With so many items on the Davis Wish List, it's amazing how many of those needs go unfulfilled while others multiply exponentially. This page explores that which Davis has too many and too little of.

It's interesting to observe how quickly a dearth becomes a plethora. In early 2007, Davis had zero frozen yogurt stores. In a mere three years, that number jumped to 6!

Many of these are foods, and most of those relate to how common various cuisines are throughout the country. Some of the most complained about local items in Plethora are things that are simply unavailable or far worse everywhere outside of our region. Some people seem to be sharply critical of local cuisine, possibly because of familiarity and the fact that by having a spectrum of choices, you can be critical of those you don't like. For instance, the perpetual fight over how authentic Davis's Mexican, TexMex and Southwestern restaurants are becomes amusing when the perspective is added that most places in the country have a choice of Chili's or Taco Bell, or if they are really lucky, a Qdoba.

The flip side is that people from a region where a particular cuisine is common generally have high density miss the fact that the large pool of choices generally gave them better options, either more to their taste or simply that when there are two dozen Italian places within easy driving distance, at least a couple are likely to be far better than the norm. The lack of density results in a likelyhood that whatever happens to be close is likely mediocre... and Davis is not alone in this. From the two dozen Italian places within several hours of driving from Davis, there are some really good ones... they just aren't likely to be close.

One solution would be to simply celebrate what is at hand: Davis can only support a limited number of restaurants. Are you willing to give up the choice and competition in Thai or sushi places for some Italian or BBQ?

Plethora

Dearth

  • Dim Sum
  • Vietnamese restaurants QTY = 2
  • Sit-down Full-service Mexican dining — Tres Hermanas fits this bill, yes?
    • La Esperanza counted but is now gone; maybe Agave did, but it's gone, too. How about Taqueria Davis?
    • I would say TD is not quite sit-down dining, as you order at the counter and get your own chips up at the counter. It's a great place, but doesn't quite fit the bill. —TomGarberson
    • La was amazing, and I'm really sad it is gone —StevenDaubert
  • BBQ = 1 — Aside from Dickey's BBQ Pit, The nearest is Ludy's in Woodland, which is fairly decent, or head up 80 (since you're heading out of town anyway) to House of Chicken and Ribs.
  • A good wing shop (the kind that specializes in them, not has them on the menu because they own a fryer). QTY = 1 Wingstop.
    • I would sorta put these two in the same category Daubert
    • Personally, I think you get higher quality wings from someplace like Sudwerk than from, e.g., Buffalo Wild Wings. Of course, you have only one sauce option there, and no more than about 5 or 6 at the various mediocre chains in town (e.g. Domino's Pizza, Applebee's, compared to... what, 20ish? at BWW. —TomGarberson
      • I never knew wings were a dining specialty until I moved to the north east and found the amazing high density of places that only serve wings and have dozens of sauces and methods to prepare them. -jw
        • **Sigh** Cluck-U.
  • Soul food — Good greens are actually unhealthy for you due to the levels of pork fat in them.
    • Or get a CSA box and cook up your greens yourself in olive oil. There is often garlic and/or onion in the boxes, too.
  • Live music venues (including jazz, especially vocal jazz)
    • Having a world-class concert hall partly makes up for the lack, but I know what you mean.
  • Good coffee (see "Coffee snobs" in Plethora)
  • Ethiopian restaurant — We briefly had one. There is some talk of it returning. We hope it does.
    • This is located in Sacramento on Broadway, does Davis really need one? —StevenDaubert
  • Affordable and authentic Italian restaurant — Strings Italian Cafe and Pasta? have closed. Caffe Italia and Osteria Fasulo remain. Rostini and Luigi's are relatively recent arrivals. Yeah, we still need an affordable and authentic Italian restaurant.
    • Oh, I wish.

Does Paesanos fit this? It's cheapish and people tend to rave about it... Daubert

  • Delis and sandwich shops — yet another regionalism, this one a bicoastal one, but not terribly common on the west coast north of Pasadena or so.
    • Specifically a KOSHER deli. :-(
  • 24 hour restaurants where you can bring a friend, a lover, a book or a pad and pen and get bottomless cups of coffee and hours of night time.
  • Donut shops — there are only two (Fluffy Donuts and Pink Dozen) and neither is 24 hrs.
  • Gnomes
  • Cajun Cuisine = 1, Wildhorse Grill. A few other restaurants offer dishes with Cajun seasoning but, overall, the recipes are mostly inauthentic wannabe crap a la Applebee's.
Add tags