Yolo County’s Fab 4: The best restaurants in Davis, Woodland and Winters
Yolo County’s four best restaurants have something for every price point: a streetside pupuseria, a Thai curry shop based around quality ingredients, a historic steakhouse and an omakase sushi experience.
Each of these places was named one of The Sacramento Bee’s Top 50 Restaurants of 2024. Like the other 46 restaurants from Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado counties, they were listed in alphabetical order, not ranked.
Fear not if you don’t see your favorite midtown restaurant listed below. The Bee is collecting write-in responses for “Readers Choice” selections until Nov. 27, with the five most popular answers to be added to the Top 50 list in December.
Buckhorn Steakhouse
$$ — Classic American
It’s hardly hyperbole to say Buckhorn turned Winters into the food-forward farm town it is today. Founded by John Pickerel in 1980, Buckhorn’s freeway billboards and reputation for top-tier beef have prompted people to drive in from Sacramento and the Bay Area for decades. Lots has changed over the years — an adjoined cocktail lounge, a spinoff local chain of fast-casual grillhouses — but the taxidermy-filled Western steakhouse in a converted historic hotel is still a meat lover’s paradise. House butchers Bobby Suarez and Greg Stepanovic swiftly carve out mounds of filet mignon, behemoth rib-eyes, succulent pork ribs and the house specialty, tri-tip served with crispy roadhouse onions. While seafood isn’t the focus, pan-seared scallops tossed in brown butter are a tremendously multifaceted starter sweetened by butternut squash puree and punctuated by smoky Nueske’s lardons. All beef is dry-aged for 30 to 60 days; Buckhorn itself is timeless.
2 Main St., Winters, CA 95694 | 530-795-4503
Hikari Sushi & Omakase
$$ — Japanese
Hikari took over a C.R.E.A.M. ice cream sandwich shop geared toward UC Davis students; now, Chu-toro Rules Everything Around Me at a sushi experience that ranks among the region’s best. On weekends, sitting at the eight-seat bar or two tables on weekends means gorging on 20 or so courses of aged bluefin tuna, velvety chawanmushi with flower crab, torched Korean flounder fin topped with Hokkaido sea urchin and other choice imports, along with Half Moon Bay Wasabi Co.’s fresh root spice. Co-owners Sithu Tun and Zin Khine laid the groundwork for chef Misaki Washizu: traditional, Edo-style sushi that lets true five-star ingredients and technique sing rather than drenching them in sauces. While Friday and Saturday service is $228 per person after tax and tip, weekday “mini-omakases” are a steal, offering nine to 14 courses of many of the same nigiri at just $45-$65.
110 F St., Suite A, Davis, CA 95616 | 530-564-4356
Paste Thai
$ — Thai
A June 2022 addition in South Davis, Paste Thai separates itself from the pack of pad Thai houses with a true focus on quality. Curry pastes mashed by hand twice per week, chicken curry puffs with beautifully flaky shells, vegetables so fresh that you can taste the difference — all of it puts Penprapa Athiprayoon’s restaurant in a class of its own. You’ll be hard-pressed to find better versions of familiar favorites such as rad na, Hainanese-style chicken rice or ginger stir-fry (they’re worth the few extra bucks compared to other Thai restaurants), but don’t ignore chef Kim Luanglath’s specialties, particularly the fragrant panang nuer with makrut lime leaves, coconut milk and tender hunks of braised beef. Crackly, sweet turnip cakes stir-fried with beansprouts, egg whites and chives are like a bridge from dinner to dessert. Once across that divide, end your meal with a delightful sticky rice coconut custard, its glutinous grains colored green with pandan.
417 Mace Blvd., Suite I, Davis, CA 95618 | 530-564-7051
Pupusería La Chicana
$ — Mexican/Salvadoran
Formality barely exists at Pupusería La Chicana, where most dining takes place on outdoor picnic tables and meals start with tortilla chips and a scoop of refried beans on a paper plate. Genaro and Veronica Zacapa’s street eats lack some trappings but boast Sacramento region’s finest pupusas, cheesy corn or flour pucks filled with scalding mozzarella-Monterey Jack mix that forms into pull-apart exterior scabs. Winter squash, carnitas, cod, loroco, lengua, chipilín: Each of the 24 pupusa options seems scrummier than the last. The vast array of Mexican dishes peaks with the torta Cubana, a mess of adobada, fried egg, carne asada, ham, beans, cheese and pickled jalapeños that’s well worth its $11 price tag. Empanadas de platano, plantain pockets jammed with condensed milk and cinnamon and crystallized around sugar edges, make for a simple dessert you won’t soon forget.
9 Main St., Woodland, CA 95695 | 530-668-0270
This story was originally published November 15, 2024 at 11:26 AM.