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------ ''2007-12-30 23:53:34'' [[nbsp]] Hi CovertProfessor! I'm glad to see that a UCD professor is representing! Love your reviews and I tend to agree with you. Iceberg lettuce? Gross. I'm so curious as to who you are and what you teach. Although it sounds like you came after I graduated from UCD. Anyway, good job on staying covert! --["Users/CurlyGirl26"] |
About the CovertProfessor
I (the CovertProfessor) am a relatively new professor at UC Davis. I'm completely new to wiki, so please pardon my mess while I try to figure things out.
I hope to comment on things from a faculty/community member angle as I navigate my way through Davis and the campus, although of course my opinions are my own and will differ from other faculty/community members. I am "covert" because I expect to be around here a lot longer than most students, and because I am a relatively private person. I promise not to abuse my anonymity.
I'm also going to try to do some reviews of local restaurants, since I like to eat out a lot. I favor restaurants where ![[WWW]](http://wikispot.org/wiki/eggheadbeta/img/sycamore-www.png){kind=small}
well-behaved dogs are welcomed.
A bit more about me: When I'm not teaching or researching or involved in other professor-type activities, I enjoy hiking; walking, especially at the arboretum and the greenbelts; swimming; going to the movies; reading fiction.
CovertProfessor's Restaurant Reviews
American/Californian
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I like the "cafe" (counter service) side better than the "restaurant" (wait service) side. The entrées on the restaurant side just seem uninspired to me. But the cafe side makes a nice breakfast (good toast!) and is a little less claustrophobic. There are better places to get dessert, however (e.g., Ciocolat or Little Prague).
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The Davis Wiki has this restaurant classified as "French," but that seems a bit of a stretch. Other than the crepe, it's hardly French... anyway, I love the "make your own crepe" option here. I start with the basic crepe (cheddar and onion, I believe) and then add: eggplant, spinach, tomato sauce, mushrooms, and artichokes. (I'd love it if this were a regular menu item so I didn't have to ask for all those items!). All dishes seem to come with home-fried potatoes, something that I generally like, but these I'm not crazy about. You can substitute a salad, but you have to pay extra. They do, however, give you a full salad, so it's not totally out of line. I like the fuji salad with the slices of fuji apples and walnuts in it. If you have the crepe I described, plus the salad — boy, you've really consumed a lot of veggies for the day! It's a lot of food, period, so it's nice that take-home boxes are conveniently located by the counter.
Once I tried the eggplant sandwich, with pesto on it (memory may be hazy here). It was greasy, but good. The burgers are good, too. They come with cheese, sauteed onions and mushrooms, mayo, and avocado by default. Again, you can substitute a salad for the potatoes.
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This will sound like an odd comment, but they make a great tuna melt. A great tuna melt is hard to find. Most are soggy or greasy or use dark tuna or put pickles in the tuna.
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I don't even like hot dogs very much, but I like everything about this place. I like that I can get an all beef dog. I like that it's a small hole-in-the-wall with lots of character. I like that I have so many mustards to choose from — the Hawaiian pineapple mustard is really good (sweet and savory). I like the potato wedges that are baked instead of fried, and actually have some potato on them. I might actually become a hot dog person!
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The first time I tried to go here I walked in and walked out — it was a hot day and the menu just seemed overwhelming. I did take a menu to go, and studied it, so I could be ready for the next time. Most people seem to get salads here — we tried the tri-tip as a meal (get it with the BBQ sauce) and the turkey (it's nice to be able to get real turkey when it's not Thanksgiving). Both were quite good, although the portions of the tri-tip were small. We also tried the sides — there were a couple of nice vegetable sides, although the grilled one was a bit better. The stuffing (for the turkey, of course) was really good. Once we had a "knock-you-on-your-ass" lemon bar; sadly, the next time it only teetered us a bit.
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Again, I deviate from the Davis Wiki classification here, which has this under fast food. (I doubt I'll be visiting the other fast-food places, so there is no point). Also, Redrum is definitely not fast. It usually takes about 30 minutes to get your food.
The joint is not particularly well-run. They need to get a new door-closer, too. I can still hear it in my sleep: SLAM
And yet, the burgers are very good. Optimal bun to burger ratio is achieved with the 1/2 lb burger — but that's a lot of burger. There are lots of topping options (lots of burger options, too), but no pineapple, which is too bad. A chocolate shake with malt rounds out the meal nicely. The onion rings were huge and greasy — never again.
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We've had one really good entrée there, and one so-so entrée. The steak (hold the foie gras butter — ick!) was excellent, and it came with potatoes au gratin and a vegetable (broccoli, I think). But the breaded and baked chicken my partner ordered was boring. (There was some kind of sauce on it, but again: boring). There was a yummy chocolate dessert — I don't remember the details, but it was one of these chocolate w/chocolate and more chocolate desserts — and it was very good. The summer atmosphere seemed a lot more laid-back and comfortable than the crowded winter scene I remember. Service was attentive. It's a bit upscale from most Davis restaurants, but not super fancy, which is fine with me.
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The food here seems very fresh and healthy, and the sandwiches are all intriguing, the sort of menu where you want to try them all (I'm still working on that). Bread can "make" or "break" a sandwich — this bread definitely falls into the "make" category. It's hearty, fresh, and tasty. Burgers are served on a sourdough roll (and I wasn't sure how I'd like that — but it was good) with enough greens on the burger to make a salad (plus, of course, other options — choice of about 5-6 cheeses, bacons, different types of onion, etc.). I wasn't crazy about the mix of flavors on the avocado sandwich, but that's probably just an issue of my personal taste buds. The curried chicken sandwich was much more up my alley. And you can get a real turkey (not pressed deli turkey) sandwich. Woo hoo! From comments on their wiki page, sounds like they used to have an eggplant sandwich — I wish they'd bring it back (swap out the avocado sandwich??). It's also worth mentioning that everyone here goes out of their way to be extremely friendly and helpful; it's technically counter-service, but it's more like counter-service+.
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We had a very nice meal here, and true to their word, they were dog-friendly, which is nice to find in an upscale restaurant. :-) Since they change their menu so often, there's probably no point in commenting on specific dishes, so I'll just say that we enjoyed the mix of flavors and the creative menu that tempts you to order too much because so much looks interesting. The location next to the train can be a bit loud at times, although it bothered my partner and my dog more than it bothered me.
