Davis has a new dessert destination, and a unique one at that.
Little Gem Belgian Waffles at 206 Third St., opened April 2 and is already attracting quite a bit of attention. A handful of customers were seated both inside and out, enjoying the Belgian Liège waffles that part-owner Chong Zhao and his partner Suraj Thapa were preparing for them.
Liège waffles (Liège is a city along the Meuse River in Belgium’s French-speaking Wallonia region), are made from dense brioche-like yeast dough, using pearl sugar that caramelizes while it bakes, creating a crunchy exterior and a “fluffy inside,” as Chong described. It explains why the shop smelled like a bakery when I stepped in with my daughter last Friday afternoon, a yeasty, warm aroma of bread inviting us in.
Little Gem Belgian Waffles co-owner Chong Zhao whips up a batch of waffles at the new Davis eatery.
Karen Levy/Enterprise photo
“I actually worked for Google Microsoft for a while” Chong shared, laughing that he, “wanted a career change.” He added that his wife had tried this type of waffle in Japan and “she loved it,” returning to the U.S. and suggesting that they go “to Belgium…to the source, try it out, if it’s good, we get trained there and bring it back.” He added, “There were so many shops…but the first one we tried, was the best. So I took that bite and I was like, let’s do it.”
And that’s exactly what they did. They trained in Belgium and upon their return to the States they signed up for the San Francisco Baking Institute and learned even more. It took about a year before they opened their Berkeley location on 2468 Telegraph Ave in 2015 and “survived COVID.”
Chong still lives in the Bay Area but is here in Davis to help get the business started, and his co-owner Suraj moved here. “Berkeley was pretty successful so we figured this business model works,” Chong continued. They chose Davis because they “like the energy” and he would like people to come in to try their creations. They “put a lot of love and effort” into these specialty waffles, testing their recipes around 600 times before opening, so they hope people will like and appreciate it. “Our number one thing is we try to delight customers. We try to use this to give someone a break,” he concluded, saying that he hopes that if someone has had a difficult day they can come in, “eat the waffle and walk out with a smile,” a goal Chong has “before making money.”
The wonderful waffles Suraj had made us certainly put a smile on our faces as we enjoyed them, seated on the patio in the afternoon sun. One crispy waffle with Nutella, the other with house cream, Chong’s favorite, both topped with fresh strawberries and powdered sugar.
Other choices on their menu include the “Gempire State of Mind” which comes with Nutella, strawberries, bananas, and ice cream, the “Golden Bear,” a “Churroffle” with cream and fresh bananas, the “Smoreffle,” milk chocolate with Belgian waffle crisps and toasted marshmallows, and “April in Belgium” with caramel, sliced almonds and ice cream, among others. And if you prefer savory, you can indulge in the chicken, bacon and waffle, which comes with chicken strips, maple bacon, and maple syrup.
But don’t take my word for it and check it out yourselves. Little Gem Belgian Waffles is open Tuesdays – Fridays from 2:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m., Saturdays-Sundays 12:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m., closed Mondays.
The Wardrobe in downtown Davis is all decked out for its Ukraine clothing drive.
Karen Levy/Enterprise photo
The Wardrobe held its second Ukraine clothing drive on April 4, in the parking lot behind the boutique at 231 D St. Wardrobe proprietor Heather Caswell had been working tirelessly to organize the event and gathered her staff shortly before they started, assigning various tasks and sharing some of what it took to pull this off, from letting people know about parking and encouraging them to find a place so they could stay and enjoy the music and food, to reminding staff how important it will be to try and raise funds for shipping the donated clothes.
“That’s part of my role,” Heather said, adding that she will be “joining the Rotary Club” in addition to having already been “the founder of the Davis Community Vision Alliance and The Wardrobe, and so this is like a triple, in terms of partnership.” She complimented her staff member Anna Shevchenko for “doing an incredible job of getting things to where they need to be” before sharing that she and Anna had been collaborating on this effort and that Anna’s mother, “had escaped the war” and was in attendance as well, and that it happened to be her birthday, at which point Heather paused to ask a staff member to add water to the lovely red roses brought for the occasion. I later learned that Heather found Anna “instrumental in supporting” her and The Wardrobe, and when I was introduced to Anna’s daughter Paulina, Heather shared that she had “been watching her grow up and she’s super supportive” of all the events as well. “It’s like a total family,” Heather commented, “and sometimes it takes more than a village.”
