Hot, hot, hot

Sacramento is hitting the big time.

The capital city just got its first Michelin-starred restaurant, the Kitchen. It’s appearing on all kinds of top 10 lists of places to visit and live. And its population grew the fastest of California’s 10 largest cities.

So we picked scorching hot—and ultra cool—as the theme of SN&R’s Best of Sacramento issue for 2019.

This year, we had more than 200 categories, including some more alternative and offbeat ones. Nearly 254,000 votes were cast by about 11,700 people from July 11 to Aug. 12, far more than the 60,000 votes last year.

And this year, those votes count more: We’re spotlighting some of the businesses, people and places that our readers picked as the best.

To meet the Sacramento region’s growing demand, lots of new places for food and drink, arts and entertainment and sports and recreation have popped up. At the same time, established ones have upped their game. So it’s not surprising that the winners this year are a mix of new and old.

And while praise from outsiders is flattering, what residents think of their hometown is far more valuable. Read on to find out if your favorites won.