State Highway 20 crosses California from its origins on the Mendocino coast at Fort Bragg and intersects Interstate 80, the route east to Truckee, Reno, and Lake Tahoe, at Yuba Gap. The section between Marysville and Penn Valley accesses the lower Yuba River, where a massive, arching concrete bridge crosses from north to south.
For many years, there was no quality restaurant between Marysville and the higher-up Penn Valley–Lake Wildwood area. However, Scallywags Tavern opened this past winter after a long-awaited renovation. The proprietors are the owners of Skipper’s Cove Marina, a houseboat emporium at nearby Englebright Lake, which lies three miles down Mooney Flat Road, north of Highway 20. Scallywags sits at that intersection, which is less than a mile from the Bear Yuba Land Trust’s Black Swan Preserve, its ponds, and its trails leading toward the Yuba, which are not widely known.
Many restaurants have come and gone at this location, starting with the Green Door, the Hillcrest Inn in 1938 and 1939, Driftwood, York’s Driftwood, It’ll Do BBQ , and more recently the now-defunct Lake House. Recreationists and anglers hope that a total remodel, which made the building light, airy, and inviting, and a beer-and-wine-only policy will change the culture and attract travelers, anglers on the Yuba and Englebright, and vacationers bound for the Sierra foothills and locations higher up.
I stopped for a 16-ounce, five-dollar, Kona Long Board draft on my way home from the Yuba before the river blew out in December. They offer 12 beers on tap and a 4-beer sampler. I’ll try a glass of wine on my next trip, but didn’t see anything of interest on the list.
The total makeover is a huge improvement, so I returned for lunch more recently on a scouting trip to check water levels and turbidity. I chose a signature prime rib cheeseburger and fries with another of the beers on tap. My $13.95 burger came in very basic form, with a slice of cheddar cheese, quality lettuce and tomatoes, sliced white onions, an interesting brioche bun, and dill and sweet pickles on the side. I liked the fact that I could taste the high-grade beef, not a fatty grease bomb. There was no piled high frou-frou stack of ingredients here, but it was perfectly cooked to my desired medium–medium-rare doneness and was served promptly by a friendly and attentive waitress. The kitchen grinds its own beef and hand cuts their steaks. A bonus was perfectly cooked thick-cut fries right out of the fryer, and I could peer into a clean new kitchen. I would give the meal a score of seven out of a possible ten . . . that ten being very hard to achieve. A burger will tell you a lot about a restaurant. On a more recent trip to check out the Yuba with another lunch stop, I ordered the fish and chips. I would give that order the same rating.
Scallywags hopes to have breakfast service as winter fades. Their dinner menu is the same as at lunch, and there is a take-out menu. They cater to travelers, Englebright boaters, and hopefully to Yuba River anglers. Although the menu offers six salads, I wish there was something less fatty than steaks and chops and a fish offering other than fish and chips. That said, with tongue in cheek, I want to try a “Hay Bale” appetizer, which is said to be crispy breaded onion straws served with a barbeque sauce or chipotle aioli. Scallywags is open Wednesday through Sunday. The restaurant closes at 9:00 p.m., while the bar remains open till 11:00 p.m. You might make these hours, coming off the Yuba most months. I’m down there a lot in season. Scallywags Tavern is a welcome addition near Englebright and the Yuba.
B Valley 12 years ago, I would drive from the East Bay with a fishing partner and rent a cheap motel room near Marysville, on the road to Beale Air Force Base, so we could fish the Yuba for two days before braving Bay Area and Sacramento traffic on the way home. Finding a good meal at any price point in Marysville or Yuba City after a day’s fishing was difficult, if not impossible, if you abhor “fast food” or franchise restaurants. We do hear rumors of a good Indian restaurant there and hope to report soon.
Recently, a group from Gold Country Fly Fishers accepted an invitation from the E. C. Powell Fly Fishers in Yuba City to attend a Mike Costello lecture on fly fishing for striped bass in the California Delta. We gathered at Taqueria Guadalajara, which is found off Franklin Road in the WINCO Food Center on Highway 99, three stop lights south of Highway 20.
The plain décor won’t bring you in, but a friendly staff, Pancho Villa recruiting poster replicas, Frida Kahlo photos, and the well-prepared basic Mexican dishes will make you detour. A list of meats available in their many dishes gives the reason why. Carne asada (steak), carne al pastor (marinated pork), adobada (marinated beef), carnitas (fried pork), pollo (chicken), longaniza (sausage), cabreza (cheek meat), tripas (beef tripe), buche (stomach), and língua (tongue). This isn’t Taco Bell! They use handmade tortillas and include a small basket of chips with fried onions and jalapeno slices, along with invigorating salsas, for all customers. Soft tacos are offered on Tuesdays for $1.50, and another $1.50 dish, tamales, with pollo, puerco (pork) or elote (grilled corn) on most days. How well a Mexican restaurant does pork al pastor is a good bellwether of the food quality there. Guadalajara’s al pastor tacos were tender, maintained the marinade flavor, and had the crusty caramelization on the meat’s surface that makes this dish great.
