Leave it to Bob Dunning to give me a perfect reason to enter his “Contest to Replace the Above Pictured Columnist.” He claimed in this very newspaper that I “offended nearly every other restaurant owner in town” because I stated, among other things, “There’s not lot of good food in Davis,” in response to Jonathan Edwards’ queries regarding my opinion about food trucks (or rather, the lack of food trucks) in Davis.

Bob then proceeded to rub salt in many of my fellow restaurateurs’ still-fresh wounds by printing my quote again the following day in his column. Never mind the fact that they probably did not read Jonathan’s front-page article anyway and skipped directly to Bob’s column on Page A2 to get the real news about what is happening in town. However, thanks to Bob, they all now know that I do not think there is much good food in Davis.

Bob of course, begs to differ. However, Bob’s opinion about what tastes good is certainly suspect, as he has proved over and over again by telling us that Davis water tastes just fine and that we should fight for the right to keep drinking it.

In addition, it is interesting to note that Bob has written quite a few articles expressing shock and dismay when the city of Davis is not included on some published list of the best places to live, the most educated cities, the best bicycle towns, etc., however, he has never taken issue with the fact that Davis does not appear to be on any “best” lists regarding food at all!

Regarding the Davis food scene (or rather, the lack of a food scene), I can say that I think things have improved a little since 1983. This is the year I moved to Yolo from the other side of the creek after growing up in that county that Stan Forbes thinks has nothing in common with this one. Prior to moving to the City of All Things Right and Relevant, I lived in Winters, where one of the most popular places to eat at the time was Myrna’s.

Myrna, with one hand holding a coffee pot and the other on her hip, refused to serve me and my punk rock drummer boyfriend the one time we tried to eat there, saying it was “too late for breakfast” and “too early for lunch.” This was, of course, before Winters exploded onto the food scene thanks to Guy Fieri featuring the Putah Creek Cafe on his Food Network show, “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”

But, back to the Davis food scene.

During the brief periods of time when I wasn’t fulfilling my role as a feudal serf on the Browns’ horse ranch (and since Myrna did not seem to be interested in feeding me), I headed to the big city of Davis for fun and food. Food was of particular interest; since I did not have enough money to fill the propane tank attached to the single-wide trailer where I lived among the rattlesnakes, I cooked everything in an electric skillet. Needless to say, one-skillet meals every day of the week can get a bit dull (and at that time my chef Tony was not yet part of the picture).

If my memory serves me correctly, the Davis restaurant scene at that time included A.J. Bump’s, The Blue Mango, Cindy’s, Dave & Eddies, The Good Earth, La Esperanza, Larry Blake’s, The Mustard Seed, Osaka Sushi, Peking, Rico’s Pizza, Symposium, an assortment of bars that served some food and fast-food joints.

Of course, my memory is not that great, certainly not nearly as good as Bob’s, the man who probably has frequented every hole-in-the-wall eatery you never heard of and probably was actually served a fine meal at Myrna’s.

The good news nearly three decades later is that there are approximately 70 restaurants in the downtown area alone and our Asian cuisine options have increased dramatically (perhaps a bit too much in the Thai and sushi department).

The bad news is that we still have way too many holdovers or pretty much more of the same fast food, burgers, pizza, bar-and-grill-style fare from the 1980s. I say, bring on those gourmet food trucks and give everyone, including my chef Tony, a run for their money.

— Rhonda Gruska is co-owner of Monticello, a Davis restaurant on G Street.

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