Davis has a new dessert destination, and a unique one at that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Little Gem Belgian Waffles\u00a0at 206 Third\u00a0St., 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 Li\u00e8ge waffles that part-owner Chong Zhao and his partner Suraj Thapa were preparing for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Li\u00e8ge waffles (Li\u00e8ge is a city along the Meuse River in Belgium\u2019s 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 \u201cfluffy inside,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
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Little Gem Belgian Waffles co-owner Chong Zhao whips up a batch of waffles at the new Davis eatery.<\/p>\n
Karen Levy\/Enterprise photo<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually worked for Google Microsoft for a while\u201d Chong shared, laughing that he, \u201cwanted a career change.\u201d He added that his wife had tried this type of waffle in Japan and \u201cshe loved it,\u201d returning to the U.S. and suggesting that they go \u201cto Belgium\u2026to the source, try it out, if it\u2019s good, we get trained there and bring it back.\u201d He added, \u201cThere were so many shops\u2026but the first one we tried, was the best. So I took that bite and I was like, let\u2019s do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s 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 \u201csurvived COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n
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. \u201cBerkeley was pretty successful so we figured this business model works,\u201d Chong continued. They chose Davis because they \u201clike the energy\u201d and he would like people to come in to try their creations. They \u201cput a lot of love and effort\u201d into these specialty waffles, testing their recipes around 600 times before opening, so they hope people will like and appreciate it. \u201cOur number one thing is we try to delight customers. We try to use this to give someone a break,\u201d he concluded, saying that he hopes that if someone has had a difficult day they can come in, \u201ceat the waffle and walk out with a smile,\u201d a goal Chong has \u201cbefore making money.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s favorite, both topped with fresh strawberries and powdered sugar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Other choices on their menu include the \u201cGempire State of Mind\u201d which comes with Nutella, strawberries, bananas, and ice cream, the \u201cGolden Bear,\u201d a \u201cChurroffle\u201d with cream and fresh bananas, the \u201cSmoreffle,\u201d milk chocolate with Belgian waffle crisps and toasted marshmallows, and \u201cApril in Belgium\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
But don\u2019t take my word for it and check it out yourselves. Little Gem Belgian Waffles is open Tuesdays \u2013 Fridays from 2:00 p.m. \u2013 12:00 a.m., Saturdays-Sundays 12:00 p.m. \u2013 12:00 a.m., closed Mondays.<\/p>\n
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The Wardrobe in downtown Davis is all decked out for its Ukraine clothing drive.<\/p>\n
Karen Levy\/Enterprise photo<\/p>\n
The Wardrobe\u00a0held its second\u00a0Ukraine 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s part of my role,\u201d Heather said, adding that she will be \u201cjoining the Rotary Club\u201d in addition to having already been \u201cthe founder of the Davis Community Vision Alliance and The Wardrobe, and so this is like a triple, in terms of partnership.\u201d She complimented her staff member Anna Shevchenko for \u201cdoing an incredible job of getting things to where they need to be\u201d before sharing that she and Anna had been collaborating on this effort and that Anna\u2019s mother, \u201chad escaped the war\u201d 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 \u201cinstrumental in supporting\u201d her and The Wardrobe, and when I was introduced to Anna\u2019s daughter Paulina, Heather shared that she had \u201cbeen watching her grow up and she\u2019s super supportive\u201d of all the events as well. \u201cIt\u2019s like a total family,\u201d Heather commented, \u201cand sometimes it takes more than a village.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anna explained that their goal is to make people happy. \u201cNow it\u2019s very difficult situation in Ukraine, a lot of people lost family. Women lost husbands, and we help families, women that have children\u201d and had to move and cannot \u201cafford the very expensive rent\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
One of the musicians, Max Hordiichuk, with the assistance of his son Matt, a DSH senior who translated for his father, told me that, \u201cthe 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.\u201d 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, \u201cThe 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.\u201d 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\u2019s cars and into the building where they were being sorted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an enormous amount of volunteerism\u201d Heather said, \u201cand the landlord has allowed me to take this space for the weekend which has made it more efficient and more organized essentially\u2026I think we\u2019re a lot better organized than we were last year because we have the inside of this space\u2026we 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\u2019s my hope to do something similar if possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Ukrainian culture, including dance and clothing, was on display at the Wardrobe.<\/p>\n
Karen Levy\/Enterprise photo<\/p>\n
As usual, Heather had gathered strong women to help in this worthy cause. \u201cLaura Grindstaff, she\u2019s the Chair of the Sociology department has stepped up to help me and the Alliance, so it\u2019s the Alliance, it\u2019s the Rotary, and it\u2019s Anna and her wonderful team and my wonderful team here at The Wardrobe.\u201d \u00a0 Heather shared that she is \u201cofficially becoming a Rotarian on the 13th\u201d\u00a0and that she will be, \u201cthe person in charge of the clothing drive for the Ukraine, so they\u2019ve actually created a committee\u201d and she\u2019s hoping to \u201cbring along a lot more women to join the Rotary\u2026That\u2019s a big part of my wish.\u201d<\/p>\n
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. \u201cThis is my first year involved in this function\u201d Donna told me. \u201cWe decided to kind of partner up with The Wardrobe and the funds that we\u2019re gonna get are gonna help with shippin\u2019 all the stuff over\u2026so any kind of taxable donations will be paying for that. It\u2019s very expensive, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u201ckind of a grassroots\u201d group she believes is made up of all women involved in \u201ccommunity activism\u201d such as the clothing drive.<\/p>\n
The rooms in which the clothes were being collected and sorted had been \u201cgifted for the weekend\u201d by Dowling Properties, yet another part of the village effort which Heather thought was \u201cvery cool.\u201d Several volunteers were helping with this part of the drive as well, \u201ctrying to hurry\u201d the clothes overseas Heather told me as we walked through rooms where \u201csome of the magic\u201d was happening. She remembered \u201cdoing the sorting\u201d all herself when she first started out with her consignment store years ago, so this felt like \u201ca full circle.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
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 \u201chonored to be doing all this work with\u2026amazing people\u201d and that \u201cthis community event is a labor of love that brings enormous support to orphans and seniors in Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n
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