Add these spots to the local favorites

After reading last week's Taste feature about 50 foods and culinary landmarks that distinguish Sacramento, several people wrote to us. Some of their e-mails began, "How could you forget about … "

Actually, we hadn't forgotten about many of their suggestions. We just didn't have room for more than 50 and went with those we liked best.

Nevertheless, here are several that readers would have liked to see included, and which we wish we had had space to accommodate:

• The West Sacramento restaurant Club Pheasant prompted a few mentions, though opinion was divided over the favorite dish: garlic steak sandwich or ravioli?

• David Berkley Fine Wines & Specialty Foods in the Pavilions shopping complex along Fair Oaks Boulevard, which seems to accommodate more people per square inch than any other food store in the region.

• Casa Garden Restaurant along Sutterville Road, whose luncheon proceeds benefit the Sacramento Children's Home.

• JR's Texas Bar-B-Que in south Sacramento, which some correspondents swear has the best barbecued brisket in the area.

• The La Bou group of cafes, which began as a single bakery called La Boulangerie in 1981 and has grown into a prosperous chain where croissants still are among the more popular items.

• Gunther's Ice Cream, now in its 66th year, dishing out about 40 flavors at its bright shop on the corner of Franklin Boulevard and Third Avenue.

• Tower Cafe at Broadway and 16th Street, some for its New Mexico blueberry cornmeal pancakes, some for its array of indulgent desserts.