A lot of fly fishers don’t realize this, but Chico is a gateway city to a variety of great angling opportunities. There are fine trout streams and lakes in the Sierra east of town, plus, you have the Sacramento River, which offers shad, stripers, bass, and other species. The city also has two fly shops (Fish First and Sierra Stream Fly Shop), guides, plus a variety of hotels and restaurants, if you want to base your adventures there. Some of the restaurants, in fact, are great.
One of the ways I determine the quality of a restaurant is by its menu size. If the waiter or waitress hands me a menu that lists 60 to 80 items, the likelihood is that many of these will come from the freezer — not a good thing if you’re seeking a quality dining experience. For example, there is a restaurant that has been in Chico for 40 years. Their menu lists around 50 items. That list never changes, just the prices. In fact, the last time I was there (because my folks wanted to go), they had crossed out prices with a pen and wrote in new ones. Heck, the restaurant itself looks the same as it always has on the inside and the outside. Restaurants need to change, evolve, and more than that, offer well-prepared food that uses fresh ingredients. Quality restaurants tend to have fewer than 20 selections on their menus, and these selections are typically based on the availability of fresh ingredients. I also like it when I order something and the waiter/waitress tells me they’re out. That means they have only fresh food and are not pulling items from the freezer. That is the kind of joint I am going to patronize.
Here are a few eateries for you to consider when fishing in the Chico area.
Broadway Heights
This little bistro is located in downtown Chico at the corner of Third Street and Broadway on the second floor of the old Morehead’s Phoenix Building and is owned by Scott Schulman. Back when I went to Chico High School, my mother worked at the Swenson’s Ice Cream Parlor on the first floor of this building. My buddies and I would sneak up to the roof and throw rotten tomatoes at the cars down on the street that were doing the Friday night cruise in downtown Chico. My friend Steve Bohnameyer and his lovely girlfriend, Rhonda Blanchard, introduced my wife Kirsten and me to this little out-of-the-way bistro. Broadway Heights has a variety of sandwiches, salads, pizzas, and dinner entrees. They have a nice selection of wines, beers, and house-made cocktails. The food is fresh, tastes fantastic, and is moderately priced for the quality of their meals and service you receive. My go-to sandwich is the Cyclone. It has chicken breast freshly roasted that day, spicy house-made barbeque sauce, bacon, melted mozzarella cheese, lettuce, tomato, and homemade mayonnaise. It is the bomb! The 12inch sandwich is 4 inches high. Mammoth.
Kirsten always orders the traditional Caesar salad: romaine lettuce, focaccia croutons, shredded Parmesan, and roasted chicken, tossed with their homemade Caesar dressing. Every time she starts eating it, she smiles and rolls her eyes. It is that good. I have ordered it, too, and I agree with her. It is fresh, light, and the chicken is excellent.
Their lemon rosemary chicken entree is great, as well. Nothing beats Kirsten’s own fried chicken, but this is by far the best roasted chicken I have ever had. Tender chicken breast with their homemade lemon rosemary marinade is served on a small bed of steamed fresh veggies. It comes with focaccia bread and rice. This dish is simple and satisfying. For only $20, it’s a deal.
Broadway Heights is at 300 Broadway Street in Chico. Phone: (530) 8998075; website: https://broadwayheightschico.com. Hours: Monday to Wednesday, 11:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Thursday to Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Unwined Kitchen and Bar
Unwined Kitchen and Bar is a place where Kirsten and I hang out with our friends. We all have local roots. I was born and raised in Chico and lived in Medford, Oregon, from the time I was 3 until I was 13, but we came back to Chico in 1982. I started at Chico Junior High School, and soon I was playing all the sports and getting to know many people. I already knew the Powells (of the Powell Rod Company), and I knew much of their extended family. I am a twin. (My twin brother is Lincoln Gray, who is also in the fly-fishing business.) I was in the Twins Club of Chico from 1969 to 1972 with the Powell twins, Bill and Laurie, and Bill and Laurie’s adopted sister, Melinda Kennemer, is the owner of the Unwined Kitchen and Bar, which she and her husband, Frank, opened in 2014. They also own Ready Chef Go, which has provided tens of thousands of meals to firefighters and first responders working wildfires.
