Cross the tracks into Flavor Town

Right now, I’d usually start the new school semester by pontificating to you students about how Chico has so many flavors to offer and how you need to take this local’s advice and explore beyond the bubble of the university and the west side of town to enjoy them. But, last week I had a revelation. As I stood in the middle of the parking lot of the University Square shopping center, my belly full of pickled pig skin as I stared at a glorious menu of hot dogs and sausages—while also eating a pistachio ice cream out of one hand, drinking an icy horchata from the other, and holding a to-go box filled with “Spam sushi” to enjoy later—I realized that I have no idea what I’m talking about. You already have every flavor you could want right there in the university’s back yard.

This corner, where Nord forms a “T” with West Sacramento Avenue (let’s call it “NorSac”), has been adding new, interesting, inexpensive restaurants at a steady rate over the past couple years, and today, between University Square (aka the Safeway shopping center) on one side of Nord, and a series of old and new strip malls on the other, there are an incredible 17 different places to eat.

And it’s not a bunch of chain fast-food joints in NorSac. It’s a nearly all-local collection of small owner-operated restaurants, featuring an eclectic selection of classic-American and international flavors. Park in the University Square parking lot (perhaps the most broke-ass section of blacktop in Chico) at lunchtime and you’ll be a few steps away from just about any flavor you could want.

And for my lunch last week I enjoyed as many as my stomach would handle. I started at La Flor de Michoacán Palatería y Nevería, the new (amazing) Mexican ice-cream shop, to order something from their small lunch menu, the Mexican street-food favorite: tostilocos. It’s a bowl of seasoned Tostitos chips topped with chunks of cucumber and jicama, plus chili-coated tamarind candies, some kind of Asian peanut snacks, a generous helping of sliced pickled pig skins and tossed with lime-juice and a chili-powder-infused chamoy sauce. It was a tart, multi-textured kick in the tongue, even a little refreshing (though I don’t know that the gelatinous texture of the pickled pig skins is something I’ll soon get used to). I washed it down with a cinnamony cup of horchata (made with rice milk) and that unbelievably flavorful pistachio ice-cream bar.

The kicker for the day, though, was the Spam musubi I got at Wok ’N’ Roll, with two seared slabs of salty pink-meat goodness on rice wrapped with seaweed and served with a side of teriyaki sauce. I’ve had great food at many of the NorSac establishments, and this ingenious snack ranks at the top (right next to Donut Rising’s bacon-topped maple bar, the O Canada).

With the addition of La Flor, there are now four different choices for Mexican in NorSac—La Flor; the “family style” La Familia; Aca Taco and its giant burritos; and across the street in the Star Liquor parking lot, the Fiesta Taco truck. And for Chinese, there are now three options: the well-established Windy’s; the brand-new curiously named Szechuan/Mandarin spot, Tony’s Restaurant next to Mondo’s Café (where I recently enjoyed a wonderful, freshly prepared plate of spicy twice-cooked pork that was hot enough to make the back of my neck sweat); and Wok ’N’ Roll, with its blend of Chinese, Hawaiian and Japanese cuisines.

Other NorSac options include sandwiches (Kona’s, Subway), teriyaki bowls (Teriyaki House), cheese steaks (Cheese Steak Shop), stone-baked pizzas (Mamma Celeste’s Stone-Baked Pizzeria) and even a few shots of espresso to perk you up after a big meal (Mondo’s). And, just across the breezeway from Windy’s is one of the most promising-looking new restaurants in all of Chico, Aonami Sustainable Sushi. Their menu of fresh, sustainably sourced seafood is very intriguing and reasonably priced (for sushi).

It’s mostly the wide variety of budget choices all in one spot that make NorSac a destination, but in some instances—with La Flor; the award-winning The Dog House; the nonpareil Donut Rising; and the original Burger Hut—there are also some of the best, if not the best, ice creams, hot dogs, donuts and hamburgers in town being produced in this zone of flavor.

It’s enough to cause a reverse migration, with townies and downtown hipsters crossing the railroad tracks to get schooled by the students. Now, if there were just a good Thai, Indian or Middle Eastern choice as well. There is an open unit between the Mexican and pizza places …