The Foraging Angler: Dining Options When Fishing for Valley Steelhead

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The Boss Burger is the perfect spot for a burger after fishing the Feather River.

Every time I sit down to write a “Foraging Angler” column, I always focus on places to eat that I like, that provide good value, and that make me feel comfortable. When I say “comfortable,” I mean I don’t want to be thinking I am in danger or my truck outside with all my fly-fishing gear is in jeopardy of driving away with a stranger. Everywhere these days, you must use common sense and make sure nothing is in sight in your vehicle for strangers to see. I also like independent, mom-and-pop establishments that have good food that doesn’t come directly from a freezer that hasn’t been cleaned out since it was installed. And it’s important that other folks (not just myself) enjoy the place and feel comfortable there.

In this issue of California Fly Fisher, I am focusing on places to eat when traveling to and from steelheading waters in the northern Central Valley, highlighting eateries near the Feather, Yuba, and American Rivers. Some of them serve food all day long, and some just do breakfast.

The Boss Burger, Oroville

The Boss Burger is an old favorite of mine. “The Boss,” as it is called in Oroville, has given me a great hamburger many, many times — in fact, hundreds of times. It is a place I went to when I was working for the sheriff’s department back in the day. We trusted the owner and the cooks not to tamper with our food. Yes, folks will screw with law-enforcement food orders to get one over on the cops.

“The Boss” is located at the end of Montgomery Street, a stone’s throw from the green bridge just east of the Feather River Hatchery. It’s a safe place to get a great meal after a morning of fishing the river. They offer a wide range of hamburgers and sandwiches. The ground beef comes from the Wagon Wheel Market in Oroville, which prides itself on great meat products. I usually order the Big Boss Burger, which is a half-pounder (they have a Super Boss that is a three-quarter-pounder) with everything on it and the Boss’s homemade onion rings. Add some of their special jalapeño ranch dipping sauce, and you are in business. It’s a perfect pit stop before you head back home or hit another spot on the Feather.

The Boss Burger, 2482 Montgomery Street, Oroville. Phone: (530) 534-8806; website: https://www.thebossburger.com. Open Monday to Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Closed Sunday

The Cow Café and Grill, Oroville

This Oroville joint is a basic, yet classic morning breakfast diner that serves food quickly and hot. The cool aspect of the Cow Café is that it is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This also was one of the places I frequented while working at the sheriff’s office. It has a home-town family feel, oriented toward folks looking to get a great, reasonably priced sit-down breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Don’t be surprised to see people from all walks of life here. From truck drivers to doctors and nurses to the folks who wear badges, they all walk in The Cow Café’s door.

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Oroville’s Cow Café and Grill is open 24 hours a day.

One of the best dishes on this menu is the chicken-fried steak and eggs. I know: it’s a belly bomb or cardiac special, but this dish can fill you up and keep you filled up all day long. The gravy is outstanding, with chunks of sausage, onions, and “lots of love” (according to one of the waitresses, this is code for grease and cream).

Among the Cow Café’s selection of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners are gluten-free and vegan options. Kirsten’s favorite breakfast is the veggie omelet, a three-egg omelet that comes packed full of spinach, mushrooms, onions, and Monterey jack cheese. She orders it with a fruit side and sourdough toast. I have never had lunch or dinner at this place — it’s the breakfast menu only for this guy — but you can order breakfast 24 hours a day at “the Cow.” It’s that kind of place.

The Cow Café and Grill, 935 Oro Dam Boulevard East, Oroville. Phone: (530) 533-9332. Open seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Casa Lupe Market and Taqueria, Gridley

Casa Lupe is an institution in the North State. At one time, the family who owns it also owned and operated a chain of restaurants from the Gridley/Yuba City area to the Oregon border. They are now down to two restaurants. One is in Gridley and the other is in Yuba City. As I’ve often said here, I don’t do chain restaurants, and I am not going to talk about the Casa Lupe restaurants. Instead, I am going to recommend highly their little taqueria that’s hidden inside the food market the Casa Lupe family also owns in downtown Gridley. This is an authentic Mexican store that stocks all kinds of foods and ingredients that you can’t find anywhere else. They have a huge bulkfoods area and a full-time butcher shop with six butchers and a line every time I walk into the store. The taqueria is in a back corner. You will find it by the line of folks waiting to order their food before you even see the main counter where they place their orders. You will also smell the wonderful aroma from the kitchen as soon as you walk through the market’s sliding-glass doors.

