Mulvaney's B&L: Chef Patrick Mulvaney and the Sacramento Firehouse
Who runs Mulvaney's B&L in 2026, what its dated farm-to-fork menus serve, and whether the $24 lunch cheeseburger is worth ordering.
Mulvaney’s B&L is a farm-to-fork New American restaurant at 1215 19th Street in Midtown Sacramento, set in a firehouse built in 1893. Patrick and Bobbin Mulvaney opened it in 2006, and it is still open in October 2026. Patrick’s title today is Chef Owner & Culinary Ambassador; the kitchen is run by Executive Chef John Trujillo. Don’t come expecting a burger joint. The dinner menu changes daily and has no burger at all, and the cheeseburger, the Capital Cheeseburger with fries, is a lunch dish at $24 before tax. My advice: book dinner if you want to understand why this place matters, and keep the burger for lunch or a seat at the bar.
Mulvaney’s B&L at a glance (checked October 7, 2026)
Every fact below comes from the restaurant’s own site or a named source, and I checked each one on October 7, 2026.
| Mulvaney’s B&L | |
|---|---|
| Address | 1215 19th Street, Sacramento, CA 95811 (Midtown) |
| Phone | (916) 441-6022 |
| restaurant@mulvaneysbl.com | |
| Founded | Official opening March 1, 2006, by Patrick and Bobbin Mulvaney |
| Building | Historic 1893 firehouse |
| Cuisine | Farm-to-fork New American, with a menu that changes daily |
| Executive Chef | John Trujillo |
| Burger | Capital Cheeseburger with French Fries, $24 (lunch, menu dated 9/24/2026) |
| Michelin | Michelin Plate in 2019, Recommended in 2021 (no star in any verified edition) |
| Reservations | OpenTable or by phone |
| Status | Open (lunch and dinner menus dated 9/24/2026) |
Mulvaney’s B&L at a glance: address, phone, founders, Executive Chef John Trujillo, the $24 Capital Cheeseburger and Michelin history, checked October 7, 2026. (Table: Burger Breton, data from mulvaneysbl.com (accessed 2026-10-07))
Map of Mulvaney’s B&L at 1215 19th Street, Sacramento, CA 95811, in Midtown’s Lavender Heights, a few blocks east of the State Capitol. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL)
Who is Patrick Mulvaney?
Patrick Mulvaney is the chef who co-founded Mulvaney’s B&L in 2006 and has spent two decades as one of the public faces of Sacramento’s farm-to-fork dining, in and out of the kitchen. He is a New Yorker by origin: he grew up in Garden City, on Long Island, and studied at Union College, according to Sactown Magazine and The Daily Meal.
His training covers two continents. In Ireland he worked under Sean Kinsella at the Waterville Lake Hotel in County Kerry. Back in New York he cooked for Leslie Revsin at Metropolis, then for David Burke at the River Café in Brooklyn.
Then he went west: RoxSand in Phoenix, followed by River City Brewing and Paragary’s in Sacramento. Before he had a dining room of his own, he ran a catering company, Culinary Specialists.
Patrick Mulvaney beyond the kitchen
Patrick Mulvaney’s work now reaches well past his own dining room. He chairs the board of the Foundation for California Community Colleges, which he joined in 2018; in January 2026 he was reappointed for a term that runs to January 2030, according to the foundation.
In March 2023 the U.S. Department of State named him to its American Culinary Corps. He also co-founded the “Train the Trainer” program at American River College. Earlier, in March 2014, he cooked a “Savoring Sacramento” dinner at the James Beard House in New York, which the James Beard archive documents. Some sites call him a James Beard semifinalist. I found no record that confirms it, so I am not repeating the claim.
Who runs Mulvaney’s B&L in 2026?
Patrick and Bobbin Mulvaney still own Mulvaney’s B&L, but the day-to-day kitchen belongs to Executive Chef John Trujillo. The restaurant’s About Us page lists this team on October 7, 2026:
- Patrick Mulvaney, Chef Owner & Culinary Ambassador
- Bobbin Mulvaney, Owner & Culture Curator
- John Trujillo, Executive Chef
- Taryn Beltz, General Manager & Beverage Director
- Debbie Chang, Bar Manager
- Rachel Vetterlein, Events Manager
So, is Patrick Mulvaney still the chef? Not in the daily sense. His title has moved to ambassador, and what lands on your plate today comes out of Trujillo’s kitchen. That is worth knowing if the name on the door is the reason you are booking.