It certainly felt like more than a village had gathered to support this important cause and when I spoke with Anna, who has worked at The Wardrobe with Heather for three years, it became quite clear just how much this show of support meant.
Anna explained that their goal is to make people happy. “Now it’s very difficult situation in Ukraine, a lot of people lost family. Women lost husbands, and we help families, women that have children” and had to move and cannot “afford the very expensive rent” here. They would also be shipping the donations collected during the drive to children in orphanages, to senior citizens, and to those who had to relocate to other parts of Ukraine after their homes had been destroyed.
One of the musicians, Max Hordiichuk, with the assistance of his son Matt, a DSH senior who translated for his father, told me that, “the war between Russia and Ukraine is still ongoing and we are trying to fundraise some resources to support the families who came from that occupied territory of Ukraine by Russia to the Western part.” The money raised that day would help those who escaped as well as those still there. Max explained that they had been living for almost two years in what had become occupied territory under Russia. Matt added, “The only stuff the Russians let us to take with us was only one bag, and we had to put all the life into that bag, which is impossible.” And now they are trying to support those who are in the same situation as they had been. Looking at this young man who was in the process of choosing colleges, you would never know that he had already seen more pain and hardship than any teenager should. I watched as he helped carry bags of clothes from people’s cars and into the building where they were being sorted.
“It’s an enormous amount of volunteerism” Heather said, “and the landlord has allowed me to take this space for the weekend which has made it more efficient and more organized essentially…I think we’re a lot better organized than we were last year because we have the inside of this space…we collected 100,000 dollars estimated retail clothing a year ago, and I helped collect almost 10,000 but it was around 8,500 for shipping, so it’s my hope to do something similar if possible.”
Ukrainian culture, including dance and clothing, was on display at the Wardrobe.
Karen Levy/Enterprise photo
As usual, Heather had gathered strong women to help in this worthy cause. “Laura Grindstaff, she’s the Chair of the Sociology department has stepped up to help me and the Alliance, so it’s the Alliance, it’s the Rotary, and it’s Anna and her wonderful team and my wonderful team here at The Wardrobe.” Heather shared that she is “officially becoming a Rotarian on the 13th” and that she will be, “the person in charge of the clothing drive for the Ukraine, so they’ve actually created a committee” and she’s hoping to “bring along a lot more women to join the Rotary…That’s a big part of my wish.”
And since the Rotary was part of the clothing drive, board member and president elect Donna Prebys was there, collecting donations from the steady flow of generous people who made their way in. “This is my first year involved in this function” Donna told me. “We decided to kind of partner up with The Wardrobe and the funds that we’re gonna get are gonna help with shippin’ all the stuff over…so any kind of taxable donations will be paying for that. It’s very expensive, obviously.”
Other volunteers included Karen Beardsley, Director Emerita of Global Professional Programs, former Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya and Fulbright Scholar in Bhutan. Helping her were two Humphrey Fellows, one from Bhutan and one from Macedonia, turning the effort into a truly international one. This was their community service, part of the professional development program among other activities in which they participate. Karen used to be the director of the program and had just retired. She was helping with the clothing drive as part of the Davis Community Vision Alliance, and she explained that they are “kind of a grassroots” group she believes is made up of all women involved in “community activism” such as the clothing drive.
The rooms in which the clothes were being collected and sorted had been “gifted for the weekend” by Dowling Properties, yet another part of the village effort which Heather thought was “very cool.” Several volunteers were helping with this part of the drive as well, “trying to hurry” the clothes overseas Heather told me as we walked through rooms where “some of the magic” was happening. She remembered “doing the sorting” all herself when she first started out with her consignment store years ago, so this felt like “a full circle.”
Back outside, a couple was dancing to Ukrainian music as hope and yellow and blue balloons fluttered in the breeze. We gathered to hear Heather say that she was “honored to be doing all this work with…amazing people” and that “this community event is a labor of love that brings enormous support to orphans and seniors in Ukraine.”
She added that last month, “the New York Times published a beautiful pictorial commentary by Alyona Synenko titled, ‘In Odessa, Dressing Up Is Living,’ about the people of Ukraine dressing up in the face of the devastating war that Russia started four years ago.”
Synenko wrote, “’We dress to show not only who we are but also who we want to be. But we also dress out of defiance; to look fabulous is to deny the power of any dreariness around us. We dress for a better world. Maybe that can conjure it into being or just manifest a smile out of the others around us.’”
