Highway 395 Road Trip Day 5

Today was uneventful in the morning and early afternoon as I wasn’t feeling my best.  We did have breakfast at Harrah’s, which was okay.  We did a little shopping too, but eventually went back to the hotel so I could nap and rest.  I eventually felt better around 2:00pm and we took a drive down to the North Shore.

I took Fuzzy to see Squaw Valley, the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics.  Most of the original buildings are gone, but a few are still there.  I also was hoping that maybe we’d get to dine at the Plumpjack Café (http://www.plumpjackcafe.com) – I had wanted to the last time I was there in October, but it didn’t work out then.  We got the Squaw around 4:00pm, and it was starting to rain (and it was freezing cold too!). 

We headed into the Bar at the Plumpjack for a drink and maybe see when the café was serving.  Turns out the Bar also serves near the same menu, so we decided to try an appetizer and see if we wanted to dine there.   Our bartender (and server), Jack, answered our questions and offered some suggestions.

We ordered the Warm Marinated Olives and the Selection of Artisan Cheeses.  The olives were absolutely amazing – just the right temp and well flavored.  And the cheeses were perfect.  There were three of them, all California cheeses, two cow’s milk and one goat’s milk.  One of the cow’s milk cheeses was very creamy and reminded me more of goat’s milk.  The other two were harder cheeses.  The cheeses and olives were the perfect appetizers.

Since we were impressed with the appetizer round, we opted to stay for a full meal.  I ordered the Market Salad for my first course, which had mixed greens, radishes, English cucumbers, asparagus and shaved cheese, with a tangy vinaigrette.  It was very crisp and refreshing (and helped fill my need for some greens).

For my main course, I had the Angus Ranch Steak, which came with potatoes mixes with Pt. Reyes Blue Cheese, English Pea tendrils and crispy onions.  The steak came sliced and was cooked and seasoned perfectly.  I didn’t try to pea tendrils (they reminded me too much of broccoli), but the potatoes were incredibly – but sadly they were more a shmear and I would have enjoyed a larger portion.

We shared a dessert of their “Strawberries and Champagne”, which was sort of a bombe of strawberry frozen yogurt surrounding some Champagne sorbet on a cake, with a drizzle of a tarragon sauce.   It was very unique!  The tarragon added a slight herby-ness to the dessert and the frozen yogurt and sorbet complimented each other very well.

Overall, we had a great meal.  We got to meet the chef too, Wyatt, and talk about the food and his experience.  The Plumpjack has a real find in him and I hope they keep him for a long while.  I hope to get to dine there again someday!  If you’re ever in Tahoe, I highly recommend it.

It’s our last night in Lake Tahoe and back on the road tomorrow heading home.