The 2023 transition
In February 2023, the Sacramento Bee reported a handover in progress. Michael Thiemann, formerly of Mother and Empress Tavern, had been hired as chef, and Sarah Wasson, the founders’ daughter, had gradually become managing partner. Patrick and Bobbin remained owners while preparing to step back.
Treat that as 2023 history, not the current picture. Neither Thiemann nor Wasson appears on the official team page in October 2026, and I could not confirm when their roles changed.
The 1893 firehouse and the “It’s a Wonderful Life” name
Mulvaney’s B&L occupies a firehouse built in 1893, and the original brick walls and high ceilings are still there. Both the restaurant’s own site and the Clio history database give that date.
Clio goes further. It identifies the building as Sacramento Firehouse No. 3, home of Engine Company No. 3, calls it the oldest firehouse in Sacramento and says it closed in 1982. I found those last two details in Clio only, so read them as Clio’s account.
The name is a film reference. “B&L” stands for Building & Loan, as in the Bailey Brothers Building and Loan of Frank Capra’s 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life”, which Patrick and Bobbin explained to The Daily Meal in 2019. For a restaurant built on neighbors and local suppliers, the name fits.
The 1946 poster for Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life”, the film whose Bailey Brothers Building and Loan gave Mulvaney’s B&L its name. (Poster: RKO Radio Pictures, public domain in the US (copyright not renewed), via Wikimedia Commons)
Next Door at the B&L
The restaurant also runs a separate event space called Next Door: 120 seated guests, or up to 150 for a cocktail reception, under a redwood bow-truss ceiling. The B&L patio takes groups of fewer than 50, according to the restaurant’s events page.
What farm-to-fork means at Mulvaney’s B&L
At Mulvaney’s B&L, farm-to-fork means the menu is rewritten daily around what local farmers deliver. The restaurant describes its cooking as hand-crafted New American food built on “what the farmers bring in the front door” and on Sacramento’s growing seasons.
Sacramento markets itself as America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital, and Mulvaney’s B&L is one of the places where the slogan has something behind it: the dinner menu names its producers. These are the mains I noted on the menu dated September 24, 2026:
| Dinner main (menu dated 9/24/2026) | Price |
|---|---|
| Ferrari Fisheries black cod | $58 |
| Fogline chicken breast | $52 |
| Klingman Ranch double-cut pork chop | $67 |
| 1855 Ranch grilled New York steak | $72 |
At $52 to $72 a main before tax and tip, dinner here is a sit-down, special-occasion meal. It is also where the farm-to-fork identity lives, and it is the meal I would book.
Bar chart: Mulvaney’s B&L dinner mains on the menu dated 9/24/2026, Fogline chicken $52, Ferrari Fisheries black cod $58, Klingman Ranch pork chop $67, 1855 Ranch New York steak $72, against the $24 lunch Capital Cheeseburger (USD, before tax and tip). (Chart: Burger Breton, data from mulvaneysbl.com dinner and lunch menus dated 2026-09-24)
The Mulvaney’s B&L burger: what it is and what it costs
Mulvaney’s B&L serves a cheeseburger at lunch and at the bar, both at $24 before tax, but not at dinner. Here is what the current menus list:
| Menu | Burger | Toppings | Price | Menu date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lunch | Capital Cheeseburger with French Fries | Cheddar, Hatch chiles, red onion, Capital Sauce, heirloom tomatoes | $24 | 9/24/2026 |
| Bar Bites | Cheeseburger with Fries | Lettuce, onion, pickles | $24 | 7/29/2026 |
| Dinner | None | – | – | 9/24/2026 |
Mulvaney’s B&L burgers side by side: lunch Capital Cheeseburger ($24, 9/24/2026), Bar Bites Cheeseburger ($24, 7/29/2026), no burger at dinner, plus the older undated $13 B&L Burger. (Table: Burger Breton, data from mulvaneysbl.com lunch, bar-bites and dinner menus and an undated Allmenus copy)
The lunch version is the one with a point of view. Hatch chiles and heirloom tomatoes are late-summer produce, which makes it a seasonal burger rather than a fixed classic, and I would not count on the same toppings in January. The bar version, with lettuce, onion and pickles, is the plain cheeseburger you order with a drink.