Chinese
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I like the kimchee that you get when you sit down, I like the small, comfortable atmosphere and the prompt, accommodating service, I like the homemade noodles that you can get with every dish instead of rice (or, if you're with two people, get both!), I like the fact that the orange beef isn't crispy fried, I like the Hunan tofu (seems similar to what other places call Ma Po tofu, soft tofu with spicy black bean sauce). My one and only complaint is that there aren't more vegetables available, which is not to say that there aren't plenty of vegetarian dishes (there are). But a vegetable mix in a tasty sauce would be a welcome addition. The vegetable curry comes close (and it's really good — in fact, I've yet to have a bad dish here), but it is mostly potatoes and tofu. What I'm looking for is something with lots of broccoli, carrots, snow peas, etc.
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I really want to like this place, but the service is like dying a slow death and a lot of the dishes are overly fried. However, if you choose your dishes carefully and get take-out, you can avoid most of the pain.
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I got some nice takeout here — following suggestions on the page, the garlic eggplant and the general's chicken. I wouldn't say it was amazing, but it was quite good. The sauces were tasty, but we'd prefer white meat chicken to the dark that we were provided. And we wondered about the MSG, given the mixed comments on the entry for this restaurant, but I didn't feel the "MSG coma" that I usually get after consuming MSG, so I don't think they do add MSG. We didn't have a problem with the wait; what was a problem was trying to fight the traffic back north into town. Ugh. If you live in South Davis, I can see going here a lot, but otherwise, a place like Davis Noodle City is going to be more of a draw. Or, go for lunch, I guess.
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I walk in the door, and there they are: the specials. Asparagus with black bean sauce (choice of meat), eggplant with szechuan sauce (choice of meat) — why go any further? (I haven't managed to, myself). The ingredients here are high quality and the sauces are tasty. I wish it were downtown, but nothing to be done about that. And I wish they had more tofu/veggie dishes — there is something to be done about that! Hope they do it.
Dessert
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Most (or all?) of the truffles are made with liqueur. That might be a "plus" for some, but I didn't like it — although I will say some of the truffles tasted more like liqueur than others, and as there are a lot of truffles, it might be worth doing some testing... In general I have to say that I prefer
See's truffles. However, they did give us some free fudge, and it was really good, so I go back just for that. Try the tri-color (light chocolate, vanilla, dark chocolate) with or without coconut.
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Mousse seems to be the specialty of the house. It's a great mousse, not too light, not too heavy, and just the right amount of sweetness and creaminess. There are many mousse desserts here, so if you like mousse at all, this is your place. The 24K "domes" are amazing — a thin layer of cake topped with chocolate mousse and coated with dark chocolate. Cookies are also great — ginger spice with chocolate chips is a particular standout, maybe because it's unusual. The glorious array of delicious-looking cakes demands further research.
If you hit up their table at the Farmers' Market, you will find a delicious fruit crumble (it looks like a small pie). The top (the "crumble") tastes like a cookie.
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You can tell you're getting the real stuff here. For example, the chocolate peanut butter ice cream has chunks of peanuts in it, and the banana ice cream — a flavor I don't normally like — actually tastes like bananas. There isn't a huge supply of mix-ins, but they have the standard ones; don't overlook the homemade brownies off to the side. Now I just need to save up some calories for a Cow Pie.
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The gelato here is really good, and refreshing on a hot day. (So, refreshing just about every day??). Try the sorbet — it's intensely flavored and will knock your socks off. (Which you don't need anyway, since it's so darned hot...)
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I've had some good doughnuts here — a jelly doughnut with lemon filling and a buttermilk doughnut. Good flavor, not too greasy, not the best doughnuts I've ever had but pretty darn good. I wish, though, that they made doughnuts throughout the day and stayed open into the evenings, perhaps even 24-hour.
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What a lovely place to have a genteel breakfast or lunch (especially on the nice covered patio outside), or skip the meal and go straight to the dessert. It's what they do best in any case, though I do like the quiche — skip the turkey sandwich. For those of you who have only had the Americanized version of a croissant or a danish, you simply have to find out a proper flaky pastry tastes like. It's a whole 'nother creature. But be warned that walking into this café is to be bombarded with one delicacy after another; how to choose when one thing looks better than the next? Take heart, though, one can always return, or splurge on a cake for a special event. Too bad their hours are so few and their location only really convenient for East Davisites.
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See review for Little Prague on this page, whose extensive dessert menu deserves special mention.
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The baked goods here are quite yummy (hearty, tasty, down-to-earth but not boring), e.g., lemon bars, morning bread, oatmeal-apricot cookies...
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Generally, I don't shop much here because of the high prices, with the exception of a few items that I can't get anywhere else. But the bakery items are hard to resist... especially chocolate chip cookies, lemon bars, and éclairs...
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Swirl definitely seems like the place for people who are more serious about their yogurt, as compared to Yogurt Shack. That person isn't me, but I can see why some would prefer it. It has more of a "yogurt-y" flavor (a bit more sour) and there is more of an emphasis on healthy toppings — but just as the Shack has a few fruit toppings, Swirl has a few less-healthy toppings, too (I think there were M & M's?). I tried the "specialty" pomegranate flavor (50 cents extra). Again, I am not ga-ga over frozen yogurt, but it had a nice pomegranate flavor and I vastly preferred it to my partner's green tea flavor, even though I usually love green tea ice cream. I agree with others who say that the toppings are expensive — 80 cents for the first topping, 40 cents for the second, regardless of the size of your cup, and the amount of toppings I received was not a lot for that price. But the raspberries were fresh and quite good, especially considering the time of year.
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Ok, I have to say I don't really understand the concept behind this place (and similar places) — you get yogurt, as opposed to ice cream, because it's healthier? less fat? And then you throw a lot of high fat candy on it? Or do some people genuinely prefer frozen yogurt to soft serve ice cream? But even though I can't make sense of it logically, I have to admit it's downright tasty. I tend to go for a yogurt with chocolate in it; black cherry was also good, whereas I couldn't really taste the peanut butter in the peanut butter chocolate. As for toppings, I imagine I'm pretty boring as these things go, but heath bar, brownie, oreos, and coconut make a good combo. $3 gave me a portion that was plenty big enough (easier to achieve if you take the smaller cup — there's definitely a tendency to get more with the larger cup). I saw people walking all over town with cups of this stuff, and so I'm guessing this place will do pretty well. Oh, and if you want to be "virtuous," you can get just the yogurt alone, or yogurt with just fruit.
