Why Sacramento is the nation’s caviar-producing capital

As New Year’s Eve approaches, the country’s restaurants plan their festive menus. No menu will be complete without caviar—dolloped over blini or potato chips, a salty, unctuous proof that life is good, if only for a day. Look at a mapping of Northern California’s Michelin-starred restaurants, where such celebratory dinners will be held, and you’ll see constellations centered around San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Wine Country.

Only two stars shine on Sacramento, but it’s from here, around California’s capital, that most of the Bay Area’s renowned chefs are getting one of their most prized ingredients: premium caviar. With numerous big brands, like Tsar Nicoulai, Sterling, and Passmore, located within an hour’s drive from one another, the Sacramento area has become the nation’s caviar-producing capital. So how come so very few know about it?

“Next year we’ll probably make 80% of the caviar that’s made in the US,” says Ali Bolourchi, president of Tsar Nicoulai. “But if you look at caviar consumed in the US, only about 10% is American.”

But, as caviar—always an NYE staple—is becoming more ubiquitous on US menus, and the conversation around its farming is rapidly shifting to sustainable practices, the Sacramento area, uniquely positioned in comparison to much better-known caviar producers such as Russia and Iran, is aiming to step into the limelight.

To understand Sacramento Valley’s unique mission today, one should look back to its humble beginnings in the field. Historically, the area is home to several bodies of water, including the Cosumnes River and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which serve as a natural habitat for sturgeon—the fish that produce the world’s most coveted roe. With the proximity of UC Davis, a university known for its agriculture and marine ecology programs, it was only a matter of time until nature and science got together.

According to some sources, the UC started developing hatchery techniques for wild sturgeon reproductive enhancement as early as 1979, with the help of a federal grant and a seasoned expert: Russian fishing and aquaculture aficionado Serge Doroshov, who had just moved to the US as an asylum seeker. Tsar Nicoulai entered the scene in the 1980s with a facility in nearby Wilton, capitalizing on the natural ecosystem and emphasizing environmentally friendly practices on their sturgeon farm.

“Certain wineries do well because of the terroir, this is a similar analogy—we benefit from being in a really good area,” says Bolourchi, adding that Wilton’s naturally warm summers are great for the sturgeon’s growth, while the cold winters contribute to caviar production.

A short drive from Tsar Nicoulai, which also has an elegant cafe in San Francisco’s Ferry Building, Passmore Caviar in Sloughhouse has been, similarly, hard at work to establish the area’s reputation as caviar central. "The area provides resources optimal to the culturing of white sturgeon and also offers proximity to UC Davis and its renowned aquaculture program and caviar expertise,” says Michael Passmore, whose business is coming upon its 20th anniversary. "We really just focus on raising healthy fish that produce wonderful roe."

At the farm, the pristine, cool water of the region, which is being sustainably reused on site, flows from an aquifer—an underground pool of water that comes up to the farm spring via a pump, at 64°F. “Add to that the Mediterranean climate, which all result in an environment that is optimal for the native white sturgeon species,” says Passmore, explaining how they get a top-notch product with minimum intervention.

Compared to its neighbors, Passmore is a bit more boutique, and recently it was announced that Tsar Nicoulai had purchased Sterling, a third big-name producer in nearby Elvaretta, increasing its footprint in the area. The acquisition didn’t change the vibes much; the small-town atmosphere and the simple structures of the caviar plants feel far from the product’s glitzy reputation. Yet this is where many chefs and purveyors are looking to for sourcing, partnerships, and even creating their own private labels.

The most famous name in the game is perhaps the French Laundry’s Thomas Keller, whose own caviar brand, Regiis Ova, is produced by Sterling. In San Francisco, chef Matthew Accarrino of restaurant SPQR, has recently collaborated with another power player, the California Caviar Company. Led by well-known local figure Deborah Keane, the brand sources caviar from sustainable farms all over the world, and farms its own white sturgeon at CQ ranch in Elk Grove, CA, an 11-minute drive from Tsar Nicoulai. The brand also has an elegant tasting room in Sausalito, and a starry list of chef partnerships, which Accarrino was happy to join.

“I invested in understanding the principles and process of caviar making because it was a local ingredient,” Accarrino says of the pathway to create his own caviar label, ACCA. Motivated to “peel back the curtains and truly understand the where, the how, and the why of the process and product,” Accarrino, thanks to the proximity of the production plant, was able to participate in every step, from picking the characteristics of the initial eggs to processing the roe by hand to incorporating the final product into the restaurant’s dishes. “What's special about the caviar is that it is a local product,” he says. “In essence, this is a product native to the area.”

In Napa, chef Thomas Lents of the newly opened Violetto, works with Passmore. “It’s amazing that we are so close to an area that features not only its own caviar, but also the sturgeon it comes from,” he says. “To be able to pair the smoked sturgeon fillet alongside the same producer’s caviar, in a dish like our house smoked local sturgeon and cauliflower rillettes, with caviar and blini, is only available because of the proximity to the Delta and these producers.”

For Californian chefs like Accarrino and Lents, locality matters. “From my perspective I do like sourcing locally whenever possible,” adds chef Daniel Evers from the modern Italian restaurant  Itria, also in San Francisco. Evers works with another brand, The Caviar Co., which sources its product from Sacramento. “When you are going to buy and sell an expensive product like caviar you need to know it’s of high, consistent quality,” Evers says. “Past experience with imported caviar has shown me quality and consistency issues you don’t find with the local product.”

With the success regionally produced caviar has been having locally, Sacramento Valley has bigger plans. “California caviar gives you an additive-free, unctuous, fatty rendition,” comments Bolourchi, which, he says, is a contrast to the dry, small-pearled, mild caviar popularized by chefs in the past. But, he says, “As the consumer is getting more and more educated on what caviar should taste like, they will be more and more interested in the premium offering that’s coming out of Northern California.”

The shift is already underway. Take chef Jason Ryczek, for example. Hailing from  Little's Oyster Bar in Houston, TX, he sources caviar for the restaurant in partnership with the California Caviar Company, travelling to the area annually to oversee selection. Ryczek was introduced to the region by Keane herself, when he was working at a different restaurant in Alameda, CA. He has since moved to Texas, but his ties to California caviar lingered. “The native white sturgeon has the opportunity to be delicate when cured with a lighter salt,” he says. “It also really showcases the flavors of the Pacific coast.” With more and more US chefs discovering premium caviar in their own backyard, it looks like 'the capital of caviar' won’t remain a secret for much longer.