Friday’s Station offers breakfast and lunch
The classic restaurant with a fantastic view at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe has made a change.
Friday’s Station recently added lunch and dinner menus. The prices are reasonable, the cuisine exceptional and more than ample, and the service is as good at it gets at Lake Tahoe.
The 18th-floor restaurant serves 100,000 dinners a year, and readers of the Tahoe Daily Tribune voted it “The Best Place to Eat a Steak.”
New lunch diners will recognize the Snoopy Salad, which was introduced into Harrah’s in the 1970s on the casino floor’s Seafood Cove.
Friday’s prime rib dib with au jus and the New England lobster rolls are two of the top lunch items recommended by Manager Frank Greco, who might be considered Friday’s new guy by some of the longtime staff.
For example, Bob Trim has been the maitre d’ for 18 years. Trim has plenty of stories to share about when he used to work the South Shore Room frequented by Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack.
But on-staff celebrity honors have to go to Tahoe veteran Mikey Epstein, who shares mixology duties with Steven Wright, Ronnie Ferriera and Lindsay DesRochers. The chef is Brad Budd, and Jennifer Baumeister is the assistant manager.
More aesthetically pleasing than the Weather Channel is the view from the restaurant, which overlooks the casino corridor and the lake. Tahoe residents get a 20 percent discount and great seating options.
Before reaching its elevated status, Friday’s Station was on the first floor. In the late 1980s another restaurant, The Summit, moved from the 18th to 16th floor, making way for Friday’s Station. The Forest Buffet also is on the 18th floor.
The menu items are vast and the meal portions are huge. Someone with a ravenous morning appetite can attempt to finish the ham steak and eggs, which features a one-pound bone-in-ham steak. There are 13 breakfast specialties, along with cereals and fruit and accompaniments. And if the mood strikes, there are Bellinis, mimosas and Bloody Marys.
The lunch starters have a spectacular presentation, but they are even better for eating. The French onion soup gratinée and blacked shrimp are highlights.
There are several salad entrées and sandwich options. The five entrée offerings range in price from the $14 beer batter fish and chips to the $22 grilled Indian lamb chop. The most raved-about item during a recent lunch, however, was the braised short ribs with a cipollini onion sauce.
The restaurant is open seven days a week, and Greco promises to get the business luncheon diners in and out in an hour if that is their desire.
Friday’s Station
Cuisine: Fine dinning, steak and seafood
Location: 18th floor of Harrah’s Lake Tahoe
What’s new: Breakfast 7:30-11 a.m. and lunch 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Notable: 1-pound bone-in-ham steak with the ham and eggs breakfast
Classic: Friday’s famous Snoopy Salad includes shrimp, scallions and crab
Local discount: 20 percent Sunday through Thursday
Christmas dinner at Harrah’s and Harveys
To learn about Christmas Day menus and to make reservations at any of the restaurants at Harrah’s or Harveys, call (775) 588-6611, ext. 2929. The restaurants are Friday’s Station, The Forest Buffet, 19 Kitchen•Bar, Sage Room, Sierra Choices and The Summit.
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