European
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This is a Spanish restaurant. Two things I really enjoyed here were: the wide array of vegetarian tapas, especially some little cheesy puffs and the grilled vegetables, and the vegetable paella (which is not something that you see often). The paella is for two, but if you go with a bunch of people you can split a bunch of tapas as well as a paella, and have a nice, varied meal.
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This is an Italian restaurant. The menu looks very promising here, with lots of choices. But I found myself disappointed. The "greens" in the dinner salad are iceberg lettuce (why do people persist in eating it? It has no nutritional value) and I was sorry that I didn't order the dressing on the side, because the lettuce leaves were dripping with the stuff. I thought the red sauce tasted like a jar of Ragu, which is OK if you like Ragu, but I expect better. (Strings' sauce is much better). I will say, though, that the "lasagna" dessert (I don't recall the exact name, but they do refer to it as a lasagna) was really quite good — a brownie with coconut and walnuts, topped with ice cream and whipped cream, big enough for at least two people.
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This is a Czech restaurant with a nice, elegant-yet-comfortable interior or the option to eat outside. The food here was on the heavy side, but it was quite tasty. It's a good place to go if you're splurging (on calories, that is — dinner entries range from $15-$20, which is more than we usually spend on dinner, but not outrageous). My partner had the vegetarian casserole, which sounded as though it would be very good (potatoes, tomatoes, creamed spinach, and mushrooms, in an Italian spiced egg casserole—oven baked until a browned cheese crust forms), but in fact was sort of boring. I think it's like going to a fish restaurant and ordering steak — it's just not going to be that good! So, this is perhaps not the place for vegetarian food, although there is a nightly vegetarian special that I can't vouch for. Anyway, I had the beef goulash with czech dumplings, which was just wonderfully hearty and tasty. My friend reported the same about her beef stroganoff, although she was surprised that it came with rice rather than noodles. The restaurant offers an amazing array of tempting desserts. We had the chocolate éclair, which I would get again, except that will be hard when there are so many other tempting things to try...
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Of course, this is not exactly the healthiest of meals, but the portions were quite large (each piece of fish is pretty darn big, and you get a lot of chips, aka fries for us Americans), especially for the price. And it's as good as battered fried fish can be (personally, I prefer my fried fish dipped in breadcrumbs, but what are you gonna do? you take what you can get). I'd like it if the fish were served with lemon, although it is available. The guy behind the counter was very friendly and helpful.
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This place gets extra points for dealing gracefully with my large, somewhat disorganized group. They have a nice, tasty marinara, which goes pretty far in my book, because it's "make or break" for so many dishes. The artichoke ravioli were quite good. They need to switch to a "greens" salad, though — they're still serving the old-fashioned no-nutrition-here iceberg lettuce salad.
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This is a Greek restaurant. This place was hit or miss for us. Hits: nice atmosphere (the equivalent of "dressy causal," with a mural on the wall), very tasty moussaka (eggplant, beef, and bechamel sauce, layered like a lasagna), pretty good salad (had some iceberg lettuce, but also some greens and other things) with two choices of dressing, feta or vinaigrette (but it was a creamy vinaigrette, if there is such a thing), big warm rolls, reasonable if not amazing service. Misses: spanoko tiropita, which is spinach and feta in a flaky pasty — I usually love this dish, but this was greasy and not very flavorful; dolmas, which are grape leaves stuffed with flavored rice and, in this case, some sort of meat (although I prefer veggie ones — if that was an option, I didn't know about it) — again, just not really to my liking. We'll be back for the moussaka, no doubt, and then try something else...
Indian/Afghan
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I really like this Afghan restaurant quite a bit. They have an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet and regular dinners. The atmosphere is comfortable, the waitstaff is friendly, and, most importantly, the food is delicious — it is wonderfully spiced and flavorful.
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This restaurant advertises itself as Indian and Nepalese. My partner and I had a lovely dinner here one night awhile back. The food was very good; unfortunately, specifics have been forgotten. As with the one other Nepalese restaurant in our experience, the difference between Indian and Nepalese is subtle, if present at all; it seems to be mainly a difference in the spices used. Oh, but the spices! Definitely worth trying, if you never have. The service was slow, however; definitely the place to go if you're in the mood to linger. Since then, I frequent the stall that the restaurant runs at the Farmers' Market. There is generally a vegetarian combination plate that is very good; typical for the plate would be a spinach dish, a chickpea dish, rice, naan, and pakora.
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I've had the lunch buffet here a few times. It's quick. It's convenient to campus. The owner is very friendly and seems to want to go out of his way to make sure you are comfortable and happy. The food was good, but nothing to get excited about.
Japanese/Korean
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This is a Japanese restaurant. Apparently, everyone goes here for the "all you can eat" sushi? My partner and I went here for an ordinary meal, but was not impressed by the service (which was terrible; dishes were forgotten, and then forgotten again) or the food. One sushi ordered was clearly premade some time ago. The teriyaki sauce was flavorless; meat was low quality. We are unlikely to return.
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This is a Japanese restaurant. We went here for the midweek "all you can eat" buffet. (Is it really a buffet if the food isn't laid out on a table?? Never mind, it was all you can eat, for around $13/person). I had been told that this was a great place for veggie sushi; this was true. The veggie dragon and veggie rainbow sushi were delish. However, the wonton soup had a weird flavor and teriyaki chicken didn't have a very good sauce. Apparently, if you want miso soup you have to go on the weekend... maybe next time.
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This is a Korean restaurant that also serves Japanese food. The bimimbap in a clay pot was excellent, although next time I wouldn't bother with the beef (there wasn't much of it, and it wasn't great quality), and instead would go for the tofu. The vegetable teryaki makes an excellent light and healthy dish: both tofu and veggies are steamed, not fried. Yum!
