Best Egghead: Bookhead

BY ADHITHI ANJALI arts@theaggie.org

For another year, UC Davis students vote for their picks of the Best of Davis, from restaurants to our iconic Eggheads. 44.4% of surveyed UC Davis students named Bookhead, the Egghead stationed right in front of Shields Library, as the best Egghead on campus.

When picking a favorite, it’s clear students are thinking about campus culture and which Egghead best represents all of us. Sure, Eye on Mrak has a gleeful, carefree aura and the Yin & Yang pair in front of Wright Hall look like they have a great relationship going on. But Bookhead speaks to students most because they know the feeling it portrays well.

“He’s literally me,” Rami Hemsi, a second-year philosophy major, said. Indeed, who hasn’t simply put their forehead to a textbook, hoping to just absorb the knowledge?

“It’s a pretty accurate representation of the reality of being a UC Davis student,” Nicodemus ColloredoMansfeld, a fourth-year international relations major, said. Art imitates life, so they say.

Bookhead’s supremacy is not unchallenged though. Second-year political science major Lucero Castañeda says that while Bookhead “represents the student population the best,” her favorite installation is See No Evil/Hear No Evil, which is found on the way to the Mondavi Center. “I appreciate a good love story,” Castañeda said.

Created by the late UC Davis professor Robert Arneson, the Eggheads were some of his final works before his death in 1992. These installations remain an integral part of campus identity and ceramic art history. Arneson, along with other California-based ceramic artists, pioneered the ceramic “Funk Art” movement. Characterized by intense expression, often vulgar humor and audience engagement, the Eggheads definitely get the art historians and laymen alike fired up all over campus.

Best Coffee: Philz Coffee

Personalize your cup of joe only at Philz Coffee in downtown Davis

BY BRANDON NGUYEN features@theaggie.org

Receiving 41.3% of students’ votes in yet another close competition against Mishka’s Café, Philz Coffee has been named the Best Coffee in this year’s Best of Davis. It’s no surprise that Philz has become a staple for UC Davis students to kickstart their mornings or fuel their afternoons, as it offers tailor-made cups of joe as well as a hub for studying.

Customers line up to try the chain’s famous blends, including the sweet and aromatic “Philtered Soul,” the bold and spicy “Jacob’s Wonderbar” and the smooth and creamy “Mint Mojito.” The store’s team of baristas, trained in Philz Coffee’s signature “Philz Way” of brewing, are ready to cater these blends to every customer’s taste and preference.

One of the managers at Philz’s Davis location is Bonovan Natoli, who offered insight into what makes Philz unique from other coffee shops in town.

“I would say the fact that we don’t do lattes, americanos or espresso-based drinks is what makes us different,” Natoli said. “Everything here is pourover, whereas other coffee shops typically have their own pre-made coffee blends. We specialize in just making the best coffee that we can. We keep it simple.”

Phil Jaber is the founder of Philz Coffee, whose mission is the principle that, “something as simple as a cup of coffee has the power to transform your everyday into something special” according to the cafe chain’s website. With this in mind, Jaber traveled around the world and visited thousands of coffee shops to taste and uncover blends that made perfect cups of coffee. The first Philz opened in 2002 in the Mission district of San Francisco, providing customers with “better days one brewed-to-order cup at a time.”

Having been a long-standing chain with its very own location just a few blocks from campus on the corner of E Street and 2nd Street, Philz is an easy choice for students looking for a caffeine boost between classes. But it’s not just the convenience that has made the coffee shop a hit among students — it’s the quality of the coffee itself.

Given its history, Philz is known for carefully crafted blends, each one made from freshly roasted beans and brewed specifically to meet customers’ taste preferences. This attention to detail has won over many UC Davis students, like Angus Chen, a fourth-year English major.

“The service at Philz has always been something I’ve thought every restaurant or cafe should mirror, possibly even more than making the drinks themselves,” Chen said. “They always ask you whether or not the drink tastes how you like at the counter and will take it back to adjust it on the spot if you ask them to.”

In addition to its unique coffee blends, Philz Coffee also offers a variety of pastries, sandwiches and other snacks, making it the perfect spot for a quick breakfast, lunch or afternoon pick-meup. The Davis location also boasts a spacious and laid-back storefront with ample seating options both indoors and outdoors — making it the perfect place for students, like fourth-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major Gabe Deflin, to enjoy a warm cup of coffee.

“The ambiance at the Davis Philz location is what you expect a college town coffee shop to be — studious, smells like coffee and friendly,” Delfin said. “Philz might be a franchise, but