What Hatch chiles bring to a cheeseburger: a green chile burger at Sparky’s in Hatch, New Mexico. Illustrative only, not the Mulvaney’s B&L Capital Cheeseburger, which pairs Hatch chiles with cheddar, red onion and heirloom tomatoes. (Photo: Chitrapa, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons))
What the menus leave out matters just as much. They don’t say what goes into Capital Sauce, and they don’t name the bun, the patty weight or the ranch behind the beef. That last gap surprised me. The dinner mains credit Klingman Ranch and 1855 Ranch by name, yet the burger beef goes unnamed, so I can’t tell you it is local.
The earlier B&L Burger
An older version of the burger still circulates online. A third-party menu copy on Allmenus lists a “B&L Burger with Juan’s Chips” at $13, with N.Y. aged white cheddar, little gems and aioli. That listing is undated, so treat it as a past version, not today’s price.
Should you go for the burger or for dinner?
Go for dinner if you want the reason Mulvaney’s B&L matters, and order the burger as a lunch or bar-stool meal. Here is my reasoning. At $24 before tax, the cheeseburger costs less than half the cheapest dinner main I counted ($52), which makes it the cheapest way into the firehouse on the menus I read. But $24 is also a lot for a burger whose beef, bun and sauce the restaurant does not describe. If you want the best burger in Midtown rather than this particular restaurant, start from our Sacramento burger page, where we file every Sacramento venue we verify.
If you would rather build a seasonal cheeseburger at home, start with the bread: our homemade burger buns recipe gives you a soft bun that holds up to juicy toppings like heirloom tomatoes.
Late-summer heirloom tomatoes at a farmers’ market, the seasonal produce that makes Mulvaney’s B&L’s lunch cheeseburger change with the calendar. (Photo: See-ming Lee, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons, from Flickr))
Is Mulvaney’s B&L in the Michelin Guide?
Mulvaney’s B&L has been recognized by the Michelin Guide, but no verified edition gives it a star. It received a Michelin Plate in the first California guide in 2019 and stayed Recommended in the 2021 guide, according to Visit Sacramento.
I could not confirm its status for 2025 or 2026: the Michelin pages for the restaurant returned errors when I checked. Directory sites still call it Michelin-recommended, but I only state what I could verify. For a chef-led restaurant that did win a star, read our profile of Ron Gastrobar in Amsterdam.
I Got Your Back: the Mulvaneys’ mental-health program
I Got Your Back is a peer-to-peer mental-health program for restaurant workers co-founded by Patrick and Bobbin Mulvaney. They started it after several suicides shook Sacramento’s restaurant community in early 2018, as NPR reported.
The system is simple. Staff log their mood every day with color-coded cards, and a trained colleague wears a pin so coworkers know who to approach. Oak Park Brewing makes an “I Got Your Back” beer that helps fund the training, according to ABC10.
Of everything the Mulvaneys have built, this is what I would point a restaurant owner outside Sacramento to first. It needs no new hire and no software, just cards, a pin and a trained colleague, and that is exactly what makes it easy to copy.
