3 Best Restaurants in Winters, Sacramento and the Gold Country

If you're in Winters on a day this self-proclaimed "delightfully random place to eat" is open, try to score a seat (no reservations) to enjoy internationally inspired small plates that might include chicken tostadas, marinated lamb, empanadas, or baked eggplant. With a few tables indoors, plus counter seating on stools and more tables outside on a wooden deck, Ficelle, run on the whim of its European owners, lives up to its motto.

The seasonal produce of nearby purveyors figures in nearly every dish at Preserve, which pairs elevated gastropub fare with artisanal beers, wines, and cocktails. Grilled or sautéed fish, fried chicken, and an elaborate burger that appears at lunch and dinner are typical menu items, served in the brick-walled, rustic-industrial, semi-chic bar or the plant-laden outdoor patio.

The wood-fired pizza oven blazing away on the sidewalk turns out this café's handmade pies, but the lunch and dinner fare extends beyond them to pan-seared fish, a tri-tip sandwich, and fresh salads with ingredients from a local farm. The brick-walled dining room has been a farmers' hangout for breakfast (you name it) for decades.