By Gloria Glyer
Photography by Michael Powers

The lunch menu at The Waterboy includes prosaic fare such as fish sticks, burgers and a Reuben sandwich, and more exotic dishes such as boquerones (pickled white anchovies), veal sweetbreads and beef cheeks. Can one restaurant do all these dishes well? The Waterboy can—and does. Rick Mahan opened the upscale, comfortable restaurant in Sacramento’s midtown seven years ago. He has never faltered.

Massive windows bring plenty of light into the high-ceilinged dining room, which is comfortably noise-free even when filled to capacity. The Dining Divas’ group of 12 was a bit raucous, but no one in our group had to shout to be heard. Petite bouquets of fresh flowers on the tables added a nice touch, and our server was the professional Jennifer Noble, who has been on board since opening day.

Best of the best? That’s not easy, but let’s start with the fish sticks: lightly breaded with Japanese panko breadcrumbs then fried, served with translucent slices of fried lemon and housemade tartar sauce with a bite of horseradish. Crispy and light, the fish sticks bear no resemblance to the ones in your supermarket’s frozen foods case.

If you don’t like anchovies, you might be put off by the thought of boquerones, but their flavor is so mild, you needn’t be afraid. We also ordered the cheese plate, which comes with a selection of marinated olives. The olives also are offered solo as an appetizer, which would be a perfect starter if you added roasted almonds with paprika and sea salt. (Olives are $2.50, almonds $2.75.)

Grateful Bread Company supplies the restaurant’s crusty country-style loaves, which are served with sweet butter. But try dipping the bread into the curry broth that accompanies the steamed mussels, or the sautéed sweetbreads’ buttery veal stock. The sweetbreads’ sauce was meltingly creamy, rich with the flavors of shallots, bacon, picholine olives and mustard. The flavors melded without overpowering one another.

Among the star entrées were the braised American-style Kobe beef cheeks, the Niman Ranch ground-beef burger, and the petrale sole (that day’s fish special). The uninitiated order the beef cheeks out of curiosity and end up loving the flavor of the tender morsels, served with buttery polenta. The Waterboy does not overwhelm diners with big plates of food; big eaters might want to add a salad or soup. On the other hand, the dishes have depth of flavor from butter, herbs and seasonings.

Vegetarians might enjoy the hand-cut rosemary noodles with chanterelle mushrooms, cipollini onions, new potatoes and baby spinach in cream sauce, or the salad of roasted beets, Belgian endive and walnuts with blood-orange vinaigrette.

For an innovative dessert, try affogato: warm espresso poured over housemade vanilla ice cream. The sorbet of the day was blood orange, refreshing and gorgeous. Gingerbread sounded homey and old-fashioned, but at The Waterboy it’s made with candied ginger and served with a scoop of wildflower honey ice cream. We also ordered—and devoured—the apple crostada, pumpkin cheesecake, warm chocolate truffle cake, crème brûlée and bittersweet chocolate cake with mascarpone.

The Divas
To a man—whoops, woman—the Divas love Mahan and his food. Said Paulette Bruce-Miller: “We have never been to a restaurant where the appetizers, entrées and desserts have all been perfect. The seasonings were not overbearing, the fish flaked, the beef cheeks were tasty and the apple crostada was flaky. No other restaurant can do that.”

Bernice Hagen, who chose the wines—Baileyana 2000 Edna Valley Pinot Noir and Sonoma Cutrer Chardonnay—praised the food. “Fabulous,” she said. “I’m in heaven.”

Gayla Mace loved the sweetbreads. “As usual they were great, but you definitely have to be a fan,” she said. About the burger, Joan Leineke said: “I forgot how good a hamburger can be!”

The Guests
Debbie Alexander, a self-described “dessert diva,” thought the warm chocolate truffle cake was to die for. The cake is baked briefly before a truffle is dropped in the center and returned to the oven. “I tried a lot of things I have never had before, and everything was great,” she noted.

With tongue in cheek, Kit Dillon Givas said, “The water was the one item I would not order again. It was basic in presentation, too clear in color, necessary but not impressionable.” At the top of her list: the sweetbreads. “The sauce was lighter than expected but fabulous,” she added.

Sister Helen Timothy took a lunchtime break from her duties as president of Loretto High School to join the Divas at The Waterboy. “I loved every fish dish, one as fresh and flavorful as the next, and the desserts were perfect,” she said.

Guest Jonathan Fern enjoyed the Reuben sandwich and its accompanying potato salad. Judy Fern’s top choice: the beef cheeks. “Very tender, sultry, melt-in-your-mouth,” she said.

Wine consultant Elaine Smith found the food satisfying, stimulating and sometimes understated. “The petrale sole with Meyer lemon butter sauce and capers had a satisfying crunch and piquant touch,” she noted. “The bacon-wrapped endive was my dessert.” She thought the mussels were too salty and the use of curry too heavy-handed. And about the wines, she described the Sonoma Cutrer as classy and food-friendly, assured and delicious. For her palate, the Baileyana Pinot had a strong core of fruit with ripe black cherry and vanilla, with a silky texture and a long finish.

Chatter
While talking about her travel experiences in Mexico, Diva Peg Tomlinson-Poswall offered a sage bit of advice: “When taking a shower, keep your mouth closed,” she said. Givas revealed that she has “hot hands,” and when she uses phyllo dough (which she does often for Greek dishes), she keeps handy a bowl of ice water to dip her hands into.

John Fern works out with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger—well, maybe not together but at least at the same place: The Capital Athletic Club.

Smith ranks beets as one of her favorite foods. Her husband-to-be had never tasted one, so she insisted he eat a beet before she said yes. He did. Now they are married and the parents of two adopted children.
Our lunch at The Waterboy was a treat. Leineke said it best: “This food is so far above anything else in town.”

The Waterboy, 2000 Capitol Ave., Sacramento; (916) 498-9891; Lunch 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Tuesday–Friday, dinner 5–9:30 p.m. Tuesday–Thursday, 5–10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 5–9 p.m. Sunday.  

This article appears in the April 2004 issue of Sacramento Magazine.