchy squash on the sides was tasty but this was a mixed dish.

 

Fire roasted octopus, smoked pork and black lentil purée, walnut blood sausage mortadella, chorizo and pickled carrots made up the next course.  It sounded better than is was.  A tad on the salty side, this one didn’t wow me like some of the earlier dishes.  It didn’t sing at all.

 

The Painter’s palatte was filled with seasonal paints on a matzo cracker.  There were dabs of butternut squash, apple, kimchi, beet tops, foie gras and the black was bean.  I tried to taste a bit of each but they ended up just being a blend.  Cute idea but not a taste success.

 

Mishima Ranch wagyu filet mignon in house panko, potato rösti, white truffle hollandaise, poached quail egg, and Tsar Nicoulai Estate caviar made up the next plate.  The server talked about how they freeze the beef so it can stay rare but it didn’t work for me.  The dish was salty and the added caviar made it worse.  It was tender but the dish would only rate okay by me.

 

Asado was made up of 21 day dry-aged Mishima wagyu ribeye, brined chicken breast, chicken and apple sausage, baby greens salad, fingerling potatoes, grilled vegetable conserva, traditional chimichurri, and spicy chimichurri.  It was presented for 2 to share.  The spicy chimichurri (in the spotty bowl) sauce saved it for me.  The chicken was dry, the sausage was salty and the beef was okay.  The vegetables were fine and the smashed fried potatoes were really good.

 

A rose geranium sorbet was smooth and cool as a break between the savory and sweet courses.

 

Quince paste and apple Kouign-Amann, apple pie sorbet, brown butter powder, house membrillo and fresh apple made up the first dessert.  The staff was nice enough to provide us an appropriate wine pairing for the dish of a Tokaji.  It was wonderful and paired well.  Here the pastry was drier than it should be.  It needed to be almost sticky flakey caramelized pastry.  It was a good blending of flavors but not a killer dessert.

 

Alfajores ice cream sandwich, dulce de leche crêpe and chocolate tuile was the second dessert.  The cookie on the sandwich was good and nice with the ice cream.  The tuile was sweet and crisp.  This one was a better dessert but at this point I’m really full and tired.

 

Last treats included an infusion drink as well as a marshmallow, a jelly, a cherry bonbon, and a caramel.  The latter were a little hard to distinguish from the inedible rocks.

 

They sent a gift of bread for the morning.  I think it was banana or zuchini.  It was moist but ordinary.  However it was a nice gesture.