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This is a Japanese restaurant that also serves Korean food. My partner and I tried the bimimbap and the beef sukiyaki. I liked these well-enough but the CP's partner thought the beef quality was poor, and the dishes a bit greasy. Not that I disagree with that, but I thought it was worth a second try (the flavors were good) — my partner disagrees — maybe we'll be back there eventually. — This restaurant is out of business now (and I'm not shocked), so I guess my comments are moot, but I'll leave them here for historical purposes.
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We had a very enjoyable meal here. Portions were quite large and the atmosphere was very pleasant. We tried the spicy teriyaki beef over rice, which was a nice change over the usual teriyaki. We also had a vegetable sushi platter; some of the items we liked, and some we didn't, but it was just that some were not to our liking, not that they were prepared poorly. In fact, it was obvious that our dishes were prepared with great care. Next time, we will simply order something else! (I think we would have been better off with the "Vegetarian Delight" sushi, or picking our own sushi, rather than the mixed platter).
Not that I think these two cusines are the same... but with two Davis restaurants offering both, it seems appropriate to group them.
Latin American/Tex-Mex/Caribbean
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Wonderful laidback hippy atmosphere; nice music, even for an old fart professor. Breakfasts (veggie omelet is outstanding), sandwiches for lunch (the tofu-curry sandwich sounded weird but was deliciously sweet and tangy) and dinner (Carribean food — we tried the jerk chicken and the plum baked chicken — we especially liked the latter). There are so many interesting things on the menu that it's guaranteed we'll be back many times.
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Went to the North Davis location, and in short, I doubt I'll go back. First, this was one of those menus with several items slightly different from one another, and you are left to figure out how they are different. (I was looking at the burritos). Not a big deal, but annoying. Second, the place is noisy. Not (necessarily) lots-of-customers-talking noisy, but even without many customers (as there the day I was there), there is a loud hum (some kind of fan?), plus music, plus high ceilings to echo everyone's voices, trying to talk over the other noise. It just wasn't pleasant. Third, the food wasn't bad, but it was mediocre. Really, the salsas were all that I liked; I just kept adding more salsa to my burrito, and thinking, "Why aren't we at El Mariachi?"
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Love the veggie burritos here and the wonderful array of salsas in the salsa bar.
Middle Eastern
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The specials!! Oh, the specials! I love the specials, especially the vegetarian one (which is available all the time) and the pomegranate w/chicken one. They are served with rice and yogurt. Since they are specials, they are already prepared and can be served right away, so they make a fantastic "to go" meal. The specials are so good that it is hard for me to order anything else. I tried a dolmas appetizer once, served with a tomato-ey sauce. It was OK. I do like the burgers quite a bit, in part because they are very generous with their mushrooms. One of these days I need to branch out and try a kabob or some baba ganouj.
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I think this is a good place to get some nice falafel and hummus in a pita.
Pizza
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It's Sunday, and you've got a hankerin' for pizza. But Village Bakery is closed. Symposium is closed. What to do?? Lamppost Pizza is a fine alternative. While I wouldn't say it was amazing pizza, the bread was good, the sauce was good (the place where a lot of pizzas fail) and the toppings were fresh. I'd definitely get it again. As a nice bonus, it was prepared quickly.
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I've only had this pizza at Picnic In The Park, so maybe it's not fair to judge it, but I was unimpressed. It wasn't bad (you have to work really hard to make bad pizza), but the crust was tasteless.
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Let's just say that it's very hard to pass anywhere in the general vicinity of this place and not stop in for a quick slice of pizza. Love the vegetable pizza. And now I am starting to think that I prefer the plain (cheese and sauce) pizza — sometimes, nothing hits the spot like the basic food, and VB does it really well. Muffins, etc., are great too.
Thai
Ah, Thai food. A well-made Thai sauce is the nectar of gods. It's really hard to go wrong here, but below, I attempt a ranking.
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This is my least favorite of Davis' Thai restaurants. It's not so bad that I'd never go there, but I dislike it enough that I would never choose to go there, and would only go with someone else who for some perverse reason insisted. The sauces are bland and flavorless. And I find the atmosphere off-putting — they seem to be trying very hard to be hip, but they fail miserably.
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Tied for 3rd place (in my private rankings) with Thai Recipes, even though I end up going here far more often than Thai Recipes — somehow it just seems an easier place to "fall into" for lunch when you're on campus. I almost never go here for dinner, though, in part because my partner doesn't like the peanut sauce (usually one of our favorite things). It is a bit unusual for peanut sauce, I admit, but I kind of like it.
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My favorite of Davis' Thai restaurants, but only by a teeny bit. They have quality ingredients that taste good. Try the sweet and sour chicken with mango. (Here's a hint: it's not that deep batter fried stuff with gloppy pink sauce). I also like their curries. Service has been uniformly friendly and consistent. And they get extra points for the nice outdoor patio where you can bring your dog.
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My second favorite Thai restaurant — and a close second at that. Some of the menu options here lean more towards Chinese, so if you're not sure what you want (or if you have a mixed party that can't make up its mind), it's a good choice. I also like the choice of meat or tofu for many of the dishes, and the sauces are good. Also gets points for the dog-friendly patio.
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Good food here, and nice atmosphere. I like the way that they always ask if you want your tofu fried or soft (i.e., steamed); most places you have to remember to ask, and sometimes you get funny looks. Tied for third in my personal ranking (with Sophia's).
Vietnamese
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This place looks like hell from the outside. It looks like hell from the inside. Plates often linger on tables long after their diners have left. And yet, the place has a nice "mom and pop" feel, and the food is surprisingly good. And inexpensive. We'll be back.
