Craving Chinese?

Choose your region: When I was a kid, my mom would bring me to these dingy Chinese bakeries for coconut buns, egg tarts, sponge cake spirals and those little pastries stuffed with hot dogs. Yum. Now, there’s a bakery with all those treats—plus some cool extras—in an attractive, clean and pink space. Pegasus Bakery & Cafe (6825 Stockton Boulevard, Suite 265) opened last month and actually functions like a Mexican bakery: You grab a tray and tongs and help yourself to various $1-$2 treats. But there’s also Chinese layered cakes topped with fresh fruit—if you were like me, this was a birthday standard—and Hong Kong egg puffs. Soon, they’ll add boba tea and a line of Japanese-style crepes in sweet and savory flavors.

Actually, there’s a lot of new Chinese food in the area. In Davis, Chengdu Style (737 Russell Boulevard) just opened, specializing in Sichuan cuisine. It’s owned by the same family behind Chengdu Style in Berkeley, which the local alt-weekly there adores. The menu is clumsily translated, but features sure-to-be fiery and numbing dishes like “Szechuan Jelly Noodle In Chili Sauce” and “Dry Sauteed Pig’s Intestine With Mexican Chili,” plus a few standard Americanized Chinese dishes.

Down in south Sacramento, Happy Family (6175 Stockton Boulevard) also opened this month. People who get overwhelmed by lengthy menus will appreciate this relatively focused, Cantonese-leaning restaurant.

Old Sacramento got a new Chinese spot, too: Cellar Bistro (1115 Front Street), which is, indeed, located down a flight of stairs. Unlike Happy Family, the menu is enormous, with huge combo plates—main dish plus crab wonton, pork fried rice and chow mein—for as little as $8. One unusual offering: Hong Kong Western-style baked dishes, featuring a protein over pasta or rice, covered in tomato or cream sauce.

Coffee shrine: The new Temple Coffee at K and 22nd streets is slated to open Saturday, March 26, and it’s supposed to be the biggest, most tricked-out location yet. That means we can likely expect everything the Davis location has—cascara tea on nitro, Kyoto-style iced coffee—and more. Prime example: Instead of tiles, the floor is covered in more than 500,000 pennies. Enough said.