Chico has a surprisingly good food scene for a mid-sized California college town. The presence of the university helps — there's enough demand for places that take their cooking seriously without charging San Francisco prices. Farm-to-table is not a marketing term here; the Sacramento Valley genuinely produces excellent almonds, walnuts, olives, stone fruit, and vegetables, and the better restaurants use them.
The Farmers Market downtown on Saturday mornings is the best place to buy local produce directly. Several restaurants cluster around Broadway and the parallel streets downtown; the area east toward the university tends toward cheaper, student-oriented places.