Leave a comment for the CovertProfessor
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2007-04-03 22:48:50 Welcome to the wiki. I'm glad you decided to join as there are not nearly enough professors on here. As it is right now, the wiki seems to be dominated by undergraduates. —WilliamLewis
2007-04-03 22:56:04 Thanks! Yes, it is good for me to hear the undergraduate perspective, but I agree that more voices are needed. (Hey, if you're out there, join in!) —CovertProfessor
2007-04-16 10:06:15 I totally agree with William— plenty of profs read the wiki but their contributions are regrettably scarce. I'll definitely check out the tuna melt next time I'm at Fuzio's and the muffins at village bakery. BTW, if you want to maximize the number of people who read your reviews, I recommend you put them on each restaurant's pages. Right now, your visibility is limited to (achem) wiki gnomes, or people who have seen your link on the dental fraud and faculty pages. —CraigBrozinsky
2007-04-16 11:41:41 Well, glad the gnomes are stopping by, anyway. :-) I suppose I've been torn about just how "visible" I want to be (I am "covert," after all), but then again, there's no point in my doing a lot of work if hardly anyone is going to see it. (And I won't motivate other profs to join in if I am too covert). I think I'd like to keep my restaurant reviews all together for now, but maybe I'll increase my visibility if I put a link on the Restaurants page. And really, I should be commenting on some professor-oriented things. I'm open to suggestions for places where that might be useful. —CovertProfessor
2007-04-16 13:38:04 For professor-oriented input, a couple pages that come to mind are UC Undergrad Neglect and UCD classroom etiquette. As for the restaurant reviews, you could have them both on the restaurant page and your own with a little cutting & pasting! : ) —LillianChow
Thanks — those are all good suggestions. It might take me awhile, but I'll get crackin'. —CovertProfessor
2007-05-02 22:55:06 Awesome reviews, keep up the good work, one day I will figure out a way to determine who you are, just to take your class. —DavidPoole
Thanks! :-) Of course, I'd love to have you in my class, but not if I have to blow my cover. Just take classes that you're interested in, and maybe you'll stumble on me anyway... —CovertProfessor
2007-05-03 03:10:09 Nice reviews added yesterday; I like the specifics. —JabberWokky
Thanks. I think specifics are very important for restaurant reviews, because every restaurant that is in business will have some people who like it. So, it helps to know what a person does, or does not, like about a restaurant. Then the reader can decide if that is something that is important to him/her. —CovertProfessor
2007-05-03 14:00:25 The Wiki does, indeed, seem to be heavily undergraduate-oriented, but there are a few like me who throw in the occasional thing, and I'm not even associated with the University. Anyway, good to see your entries here. —DanLawyer
Good to see yours, too. The wiki should reflect the community. —CovertProfessor
The top editors, accounting for a heavy percentage of edits, are not undergrads. The top ten editors have a percentage appropriate for the town. I'd say that the wiki has a heavy undergraduate orientation because Davis has a heavy undergraduate orientation. It's sort of like having the Las Vegas wiki being gambling oriented; if it weren't, it wouldn't reflect the actual city. Having seen the wiki operate for a few years now, I can say that we're coming into summer, when the edits slow and the non-student editors tend to stand out a bit more. —JabberWokky
Makes sense to me. I haven't been here long enough to get a sense of Davis as a whole, anyway. But the wiki has really eased that process, for which I am grateful. —CovertProfessor
2007-05-09 15:40:48 In my opinion a salad should only complement the main entree, and I don't like salads that are presented as meals. I love iceberg lettuce for the very reason that it has no nutritional value - whatever happened to eating food for enjoyment instead of nutritional "value"? Excepting the lettuce comments I like this page a lot. —TusharRawat
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Actually iceberg lettuce is a good source of Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Iron and Potassium, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate and Manganese. On a 5 star rating system (of health value) by nutritiondata.com iceberg lettuce recieved 5 stars (as did most non-starchy vegetables). Yes it may not have the most nutrients out of all the lettuces, but to say it has no nutritional value is actually just perpetuating a myth. My nutrition major freinds gringe whenever someone makes this type of statement. However, its not your fault because it has been perpetuated by the media and even well educated people in the medical field. However, i do not perfer iceberg, since i thing it is not as flavorful as other greens. But sometimes its nice when you just want something crisp and fresh. By the way the best advice for eating vegetables, is eat the rainbow, very the types of veges as much as you can. Pretty much all veges are good for you, even iceberg. -MattHh
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You really need to consider portion size. Lettuce, iceberg or not, is mostly water, and though it may have big benefits in a salad sized portion, it doesn't make a big dent nutritionally if you plop a single leaf on a burger. A leaf of iceberg lettuce fulfills fewer than 3% of your daily dietary in all categories with the exception of Vitamin K (5%). In contrast, the equivalent amount of potato chips have about half as much vitamin K and are a better source of crunchy deliciousness. —CraigBrozinsky
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Ok, guilty (of perpetuating a myth) as charged! I checked into it and you are right — iceberg lettuce does have some nutritional value, although much less than most other lettuces. —CovertProfessor
I also am not a big fan of the "salad as meal," although they seem to be all the rage. And your point about eating food for enjoyment is well-taken. I can't say that too many of the tasty desserts that I eat are good for me. I guess I never thought about people eating iceberg lettuce for pleasure — I had more in mind people thinking they were eating something healthy, when in fact they are (from a nutritional point of view) eating a bowl of salad dressing. But for those like you who eat iceberg lettuce for pleasure — more power to you! —CovertProfessor
2007-06-19 17:30:23 thanks for the feedback, CP. Although the crisp text and rough bike was an intentional juxtaposition, maybe a change is for the best. —EliseKane
2007-06-20 13:20:27 thanks for helping with the links to the Blue page! —JessicaRockwell
2007-06-29 18:29:29 I agree with you about being against moving all Sacramento based pages from Davis Wiki. Something is lost indeed. I proposed a solution that I hope most people would agree satisfies everyone. —EdWins
It's not me deleting anything, I only edit my page and pages that apply to the community. I actually constantly refer other people to other sitters quite frequently as I am swaped most of the time. Sorry for the confusion ,but look elsewhere for the culprit. —ElizabethBarthel
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As WilliamLewis pointed out, there is
evidence that you've deleted competitors' names from the wiki. —CovertProfessor
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I only edited the page a couple of times and deleted by mistake at first and once on purpose, I wanted to do some research from people to find out the validity of the new students business and whether or not I could look to her as a referral because I believe other students should help students. I have since referred people to lone roan pet sitting and sorry this had to happen it will not happen in the future. As far as the comment about the dirty house and such there is only one case and they had a dog and cat(hearsay as far as i am concerned) please address all future comments to me directly and not on the business page if you please i will answer them and if you still feel the need to make comments then i or you can addd them to the page. Thanks for your advice, i have learned a valuable lesson
2007-07-17 11:06:59 Howdy,
It's actually accepted practice on Davis Wiki for individuals to do what they please with their own userpages. So, Elizabeth Bartel was acting reasonably when she removed the comment(s) from her own page. That doesn't apply to her pet sitting page, of course, since it's the community's page about her service and not a page "owned" by her.