Then and now: how Mulvaney’s B&L has changed
The founders, the firehouse and the farm-to-fork approach have stayed the same; the kitchen leadership and the burger have changed. This timeline separates verified history from the current picture:
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| March 1, 2006 | Official opening, after a soft opening in late February |
| March 13, 2014 | Patrick Mulvaney cooks “Savoring Sacramento” at the James Beard House |
| Early 2018 | The Mulvaneys co-found I Got Your Back |
| 2018 | Patrick joins the Foundation for California Community Colleges board |
| 2019 | Michelin Plate in the first California guide |
| 2021 | Kept as Recommended in the Michelin Guide |
| February 2023 | Sacramento Bee reports Michael Thiemann hired as chef and Sarah Wasson as managing partner |
| March 2023 | Patrick appointed to the State Department’s American Culinary Corps |
| January 2026 | Patrick reappointed to the foundation board through January 2030 |
| October 2026 | Open; John Trujillo is Executive Chef; Capital Cheeseburger at $24 |
Mulvaney’s B&L timeline, 2006 to 2026: opening on March 1, 2006, James Beard House dinner, I Got Your Back, Michelin Plate 2019, the 2023 kitchen handover and John Trujillo as Executive Chef today. (Table: Burger Breton, data from mulvaneysbl.com, Sactown Magazine, Sacramento Bee, Visit Sacramento and the James Beard Foundation archive)
How to book Mulvaney’s B&L
Book Mulvaney’s B&L through OpenTable or by calling (916) 441-6022. The official site does not publish opening hours or service days for lunch, dinner or the bar, so check OpenTable or call before you go, especially if you are coming for the lunch burger.
Frequently asked questions about Mulvaney’s B&L
Who owns Mulvaney’s B&L in Sacramento?
Patrick and Bobbin Mulvaney own Mulvaney’s B&L. The official site lists Patrick as Chef Owner & Culinary Ambassador and Bobbin as Owner & Culture Curator.
Is Patrick Mulvaney still the chef at Mulvaney’s B&L?
Not day to day. Patrick Mulvaney now holds the title Chef Owner & Culinary Ambassador, and John Trujillo is the Executive Chef who runs the kitchen.
Does Mulvaney’s B&L serve a burger, and how much does it cost?
Yes, at lunch and at the bar. The lunch Capital Cheeseburger with French Fries and the Bar Bites Cheeseburger with Fries both cost $24 before tax. The dinner menu has no burger.
What does B&L stand for in Mulvaney’s B&L?
B&L stands for Building & Loan, a nod to the Bailey Brothers Building and Loan in the 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
Is Mulvaney’s B&L in a former firehouse?
Yes. It occupies a firehouse built in 1893 in Midtown Sacramento, with its original brick walls still in place.
Is Mulvaney’s B&L Michelin-starred?
No. It received a Michelin Plate in 2019 and was Recommended in 2021, without a star. Its status for 2025 and 2026 could not be verified.
Does the menu at Mulvaney’s B&L really change every day?
Yes. The restaurant says its menu changes daily with Sacramento’s growing seasons and with what local farmers deliver. The menus online carry a date for that reason.
What is the I Got Your Back program?
I Got Your Back is a peer-to-peer mental-health program for restaurant workers, co-founded by the Mulvaneys in 2018. Staff share their mood with color-coded cards, and a trained colleague wears a pin.
Where is the best burger in Midtown Sacramento?
Mulvaney’s B&L serves a seasonal $24 cheeseburger at lunch, but it is not a burger destination. For other options, see our Sacramento burger page, where every venue we cover is dated and verified.
Do you need a reservation at Mulvaney’s B&L?
A reservation is the safe choice. Mulvaney’s B&L takes bookings on OpenTable and by phone at (916) 441-6022, and it publishes no opening hours online.
More chef-owner profiles from the United States
Mulvaney’s B&L is one of several US chef-owner stories we cover in the Restaurants section. For burger-first restaurants with a founder at the center, read our guide to The Dam in St. Louis and our profile of Allen Burger Venture in Buffalo.
How I researched this profile
I built this profile from the restaurant’s own pages and dated press. I did not eat there for this piece, and nobody paid for it. I read the lunch and dinner menus dated September 24, 2026, and the Bar Bites menu dated July 29, 2026, on mulvaneysbl.com on October 7, 2026, and confirmed the team on the About Us page that same day.
For history I used Sactown Magazine (2016), The Daily Meal (2019), the Sacramento Bee (2023), NPR and ABC10 for I Got Your Back, Visit Sacramento for the Michelin recognition, Clio for the firehouse, the Foundation for California Community Colleges for Patrick’s board role, and the James Beard archive. Where sources disagreed, I went with the majority: one source dates the opening to 2005, but Sactown and the Sacramento Bee both give March 1, 2006. I left out hours, current Michelin status, the beef supplier and the burger’s sauce recipe because no reliable source publishes them.
