Sacramento’s culinary legends honored with ‘Wide Open Walls’ murals

Four of Sacramento's culinary titans were honored with their own murals Monday as part of the city’s Wide Open Walls.

Titled “Legends of Hospitality", the series features chefs, restaurateurs, and business owners Lina Fat, Darrell Corti, Biba Caggiano, and Randy Paragary. 

The black-and-white, photo-realistic murals are located in Downtown Sacramento's ‘Jazz Alley’ behind the Sheraton Grand Hotel. The alley is due to feature two dozen more murals celebrating the city’s artistic and cultural heritage once completed. The pedestrian corridor will also be fully lit with LED and market lighting, according to Wide Open Walls organizers. 

The murals were painted by Ian Wilkinson, a North Carolina-based artist known professionally as Ian the Painter. He spent several days on the piece, often working through the night until 5:30 in the morning.

“I was gifted with the honor of getting to illuminate these folks that have been so vital to the service and hospitality [industry] of Sacramento,” Wilkinson said.

Muralist Ian Wilkinson, known professionally as Ian the Painter, standing in front of Darrell Corti’s mural as part of the “Legends of Hospitality.” Sept. 15, 2025.Chris Felts/CapRadio

Though unfamiliar with the honorees before the project, only meeting Corti the morning of the unveiling, Wilkinson described forming an intimate connection with each of them. 

“It's kind of a magical experience because even if you haven't met the person, you develop a relationship with them [by] studying the nuances of their face,” Wilkinson said. “I learned certain things about people without even knowing them.”

Over the years, Wilkinson has produced several murals around Sacramento including working with local schools and painted a mural at the SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity. Wilkinson is also slated to paint the largest mural west of the Mississippi at the UC Davis Health campus. At 50,000 square feet, the mural will be 100 feet tall and 500 feet wide.

“I love Sacramento,” Wilkinson said. “It's got a real sweet place in my heart. I'm glad to come back here anytime.”

The mural unveiling was attended by Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum who emphasized each of the figure’s tremendous impact on Sacramento’s food scene.

“Even if you don’t know their names, you've been to their restaurants, you know their food,” Pluckebaum said. “They've been leading Sacramento's culinary arts for decades and we owe so much to them.”

LINA FAT

Mural of chef and restaurateur Lina Fat. Sept. 15, 2025.Chris Felts/CapRadio

Chef and restaurateur Lina Fat was a key figure behind the Fat Family Restaurant Group which operates one of Sacramento’s most iconic restaurants, “Frank Fat’s.” The restaurant was founded by her father-in-law who started the business in 1939.

Fat immigrated from Hong Kong at the age of 17, according to her obituary in the Sacramento Bee. She went on to attend the University of California, San Francisco School of Pharmacy where she would meet her husband, Ken Fat. Fat told CapRadio’s Beth Ruyak in 2019 how she joined the family business after a decade-long career in pharmacy. 

The family was planning to open a restaurant in Old Sacramento called “China Camp” to commemorate Chinese immigrants in the United States. The family had difficulty wrestling with the menu to distinguish it from “Frank Fat’s,” even considering the option of selling the land back to the city. Fat proposed a concept based on Hong Kong cuisine.

Fat didn’t expect to run a kitchen, she thought she’d simply provide recipes for another chef to take over. 

"The week before we opened, my brother-in-law Wing [Fat] assigned duties to the family, who is going to do what. When he came to me and he said. 'Oh, you're in charge of the kitchen.' And I'm the type who likes challenges, so I said ‘okay’."

She joined the business as Head Corporate Chef in 1974 and helped develop menus at the family’s other restaurants as they expanded into Roseville and Folsom.

Fat was recognized as the Sacramento Restaurateur of the Year by the California Restaurant Association in 1987, Chef of the Year by the California Capitol Chefs Association in 1998, and  recipient of the James Beard "America's Classic" Award in 2013. 

Darrell Corti

Described as a culinary encyclopedia, Darell Corti is one of the most respected food and wine experts in Sacramento. His corner grocery store, “Corti Brothers”, has been a city staple for nearly 80 years. It was established by his father and uncle, Frank and Gino Corti.

Corti Brothers started in 1947 with a goal of increasing Sacramentans’ culinary experiences with a broad selection of delicacies and wine.

Corti joined the store in 1964 and became a purveyor of gourmet ingredients including olive oil, imported cheeses and white truffles as he traveled around the world.

“In the early days we just did an Italian type business,” Corti told CapRadio in 2024. “I'm the one who sort of became more interested in doing things all over, so the travel part, going to places like Salona del Gusto. They are really interesting things that you have to do in order to learn things.”

Corti is often credited with boosting Amador County’s wine profile by bringing attention to its zinfandel vineyards through the selection at his grocery store. 

The Italian government knighted Corti as a cavaliere for his promotion of italian products including the introduction of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale to America, according to the store’s website. 

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History named Corti to its advisory board known as the “Kitchen Cabinet”  in 2014 as part of its American Food History Project.

The Special Food Association inducted Corti into the 2016 Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Culinary Institute of America’s Vintner’s Hall of Fame in 2008.

Biba Caggiano 

Born in Bologna, Italy, Biba Caggiano moved to Sacramento with her husband, Vincent, in 1969 after living in New York. Being homesick, Caggiano would have to travel to San Francisco to find authentic Italian products, according to her obituary published in the Sacramento Bee.

As a stay-at-home mom, Caggiano began looking for a new outlet after her daughters started attending school.

“Friends of mine kept asking me ‘why don't you give us the recipe of the dinner you had the other night at your house’ so I found myself giving out recipes,” Caggiano said on CapRadio’s Insight in 2006. “I thought it was preposterous because my mother used to say I couldn't even boil water.”  Caggiano found herself providing cooking lessons in her home kitchen to those who asked and said that’s where her career began. 

She graced America’s television screens starting in the late 80s on TLC’s “Biba’s Italian Kitchen.” She wrote nine cookbooks which reportedly sold 600,000 copies. And her “Biba Restaurant” in Midtown Sacramento served diners for over 30 years where she spent many days and nights tending to her customers. 

“I know that I work many hours, but I love what I do so much that I don’t realize when I’m there, I am happy.” Caggiano said. “My restaurant is a happy place because people come in, they eat well most of the time and they are happy. And when you see smiling people around you, what else can I ask?” 

Randy Paragary

Restaurateur and businessman Randy Paragary established over 20 restaurants in the Sacramento region alongside his wife, Stacy, and chef partner, Kurt Sparto, through the Paragary Restaurant Group founded in 1993.

Labeled as a pioneer of Sacramento's food scene, Paragary opened his first restaurant, The ParaPow Palace, in 1969 when he was 22. Others followed in its footsteps including Cafe Bernardo, Centro Cocina Mexicana, and Paragary’s in Midtown. 

Paragary’s investments, and partnership with the city, helped bring new development to the Convention Center/Community Center area, the R Street corridor, and the Sutter district, according to the Paragary Restaurant Group website.

The final project Paragary saw to completion prior to his death in 2021 was the Fort Sutter Hotel at the corner of 28th Street and Capitol Avenue, the first hotel in the Sutter district. 

Paragary was a graduate of McClatchy High School, Sacramento State University and the McGeorge School of Law.

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