That said, thanks for helping to keep the wiki contents legit. —GrahamFreeman
2007-07-17 23:31:16 Heh. You're just lucky I was busy creating the Hawaiian Barbecue page :) . —KevinChin
Heh... now I know your weak point...
2007-07-18 20:04:00 Dammit, now I want a hot dog. —GrahamFreeman
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Seconded, curse you professor, making me miss Davis all the more. ~Dave
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Heh heh heh... I've had my hot dog today. —CovertProfessor
2007-08-02 14:35:06 Hi Covert professor I am Leonardo Fasulo owner of Osteria Fasulo in West Davis I saw you question about the patio and bringing dogs , we welcome dogs and my customers love it and i was thinking of having a dogs night out,hope to see you soon, Leonardo —LeonardoFasulo
2007-08-04 09:55:28 zogm anyone who doesn't have a dog can be crossed off the list of potential CP's... —StevenDaubert
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Hmm... Or, I have a friend with a dog... —CovertProfessor P.S. What is zogm?
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ZOMG is a bastardization of the Internet shorthand term for 'Oh My God', OMG. The term is commonly used to express humorously overwrought excitement
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That is a good definition... notice how OMG is misspelled to further the sense of excitement? Damnit CP, don't point out the logical failings of my attempt to cull potential CP... —StevenDaubert
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I got some minor lulz out of this whole exchange. :) —WilliamLewis
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Zoh my god, it's hard for old farts like me to keep up! (Does that cull potential CPs, too — or are all Ps old farts?) But I wouldn't be very covert if I let slip *too* much relevant info. :) —CovertProfessor
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Or your admission could be subterfuge in and of itself. Aha! Didn't think we'd catch on to that, did you? —KevinChin
2007-08-17 11:10:25 You are a hamburger-linking maniac!! Nice job. —JabberWokky
Thanks! And I've been psyched to see the edits that others have made to the page — it's even better now. —CovertProfessor
2007-08-18 11:54:45 You know, when I left that note about the photo on the hamburgers entry, the thought went through my head "I'll bet CovertProfessor uploads a photo". —JabberWokky
Well, how could I resist? My first Davis Wiki photo, too, although I neither took the picture nor ate the burger (next time)! —CovertProfessor
2007-08-27 16:44:06 Hi CovertProfessor, welcome to Davis! I'm going into my final year at UC Davis and have had a few years to try out the Davis food scene. I'm biased because I currently serve there as one of my two jobs, but it seems you have had bad experiences with "Japanese food" in Davis and urge you to come to Zen Toro (I was a weekly regular before I started working there). If price is a concern try us out during lunch we have some good lunch combinations priced from $7-$10, and if you have some more moolah to spend, try out some of the nigiri or specialty rolls (three is a good number for two people). For rolls, in order of preference I recommend the SSC, Lobster Roll, Avo-Negihama, Ocean Kings, and Stuart, and our customers seem to like the ZT Crunch, Tataki Attack, Citrus Breeze, and New Age Bake California. As for entrees try the Hawaiian Kalbi Ribs, the Loco Moco, or Grilled Saba. If like many people on the wiki you desire off-the-menu items, try the Seafood Chazuke (rice and assorted sashimi with a special broth poured over it). PS - we make our own teriyaki sauce (it seems like bad teriyaki sauce is your pet peeve). —AlvinTsao
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Thanks for the recommendation — see my review above. And yes, I did like the teriyaki sauce! —CovertProfessor
2007-08-28 16:08:47 Tucos does allow dogs on the patio. At least, they did when I worked there. —ElleWeber
Thank you! —CovertProfessor
2007-08-30 23:14:03 Nice job splitting the Best Western pages. —WilliamLewis
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Thanks. This was something I found confusing when I first came to Davis, so I thought it might help others to split the entries. And you are right, we should keep the plain Best Western page with just the links. —CovertProfessor
2007-08-30 23:45:15 Could you tell us what department your in, or at least a general field (ie. physcal/math science, soc science, engineering, humanities, bio science, medical/health science etc.) Im just currious, you dont have to answer if you think that will give your identity away. —MattHh
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Isn't it obvious? :-) —CovertProfessor
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Um. . . Food Science & Technology? Viticulture and Enology? . . . Vet med? Ninjutsu? —KevinChin
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Hi! Out of curiosity, not trying to offend you, but how do we really know you're a professor? A couple of my housemates and I were just having a conversation the other day and we thought you have quuuuite a bit of time to edit the Wiki so much as a professor! -AmyLee
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Amy, you're right, you don't know — you can believe me or not, and it doesn't really matter to me one way or the other. You're absolutely right, though, that I tend to spend more time here than is good for me. But I have always been this way... I work a little bit, I play a little bit, I work a little bit... it's all on the computer, so it's just a matter of switching from one app to another. If I wasn't wasting time on the wiki, I'd find someplace else to do it. Small anecdote: As a high school student and a beginning undergraduate, I always thought that I had lousy study habits. Then I took a psychology of education class, and read about a study that claimed that studying for hours on end was actually *not* a good way to learn; that your brain needs time off (say, every 20 mins or so) for things to sink in. Whether that study was correct or not, and whether that applies now that I am writing, preparing lectures, etc., I don't know — but it's my story and I'm sticking to it. :) —CovertProfessor
2007-09-05 21:37:46 I believe it was necessary to out Talia because she was abusing her wrongly assumed anonymity to try to get revenge on the person who pushed her out at the Aggie. Talia has nothing to fear from Kacey at this point because she is not and has never been Kacey's underling. Of course, the childishness of her actions today could have adverse effects on her career should they reach a wider audience, but that's her own doing. You, on the other hand, aren't abusing your anonymity and have no reason to fear losing it. If someone did out you, I'd be the first person to bug Philip to memory-hole the edit. —WilliamLewis
2007-09-05 22:29:37 thank you for helping. —JessicaRockwell
Covert Prof- I edited the comment because 1) I am no longer a davis police officer, and 2) the paragraph is pejorative and implies that I directed threats of bodily harm to persons, which is not true. :) Hope you're enjoying Davis! It's a lovely town, really. —CameronMenezes
2007-09-12 23:39:33 Hi CP —StevenDaubert
2007-09-14 11:26:22 Hi CP. I'm a professor too, new to Davis this year. I appreciate the restaurant run-down. I'm a native Californian previously stranded in the Midwest for 6 years, so one of the things that drew me to Davis was the many ethnic food options. It's a bit overwhelming, though. I laughed out loud at your initial experience of Pluto—walked in and walked out again, completely daunted by the customer interface and the tyranny of choice. I did exactly the same thing a month ago before finally trying it out. Glad to know I wasn't alone! —CynthiaCCC
2007-09-17 15:16:39 I love the restaurant reviews. Try Chuy's Taqueria if you haven't yet— wonderful fish tacos. —BrianLum
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I'm not a big fish taco person myself, but my partner is, so we'll have to check them out soon. Thanks for the tip! —CovertProfessor
2007-09-17 15:45:04 Nearly an alliteration, awesome. Seems like the new year is off to a good start, thanks for the grammar correction, it is a common problem that `fects me. —DavidPoole
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Yes, I was pretty pleased with it, personally. (Ok, stop me now). —CovertProfessor
2007-09-17 16:15:17 zomg hai cp!
