Wolfdale’s – Tahoe City
640 North Lake Blvd.
Tahoe City , CA
(530) 583.5700
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VdV Rating: 3
Food: Asian/fusion
PRO: Best burger I’ve had. Word. And great seafood & Asian-inspired dishes & happy hour specials. Nice deck.
CON: Wish the bar area was a bit bigger and design is a little dowdy…that’s about it.
When I’m up here I turn kinda mountain-mannish. Meaning I escape the hustle-bustle churn ‘em & burn ‘em exhaust-fume-inhaling SF (yeah, it’s harsh livin’ here in SF), and return to my simple roots. Burgers, beer, beer can chicken, blowing deer to smithereens in Wii Cabela Big Buck Hunter, burping, farting, stuff like that. So when I strap on the ‘ole feed bag, it usually follows that type of laid-back, simple routine -
- Veggie Breakfast Burritos (hold the avocado) at Dam Café
- Deep-fried Zucchini and the Kobe Burger at Sunnyside. Yeah that’s right. I said Kobe. Just ‘cuz we’re taking it down a notch doesn’t mean we don’t have standards
- Chicken Tacos and Chips & Salsa at Calienté
- Slice of thin pizza pie from Peluso’s
- Ginormous Spring Roll at River Grill (review coming soon)
- A bowl of Mexican Tortilla Soup and a Grilled Cheese Sando at Fat Cat (yeah yeah, to be reviewed soon)
So when we couldn’t get into Fat Cat the other night, my baby suggested Wolfdale’s right across the road. For the aforementioned reasons, I usually shy away from Wolfdale’s. And I was in the mood for a burger. Bottom line.
Plus, Wolfy’s is pretty fancy…by Tahoe City standards anyway. Which means, what? They have fresh linens on the tables. I dunno, just stuff like that. A nice deck. Plus a fancy name that says ‘Cuisine Unique’.
So ya figure it’s highly doubtful they’d be serving a hamburger. Especially on this very special of all nights V-Day. Anyhoo, since it was right across the street and I didn’t wanna fire up the rented hooptie, I reluctantly agreed. Oh yeah, and because it was Valentine’s Day, anything the other J wanted, she got. Just 364 more days to go until next time that happens;)
We mosied in there and damn, this place was hustlin’ and bustlin’ as well. Valentine’s day in TC, I guess it just brings out the romance in people. But us being VdV, we score the last 2 bar seats and got down to business. The full name of the joint is Wolfdale’s Cuisine Unique, and they live up to it.
The menu here is mainly seafood based with a predominant Asian influence. So I’m saying to myself, “Self, there is no burger in your future tonight unless they’re serving a Teriyaki Cod 1/4 Pounder”. We scan the menu and see a pretty nice selection of stuff, and start to bark out our order to the bartender, basically just starting at the top of the menu. We start with the Smoked Trout ($5), which is an appy of course. Whatdya want for $5 ya greedy bastard?! Anyway, it was excellent and just the way I like it. It’s smoked in-house, and is thick, not those paper thin slices. Meaty. Smoky. And not slimy. Excellent, and a good value to boot!
Next, the Seafood Chowder ($5), with Bass, Shrimp and Clams. Five Bucks! Yeah! It’s not a cauldron of chowder, but a nice serving and quite tasty, might I add. The seafood was nice, fresh and chunky, served in a semi-thick stock with some nice heat. Bravo, Wolfy!
Then we ordered the Thai Noodle Bowl ($10), a nice large serving of spicy chicken-based broth with some spice – lemongrass, serrano pepper, sweet onion with wheat noodles.
Then back to seafood with the Ahi Poke Rolls ($8), 4 semi-puny rolls that kind of resemble a kid’s ice cream cone. If you fed your child raw fish that is. Maybe I should call the CSD. Although these puppies were a little small, they were yummy. Again, very fresh fish on top with a spicy wasibi-ish cream sauce in the bottom of the crunchy cone. Makes for a very nice couple bites.
And then…no shit, people. My beady eyes make it to the bottom of the menu and spy a…BURGER! And this being fancy-shmancy Wolfdale’s not just any old dead cow on a patty burger, either. Knock-knock. Who’s there? Burger. Burger who? Filet Mignon Burger, bitch! You heard me. A Filet Mignon Burger ($14) that will knock your tube socks off. Holy crap. yeah, I hear a few of you chef wannabes wondering how a meat so lean could make for a great burger. Dunno. can’t help ya. I can help the other 99.999% of you though, and tell you to drive your asses up to Tahoe and get this burger. It came rare but still charred enough to hold a good shape and have a subtle grilled flavor. The texture was tender, the taste was fan-f’ing-tastic and was served on a house-made bun with the perfect accompaniments of condiments and a very thinly sliced pickle.
Oh, and a bonus I didn’t know about? They serve take-and-bake Peluso’s Pizzas!
