The Rind

If your a fan of wine and cheese this may be an interesting spot to visit in Sacramento. The food is pricy, but if your looking for an evening to yourself or a friend this may be a good spot to enjoy a glass of wine. You know what they say «Treat yourself, once in a while». The staff is friendly and helpful to find that pairing your looking for.

This place is great to hang out. The staff is very friendly and the food is good. They have fondu Monday starting at $ 13 each person. There is a additional fee of $ 6 to include meat. It’s not very large space, but they have a lot of beer, wine and cheese options. We tried the Belgium chocolate ale and it was really different. We also got the fondu and it came with bread, broccoli, apple, cauliflower, and carrots. I’m not a fan of cauliflower, but the rest tasted good. The fondu isn’t enough for a meal, but a good appetizer. All the macaronis were great. The mac n cheese were from $ 13-​$ 19 each. Next time I will try the cheese plates.

This is why The Rind is still my favorite place in Sacramento, and why my previous review still stands – that it does EVERYTHING RIGHT:
1.) THE WHEN: You can eat here anytime. Classic, delicious American comfort food (salads, soups, cheese platters, grilled cheeses and mac n’ cheese) is ideal for brunch, lunch, Happy Hour, and dinner. There is not a time in my life that I do not want those things. It’s a cute, bright, sunny place, great during the day for bringing family and friends, and at night, when the light dims and the candles are lit, for a date.
2.) THE WHAT: The food is always fantastic. This is because it’s never pretentious. It’s always creative and fun, made with quality, fresh ingredients, and it’s always perfectly satiating. The menu also changes seasonally, according to what’s fresh in the market, and they always bring back customer faves. It’s hard to list a fave, because it depends on the style of comfort food you like – but I’ve always loved their fresh, bursting-​with-​heirloom-​tomatoes-​and-​creamy-​cheese Brie-​L-​T sandwich (a Spring/​summer special), their rich, decadent Crimini Mushroom grilled cheese (a Summer/​fall special), their fresh, unique, meaty-​tasting Basque Salad (Winter special), their sweet-​and-​savory Apple Walnut Mac (Fall/​Winter special), and their rich, locally-​sourced tomato soup (always on the menu). It’s also great fun to order a cheese flight – they give hearty, thick slabs with all sorts of nice side-​nibbles. My advice: get a bunch of things and share with friends!
3.) THE BOOZE: Is always great. They have rotating taps and a ton of bottles of beer, as well as all sorts of wines, including some local wineries. The best thing about their booze is that it’s all supposed to pair with their cheeses. This means that Happy Hour becomes a perfectly balanced party in your mouth.
4.) THE WHO: The owners and the servers are wonderful. They are also all very well-​trained and educated about their specialties, and patiently, cheerfully (because they love this stuff) answer all of your questions about their cheese selections, providing some of their own, knowledgable tid-​bits that make you want to run off and impress all your friends with your sudden cheesy wisdom. The owners are there almost every day, and manage to both help their servers, cooks, and bartenders and to have great conversations with their patrons. It makes it feel, sometimes, like you’re hanging in their fancy kitchen in their own house, shooting the breeze and eating their food.
Open up a location in SF, please!

Enjoyed the Rose Lemonade and the tomato soup. GREAT soup. Know that I cheated and read another Unilocaler’s review about the tomato soup coming from a local source and being prepared with their parmesan rinds. I tasted the love.
Didn’t love the cheese they used in the Jalepeno Popper version of the grilled cheese but after eating the first half, I still polished off the crisped bread from the second half.

Okay, we came here on Jan 11, 2016, the day after David Bowie died. Looking for solace in cheese and wine, we walked in to a very mellow Monday afternoon.
Immediately we were greeted by Tony, who was behind the bar, and given menus. He was more than happy to point out what he thought was fantastic, «Oh you’ve never been here?» And with a knowing smile he helped us navigate the delicious options. I went for «Not Your Mom’s Mac» — a multi-​cheese orchestration that made me shiver with excitement (with pancetta, of course). My partner had «Papa Rye,» a melt that would melt your heart, a beautiful combo of perfect pastrami, cheese and mustard on grilled marble rye.
The Mac was excellent– just creamy enough to soften the cheese but not drowning in sauce. And the pancetta– do yourselves a favor and add it. You can’t go wrong.
His Papa Rye was outstanding. I have a small fetish for hot pastrami and this one lived up to it. Crispy, warm subtle rye bread with melty center of meat and cheese– and the mustard they use is a perfect compliment.
We tried various wines, and had copious amounts as we stayed long enough for happy hour to begin, and ended up talking with Sara and Steve, the owners, who obviously *love* what they do. They were working behind the counter and greeting patrons alongside their employees. When you go somewhere that has a great product, and the people who own it are genuine, kind people, I think it makes everything taste extra yummy.
The star of our afternoon meal was the «2^nd Place Blue Cheesecake,» which was literally one of the top cheesecakes I’ve ever experienced. Steve recommended a Miller Port to pair with it, and it was *perfect.* The cheesecake itself was very rich with the subtle tang of blue cheese, topped with caramel and pecans, sitting on a graham cracker crust. The raisiny flavor of the port brought out the cheesecake well. If you like blue cheese, trust me, try this dessert! And ask Steve the story of the name– it’s a good one.
I think we found a new favorite spot.
Excellent food
Excellent service
Ambiance is lovely– intimate and clean.
I can’t wait to return!