⌐_⌐ —StevenDaubert
2007-09-21 11:15:47 i totally understand about not wanting to subject your dog to sitting alone in a cage. if you'd like to give it one more try, you might try making an 8am appointment (the store opens at 9, but the grooming dept. opens at 8, just knock on the doors and they'll let you in), try an evening appointment or ask the groomers when a low-volume time/day is so that you can minimize the amount of time your dog has to sit in a cage. or just give in to the joys of grooming your own dog. it's fun for everyone! water and fur everywhere! ;) —JennSuzuki
Thanks, Jenn, those are good suggestions. For now, we're giving Fo' Paws a try. I'll post my experiences here once we've been there a few times and can really judge them. So far, they seem like a better option for us because it's a small place where, even if the dog has to be in a cage, it is not by itself (the people are right there where the dog can see them and the people can talk to them). I should also acknowledge that Petco's setup might be less of an issue for a dog that was OK on its own in a cage, but not all dogs are used to that. And if Fo' Paws doesn't work out, we can try going back to Petco and get the early or late appointment, as you suggested. —CovertProfessor
2007-09-25 11:38:05 Thanks for moving the Dos Coyotes stuff to another page. That was a lot of well, pointless discussion. —BrentLaabs
Yeah, I kept hoping someone else would do it, but no one was rising to the challenge. Then I got inspired when I saw the $5000 pita page. —CovertProfessor
2007-09-25 12:46:45 Nice filibustering/tempest cleanup. —JabberWokky
Thanks! —CovertProfessor
2007-09-25 20:12:53 there's no joke about SOS and BPP that i know about. should it be deleted from the see also section? —JessicaRockwell
Looks like it's gone now. Good riddance. —CovertProfessor
2007-10-14 20:30:27 Sorry, I should have looked at it more carefully. The only explanation I can think of is it was a joke about parking at the Post Office, Toad Hollow, or the gravel lot behind the Post Office and walking across Pole Line or through the tunnel (which is actually something I have wanted to try someday). Weird. —NickSchmalenberger
Ah, yes, I think you're right — it must have been a joke. Well, if you can think of some other way to spell out the connection between Toad Hollow Dog Park and Toad Tunnel, go for it! —CovertProfessor
2007-10-18 23:37:08 Every once in a while I will see a professor in ali baba's or somewhere, and wish to ask if they are you, but then again that would be rather rude. Just to ask, what do you think of the veggie special at ali baba's at the moment? —DavidPoole
Have they changed it recently? Last I went I liked it. —CovertProfessor
2007-10-25 20:29:52 thanks for leaving a comment on my page —kelvinkay
2007-11-10 13:43:44 What type of dog do you have? —EdWins
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:( Alright, what dog group is yours? (Hound, terrier, toy, etc). I actually am curious, since you've mentioned the dog in so many edits but maybe don't want to be too specific. My girlfriend has a little Sheltie (a picture is on my page), but we never really had the opportunity to take her around Davis.
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I think he's in the non-sporting group? Not sure, I'm not too up on these things. Anyway, you should take your gf's very adorable Sheltie out and about! Davis is pretty dog-friendly as these things go... lots of restaurants with outdoor seating, a fair number of dog parks/runs, nice walking paths on the greenbelt and the arboretum. —CovertProfessor
2007-11-14 09:19:00 Replying to a rather old comment you left on Town Wildlife, Town Wildlife is for wild animals like Bats, Town Flora is for emus and other domesticated animals1. Some, like Turkeys, are both wild and domesticated and thus there is overlap. There is also Wiki Animals, which are companion animals of a variety of species. —JabberWokky
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If that's the intent, then maybe we just need to fix the pages. I think having coyotes and deer on the Town Fauna was one of the things that threw me off. As for the Town Wildlife page — are there any wild chickens in Davis? Maybe I've just missed them! Rabbits, I guess, are reasonably on both pages, along with turkeys (as you mentioned). Frogs, snakes, toads, turtles, and lizards all could be on both, but they're just on Wildlife. Snails, too. But that just increases the duplication, so... —CovertProfessor
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Fauna and flora are the animals and plants of a region, which to me at least implies the animals and plants that naturally occur in the area. So, fauna seems to be an incorrect title for a page of domesticated animals. —JimEvans
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Please see Town Wildlife/Talk — I started a formal discussion about renaming them.
