Ready to indulge your cheesiest farm-to-fork fantasies? Visit The Rind Restaurant and Cheese Bar, where every dish is devoted to showcasing fresh, local ingredients and the flavor and versatility of cheese. We met with self-proclaimed cheese goddess, Sara Arbabian, to get all the details. 

With so many incredible farm-to-fork restaurants crafting dishes from fresh, local goods and produce, carving out a niche in the Sacramento food scene can be a challenge. At The Rind, a restaurant and bar that showcases locally crafted cheese, Sara Arbabian incorporates fresh, local artisan cheeses into comfort-food dishes. Sara explains, “My inspiration for opening a cheese-focused restaurant really was my obsession with cheese, pairing it with wine and having it in every meal.” Sara’s obsession with cheese goes beyond the plate. She truly goes the extra mile, vetting the practices of local cheesemakers and building relationships with the people behind the produce and products she features at her restaurant. Every dish at The Rind Restaurant is thoughtfully designed to highlight the unique qualities of each cheese and how beautifully it pairs with locally grown fruits and vegetables – a true homage to fromage. 

Farming for flavor and sustainability

Wine-pairing, flavor, and melting profiles are key considerations in the some 60 cheeses The Rind typically showcases at any given time – but they aren’t the only factors. In selecting cheeses, produce and other products, Sara explains, “Our ethos is humane and sustainably farmed and farm-to-fork. This goes into the products that we use – humanely raised animals and very mindfully sourced products, where the animals have a good life from beginning to end.” With a wry smile, she adds, “I joke that I won’t use milk from used and abused animals. It’s just not how we roll – that flavor is imparted upon the finished product for our guests.” Sara pauses, then proudly states, “We never have anyone upset with the flavor of our food.” 

California Grown: Know your local producer

California is home to more than 50 cheesemakers, who produce over 250 unique styles of cheese. Sara enjoys getting to know some of the people behind the local products she features in her restaurant. “One of my favorite things about the cheese industry – and all production of food in general – is that it has a story. When you are procuring products that are local, you have an opportunity to meet with the people and chat with them, understand why they made the products the way they did. That story translates into that finished product with our guests. These stories are important, and those relationships are important. We know their practices better, and the products seem more flavorful.”

CA GROWN Menu Specials

The Rind Restaurant and Cheese Bar proudly features three seasonal CA GROWN specials. Nicole espouses, “Our California Grown menu items are very exciting this season. I’m so excited to be promoting what I call Killer Beets—roasted beets with a Laura Chenel chevre. “We’ve got Valencia orange segments, fresh dill, roasted pistachios, and candied dried figs that are nice and sweet with chile oil that we make from chile and olive oil from California. It’s very decadent, but refreshing. It’s light, but just very nurturing. And that’s just kind of how I like to roll.”

Nicole beams and continues, “Our other dish for California Grown this season is our Roasted Brussels Sprouts with bacon bits on top and Parmigiano Reggiano. It is just a beautiful comfort-oriented food.” Reaching for a bottle of wine on the counter, she adds, “And then of course we have the Ophiolite Cabernet Sauvignon from Nicole Salengo Lee. We’re very proud to carry this very high-end wine. This is fabulous with the Roasted Brussels Sprouts. I hope you get to enjoy some.”

Nicole encourages any and all cheese lovers to visit The Rind Restaurant and Cheese Bar to explore the beauty of California Grown produce and products. She concludes, “I am very proud to be part of the restaurant community in Sacramento, California, and I’m abundantly proud to be part of the California Grown program. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase California in a very specific way, and I hope that we see you come in and enjoy what we have and really appreciate how beautiful the foods are here.”

Cheese + wine: A classic pairing

Sara believes that what grows together, goes together. At The Rind, she offers a carefully curated selection of California wines that pair beautifully with local cheeses. “I truly believe that a wine list isn’t complete without representing its local bounty. Our wine program has always had wonderful small producers here in California. Right now, we have wine from Nicole Salengo Lee (of Ophiolite Cellars), a local female winemaker.” 

Sourcing from smaller local winemakers creates opportunities for relationships and fosters a deeper understanding of the story behind each bottle. “It’s a fabulous experience for my team and my guests to be able to interface with producers and understand why they’re making what they’re making, and what went into making that wine. We are very proud to have local wines here.”

The Cheese Goddess’s Pairing Commandments

Sara cheekily refers to herself as The Cheese Goddess, and is always happy to share her favorite cheese and wine pairing tips. While she’s quick to point out that there are no right or wrong choices, these guidelines can help ensure successful pairings.

Take your time and engage your senses

“Pairing cheese and wine is a wonderful experience,” Sara states. “Be mindful, use all your senses. Really slow it down and use your sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Chew food well, engage your nose, your tongue, your eyes. Touch it. That’s where you should start your pairing experiences.” 

Pair like with like

Part of the art of cheese and wine pairing is making selections that enhance, not overwhelm, each other. Sara notes, “Balance is key. So, you never wanna have a really big cheese with a very light-bodied wine. You always wanna think ‘big-bodied wine, big-bodied cheese’”. 

What grows together goes together

Sara’s final tip is to consider the origin of each product. She elaborates, “Try to go for things that come from a region that is similar.” One of Sara’s current favorite pairings is Ophiolite Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon and Fiscalini Farmstead’s Leonsa cheese. She notes, “It’s a Swiss-Italian style cheese from Fiscalini Farmstead from Modesto. They’re the epitome of local – sustainably farmed, small production, female-owned. And we’re pairing that with Ophiolite Cabernet Sauvignon, a beautiful wine we’re featuring right now as part of our CA GROWN pitch.”

Visit The Rind Restaurant and Cheese Bar

1801 L. Street, Ste. 40

Sacramento, CA 95811

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Check the website for updated hours. 

Look for CA GROWN seasonal specials at these Sacramento farm-to-table restaurants! 

Article by Hilary Rance. Photography by Hilary Rance and Meg van der Kruik.