Unwined Kitchen and Bar serves brunch on Saturday and Sunday. Dinner service is Monday through Saturday. It is a fun place to go and, as the name says, “unwin(e)d.”
Kirsten and I enjoy many of Unwined’s entrees, from their pizzas to their steaks and burgers. I almost always order one of two dishes. The first is the prosciutto-and-fig pizza. All the pizzas are cooked in a wood-fired oven. The prosciutto-and-fig pizza is simple, made with homemade garlic sauce, mascarpone, arugula, and mozzarella cheese — light, simple, and perfect. The other entree I like is the Wagyu center-cut sirloin: American Kobe beef (superior to prime beef), seasoned and seared at a high temperature for best flavor. It is served with seasonal vegetables and choice of garlic mashed potatoes or grilled polenta. I usually get the grilled polenta. This is
Kirsten’s favorite dish. I know, I know — you see Kobe beef and you think of an $80 steak. Nope. At Unwined, it is $33. Our best friends, Gene and Julie Bullard, always order the wood-baked half chicken. It comes with roasted Yukon gold potatoes and seasonal vegetables. Gene and Julie usually split the dish. They are gluten-free folks, and they say that this is a perfect dish for two. The half chicken is huge. It is a meal.
Unwined also offers many beers on tap, including local beers, and as the “e” in the name suggests, they a have a great wine list, plus a full bar.
Unwined Kitchen and Bar, 980 Mangrove Avenue in Chico. Phone: (530) 809-2634; website: https://www.unwinedchico.com. Hours: Dinner, Wednesday to Saturday, 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Brunch, Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Happy Hour, Wednesday to Saturday, 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Morning Thunder Café
The Morning Thunder breakfast and lunch joint is super. I love going in the mornings and seeing all the regular folks having breakfast and enjoying their coffee. They leave their mugs there, hung up on the pegs above the lunch counter. Morning Thunder is owned by Adenia Farias-Luna, who is the spouse of a friend and old coworker at the Sheriff’s Office, Ed Luna. Adenia, Ed, and Adenia’s son and daughter take orders, serve, and just have a great time with the patrons. The place feels like you’re going to the Luna’s to have breakfast or lunch. Combine all that with great food at reasonable prices, and you have a fantastic place to eat.
I order a breakfast dish that isn’t on the menu. I love it. It is called the Messy Plate. Basically, it is a scramble of hashbrowns, bacon, link sausages, mushrooms, onions, and bell and red peppers with chunks of crumbled stuffing, all topped with Monterey jack cheese. It is to die for. Kirsten loves their chicken-fried steak and eggs and their homemade, double-tenderized beefsteak, generously covered with their made-from-scratch-daily sausage gravy with two eggs and their homemade country potatoes. We really don’t even need to see a menu for breakfast. For lunch, Kirsten and I both agree that the chicken tostada is the bomb. The tostada is topped with grilled chicken, black beans, crisp lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, black olives, and sour cream and finished with chunky mild salsa and Monterey jack cheese. I also order a side of chili verde to add even more flavor. Their veggies are fresh, and their chicken is moist and tender.
Morning Thunder also has many gluten-free options on the menu. Our friend Julie Bullard has gluten allergies and loves going to Morning Thunder, because they cater to folks who have many different kinds of food allergies.
It doesn’t matter what you order for breakfast or lunch. The fresh food, great cooks, and smiling folks loving what they do make this place a winner.
