North Lake Tahoe Dining

The North Lake Tahoe dining scene continues to evolve with several new establishments opening.

It’s aloha in downtown Tahoe City where the recently opened North Shore Hawaiian Grill is offering authentic island cuisine, with recipes handed down for generations. Plate lunches and dinners are served with traditional sticky white rice and island style macaroni salad. Guests choose from chicken marinated in homemade shoyu-ginger sauce and Korean-cut short ribs marinated in a sweet Portuguese-style sauce.

Just steps away from the North Shore Hawaiian Grill lies Uncorked Tahoe City. Formerly known as Corkscrews, the place is a sister establishment to the popular Uncorked Squaw Valley. The revitalized wine bar gets rave reviews from Lake Tahoe locals for its contemporary wine experience without the snobbery, and with bottles ranging in price for every budget. Guests can sample the daily wine-by-the-glass menu or take part in winemaker events held throughout the year.

Sitting just 100 feet above the shorelines of Lake Tahoe, Christy Hill has been a Tahoe City dining icon for more than 25 years. Recently, the establishment changed hands and with it comes an outstanding menu offering a hearty seafood chowder, pan roasted gnocchi with duck confit, grilled grass-fed filet mignon and amaretti ravioli with poached pears. Christy Hill is now also open for lunch and has a happy hour menu.

Two new shops offering delectable frozen goodies have also opened in Tahoe City. Poppy’s Frozen Yogurt, which opened July 1, serves six daily flavors of frozen yogurt and provides a variety of toppings, such as fresh fruit. They also serve espresso. Tootsie’s is an old-fashioned ice cream parlor located in the Lighthouse Shopping Center and provides sundaes, ice cream sodas and milkshakes. Tootsie's also offers a hot dog bar where people can select from veggie, all-beef, chicken sausage or Polish dogs.

The greatroom at the Lone Eagle Grille In Incline Village, the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino recently underwent a $400,000 renovation to its iconic Lone Eagle Grille, which focuses on the lounge and includes new furnishings, color scheme and structural changes, increasing seating to approximately 58 with an additional seating for 14 at the bar. 

Truckee welcomed the eco-friendly Coffeebar on Jibboom Street in October. This Italian coffee shop offers dishes not usually found in traditional java spots, including tasty gelato, strudel and light fluffy crepes filled with fresh vegetables.

Squaw Valley USA has upgraded their dining offerings with a remodel of the mountain’s legendary Olympic House base lodge and hired a new director of culinary services who has added new items on the menu, such as hand-tossed salads, gourmet pizza and Asian stir-fry bowls – all served with an abundance of fresh and local ingredients. There has also been a remodel of Olympic House’s Bar One, Squaw Valley’s original bar, which now boasts a refurbished fireplace, extensive bar and enhanced mountain views.

Alpine Meadows Ski Resort is offering what may be the ultimate winter dining experience. Guests, groups up to 20, travel in a snow cat to the mountain’s secluded mid-mountain restaurant for a private, four-course dinner and an evening of stargazing as part of the resort’s Mountainside Dining Experience. Menu samples include fig and goat cheese bruschetta, pumpkin coconut soup and bacon wrapped quail.

Down the road from the West Shore Café, they are cooking homemade brown sugar pepper bacon – and lots of it. Obexer’s General Store in Homewood recently came back into the Obexer family and with the transition comes a completely renovated grocery, cafe and deli. Chefs here cook up pounds of their special bacon daily for their scrumptious sandwiches named after five generations of Obexers, many of which helped establish the West Shore back in Lake Tahoe’s heyday dating back to 1911. Locals recommend the Edna’s BLAT, named after the West Shore matriarch, served on sliced bread or a roll and a giant cookie, baked from scratch, for a filling lunch. A large espresso bar also gives plenty of fuel before hitting the slopes in the morning.

In downtown Kings Beach, Tradewinds reopened over the summer with a new name and ownership. Now The Grid Bar and Grill, a tribute to the Kings Beach neighborhood north of Highway 28 and known by locals as “The Grid,” the hip establishment boasts a lip-smacking menu and plenty of events from football Sundays to karaoke contests. A must-try is the Keep Tahoe Bleu Burger with its crumbled bleu cheese, along with shoestring fries and jalapeno poppers.

One of the best ways to take advantage of North Lake Tahoe’s fall and winter savings is by clicking. The North Lake Tahoe Visitors Bureaus have created a clearinghouse of special offers and deals on their official website, which is updated daily, at www.GoTahoeNorth.com. Just hit the Cool Deals tab and start saving on lodging, dining and activities.

North Lake Tahoe is a 45-minute drive from the Reno Tahoe International Airport, two hours from Sacramento International Airport and just over three hours from San Francisco International Airport. For lodging reservations, recreation and event details, call North Lake Tahoe at 1-877-949-3296 or visit TripAdvisor.. Visitor information centers are located at 380 North Lake Boulevard in Tahoe City and 969 Tahoe Boulevard in Incline Village. The North Lake Tahoe Visitors Bureaus, Incline Village Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau and the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association, work together to promote North Lake Tahoe as a premier, year-round destination.

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