Historic Davenport Roadhouse gets a gentle reboot with new owners and new menu

The new Davenport Roadhouse is mostly the same as the old Davenport Roadhouse, but better, according to two new owners who are bringing fresh ideas and a streamlined menu to the historic restaurant and inn, while preserving its old-school charm. Crowd-pleasers like wood-fired pizzas, a smash burger and salads, as well as weekly neighborhood specials, highlight local ingredients and a family-friendly atmosphere. 

Located “just two songs north of Santa Cruz” – as its website claims – on Highway 1, the Davenport Roadhouse has been a defining feature in the ocean-facing hamlet of Davenport for more than a century. It’s a favorite for visitors traveling between San Francisco and Santa Cruz and a hub for locals and neighbors in Bonny Doon, Last Chance and other communities in the Santa Cruz Mountains. 

In July, business partners Gavin Parsons and Ginny Miller purchased the business from Christopher and Vanessa Chamberlain, who ran the Roadhouse for five years. Over the summer, Parsons and Miller have channeled their former careers in hospitality, design and restaurant consulting to gently update the space while preserving the building’s funky, tavernlike character. 

Miller worked for a New York-based real estate firm that specializes in restaurant design, and Parsons worked as a chef and as a private restaurant consultant, but both craved a smaller, potentially more meaningful project. “For the past couple years, I’ve thought it would be awesome to work on a restaurant that has ties to the community and has a human side with potential to create something special,” said Miller. 

They hired chef Roland Konicke – known throughout the area as Uncie Ro for his wood-fired pizza pop-ups and catering service by the same name – to manage the kitchen. His menu at the Roadhouse offers familiar classics like a smash burger, fish & chips, clam chowder, pizzas and salads with a focus on organic produce from small producers on the Central Coast. He gets lettuce from Watsonville-based Blue Heron Farms, bread from Santa Cruz’s Companion Bakery and grass-fed beef from Pomponio Ranch in San Gregorio, in addition to other farms. 

Bartender Kate Palacio, who operates cocktail pop-up Classy Trash when she’s not working behind the bar at the Roadhouse, mixes up seasonal drinks. The Cynar spritz ($12) is a refreshingly bitter take on a Negroni, while the pumpkin spice martini is a seasonal spin on the popular espresso martini. 

“Our goal is to appeal to everyone,” said Konicke, who lives in Davenport. “There are lots of people traveling up and down the coast, and we also want to connect with the community of folks from Bonny Doon, Santa Cruz and Davenport.” 

The Greens + Grains Bowl ($17) is a standout dish, and bears no resemblance to the grain bowls that dominated menus in the mid-2010s. This is a nutty and hearty salad of tender red lettuce and farro with chopped pistachios, pickled onions and aged provolone, bound in a tangy apple cider dressing. 

The Cash Smash ($17) – a double-patty smash burger with a name that nods to the restaurant’s previous life as The Cash Store, a historic general store – is pleasantly messy, with layers of American cheese, sweet griddled onions, briny caper aioli and shredded iceberg. Of course, Konicke makes Neapolitan-style pizzas, cooked in a wood-fired oven. He tops his fragrant and chewy crusts with combinations like sauteed mushrooms, ricotta and thyme ($26) and fennel sausage with funky taleggio cheese and Calabrian chili ($27). 

The dessert menu is short – just two items – but impactful. The divinely nostalgic half-baked chocolate chip skillet cookie ($11) is baked in the wood-fired oven in its own personal cast-iron pan until just set and still gooey, then finished with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Availability of some of the produce-driven dishes was inconsistent, and at least two dishes were unavailable on multiple visits. The cherry tomato, cucumber, burrata and red onion salad ($17) sounded appealing, but the kitchen was out of it on two occasions when I visited. The Roadhouse was also out of the Giant Veggie Plate with pesto ($23), made with farmers market produce. 

Konicke said he’s working on finding consistent local sources for his produce. “Sometimes the availability from the farms isn’t always the same,” he said. He’s actively networking with farms to find backup supplies and increase delivery days. 

In September, Konicke began Nonna’s Kitchen Tuesdays with weekly specials from his native New York, such as chicken Parmesan with homemade tomato sauce, Bolognese pasta and lasagne. All entrees are $15 for a main dish and side salad, plus $5 house wine specials. Starting later this month, on Fridays he will also offer square pies, a Sicilian-style pizza from New York. Each pie feeds one to two people and will be priced around $20.  

Many of the dishes are familiar and accessible for families. That’s intentional, said Parsons and Miller, both parents themselves. “We wanted to create an achievable fast-casual mashup with quality ingredients and quality service, while allowing kids to come into the mix,” said Parsons. “It’s what I personally want out of a restaurant.”

Parsons and Miller are first-time restaurant owners, and were independently looking for a restaurant project before they were introduced by their spouses. Miller, who splits her time between the Roadhouse and her home in San Francisco, grew up surfing along the Central Coast with her family, and her brother has lived in Davenport for 10 years. When the Roadhouse went up for sale earlier this year, it felt like a perfect fit. 

“It’s a place we know and love. The Roadhouse has an awesome, rich history and potential to be the backbone of the community,” said Miller. 

They have, so far, taken a light touch on the neighborhood institution and focused on improving the menu and retraining staff, many of whom stayed during the transition. More updates are on the way, but “it’s nothing crazy,” said Miller. They’ve already added more seats on the patio, and aim to make use of a large outdoor dining area behind the restaurant. This week, they worked with Talc Studio, a Bay Area-based landscape designer, to add dozens of native plants and grasses, as well as drought-tolerant varieties, to make it more inviting. 

“We’re trying to get more local musicians to play back there, and hoping to create a great outdoor destination,” said Miller. 

She’s also curating a market with local goods like honey, clothing and vintage items, which they hope to open by the holidays. The pair is also launching grab-and-go sandwiches, pastries and breakfast items on homemade focaccia later this fall, and plan to add a sit-down breakfast menu in the restaurant in the future. 

“So many people know it as a delicious stop for breakfast after a bike ride, so we’re trying to draw a bit from that history,” said Miller. 

The new owners said they appreciate the support they’ve received during the transition. People have given them a chance, and seem both patient and enthusiastic about the changes to the menu. At a recent Nonna’s Kitchen Tuesdays, they sold more than 200 chicken Parmesans over the course of the evening, which was an unexpectedly large turnout. “In a different world, we would shut down for six months, but we’ve embraced wabi-sabi,” said Miller, referencing the Japanese philosophy of finding beauty in imperfection. “People have been receptive, and it’s also an incredible community.”

1 Davenport Ave., Davenport; 831-600-0050; davenportroadhouse.com. 

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