Head of the Port spectators, racers, and coaches from out of town, where you at! Here are some coffee, food, and bar recommendations from me. This is not a complete list of every food business in the area (Don’t you have an app for that?). These are the places I visit most often near my boathouse. It’s not in a particular order, and the businesses mentioned in this post are all in the City of West Sacramento. The time indicates my estimated driving time from the River City Rowing Club boathouse.

---

Coffee/tea

NUGGET (2000 Town Center Plaza, 4 min)!!! is a hidden gem for the visitors. It’s a grocery store and has a café inside that sells delicious coffee, juice, and wait for it…… Açaí bowls!!! If you buy me a berry açaí bowl and bring it to the shuttle stop #1 between 5am and 8am on race day, omg, I might pass out (after finishing the bowl in 30 seconds, of course).

Yes, we have Starbucks. There are two Starbucks locations close to the boathouse. One of them (2155 Town Center Plaza, 4 min) is actually in the same parking lot as Nugget, and the other one (4055 Lake Rd, 7 min) has a drive-thru. I will take a grande cold brew, no sugar, no cream, light ice. Please and thank you.

Savoury is my favorite but is not open on Sundays. I had to add it here because I love this spot so much.

Food

Carol’s (1201 W Capitol Ave, 7 min) has awesome breakfast food, but it gets busy quickly. Call in and pick it up.

Cocina Doña Chuyita (1035 Drever St, 7 min) is a Mexican restaurant and opens at 8am on Sundays. Hopefully your boats are rigged before 8, so you can go grab a breakfast burrito! Their online ordering system is very reliable.

If you need donuts while watching your kid races their heart out, Variety Donuts (816 Harbor Blvd, 4 min) is just a straight shot from the boathouse. I know there are other donut places in the area, but when I moved to West Sac, I found this spot, loved it, and never went anywhere else.

Chando’s Tacos (2530 Boatman Ave, 5 min) opens at 10am on Sundays. You can walk here from the Baker and Bike Dog… Keep reading.

Alcohol

Wait, it’s noon already? Forget the races. Head over to Baker Family Wines (2568 Industrial Blvd, 2 min) and Bike Dog Brewing Company’s joint tasting room. If you want wine and beer recommendations from these places, let me know. Team Fiancé and I gotchu!

Jackrabbit Brewing (1323 Terminal St, 5 min) opens at 11am on Sundays. Our rowing club held a safety video review session here a few years back thanks to a masters coxswain who was chairing the safety committee at the time, and it was the most well attended safety meeting I have ever witnesses.

Campus Brewing (1520 Terminal St, 5 min) is another brewery that’s close to the boathouse. Aren’t we lucky! I feel like they have the biggest tasting room out of the three.

Don’t rush home to watch the NFL games. Just head over to Jefferson Bar & Grill (1522 Jefferson Blvd, 8 min). If you parked your car at the Barge Canal Access lot to watch the race from the other side of the channel, this bar is the closest one from your car. Good job!

Streets of London Pub (2200 Lake Washington Blvd, 3 min) has a variety of beer on tap and has a decent food menu too.

---

This coxswain is ready to welcome all Head of the Port competitors and spectators on Sunday, October 10, 2021! It’s going to be an amazing regatta. Fingers crossed for great weather conditions, but even if it gets a little windy and choppy, we will make it a character-building day as one of my rowers would say. 😉