By Chris Murphy
Photos by MJ Mangano
Daily Dose – New Excitement in Riverbank
Downtown Riverbank is getting ready to shine. For the last few years, the redesigned downtown area along Santa Fe Avenue has been working hard to get the buzz going again with a redesigned Wine and Cheese Festival and other investments. Places like Toasted have lit a spark and now it appears that there is going to be a steady stream of excitement.
Randy Rocha has been a friend for a long time. His Tap Room in Modesto and the Twisted Pig became solid staples of north-east Modesto. A few years ago, at a fortuitous meeting over cocktails, Randy met Janet Smallen who works for the City of Riverbank and they began to plan a new restaurant called the Daily Dose featuring lighter foods, delicious sandwiches and craft cocktails designed around Sake and other lower alcohol offerings. When Randy sold the Twisted Pig, these plans became a reality and you can visit Daily Dose now with Olivia Castagnetto at the helm.
Jessica Mendez behind the bar makes beautiful drinks. For the mornings, they have Kombucha, breakfast shots, Nitro coffee on tap and even a spiked coffee with cinnamon. For lunches and dinner, they have margaritas, and local beers on tap. Daily Dose is specializing in lower alcohol beverages using Sake based spirits, blending with Tequila, Rum, Vodka and Gin. These are used like normal mixers and Jessica even made me a Mai Tai. For happy hours, you can even get a Sake Bomb or craft Vodka Sake with Basil and other custom blends. If you are camping out for an afternoon, this is a great way to go.
The food word of the day is Empanadas. Breakfast, lunch and dinner empanadas. These are really delicious. The breakfast is bacon, egg, cheese and potatoes and the Beef and Cilantro and the Chicken Buffalos are so tasty for the afternoons. Chef Dee Orio really blends great flavors and she make sure her slow roasted prime rib is perfect every time, loaded on a fresh focaccia with extra dipping sauce. You have to try anything they do with their caramelized onions, like the Cali Club. You can also find some amazing meats with hard and Genoa salamis, mortadella, and a variety of specialty cheeses. These can be found on their charcuterie boards and the Italian sandwiches.
There is a good variety of high-top seating options, great seats at the bar, and a cool conversation area up front and a sidewalk patio. There is a lot of easy parking and downtown Riverbank is easy to navigate. Randy and Janet really want to help develop downtown and get people to spend more time in this part of town.
It doesn’t stop here. Randy was attracted to the former Red Carpet Bar location across the street from the Dose and is building a new larger sized eatery called The Black Sheep that will be up and running by December 1 with a large outside patio. Well it doesn’t stop there either as Randy will be opening a former service station and garage on Highway 108 that will become the Pump House that should open in early January. These are a lot of changes coming really soon for Riverbank. “I really want to do something in the downtown area that is all walking distance”, said Randy. His experience with the other two restaurants made planning these new places pretty straightforward, adding nice patios, expanding into adjacent buildings and creating transformation.
Janet has been a Riverbank resident for 18 years, and downtown is where she works and wanted to make a difference with the Daily Dose and since they are so excited about there they are making these investments, good things should happen with more hours and entertainment options coming soon
Daily Dose
Hours Mon, Wed, Th- 7:00 am – 8:00 pm Friday till 10.
Sat 9 am – 10 pm, Sunday 10-6 Closed Tues.
(209) 502-7517
3310 Sante Fe St. Riverbank, Ca. 95367
www.daiydosebistro.com
@dailydoseriverbank
