Hoping Fumo Will Be Smoking Hot for Breakfast

 

Fumo

120 Country Club Drive Unit 61

Incline Village, NV 89451

Well, we made it to Lake Tahoe. After a long night of getting to meet all of Katie's coworkers, winning $4 in the casino, and having one or two adult beverages, we both decided to sleep in a bit before our noon boat ride on picturesque Lake Tahoe. This would be the only time that we'd be able to try any of the local restaurants, so I had to choose a spot wisely. 

Lucky for us, one of the highest-rated restaurants in Incline Village on Yelp was about a block away from our hotel. Fumo has a four-star rating with over 200 reviews written. From what I can gather online, they opened for business in February of 2019, and in that time have gotten a lot of love for their breakfast and dinner, but the main draw might be their snow globe dining, a heated plastic igloo type structure that allows them to have customers eat outside during the cold winter months. No need for that igloo when we visited here in late July, but the pictures of them look pretty cool. 

Fumo means smoke in Italian, but you'll be hard-pressed to find any Italian dishes on any of their menus. They serve breakfast and lunch from 7 to 2, and then they reopen again for dinner from 5 to 9pm. Make note that they are closed Tuesday and Wednesday. I'd describe the dinner menu at Fumo as upscale American, while the breakfast menu is a little more varied, with most selections setting you back $15 give or take a few dollars in either direction. 

We arrived at Fumo at just after ten and were seated right away, to the left of their patio in the front of their restaurant. I'm not sure if they had just not seen us off to the side, but it was about ten minutes before we were greeted. Not wanting to miss our boat ride, we quickly made our selections and waited about thirty more minutes for our food. This was fine because we gave ourselves plenty of time, but if you are in a hurry, be advised that based on our experience here, the pacing of our meal could be diplomatically called leisurely relaxed. Let's check out our meals. 

Katie went for the straightforward approach at Fumo for her first meal of the day with this Loggers Skillet ($14). Two scrambled eggs, four strips of bacon, roasted potatoes, and toast comprised this plate. She was pleased with this meal. The eggs were buttery, they were very generous with the amount of bacon included, and the cubed potatoes were nicely seasoned and fork-tender. 

Fumo has five benedicts available, and I was intrigued by the Bacon Avo Benny ($14) from the time I first saw it on their menu. This mostly traditional benedict starts with an English muffin on the ground floor and is then layered with a poached egg, bacon, avocado, and plenty of hollandaise sauce. This was executed well, with the egg poached nicely, but the hollandaise sauce was pretty overwhelming and did not share the stage with the bacon or avocado, both of which were lost here. Definitely not one of the worst benedicts that I've had though.  

Something that I've never seen and had to try was this Croissant French Toast ($12)). It's a very photogenic dish and tasted just as good as it looks. I liked that it was not overly sweet, had a pleasing texture, and was not as heavy as pancakes, which just sit in your stomach for the rest of the day. I also have to shout out to Fumo for having syrup dispensers, instead of just parceling out syrup in little containers, as I always have to end up asking for more. 

Last but not least, we had to give their Cheddar Cheese Biscuit and Gravy ($5) a whirl. I was expecting the cheddar cheese to be incorporated into the biscuit dough, but it was melted on top of this heap. The gravy had very big hunks of ground sausage included in it, which was an interesting component. The biscuit itself was fine, but I'd probably pass on this the next time I visited Fumo. It was stick to your ribs comfort food, but not at all what I was expecting. 

Fumo is a solid spot for breakfast, but it did not really blow me out of the water. It was nice to get out of the resort and eat where the locals eat though. Fumo is off the beaten track and if you are looking for a nice leisurely meal, this might be the place for you. The service was nice and personable, but it seemed like the kitchen was having a few issues on this particular morning. Just be patient. Prices are not too bad for breakfast or lunch, but entrees for dinner will set you back $30 or more, and $46 for the salmon. With a hearty breakfast, we were ready to tackle Lake Tahoe.  

Out of five elevators, (because Lake Tahoe is deeper than the Empire State Building is tall, and that building features 73 elevators), five being best to zero being worst, Fumo gets 3 elevators. 

For more information about Fumo, head to their website here: https://fumotahoe.com/

An Afternoon Adventure in Auburn

Ikeda's

13500 Lincoln Way 

Auburn, CA 95603

This is the start of our three-part adventure away for a quick weekend with Katie's work family. For me, working in the grocery industry for the last 33 years, the idea that a company would spring for a bonding experience to share their appreciation for all the hard work that their employees do is kind of a shock to my system. My workplace sometimes gets Dominos Pizza for a work party, we can receive a five-dollar gift card if our store has a clean safety record for a full year, and once we are employed by our company for twenty years, we get invited to an awards dinner every five years to receive our pin. Not exactly on par with an all-expenses-paid trip to a resort in Lake Tahoe, but I digress. 

