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Elijah Bleu's voodoo kitchen. photo by Scott Thompson |
CommentsQuick Bites
Published: December 9, 2009December Print Edition
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Mamasake’s Hakuna Matata roll.
photo by Lis Korb
Click on images for slideshow
John and Dawn Evans are longtime Truckee locals who decided to enter the hospitality business when their favorite downtown coffee shop closed down. The result is Elijah Bleu’s Coffee House & Good Eats, which opened on Nov. 27 in the Jackass Ridge Building in downtown Truckee. The Elijah Bleu menu is built around Southern flavors, created in a “Voodoo Kitchen” using local and organic ingredients. This fusion results in dishes like the Bella Breakfast ($4), a hearty mix of quinoa, spelt and barley with breakfast spices and dried fruit and Jerked Spice Tofu ($9) as a sandwich or a panini, with a side of black-eyed peas or pickled okra. Open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week. 530-582-1040, 10115 Donner Pass Road, Truckee 
Mamasake’s Hakuna Matata roll.
photo by Lis Korb
Click on images for slideshow
~ Olivia Dwyer
Piper’s Patisserie reopened on Nov. 14 with new manager Jennifer Swanson at the helm. She said that the vision for the new Piper’s was “more of place to hang out and relax” with couches, baked goods made fresh daily, and local ingredients – including Truckee Sourdough bread and brews from Coffee Connexion – crafted into comfort food. A scrumptious cupcake line features coconut, red velvet, carrot and chocolate creations at $2 each. Piper’s offers three meals a day, holding onto its classics, like the chicken pot pie, and will feature more Hispanic dishes, such as chile rellenos and tamales. A roasted chicken dinner with sides for four people is available to take home for $25. Open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week. 530-582-2256, 10068 Donner Pass Road, Truckee
~ Olivia Dwyer
Take a bite of the Point Reyes blue cheese with fig cake. The fig cake is only mildly sweet, sliced thin like a cracker and has a few crunchy pieces of fig for texture. The Point Reyes cheese is one of the great cheeses coming out of West Marin. It has a strong, almost sour flavor, but the two opposite tastes meld perfectly together. We are not talking a whole meal here: it’s just a part of a tasty little cheese platter that warms up your palate for a glass of wine. Aside from the luscious blue cheese and fig combo, look for tasty Camembert or Manchego along with several other kinds of crackers—all just right to make that wine taste better, and for you to make it through until dinner. Taste these culinary teasers at Corkscrews in Tahoe City. Cheese platters feature three types of cheeses with accompaniments; a half platter is $10 and a full is $15 (designed to be shared between four people). Open daily at 11 a.m. Cobblestone Center, 475 N. Lake Blvd., Suite 151, Tahoe City, 530-581-1106, corkscrewswinebar.com
~ Tim Hauserman
When I order sushi, I look for that perfect ratio of sweet, salt, soft, chew and crunch. The Hakuna Matata roll at Mamasake delivers this in divine proportion: rare grilled tuna, cucumber, mango, macadamia nuts and sunflower sprouts, topped with a mango-basil sauce. So fresh and delicious, it’s worth the $9.75 price tag. The Village at Squaw Valley, 530-584-0110, mamasake.com
~ Lis Korb
If you like peanut sauce you have to try this dish from Thai Lotus in Reno. The chicken is stir-fried with garlic, ginger and curry powder and served on a bed of spinach topped with peanut sauce and ground peanuts with steamed Jasmine rice. Order this amazing dish with tofu for $8.95; beef or pork $9.95; shrimp or combo (shrimp, chicken, pork and beef) $10.95; or seafood $12.95. Thai Lotus is located at 6430 South Virginia St., Suite A. Reno, and it is open Monday to Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for lunch (serving lunch special 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) and 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. for dinner, Saturday 11:30 a.m to 9:00 p.m. 775-852-5033, thailotusreno.com
~Lucila Hussek
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