In the of The Road Less Eaten, season two, chef, author, and show host, Biju Thomas, visits the south shore of Lake Tahoe, California. He and snowboarder Hannah Teter explore the lake by boat and clear kayak before Thomas tries some of the best food this outdoorsy paradise has to offer.
Here are the highlights of Thomas’s stops on The Road Less Eaten: Lake Tahoe.
Azul Latin Kitchen
blends South and Central American cuisine with influences from all over the world, including Thailand and India. The South Tahoe restaurant is also known for its fresh-squeezed margaritas.
In the show, Thomas works with chef and manager Jeff McWilliams to cook up some steak fajitas, complete with vegetables and a secret sauce. The secret sauce, McWilliams shares, is a blend of tamari, Worcester sauce, lime juice, and a mix of spices. Thomas also samples a dish called tacos three ways that features a fish taco made up of battered cod with lemon and pickled red onion. Then, there’s the Thai curry taco, which consists of slow-cooked chicken with red curry, pickled mango, and candied jalapeños and Fresnos. The dish also comes with a vegetarian option: a sweet potato and black bean taco with chipotle slaw.
Toulouse
Next, Thomas heads to , a Cajun restaurant also located on the south shore of Lake Tahoe. It was founded by four friends who met on Toulouse Street in New Orleans more than 30 years ago. The friends chose Lake Tahoe because many of them are big skiers and they wanted to be closer to the mountains.
Thomas samples a variety of dishes during his visit, including the house salad, shrimp and grits with mushrooms and tasso ham, and the blackened ahi tuna, which gets a kick from the Japanese seasoning yuzu kosho. Many items on the menu are made from local and sustainable ingredients.
Desolation Hotel, Maggie’s
Named for the nearby Desolation Wilderness, the micro hotel is themed around outdoor exploration. Maggie’s, the connected restaurant, is named after Maggie McPeaks, one of the first women to explore the Sierra mountains. The staff of uses seasonal ingredients, which keeps the menu fresh and ever-evolving.
The Road Less Eaten, Thomas tries the New York strip, which comes with a side of asparagus stuffed with goat cheese and fondant potatoes. Also on the menu: the Sacramento rack of lamb, with crispy, roasted potatoes and roasted baby carrots with an orange glaze. Thomas also samples the Spanish octopus with a cucumber salad and edible orchid.
Elements Eatery and Bar
For breakfast, Thomas visits , a newer restaurant in the area. Elements infuses diner classics with a Latin flavor. Thomas samples the eggs Benedict, with marinated adobo-style pork, house-mashed avocado, and an heirloom tomato on charred English muffins, served with lard-fried tater tots. The entire dish is topped with their hollandaise sauce, which has an acidic base of cut green salsa.