If you are fishing the Feather or Yuba, or even the unsung, overlooked Sutter Bypass, you might consider a hearty breakfast burrito or chilaquiles before heading out. A favorite dish, chili verde, is on the dinner menu for $10.99, as are a number of meals featuring shrimp, as well as enchiladas, tacos, chimichangas, and burritos. A great Mexican meal requires an imported beer or Fanta orange soda. This simple restaurant offers quality food at a very reasonable price. I don’t know of any similar place in my foothill and Central Valley bailiwick that can beat it, and Marysville’s urban feral chickens are an additional treat. They‘re free range, organic of sorts, and one or two may get a free ride up the mountain.
Closer to the Yuba than Marysville, but up Highway 20 in Penn Valley, the Tack Room off Spenceville Road remains a favorite. I often take guests from the city there to expose them to a different lifestyle and culture. As a traveler, I’ve eaten at many fine-dining establishments all over the world, and yet I look forward to heading down the mountain the back way, past several favorite bass ponds and horse farms, to this simple Western place for their salad bar and a steak, rack of lamb, or prime rib. Rough-sawn board-and-batten paneling, cozy, low-beamed ceilings, and wooden sconces adorned with local cattle brands set the tone for their Western memorabilia theme. Well-worn cowboy and cowgirl boots, John Wayne photos, horsey prints, and cowboy-themed etched-glass windows on the doors lead into a small dance floor and a local hangout bar that isn’t a craft beer kind of place. (That comment aside, my wife gives the bar’s Mai Tai a high rating.)
Central to the open dining room is a huge island pit-barbecue grill where your waitress cooks your meal. Small country music bands play off and on. You might run into a rancher friend, an equity emigrant from nearby Lake Wildwood, or another type of cowboy from nearby Beale Air Force Base, home of U-2 reconnaissance planes and KC-135 tanker squadrons and secret dark rooms where global drone missions are flown. You’ll need to make a reservation when the Penn Valley Rodeo is running in May or on a concert night at Wayside Park.
On a recent rainy evening, I chose a Thursday Night Special consisting of a New York steak and grilled skewered prawns for $23.95. The meal came with a trip to the salad bar and a thick slice of pickled red crabapple . . . basic American fare. I opted for grilled zucchini instead of fries, baked potato, or rice, and a glass-and-a-half pour of Seven Deadly Zins for another $7.00. My wife ordered their famous steak sandwich at $16.95 and a glass of chardonnay. Had I brought my own bottle of wine, the corkage fee remains $5.00 . . . try to find that in San Francisco. Two blocks away, you will find the Blue Cow Deli. The owners have expanded in the past several years as their business has exploded. It’s because they make healthy, interesting, delicious sandwiches, salads, and desserts using top-quality ingredients. The deli front door is graced by three brass-colored, bull-shaped, four-footed barbecues that are for sale. Like the Tack Room, the Blue Cow is a hangout in horse country. You might run into rancher friends, grape growers, your family doctor, cyclists, grow consultants, and horse people or Lake Wildwood residents. Favorites are a carnitas torta, penntuckey pulled pork, and Wes’s pastrami on marbled rye.
When the Yuba isn’t blown out, I rise early and work at my desk till about 10:30 a.m., then call in a to-go order at the Blue Cow. I stop in Penn Valley for a traveler’s cup of coffee, pick up my sandwich, and head to the river for the winter midday hatch. I want to be at water’s edge by noon. Donning waders, I grab rods, vest, and a chair and enjoy my sandwich while studying the river. I’m looking for insects or birds that tell me something is hatching. I’m hoping to fish dry flies or swing small soft hackles with body colors the same as the pinkish Pale Morning Duns or green bodied Blue-Winged Olives that hatch during winter and spring months.
If You Go . . .
Scallywags Tavern, 10091 Mooney Flat Road, Smartsville, California 95977, (530) 432-6600. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Open 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (restaurant) and 11:00 p.m. (bar).
Taqueria Guadalajara, 1380 Franklin Road #A, Yuba City, California 95993, (530) 822-9767. Open from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Tack Room Restaurant and Bar, 17356 Penn Valley Drive, Penn Valley, California 95946, (530) 432-1126. Open seven days, 10:30 a.m. to 10:15 p.m.
The Blue Cow Deli, 17500 Penn Valley Drive, Penn Valley, California 95946, (530) 432-5500, www.bluecowdeli.com. Closed Sundays. Open 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