Morning Thunder Café, 352 Vallombrosa Avenue in Chico. Phone: (530) 342-9717; website: www.morningthundercafe.com. Hours: Monday to Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The Foodie Café
Boyd and Vicki Atkin own and operate this great diner. They started out years ago at the Chico Airport Park, and the Foodie Café has grown into a very popular establishment. Boyd is the chef, and Vicki is the baker. The combination is perfect.
Since I started writing the “Foraging Angler” column, I always have stressed great food by great folks and reasonable prices. This place covers all of those criteria with a dozen blankets. The Atkins don’t buy lunchmeat — they make their own. Yes, I said they make their own, from brining to smoking or roasting. All of their sauces, dressings, marinades and condiments are made on site. They use only fine local meat products and fresh seasonal Chico Farmers Market vegetables. They have a large selection of gluten-free and vegan diet options on their menu. The dessert counter is off the chart with all of Vicki’s freshly baked creations. Just an FYI: the lemon bars are to die for.
I have had pretty much everything on the menu at one time or another. It’s all excellent. The two top choices for me are the black-and-blue burger and the honey-and-whiskey-glazed salmon, but because Chef Boyd uses only seasonal fresh ingredients, the salmon dish is not always available. The black-and-blue burger is a third of a pound of freshly ground beef patty seasoned with Cajun blackening spices and is grilled to taste. It is topped with blue cheese, smoked applewood bacon, onion strings, tomato, and lettuce all smothered in a light balsamic honey-mustard sauce. I am getting hungry just writing about it. You have your choice of fries, onion rings, or a garden salad for your side.
For the honey-and-whiskey-glazed salmon, Chef Boyd grills the salmon to perfection and then glazes it with freshly stone-ground mustard with a big splash of whiskey. The salmon is served with made-that-day mashed potatoes and seasonal garlic-roasted vegetables. When I order this dish, I always end up ordering a Slim Ricky cocktail to go with it.
The Foodie Café, 196 Cohasset Road, Suite 150, in Chico. Phone: (530) 433-5539; website: https://thefoodiecafe.com. Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The Handle Bar
The Handle Bar is a cool little bar and eatery that serves great food, beer, and wine. The bar is a laid-back and relaxed kind of place that not only welcomes folks, but also allows well-behaved dogs. I automatically relax when I walk into this type of space. Just an FYI, there are no cocktails at this joint, just 28 taps, tons of bottled beers, and a great selection of wines that you can purchase by the glass or the bottle.
The bar opened in 2012 and has become a Cheers-type place for the local Chico crowd. The bar feels like a German pub. You will see the German inspiration all over the menu and in their beers. I really fell in love with the place when they added the Hexagenia IPA brewed by Fall River Brewery to one of their taps. Great beer! Brian and Carolyn Kanabrocki are the owners and operators of The Handle Bar. My favorite item on the menu is the serrano chicken sandwich. It’s made with tender, juicy chicken breast layered with Swiss cheese, baby spinach, tomato, sauteed mushrooms, and caramelized onions with a serrano aioli, all on a toasted hoagie roll. This sandwich is great, and it is a meal — it is huge. It’s served with fries, and you can add their homemade beer cheese sauce to dip your fries in. On hot afternoons, I like to order the Twentieth Street salad. It is made with fresh mixed greens, grilled asparagus, grape tomatoes, feta, and sliced chicken breast, all tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette and garnished with seasonal mixed berries. This is Kirsten’s favorite. The first time she ordered it, I tried it and was hooked. In the winter, I like to order the spätzle mac and cheese. This is a hot, creamy dish that gives you some calories to keep warm. It consists of their house-made spätzle noodles (pronounced shpet-zel), white cheddar and Gouda cheeses, and sautéed mushrooms and is garnished with chives and bacon crumbles. Yummy. And I wash everything down with Hexagenia beer.
The Handle Bar, 2070 East Twentieth Street in Chico. Phone: (530) 8942337; website: www.handlebarchico.com. Hours: open seven days a week from 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Closed on holidays.
