Duck Confit BLT

Photography by Marybeth Bizjak

I just got off the phone with Jonathan Modrow, co-owner of The Golden Bear in midtown. Modrow set me straight last week after I wrote that Sacramento was about to get its first gastropub. “My partner Kimio Bazett and I have owned The Golden Bear for almost seven years and after our recent remodel have become a gastropub,” he wrote in response to my blog. He added that midtown’s Shady Lady Saloon also qualifies as a gastropub. Who knew? I called Modrow, who told me The Golden Bear went all gastropubby back in March with the hiring of Billy Zoellin as executive chef. Check out Zoellin’s impressive C.V.: He’s worked at Mulvaney’s B&L and Grange and was the chef for Patrón’s Le Mans race team. Incidentally, The Golden Bear is launching a new menu today. On it: duck confit club sandwich with duck cracklings, peach and prosciutto panini, shrimp scampi panzanella, and four new pizzas, including one with figs, honey and brie, and another with sausage and smoked ’slaw.