So glad I made a return visit after a long hiatus as the girlfriend loves her mac & cheese. While the cheese board was underwhelming (great selection of cheese at least), we both thoroughly enjoyed the grilled cheese sammies and mac & cheese.
For the sandwiches, The Twisted Classic was great — hot, crispy & gooey. Skip the prosciutto add-​on though as we could barely discern it despite the $ 2.50 price tag. After that, we both agreed the Lobsta’ Mac was on point — a good deal of lobster meat and tons of flavor contributed by the paprika and crimini mushrooms as well. Far better than my previous visit and I wonder if it was simply the butternut squash topping in the Fall Mac.
As before, the selection of wines and beers is great and grabbing one during HH would of course be the best bet.

This place needs to be bigger! They are killing it!
Great wine and beer list. The owner really takes pride in selecting his beers. They pair well with cheese. You usually wouldnt care about that unless you were in Europe but its spot on.
The mac and cheeses are great. I try a new one every time I go in. I love how if you find a cheese you like you can get as little as a ¼ lb to go.
Its small and energetic. Not a place for a quiet conversation but a great place to stop in after a nice day of walking around midtown. Its a cool place for a date because its not quiet cheesy but not a bar.
Come here!

The Rind is a broom closet of a store sandwiched between the other restaurants on L Street, and if you didn’t know any better your eyes would probably glaze right past it. So how does The Rind continue to hold its own amongst all the other yummy food in the Handle District? Simple, they stick to what they know: cheese and booze.
Every dish here is a play on ingredients involving cheese, which really boils down to two items: grilled cheese and mac and cheese. I got the Twisted Classic, their most popular grilled cheese. It’s basically pure cheesy bliss glued between bread that’s fried to perfection. I also stole a bite of their Not Your Mom’s Mac, which is ridiculously good as well. Most of the entrees give you the opportunity to snag a side salad or soup, which I’d advise since it balances out all the cheesiness on your plate. Can’t speak for the wine since we didn’t try it, but the Amber Ale went great with our food. The back of the menu is a page full of wine and artsy fartsy beers I’ve never heard of, but our server seemed pretty knowledgable about all the booze offerings.
Like I said, this place is small and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were less than a dozen tables to actually sit at. Luckily they also have a mini bar should seating become an issue. The ambience is pretty low-​key and makes for a great office lunch-​run on weekdays or a quirky date spot at night.
Apparently they also have fondue night on Mondays from 5−10pm…I will be back!

My friend and I went here for an evening snack and we were very happy!
We came in and were greeted warmly! The guy and the girl at the front helped us make our choice on what to eat and we decided on the cheese board! Everything was delicious!
The service was also great. Can’t wait to come back and try the Mac n cheese!

Amazing first experience… A late 20’s to mid 30’s crowd… Laid back and casual… came here with a friend… Was a Thursday night… It was pretty packed … We took seats at the bar. Found wines that we liked… And had the guy behind the counter helped put a platter of cheeses together for us. It was decadent
So they sell cheese platters… You can choose to assemble your own or have them do it for you with some critiques on your end… We told him no goat, one blue and that was it. The platter came out with three lovely cheeses… Needless to say… If you like this area, enjoy cheeses and wine (good choices for beginners too) then u should definitely check the rind out.
PS: they have several beers on tap for us beer drinkers too :)

I was in town for a work trip and came here twice (over the span of 3 days). That should speak volumes…
Loved the cheeses that I got to try here– particularly the one that was infused with truffle– delicious! I also got to taste their mac and cheese (OMG) and their grilled cheese sandwich– you can’t go wrong with anything here really! The wine and beer selection are vast here as well.
What made this a truly great experience is the service. Both times that I was here, the service was spot on. They made you feel welcomed whether it was your first time here or 50^th. Loved that aspect of it.
If I was in the area, I wouldn’t mind coming here once a week to unwind or I guess unrind after work! Definitely a winner!