By admin 
Other than a myriad of Yolo County wineries, there’s not much in Clarksburg, the tiny Delta community just south of West Sacramento, especially if you’re hungry. Until recently, there were a couple of serviceable options: Burgers and dogs at Dinky Diner, surprisingly good Mexican out of the taco truck Tacos Dona Misa – and then there’s Husick’s.
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The anchor tenant of the town is a former hardware store turned into a restaurant. In years past it has been a barbecue joint and then a pizza place. Both were sufficient but unremarkable. Then, Sacramento chef Matt Brown came in and flipped the table.
Prior to taking over the space two years ago, Brown had been a fixture around Sacramento, most recently as the original chef at the now-defunct restaurant Bodega in Greenhaven. In taking over Husick’s, he hoped to craft something new and different for the Delta.
When he launched Husick’s by Forester (using his middle name) in September 2024, he kept pizzas on the menu, but expanded to include sandwiches, soups and salads, all with a fresh California vibe. However, he wasn’t content to stop there.
Brown is a creative and curious cook, and is constantly dabbling in cultural influences to keep things fresh.
During the slow winter months in 2025, as he was still building awareness of the restaurant, he ran a culinary campaign called Around the World in 80 Days, where he would rotate weekly specials, each centered on a nation’s cuisine. He repeated it this year, globetrotting his plates from Jamaica to Ireland with stops in Thailand, Egypt and other destinations.
Lest you think he’s just appropriating, know that Brown understands techniques and flavors. During the week of specials inspired by China in February, he made a crispy pork belly bao with hoisin that I still think about sometimes. I doubt I’ve had better in a Chinese restaurant.
The rotational specials have become a staple of the menu, and while he may mix things up a little more on the day-to-day, he still draws inspiration from the world around him. For example, during the World Cup he created specials around competing teams, including an Argentinean choripan that still haunts my palate weeks later.
Late last year, Brown set out to make a series of improvements to the restaurant to take it to the next level. He hoped to have everything in place by Valentine’s Day of this year. Things did not go according to plan.
It seemed simple enough. He wanted to install a hybrid wood-fired and gas oven on the side patio and an electric rotisserie oven to expand cooking options, and to get a full liquor license. How hard could it be?
The oven was a relative slam dunk. Brown’s contractor built it on the side patio. It’s about 10 feet long and four deep, with gas jets to keep the internal temperature up before the wood goes in.
“People refer to it as a pizza oven, and naturally you can cook pizzas in there. But it’s a wood fired oven that we use to cook everything. So the Italian beef that we have on the menu, we roast in there. The beets for the beet salad, we do them in there,” Brown said.
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The rotisserie was another matter. Brown wanted it to expand his cooking options.
“We don’t have a traditional kitchen. We don’t have a deep fryer. We don’t have a range. What can I get that would be something cool that we could get that would make cooking fun and unique? The first thing that came to mind was a rotisserie. That rotisserie was a hand-me-down, and it needed a certain amount of power to operate. But since this is a 100-year-old building, it couldn’t power it,” he said.
A friend mentioned that he could try to use an Add-a-Phase, a device that can convert single-phase electrical power, typical to home and light commercial structures, and convert it to two- or three-phase power, which is necessary for some industrial equipment.
“I’m not an electrician, but for whatever reason the breaker didn’t flip. It just kept going, and the Add-a-Phase motor was just running and running and running and running and running. We opened the basement and this huge waft of electrical smell came out, and the fire department had to come and shut the whole thing down. Luckily, it wasn’t like a real fire; it was just a smoldering machine. I didn’t want my legacy to be the guy that burnt down Husick’s, this 100-year-old building. So I just got rid of it,” he said.
The liquor license proved the stickiest challenge. The first hurdle was convincing the landlord it was a good idea.
“He was definitely skeptical about it. It took some coercing, and we had regulars who came in here who were friends with the landlord who knew our vibe. I think together as a community we convinced him that we were not just here to serve shots of Jack Daniels, and that we actually wanted to have a really cool elevated cocktail menu,” he said.
They received the sign for the application to hang in the window in February. In theory, the license could have arrived within 30 days. It didn’t. For a myriad of reasons, even with the aid of someone Brown hired to usher them through the process, it didn’t arrive until May.
The next touch was to add a proper bar, and even that took longer than expected, subject to the availability of Brown’s contractor. The end result was worth the wait. Keeping in line with the rest of the space, it’s topped with gleaming, polished live-edge wood, both elevated yet rustic keeping in the spirit of the rural community.
General manager Quinn Farragher runs the bar program, offering a blend of classics and their own twists, such as a hot honey margarita made with local Becker honey.
Today, Husick’s by Forester benefits from its hard-earned glow-up. Farragher makes fresh floral arrangements for each table. The final switch was to go to full table service, as opposed to ordering at the counter. This affords Brown the space to manage the kitchen better.
“We can give you a cocktail or whatever you’re drinking, and say you order a hummus and a salad and a pizza. We can at least get that hummus in front of you, and we can get the salad in front of you. It gives us time to cook the pizzas and not have to jam it out so fast. It’s nice to be able to slow down and concentrate and do it appropriately,” Brown said.
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Husick’s by Forester
Address: 36510 Riverview Drive, Clarksburg
Hours: 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday
Phone: 916-917-4701
Website: husicksbyforester.com
Vegetarian options: Plenty
Noise level: It can get boisterous, and they do offer live music on Fridays.