She craved backpacking snacks with a more Latin flavor. A Sacramento-area business was born
At the end of a long day of backpacking, all Martha Díaz wanted were her comfort foods. She couldn’t find them, so she made her own.
A Fair Oaks resident, Díaz is the one-woman powerhouse behind Itacate Foods, a company founded in fall 2022 with the goal of bringing Latin food to the backcountry.
Currently available on Itacate’s website and through outdoor retailer Garage Grown Gear, the freeze-dried meals will be carried in Northern California REI stores as well as Death Valley, Glacier and Yellowstone National Park gift shops next year.
Pronounced “eat-a-ka-tay,” Itacate means “food for the journey” in Nahuatl, a language spoken in Central Mexico since at least the 7th century C.E. That’s where Díaz was born and grew up before immigrating to the Bay Area at 10 years old.
She came to UC Davis for college, left for North Carolina in 2011 to earn her master’s degree and work as a scientist overseeing product safety and project management, then returned to California in 2020.
Díaz grew to love the outdoors, and got into backpacking more than a decade ago with a group of Latina friends. But after slogging through “Type 2 fun,” outdoorsy slang for an activity that’s somewhat miserable in the moment but enjoyable to look back on, they found little cultural nourishment waiting for them at camp.
“The impetus for (Itacate) was really from a personal pain point, not having food I could relate to,” Díaz said. “It was such an amazing experience to do (those backpacking trips), but we were eating food that we don’t otherwise eat at home and isn’t so comforting when you’re out doing Type 2 fun. We were always thinking, ‘Oh, imagine if we could have chilaquiles or things like that right now.’”
“Charge-up Chilaquiles” are now Itacate’s best-selling item, followed by “Sunset Caldo” (a vegan take on caldo tlalpeño, a Mexico City-born chipotle soup with garbanzo beans, rice and chayote) and “Campsite Lentejas” (lentil soup with a tomato-cilantro base). All retail for $12.49 per meal.
Díaz makes each dish from scratch at 24 Hour Kitchens in Fair Oaks, mixing salsas and scrambling eggs before freeze-drying and packaging them. She catalyzed Itacate’s development in an REI accelerator program designed to diversify the outdoor industry, which provided workshops, connections and floor space at major trade shows. Once Itacate expands into REI stores, she will hire someone to do packaging but continue making the food herself.
What I’m Eating
Dugout Deli is the lunchtime spot for the baseball (or sandwich) lover in your life. Founded by Mark Galisatus in 2006, it now has two locations less than a mile apart, one next to Arden Middle School and the other by Fulton Avenue’s intersection with Cottage Way.
Galisatus can still be found manning Dugout Deli’s sandwich counters with all the charisma and fervor of your favorite Little League coach. Framed photos around the restaurants recognize local ballers, from 10-year-old shortstops to former Jesuit High School and San Francisco Giants catcher Andrew Susac, and the menu is listed by players (sandwich or salad name), substitutes (main ingredients) and positions (prices).
A more famous Giant, Willie Mays, is immortalized in the Say Hey Kid ($11) sandwich. Ruby red pastrami and melted Swiss cheese warm the soul from the inside out, and while marble rye isn’t a bad bread choice, I couldn’t pass up a fresh-baked sourdough roll right out of Dugout Deli’s oven.
Crackly, crumbling Dutch crunch was another house-baked specialty, which I enjoyed around the Wild Pitch ($11). The “wild” comes from the mostly-mild spicy ranch sauce weaving its way around chicken breast cubes, melted pepper jack cheese and the standard sandwich veggies (lettuce, tomato, pickles, pepperoncinis and onions).
You can add fixings to the Triple Play ($11) if desired, but the triple-decker BLAT is best ordered “original” — I’d call it “unassisted” — with only bacon, lettuce, mashed avocado, tomatoes and mayonnaise sandwiched between slices of golden-toasted wheat bread. Salads are straightforward but nicely executed; I appreciated the fresh crunch of Romaine lettuce in the chicken Caesar ($11).
Dugout Deli
Address: 2552 Cottage Way, Sacramento, and 3355 Arden Way, Sacramento.
Hours: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday (Cottage Way); 10 a.m.-4 p.m., seven days a week (Arden Way).
Phone number: (916) 486-8766 (Cottage Way); (916) 891-5944 (Arden Way).
Website: https://www.dugout-deli.com/
Drinks: Canned and bottled sodas.
Vegetarian options: The only pre-selected menus items are the Hall of Fame sandwich (choice of cheese, cucumber and avocado), Caesar salad and sides of potato or macaroni salad, but more salads and sandwiches can be altered to be meatless.
Noise level: Bustling, but not actually that loud.
Openings & Closings
▪ The Chelsea, a successor to London nightclub from the same owners, begins its soft opening Friday night at 1009 10th St. This time around, it’ll have small Asian-inspired bites in addition to neon-lit club vibes and DJs.
▪ Streetzlan, arguably the most interesting restaurant in Galt, opened a second location last Saturday in Elk Grove’s Main Street Plaza at 9080 Laguna Main St. Erick and Jessica Silva’s fusion-friendly concept is all about new twists on Cali-Mex food, such as loaded carnitas fries or “sweet cigars” (fried tortillas filled with Ghirardelli chocolate, Nutella, cream cheese and almonds, rolled in cinnamon sugar).
▪ Lodi-based High Water Brewing is shutting down all operations, including its East Sacramento taproom that opened at 1210 66th St., Suite B, less than a year ago. It was best known for the s’more-like Campfire Stout.
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