a culinary journey through davis

Slow afternoon at work today…and I’m celebrating the fact that daviswiki just got unblocked at work…

As a working person whose hours can vary from season to season, it’s tough to consistently cook for myself. Some nights I come home and I just want to knock out. Other night I’ll either be at small group or meeting up with a friend, and those nights are inevitably charged to my credit card. On days like these, there are quite a few places in davis to pick from. A cursory glance at daviswiki would confirm that this town is a melting pot of americanized cultural foods and other culinary trappings. Let’s visit some of my davis favorites:

The first place we visit will be the corner in south davis right by the tunnel, where the shell gas station is. This is where Café Italia, In-n-out, and Redrum Burger are. This triumvirate of heart-stopping food are all quite tasty, and although In-n-out isn’t indigenous to Davis, it is still one of the favorites of most people here. Redrum is one of those places that I never actually go to (I think the last time I went was 7 years ago), but I do remember it being very good. I also remember having the most epic food coma afterwards, so for the sake of wanting to be awake in the hours/days after a meal, I stay away from that place. Café Italia is definitely a good place to go, although a meal there can get kinda pricey. They have a really good clams linguine, which my roommate showed me how to make, but I would still go for the garlic bread. There was a rumor that they were going to move closer to where I live, but good thing they didn’t. If that had happened, I’d pretty much have to get my direct deposit re-routed to Café Italia.

As we move into downtown, we enter the protected land of local businesses. The Davis Planning Commission is very cautious about moving big chains and big business anywhere near the few blocks we know as downtown Davis. There are a few pretty good places to eat, and my favorite has got to be Hometown. No, not the buffet, but the Chinese food place in the upstairs of what looks like an apartment building. The food here is pretty authentic, and the people that work here are very nice (except when you pay by credit card). Across the street you have the Dumpling House and Noodle City. Those are both owned by the same people I think, and serve pretty good and cheap food. The old lady at the Dumpling House is awesome! She reminds me of the matchmaker in Mulan, and totally cracks me up. You just gotta give her a hard time and she’ll throw it right back at you haha.

Aside from these downtown places, there are a few I would like to highlight in the surrounding areas. Jade Garden in east davis is very good. Their lunch specials are pretty good deals and you can pretty much get 2-3 meals out of one of those bad boys (great for college students). There’s also Shanghai-Town in west Davis. This place has some pretty good Shanghainese food and is also a good place to take your folks if they’re in town. The place doesn’t look like much, but the food makes up for it. And lastly, there’s Guadalajara’s. This place is a Davis institution, and boasts the super-giant burrito (a burrito that stretches around 2.5ft) although their tacos are much better. They have two locations, and both are pretty good. There are many nights when I would work late, and swing by there to pick up dinner on the way home.

Of course, then there are those nights when I get off work at 4pm, no small group, no prayer meeting, no trivia nights. The stars align perfectly and the kitchen gods smile favorably upon me as my car pulls into the parking lot at nugget for a fresh salmon filet from the fish guy, or a nice selection of seasonal vegetables from the friendly produce guy as I try to balance out my fiber intake. Those days are more common now, but I still treasure them none-the-less. I value being able to get some fresh produce and meat and trying something new from my old issues of gourmet magazine (before they stopped print) or something random I found on youtube (Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey have good clips).

I’m sure this list will be updated as I remember more and more about what’s in town, but for now, that’s pretty much it for the food in town. At least the ones worth going to. Maybe Chipotle too, but that’s not local I suppose.