2007-11-20 21:18:19 Actually, the problem I've had is that I've been running various flavors of Unix. Is it Mac/Windows only? —JabberWokky
I'm not sure, JW. Sorry. —CovertProfessor
2007-11-20 22:28:55 Hi there, CovertP. Thanks so much for the kind words and thoughts about our pet grooming shop. One of our customers turned us on to your comments when she brought her furry best friend in for a "spa" treatment today. I don't know who you are, but I'm sure glad you and your dog enjoyed our service. We aim to please, and we really do enjoy what we do. Thanks again, and we hope to see you and your canine buddy again soon. Fo' Paws staff. —cbenjamin
2007-11-24 09:15:01 excellent point about the burn out. But generally for me, I lower scores because im constantly comparing the restaurants to eachother. For example, i originally did not like Guads, but lately ive enjoyed them very much. to remedy this in my ratings i lowered other mexican restaurants scores and raised guads. Probably the best example of my score lowering comes about a couple months ago when i drastically lowered every japanese restaurant in davis by 1-2 points. I noticed that the scores were too high in comparison to the other cuisines (considering that the japanese food here is not done very well in my opinion). So generally i lower scores because I am constantly comparing the restaurants to eachother. I generally lower more often because there is a lot more room there. If i allready give a good restaurant an 8, and i think they are about 2 points better than any other restaurant, and ive allready given the other restaurants a 7. There is much more room for lowering the other restaurants than increasing the good one. —MattHh
2007-11-25 18:18:29 oops, sorry. i must have used the wrong clipboard (select & center-click vs. ctrl+c & ctrl+v). —ArlenAbraham
2007-11-26 19:08:09 hi covertprof - I was reading your restaurant review, and I tend to appreciate your taste in food. I got to the chinese section and I noticed there was no write-up on Hometown Chinese Restaurant! Hometown is located at the south davis chevron, and it may take some time to get your food during busy dinner hours, but don't let either of those deter you from giving the place a shot ( You can also call ahead to place your order for pickup ). You may also want to give Zen Toro a try - good sushi, clean presentation and a decent selection of rolls you will likely not see in other sushi restaurants. —rgysel
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I finally got around to trying your suggestions — thanks, both places were good! My reviews are above. —CovertProfessor
2007-12-02 07:39:05 I've added a border to the table on Taqueria Guadalajara to help distinguish the columns a bit more. Does this help? Also, is International House of Pancakes bugging you, or is it just the 3+ cols? —WilliamLewis
2007-12-07 11:25:28 This version or did you mean "and I didn't think that was [...]"? —EdWins
You're right, there's a missing "think" there. I've fixed it. Thanks for letting me edit it myself. :-) —CovertProfessor
2007-12-08 13:43:58 hi. so a few things. 1) it was obvious to me your comment was sarcastic. 2) you should come to the Wiki BBQ Jan 2008. 3) you may or may not find this interesting, but people refer to you as "he". i don't know your gender, and neither do these people. so why are they referring to you as male? it's totally contradictory when these people claim to see no gender online but then turn around and use gendered pronouns. a few times they have defended their use of "he" by saying that the things you're writing somehow show you're a male. i don't know what it is. is it your style of writing? the topics you choose? or the fact that 70% of daviswiki editors are male so based on probability you're a male? anyhow, i found this amusing and thought it should be shared. —JessicaRockwell
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If you do show up, don't feel pressured to decovertizise yourself, which honestly may be difficult being that professors are a bit rare on the wiki.. maybe you should get many more professors to join the wiki or come up with a clever disguise? ~Dave
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Jessica, even worse — do they assume I am male because they see "professor" and think "man"? Anyway, thank you for the invitation to the wiki bbq. But as Dave says, I'd probably end up decovertizing myself, and I'm not sure I want to do that. Though I do wonder, Dave — is it really so obvious who the professors are? I mean, not all of us walk around with sport coats with patches on the elbows and a pipe. (Does anyone do that anymore??) —CovertProfessor
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I keep threatening to get Sarah a pipe when she joins a faculty. She already has the coat with patches. Actually, given our sense of humor, I probably will give her one. By the way, I think I've used 'he' before just due to the constraints of language, but I'd not be surprised at all either way: I actually picture you as a fuzzy bust silhouette. Seriously. White background, dark gray fuzzy outline from the mid-chest up. I'm not sure if that's an improvement over assumption of gender, as I seem to have mentally pegged you as a tenebrous non-human. —JabberWokky
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I can live with that. —CovertProfessor
2007-12-14 22:05:57 Thanks for the link to the Vet Med Center... that's what I was trying to get at in the opening paragraph, but couldn't find the exact entry. —JabberWokky
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It just so happens that the other night we thought our dog might have a serious problem — thankfully, it turned out not to be. But it made me realize that I should have the emergency info at hand (duh). Well, it took me awhile to find it, which was disturbing. So, I hope I can help someone else out by making it easy to spot. —CovertProfessor
2007-12-14 22:38:11 Ha! I plead distraction due to looking for the correct Vet Med entry while riting what I rote their. ;) On a more sober note, I'm glad your dog wasn't seriously ill. Your scare may well have prompted revisions that will help another animal in need of emergency care. Somebody with a sick animal at 2am is likely not going to be in the frame of mind to do leisurely research looking for help. I hope that a "more than one pin on the map" system goes into place fairly soon, as it would be a good idea to map the parking as well. —JabberWokky
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I agree. I tried to figure out an address for the place to map it properly, but I don't think that UCD buildings have distinct addresses? Or, if they do, I couldn't figure one out for the Vet Med Center. So, linking to the campus map was the best thing I could think of. —CovertProfessor
2007-12-18 21:04:19 I like the last edit you made :) —ElleWeber
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Thanks. :) That so cal-ism drives me crazy!
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Not even people from so-cal put the word "the" before interstate. "I am guilty of putting it before numbers though." That page was apparently like some-other-planetism. —MattHh
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So, they say, "The 80" but not "The I-80"? That almost seems worse! But it seems to me I have heard people say "The I-80." Don't know where they're from, though. —CovertProfessor
2007-12-28 05:17:11 Yikes! Sorry about that. I forgot there was a separate discussion going on there. I only meant to delete the comments responding to mine. Thanks for noticing that! —RichLindvall
2007-12-30 23:53:34 Hi CovertProfessor! I'm glad to see that a UCD professor is representing! Love your reviews and I tend to agree with you. Iceberg lettuce? Gross. I'm so curious as to who you are and what you teach. Although it sounds like you came after I graduated from UCD. Anyway, good job on staying covert! —CurlyGirl26
- 1Of course, maybe I missed a thundering herd of wild emus that lives in front of Plutos. That would be cool!