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The Casa Lupe market in Gridley has a wonderful taqueria.

The taqueria menu has it all; burritos, tacos, sopes, tortas, and dinner plates, with your choice of chicken, steak, or pork. Kirsten and I usually get the burrito with carne asada or chicken with everything. “Everything” means beans, rice, sour cream, and Casa Lupe salsa, all wrapped in a huge flour tortilla served with a radish, lime, and a jalapeño pepper. Kirsten and I often order three of them, two to eat immediately and a third to take home and put in the refrigerator for the next day. The next morning, I cut the burrito into one-inch slices, put a little olive oil in a frying pan, and fry them until they are hot and golden brown on each side. I serve them with two scrambled eggs with fresh smoked jalapeno salsa on the side, maybe even a slice of avocado. I love the taqueria’s pork tacos, too, and another favorite is the pork torta. I have them grill the bun and then add all the goodies, including homemade salsa, guacamole, and sliced beefsteak tomatoes. The taqueria also offers breakfast burritos. I have never had one, but everything I have ordered and eaten there has been fantastic. Just sitting here in my home office, thinking about Casa Lupe, is making me hungry. I might have to take a drive to Gridley.

Casa Lupe Market and Taqueria, 130 Magnolia Street, Gridley. Phone: (530) 846-5152; website: https://www.casalupe.com/market. Open Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Saturday, 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Sunday, 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Mom’s Diner, Marysville

When I find a place that I absolutely love, sometimes it leads to a dilemma. Should I share it in this column, or should I leave it alone and just let old dogs lie. Guy Fieri would list Mom’s Diner on his show as a “dive.” It’s a diamond in the rough, and that is OK with me. The food is great, and the service is wonderful. The first time I went there was with Kirsten. She and I were out exploring an unfamiliar fishing area, and we had been in a rush to leave the house, so we didn’t have breakfast. But hunger pangs hit us while on the road; we found this place via the old “Places to eat near me” Google search. It had 4.9 stars, and we said what the heck, let’s check it out.

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Mom’s Diner in Marysville is small, friendly, and a favorite of locals.

We parked in the back parking lot, since the front parking was full. I got out of the truck and smelled bacon cooking. I was hooked. When we went inside, the décor was 1950s diner, with country music on the radio (George Strait was playing; he’s Kirsten’s favorite), and everyone in the joint either smiled or waved at us. When you walk into Mom’s Diner, you walk into a small room that has a horseshoe diner counter and smaller tables in the corner. You can see the cooks in the kitchen f lipping pancakes and slaving over the grill. To the right, there is a double door into the side dining room. All the tables and the chairs at the counter where full, so we headed into the dining room to find a table. At the far corner table were six Yuba County deputies having breakfast. I felt right at home. Kirsten knew one of them, and we chatted with the group of gals and guys for a couple of minutes until the waitress approached to start our order. Every now and then I like to pick up the check for local law enforcement. I know what the job stresses are, and I appreciated it when folks would pick the check up for me and my fellow law enforcement brothers and sisters. I told the waitress to give me their checks — I would take care of them. She laughed and pointed at another couple sitting in the other corner and said, “That couple already did.” I told her, “then I will pick up their check.” The waitress nodded and said, “What y’all want to have?”

The first couple of times I was there, I ordered an item that they call “The Mess.” It is a scramble that has a little bit of everything — bacon, ham, sausage, sautéed onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, scrambled eggs, and home fries, all mixed together and topped with melted cheddar cheese. I order it with an English muffin. It’s hot, delicious and fills you up. You can also get “The Mess” as an omelet. Kirsten loves breakfast, and she sometimes splurges on what she orders. Usually she tries to go low carbs, no bacon, no gravy, and so on, but she loves Mom’s chicken-fried steak and eggs. They make their own chicken-fried steak using a sirloin steak that they run through a tenderizer, dip in a bowl of flour and spices, and land in the deep fryer. I watched it happen sitting at the counter one morning. The homemade sausage gravy is rich and creamy, and they are very generous with it. Kirsten orders this dish with home fries and scrambled eggs. She always walks out with a to-go container, which is great, because I finish it off later.

