About Mulvaney’s B&L

   Michelin-star awarded chef Patrick Mulvaney is often seen conversing with customers, even on busy Saturday nights, where he is not afraid to name-drop the farmers whose work went into the meal.

   “The cod you had is from a fisherman named Anthony Ferrari. He’s working with [John Trujuillo] in the back to create a table for butchering the fish he farms,” Patrick Mulvaney, owner of Mulvaney’s B&L, said. 

   Originally a firehouse, Mulvaney’s B&L, located on Capitol Road in downtown Sacramento, is highly acclaimed with everything from the Sacramento Business Journal Corporate Citizenship Award to Sacramentans of the Year. The restaurant is owned by couple Patrick and Bobbin Mulvaney, originally from New York, who moved to California in 1991 to pursue the restaurant business.

   Bobbin Mulvaney, the Proprietor and Marketing Director, has a heart for community outreach on behalf of the restaurant. She is on six advisory boards, including the Salvation Army and Wells Fargo Community; her way of reaching out to the community through the restaurant. 

   During the pandemic, Patrick and Bobbin Mulvaney led their crew to make thousands of meals for low-income students who could not get food from their district’s lunch programs. While a tremendous feat, this is only one of the couple’s many ways of giving back to the community.

   “When, in 2020, so many people were scared of the police; we were the people to invite them in for a coffee or two. Because, at the end of the day, they’re people too,” Head Chef John Trujillo, who teaches students at Del Paso Heights Elementary on his days off, said. “They probably have, you know, a family, kids, a dog…we’re not all that different.” 

   The restaurant’s community service is larger than just doing good deeds; it’s part of a global movement called slow food, which has its roots in 1980s Italy when protesters opposed the construction of a McDonald’s in Rome. Today, the movement supports and encourages locally based food in efforts to preserve regional cuisine and slow climate change. This change naturally rejects the implementation of large industrial food chains to protect local flavors, even amid a worldwide shift to a more globalized cuisine.

   “Why would I go and buy lemons from a big company when they’re just going to spray wax over them and leave them to sit in a warehouse for days when…Joe from across the street sells lemons that I can get that day?” Trujillo said.

   Trujillo explains it’s all a cycle: the community gives to the restaurant, the restaurant provides food, the food brings the community together and the restaurant gets more involved in the community to raise engagement. 

   Mulvaney’s uses composting to decrease food waste and gives the extra food to the homeless around Sacramento. The locally-based produce and animal products play into this sustainability standard, as the food’s carbon footprint is lowered due to lessened transportation needs. 

   “Regenerative farming is what’s going to guarantee our kids have food on their plates in the future,” Trujillo said.

Dining Experience

   All this care to properly source the food, maximize community give-back and minimize climate impact certainly reflects in Mulvaney’s dining experience. The menu is dynamic, often changing to introduce new dishes and reviving fan favorites. Helpful and involved, the staff are easy to talk to and explain their dishes well (and really, any questions you may have). 

   Before ordering, you are presented with the standard bread and butter offered at many restaurants of a similar caliber. As a student journalist, I was surprised when Trujillo and Patrick Mulvaney themselves took the time to talk to me about the restaurant, especially when Trujillo took my order himself. Many other establishments often overlook the pursuits of high school reporters, so I was surprised by the unexpected generosity from chefs of such a high standard. 

   Trujillo recommended the Smoked Salmon platter. The platter is served much like the scales of the salmon itself, with around 20 meticulously sliced pieces folded over one another in rows, covering the entire plate. On the side lay an array of toppings including peas, onions, cheese and a homemade aioli. Most notable, however, is the Irish Brown bread that starkly contrasts the light fluffy bread many of us affiliate with high-end dining. As the name suggests, the darker-hued bread is dense and rather un-elastic. A staff member recommended that I mix the toppings and salmon and then place the mixture onto the bread.

   Whilst something I would not order again due to the denser nature of the bread and lack of much flavor depth within the toppings, I did enjoy the salmon itself. The salmon was light and sweet, not a burnt and heavy flavor. 

   For the second course, I had the squash-filled tortellini. The beautifully simple tortellini made the squash in the dish stand out. The soft filling contrasted with the structured pasta creates a unique surprise when you bite down on each pasta, which often gives you a warm and comforting feeling with the addition of the warmer spices.

   The final course was a cod dish served with mashed potatoes and lobster sauce. The flakiness of the cod allows the lobster sauce to truly penetrate the meat, while the mashed potatoes, with their creamy and herbal flavors, provide a contrasting heaviness to the dish.

   Almost contradictory to the previous dishes mentioned, the chef before Trujillo added a Ding-Dong, a play on the 90s gas-station treats that often brought guests back to their childhood, to the dessert menu. While disguised as a supermarket treat, the Ding-Dong served is a more sophisticated chocolate mousse.

   To keep the tradition alive, the new head chef introduced his play on the Twinkie, a similar 90s treat that is often seen at store checkout lines. While not on the official dessert menu, the chefs will make it upon request. Topped with silver foil, this miniature sponge cake surpasses its gas-station counterpart in numerous ways. Rather than the original, the denser sponge cake opts for the light, whipped chantilly filling on the outside of the cake. To counter the sweetness, a persimmon jam lays on the edge of the cake, introducing a tart flavor.

   From Twinkies to tortellini, Mulvaney’s B&L is proof that fine dining doesn’t have to be boring. It can be fun, sustainable and even empowering. In this day and age, many of us forget the beauty of a meal with simply the presence of those around us, instead distracted by the busyness of our everyday lives and our phones. The concept of sitting down with your loved ones for a couple of hours with nothing but each other’s company is a tradition we should all fight to revive.

   “Dinner is probably one of the most civilized things mankind has ever done,” Trujillo said.