Best Tahoe Basin Japanese Restaurants That Aren’t Sushi
There are a few of us Tahoe skiers and snowboarders out there who also like to travel, and with Japanese ski resorts on both the Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass as well as the IKON Pass, more pass holders are visiting other destinations to get their snow sports fix in. But with the change of scenery comes a change of cuisine, and coming home from Japan may bring a sense of longing for some favorite newly discovered Japanese cuisines. Here’s where to get your fix:
Blue Fish Kitchen, Tahoe City
Inside SiPS Tahoe City, the little wooden kiosk in the back corner called Blue Fish Kitchen serves up “fresh, fast, healthy, and really flippin’ good” poke bowls every day from 11:30 am-3 pm.
SiPs the liquor store has been around for 10 years; Blue Fish has been open for five. Both businesses are owned by Lorne and Michi Calhoun. Michi is originally from a region outside of Tokyo, and when she and Lorne moved to Tahoe from Los Angeles and started raising their family, she couldn’t find any of her favorite foods. Therefore, Michi started ordering what she liked and putting them on the shelves in the back of SiPs, next to the kitchen. They carry Saigon Pho instant noodles, Spicy Miso Tonkotsu, Shoyu ramen, Java Curry packets, Yakisoba, bottles of ShioKoji all-purpose seasoning, and lots of other Japanese products. They even have Pejoy and Popin’Cookin’ candy.
Blue Fish has 10 different kinds of poke bowls, or you can build your own. Michi’s favorite bowl is the Aloha made with brown rice, tuna, shrimp, pineapple, and a host of other ingredients, topped with her favorite Yuzu Togarashi sauce (which tastes like a lemony garlic mayonnaise).
While that and the Volcano Bowl are the most popular, I opted for the spicy albacore bowl with half yellowfin. It was wrapped up and ready to go within five minutes of ordering, but I was so hungry I ate it there. Crunchy wonton chips, fresh avocado, cold cucumber, scoop-sized dollops of spicy albacore, crab salad, ginger, edamame, jalapeno, a hunk of wasabi, sesame seeds, and yellowfin cubes sat atop a bed of white rice under a delicious firecracker sauce.
Tearing into the bowl as Sublime plays in the background, Lorne said that when they moved to Tahoe City 10 years ago, Michi asked him how many Japanese people lived here. He found a study breaking down the population which showed 99 percent Caucasian and 1 percent “Other”. “So, we had some kids to boost it up to at least 2 percent,” he smiles.
“People go skiing in Japan and then when they get home, they come here and see all their favorite Japanese foods and get so excited,” Michi says.
Smoke Door- Lake Tahoe Saryo, Crystal Bay/Kings Beach
Bordering the California-Nevada state line on the North Shore, Smoke Door is one of Tahoe’s newest fine dining restaurants specializing in omakase-style Japanese food.
Smoke Door has nine tables available by reservation only, and diners can choose between a 6-course menu, and a 10-course Harvest menu with its signature ash-dried Japanese A4 Wagyu steak available at an extra cost. Walk-ins are welcome at the bar who simply want to order off the a la carte menu.
The Smoke Door’s take, textures, and flavors in every one of its dishes are surprising and delightful. While the dishes are subject to change, the tasting menu includes some of its most popular items such as avocado toast, crispy pork belly, enoki tempura, and Toyosu fish when in season.
The Toyosu tasted like candy, consisting of pieces of white fish with micro-mint and watermelon daikon radish in an umeboshi plum vinegar broth that’s so delicious it could be served as a standalone beverage. Next, the Maitake mushroom came out. A Maitake Mushroom is the size and heartiness of two portabellas stacked on top of each other. Since Maitake means “dancing mushroom” in Japanese, this does look like it danced too close to the fire judging from its charred edges. A bit of Mizore is part of it, which in Japanese translates to “sleet” or “wet snow”, cooked over almond coals.
Then the Wagyu steak came out. Originating from the Hyōgo Prefecture in southwest Japan, its A4 grade is known for its abundant marbling; Smoke Door’s beef even comes with a Certificate of Authenticity that it proudly displays on the wall. The steak is served with a wasabi root (from Half Moon Bay Wasabi Company), which is freshly grated on a stingray skin. It is decadent.
The Donabe rice is also worth a mention. The rice itself is from the Hokkaido region of Japan. Cooked in a special pot, it’s sweet and creamy, cooked with Shiro dashi soy sauce and infused with almond wood smoke. I could imagine sitting in front of a cozy warm fire after enjoying a day of skiing with an entire pot of this.
An ember oil is lightly poured over the rice which provides a flavor that ties through the entire meal—and the whole kitchen. Even the housemade potato chips and avocado are smoked (the avocado then sits on a bed of ice for a while, so it doesn’t oxidize).
The food at Smoke Door truly does speak for itself, which is why they don’t even need a sign on the door.
Poke Rok, South Lake Tahoe
In the middle of the casinos and shopping activities of South Lake Tahoe, Poke Rok—known for its poke bowls and sushi rolls– has a distinct Hawaiian vibe to it. Kona beer signs and surf movies play on the TV over the tables, and there’s a salad bar-like setup on the other end filled with proteins, rice, and toppings.
“Poke” is a dish that originates in Hawaii and consists of raw pieces of seafood coated in a special marinade and often garnished with vegetables, rice, and/or a green spring mix. So, you may be asking, how is this Japanese food? Although fast-casual healthy food comes from “the life of the land perpetuated in righteousness”, poke was heavily influenced by Japanese and other Asian culinary styles.
When ordering a poke bowl, sushi roll, or other island-style seafood/rice combination, one can build their own bowl, pointing out and choosing things like:
- A Base: brown rice, white rice, and/or spring greens mix.
- A Protein: spicy tuna, tuna, imitation crab, salmon, spicy salmon, and/or tofu.
- Toppings: cucumber, edamame, tobiko, avocado, seaweed, and a variety of “crunchies”.
- A Marinade: Sweet Japanese, Ponzu, Korean BBQ, Tamari, Hawaiian, and others. Out of its specialty sauces, the number one favorite is chipotle aioli, number two is the yum-yum sauce, and number three is honey wasabi. All have a unique kick to them.
For those who would rather rely on ordering something already vetted by the experts, Poke Rok has a variety of pre-picked-out combinations. The Kahuna Bowl and the Volcano are the most popular; so I go for the Kahuna made by Julio.
Fresh fish and crab salad intermingled with edamame, cucumber, seaweed, and rice puffs and topped with its yum-yum sauce, which was exactly that…yum, yum. It was a nice balance of fresh fish, spice, savor, and crunchiness.
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the Winter 2024 edition of Tahoe Magazine.
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