On any good road trip comes the moment comes when no one’s able to decide what they want to eat. Thank god for food halls! Koja Kitchen, Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, Peet’s Coffee, and Paradita Eatery are just a few of the restaurants that have outposts in this marketplace. 

Christian Soto and José Rodriguez are doing Latinx coffee loud and proud. The duo are displaying their heritage in a small lot every weekend, pouring cafe de olla cold brews and serving churro mochi muffins, and have plans to expand their operations when the time is right. They received a grant from the Small Business Development Center in Contra Costa, so the odds are good that items like the Mexican mocha are here to stay.

If Steve Sando says the food is good, the food is good. If more evidence is needed, look no further than Tacos Dos Hermanos’ carnitas tacos. They’re a meager $2.50 each, cash only, and come adorned with crunchy raw onion and creamy pinto beans. The arbol chile salsa gets honorable mention, too, as Sando says he slathers it on everything.

Stop by this new downtown Sacramento coffee shop any given weekend and the odds of finding a fun pop-up are high. Cora Coffee opened in February and by April their coffee manager, MiMo, placed third in the United States Coffee In Good Spirits Championship. It’s worth, at the minimum, a pit stop as you head east.

The slogan for this restaurant is “farm to taco,” and it shows. Amongst the Mexican dishes to try, the vegan avocado explosion taco is a highlight, the $20 burrito with peanut chipotle aioli is a luxe option, and the churros are a stalwart dessert. The food is good enough to award this humble shop a spot on the Michelin guide and, at $5 and $6.50 apiece, the tacos are still cheaper than many you’d find in San Francisco.

Worthy of a trip in its own right, this peach haven started out as a farm stand for an agricultural Northern California family. Now run by the second and third generation, the Ikeda family continues to be the only owners of the business and offer California staples like cherry pie, fresh fruit, and a full selection of pantry items that passersby have needed for generations.

Look no further for mountainous portions of diner food at relatively cheap prices. This historic roadhouse stop is open seven days a week, so don’t worry about coming at the wrong time — there is no wrong time to get a grilled linguica plate at this Colfax restaurant. The volcano, a $10 pile of chili cheese fries topped with onion and jalapeno, is for the brave and the bold, and the burgers (like the $26 Fat Bastard Burger, adorned with guacamole, chicken breast, and chiles) may put even the courageous into a food coma.

A former Tahoe burrito maker went west until he decided Truckee would be the best place for his new temple to one of San Francisco’s favorite portable dishes. A favorite of snowboarders and skiers headed to the mountain, the dishes here are enormous and the prices — like a tri-tip sandwich for under $10 — are unbeatable.