By admin 
A Sacramento barbecue and soul restaurant has a new location in the River District.
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Bear West BBQ is now dishing up Cajun and fried dishes at Sactown Eats, a ghost kitchen at 1501 N C St. The River District spot opened in September.
Some of its new foods include fried catfish, fried okra, grits, fried chicken and waffles, as well as sweet potato and red velvet waffles, according to owners Carl and Saundra Johnson.
Devoted Bear West BBQ fans will recognize these dishes from the restaurant’s pop-up days. Since the main restaurant in Rosemont isn’t equipped for making Cajun cuisine, the food can only be found at the Sactown Eats location.
Both retired state workers with 30 years of service, the married owners started Bear West BBQ in 2017. The Johnsons are originally from the south; Saundra Johnson is from Arkansas and Carl Johnson is from New Orleans.
“We both got into this not intentionally; it’s not like we threw up a business plan or anything,” Carl Johnson said. “We started by doing small events, fairs that sort of thing.”
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The Johnsons opened their first brick-and-mortar in 2021. Four years later, a fire forced them out of North Highlands, and they relocated to 9011 Folsom Blvd. in Rosemont.
Because the River District restaurant is so different from the Rosemont location, the Johnsons are considering renaming the new spot “Bear West on the Bayou,” Saundra Johnson said.
Around the holidays, they will offer special menu items such as the couple’s homemade yaya dressing — baked Cajun stuffing with cornbread and “little bit of everything,” she said.
“It has crab, oysters, chicken sausage…” Saundra Johnson said. “…It has a little bit of all the meats, and still the flavoring, a traditional flavoring of our dressing,”
Bear West BBQ is open at Sactown Eats from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.
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