Heather continued. “In our small way the people here today and our sponsors, the Rotary Club of Davis and the Community Vision Alliance are stepping up to help the embattled people of the Ukraine, look and deny the power of the dreariness around them by feeling more fabulous even for a few moments. It’s so special to have so many folks sharing delightful Ukrainian culture, food and live music here in downtown Davis.”
She thanked all the volunteers who helped make the event possible, emphasizing that it would not have happened, “if it weren’t for lovely Anna” who assisted with the packing and shipping of the clothes overseas, “actively for more than a year.”
And of course, “it takes financial donations to help for the very expensive shipping to help get these clothes and essential personal care items into the hands of such appreciative and hopeful folks in the Ukraine.”
After the event, Heather shared that their, “Ukrainian Clothing drive went really well…We collected over $5,000 in cash donations to help pay for shipping and about $55,000 worth of clothing. Hooray!”
She added that they hadn’t received many donations “for orphan children ages 5-15, so we decided to use some of our donations to purchase good quality underwear, t-shirts, and socks at Costco. If you would like to contribute for that purpose you can drop off a check at The Wardrobe made out to The Rotary Club of Davis.”
She concluded that they “are super grateful for the generosity of the Davis community. Thank you to all the Ukrainian volunteers and everyone that showed up to help make a difference and clothe Ukraine in love.”
“Because all you need is love…”
You can still donate at The Wardrobe, Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m.
Choices, choices, choices at the Cold Stone Creamery in Davis.
Karen Levy/Enterprise photo
Cold Stone Creamery opened its doors for its soft opening on Saturday, April 4, at The Davis Collection, 835 Russell Blvd., No. 190, as eager customers lined up, ready to make some tough choices from among the many flavors and toppings colorfully displayed. Among them are pecans, roasted almonds, M&M’s, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, rainbow sprinkles, Oreo Cookies, Kit Kat, and Gummy Bears, to name a few. Signature creations include mint, cake batter, classic cookie dough, cheesecake, strawberry, chocolate, and French Vanilla among several others.
I sat down to chat with proprietor Gary Dill in the lull just before his new venture launched, and he shared that this is actually the second location they have now opened, the first being in Sacramento where he and his family live.
He chose Davis as the second location because as he explained, “Me and my wife went to Davis and then we have ties here and we love this community. We really like this area, the energy here, so we thought it’s a great place to start our second location.”
He added that, “It took awhile…about a year, patiently just waiting you know, all the process, the construction, but we’re happy we’re finally done and this plaza’s great, it’s a great place, it turned out really nice, we’re excited…we thought we were going to be open back in November, right?…so it’s surreal right now…it’s finally here.” He laughed. I had been following the construction’s progress and understood his relief after the very long wait.
The line was growing outside as Gary explained that they make everything fresh in the creamery on the premises, waffles as well as ice cream.
“What sets us apart is…you choose your ice cream and your mixes which is the toppings, we mix them fresh on a stone in front of you,” and that’s what makes Cold Stone different from other markets. “We’re considered a creamery so we actually have an ice cream machine in the back…we have one of the highest butter fat percentages for ice cream…that’s why it’s so creamy.”
Gary shared that every month they release certain promotions for ice cream flavors and at the moment it’s Dubai chocolate creation, strawberry marshmallow, and lemon cake batter. “We also have ice cream cakes which is very popular amongst the public and then for mother’s day” he believes that lemon batter will probably be popular. His own favorite ice cream flavor is the Founder’s Favorite; sweet cream with pecans, brownie, fudge, and caramel.
“Every month they rotate so keep a lookout for the newest ones” Gary concluded, before opening the doors and greeting customers of all ages, excited to sample the newest addition to the Davis Collection.
The next Davis Craft and Vintage Fair will be on Sunday, April 12, under the Farmers Market Pavilion in Central Park.
The cooperative is a twice-a-month, open-air market for local artisans and vintage vendors, with food and live music, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The music, food and family fun of Picnic in the Park returns to the Davis Farmers Market on Wednesday, April 15.
Picnic in the Park features a variety of prepared food vendors, farm-fresh produce, and artisan goods, making it easy for visitors to build a picnic dinner straight from the market.
Guests can also enjoy local craft beer from rotating breweries, wine from local wineries, and, brand new to the market, mead will be available, offering a taste of the region’s vibrant food-and-beverage scene.
The musical act on April 15 will be Wreckey Flats.