Mom’s Diner, 5915 Lindhurst Avenue, Marysville. Phone: (530) 743-8864. Open seven days a week, 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Tacos Pico Rico, Marysville

The late Jon Baiocchi turned me onto this little family owned and operated taqueria. When I go to the Yuba River from my home in Willows, my main route is via Highway 162 across the valley. Once I hit Highway 99, I take many rural roads to come out onto Highway 20 just past the outskirts of Marysville. I used to drive right by Tacos Pico Rico, but after Jon recommended it to me and I went, I was impressed. The food is amazing. This isn’t really a restaurant — it’s a food trailer. They have picnic tables in a covered area surrounded by trees. It is clean, but rustic. It’s a popular place for locals to stop and grab lunch or dinner.

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East of Marysville, the Tacos Pico Rico trailer serves excellent Mexican food.

My favorite order is the asada crispy tacos. They are to die for. You have your choice of carne asada, pork, or chicken. I have had both the pork and the carne asada. The tacos are loaded with meat, cheese, onions, and jalapeño peppers and grilled to a golden brown, then served with a cup of the homemade garden salsa. I also have been ordering their Pico Rico shrimp burrito. I usually stay away from seafood from a food truck, but talking to the folks there, I have gained confidence in their handling of raw foods. When I first ordered it, the cook looked at me and said, “We’re out.” That was a great confidence builder. They buy a certain amount of shrimp each day, and that is it. Once they run out, they’re out. This burrito is stuffed with shrimp, rice, onions, peppers, and black beans and layered in Pico Rico salsa. It’s spicy, and really good.

Tacos Pico Rico, 3629 State Highway 20, Marysville. Phone: (530) 315-2803. Open Monday through Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Fair Oaks Brew Pub, Fair Oaks

It’s hard to find a great place to dine near where I fish in the Sacramento area that isn’t a chain restaurant, that has good food, and that is in a location where I feel comfortable. I have searched for quality eateries close to the American River and ended up going to a drive-through for a Sausage Egg McMuffin. Not really up my alley.

After a Spey workshop on the American River, though, I found a place that I fell in love with. It is the Fair Oaks Brew Pub, located just north of the Sunrise Bridge on the American River. After I finished the workshop, I was in need of a stiff drink, a warm booth to sit in, and a place where I could relax before I made the long drive back to Willows up Interstate 5. Another reason I was looking for a place was to avoid the evening rush hour out of the city.

The first time I walked into this pub, I instantly felt at home. The décor is sophisticated, but homey. The food and cocktails are worth stopping for, and this being a pub, you will find a wide variety of beers and wines on tap and in the cooler. The first couple of times I was there, I sat at the bar and had a cocktail and talked to the bartender. Come to find out, he was the owner of the place, Gary Juels. He was filling in for an employee, and he had a long pour. I like that! My favorite drink at the pub is the Moscow Mule, made with Russian Green Mark vodka, ginger beer, and lime juice and served with a lime wedge.

I usually just order appetizers or a sampling of different items. The pub offers a range of options, from seafood dishes, to pizzas, to sushi. It is a finger-food paradise of different cuisines, and it works. Our favorites are the crab cakes, brewer’s pie pizza, Shelly roll, and BTS sashimi. The crab cakes are made fresh with blue crab meat and served with a great homemade cream sauce, all dusted with Panko bread crumbs. The brewer’s pie pizza is delicious. It has nice thin crust (a gluten-free crust is an option) with dry salami, pepperoni, prosciutto, mozzarella, black olives, and mushrooms. It’s crisp, simple, and good. It’s an 11-inch pizza, which I have always thought is the perfect size for a one-person portion. The Shelly roll is made fresh with crispy fried shrimp, cucumber, crab, avocado, garlic, tobiko (flying fish roe), and green onion with a nice light cream sauce. The BTS sashimi is served with rice and wasabi with thinly sliced fresh albacore tuna, sliced jalapeños, and ponzu sauce and drizzled with sesame chili oil. It’s a little spicy for some, but I like it with my Moscow Mule as a refreshing neutralizer for the lime. Everything I’ve tried at the Fair Oaks Brew Pub try is prepared correctly, fresh, and served quickly.

Fair Oaks Brew Pub, 7988 California Avenue, Fair Oaks. Phone: (916) 241-3108; website: www.fairoaksbrewpub.com. Open Monday, 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Wednesday to Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Closed Tuesdays.

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