Tara T.
Yelp
There were some cons regarding the fine dining experience in my opinion, but definitely more pros overall. Evan's American Gourmet Cafe scored 5 stars.
I had the idea to reserve a table somewhere in Tahoe for Mother's Day. My parents live in South Lake and we get funny about dining out with crowds and everyone else with their mother's on Sunday morning, so I called around for a Saturday night dinner reservation.
Every nice restaurant was fully booked through the month of May and I almost gave up. Evan's doesn't open until 5:30, so I emailed them from work early in the afternoon to make a reservation not knowing anyone would receive my message. Thinking they'd be full too, I was surprised to have a voicemail on my work phone a few days later. It was Evan himself confirming my reservation for three people at 5:30 pm on Saturday, May 11, 2019. They take reservations via e-mail!
After I had the reservation set in stone, I told my parents I was treating them to dinner at Evan's and they were so excited! The last time they dined at Evan's was ten years ago for their 25th Anniversary. My dad started studying the menu and they were counting down the days.
We pulled up right about 5:30 and they were more than ready for us. Steve was our server, host, greeter, photographer, everything. He called me by name when we walked in, assuming I was "Tara: party of three" and he was correct. Steve offered to take our picture once we sat down and asked my parents their names too. I brought a bottle of wine I'd been saving for a special occasion and didn't think $20 was unreasonable for a corkage fee. Other mediocre places in Lake Tahoe have been known to charge upwards of $25-$30 (psssh).
Once the wine was opened and our chicken liver paté along with a bread basket was placed on the table, we could look over them menu and decide on our appetizers. My dad has always loved sweetbreads and my mom has always loved scallops, done deal. I had seen the savory cheesecake on Yelp and was intrigued. The scallops were weird. Apparently they puree the scallops and put them into a poached egg and smother them (3) with a heavy creamed lobster sauce. We agreed that the flavor and texture was unappealing. The three of us would prefer biting into a sexy seared scallop. I think my dad's sweetbreads were the best of the appetizers, they were served atop a crispy polenta cake with exotic mushrooms. The savory cheesecake could have had more lobster on top but nonetheless, it was savory.
One of my peeves for the evening: the staff was constantly lurking, filling up water glasses even though one sip was missing, taking away and moving plates around, offering to pour wine, etc. No! We can do it. I know it's a nice gesture and some people probably insist on that kind of service but we wanted a little more privacy. There e are only 11 tables in the place and they probably have to be attentive or they're just bored. It just got to the point where it seemed intrusive. We were there for the food, not the interaction with the servers. They can also hear everything, so no secrets and don't dis anything :)
Something I thought of after the fact was there wasn't an in-between sorbet or palate cleanser before our entrées were served. It would have been nice considering all of the flavors going on, what with the paté, scalloped egg whites, and sweetbreads. But boy I must say the presentations were out of this world! I was blown away when they brought out my pistachio crusted halibut on top of spinach and a sweet potato hash with bacon. The fish was flaky and white as snow. My dad sucked his lamb chops dry to the bone and my mom scarfed down her layered pile of scalloped potatoes and filet mignon. Yum, yum!
To end the night, we made the decision to skip dessert and asked for the bill. To my surprise, for one of the first times treating my parents to dinner, I wasn't shocked at the dollar signs within the booklet. This ensured a slightly better tip (cash). One other thought that may have been a nice way to display the bill would bring it to the table with some truffles or chocolates, nothing fancy. Heck, we buy the truffles in the gold box from Trader Joe's and people go nuts over them. That's a small touch and is needed at such a quaint restaurant, it should be customized to create an everlasting memory. Instead, I remember the hard starlight candies in the basket at the hosts table.
The end.