We flew into Sacramento on a Thursday morning, grabbed our rental car, and headed out for the two-hour drive to Lake Tahoe. Since we skipped the obligatory McDonald's breakfast at the airport, I picked a place to eat and stretch our legs on our way to the resort. Ikeda's in Auburn felt like it would fit that bill. They possess a four-star rating on Yelp with over 1.200 reviews, so I felt pretty good about my selection. 

Ikeda's started as a small fruit stand on the side of the road. As the years went by, they expanded into a market and a restaurant. This is still a family-run business, going on their third generation of helping preserve their family legacy. Ikeda's has also expanded to Davis, California, which is 15 miles to the west of Sacramento. For longtime OC residents, Ikeda's reminded me a bit of the original Knowlwood's that was located off Imperial Highway many years ago. 

Much like Knowlwoods, Ikeda's is known for their hamburgers, but with their beginnings as a fruit stand, they are also famous for their pies, whether they are fruit, cream, or pot pies. The menu also features plenty in the way of sandwiches, including a crab sandwich which sounded pretty interesting to me. Ordering is done at the counter, and then your number is called out to claim your food. For a Thursday afternoon, it was pretty busy at Ikeda's. We had to wait only about ten minutes for our food, which was not too bad. Let's see if this restaurant was a wise place to stop on our way up to Lake Tahoe. 

Katie and I decided we would order two things and split them, a divide and conquer effort. The first being the Bacon Burger ($12.99). This burger came dressed with lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, sauce, and two slices of bacon on a brioche bun. I should have opted to get this burger with cheese, which would have probably moistened things up a bit here. The yellow sauce that they use was tangy, and kind of resembled a thinner hollandaise sauce. I wish they had added a little extra to our burger because I like things saucy. The one-third-pound patty was fresh, cooked well, and went nicely with the excellent bacon. Included in the price are a drink and the fries above. The fries were solid, but there were so many, I kind of got bored with them as time went by. I'd definitely upgrade to curly, parmesan, or truffle fries next time I visit, and I'd ask for a side of ranch dressing.  

Part two of our meal was this Chicken Pot Pie ($9.99). This good-sized pot pie came out steaming and cooled down after a very long wait. Puncturing the crust revealed a good amount of shredded chicken, carrots, and other veggies. I usually like a saucier pot pie, but this one was a very nice effort. I kind of enjoyed that the chicken was shredded, and not in chunks. It made it easier to eat and incorporated the veggies easier. Very good sized for ten dollars, and it kept me full well past when we arrived in Lake Tahoe. 

Just like our meals, Katie and I split two slices of pie. We went with the Dutch Apple ($4.99) and the Chocolate Cream ($5.99). I enjoyed the rich chocolate cream one the best, although there was way too much cream topping this one. It detracted from the wonderful chocolate underneath. The apple was nicely done with plenty of crumbly goodness topping it, and it would have been made even better if we had gotten this one with ice cream perched on top, but we were trying to be good, even though we were on our mini-vacation. Maybe next time. 

Ikeda's is definitely a great place to stop on the way to Lake Tahoe, or even if you are just in the area. I'd like a do-over with my meal choices, like adding cheese to my burger and ice cream to my pie, but even though I missed out on these things, I was still pretty satisfied with our visit. This is classic travel food, and it makes me nostalgic for road trips with my parents growing up. There's also a pretty impressive little market here where you can stretch your legs before completing your road trip. On to our next adventure. 

Out of five running shoes, (because with so many endurance races taking place in the city of Auburn, many participants will go through plenty of running shoes in some of these events), five being best to zero being worst, Ikeda's gets 3 running shoes. 

For more information about Ikeda's, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.ikedas.com/

Satisfying Seafood at Hook and Anchor

 Hook and Anchor

3305 Newport Blvd. 

Newport Beach, CA 92663

My aunt Hiroko has converted to a pescatarian in the last few years. For those of you that unaware, a pescatarian is someone that eats fish, but no other kinds of meat. She did this mainly for health reasons, but it appears to have agreed with her. She appears to have stopped aging and has felt the best she has in years. If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know I could never do what my aunt has done, but I'm very happy it has worked out for her. 

We were all getting together for a family dinner, and she was actually the one that suggested Hook and Anchor. Opened early in 2018, Hook and Anchor describe themselves as a fast-casual lobster and fish house, with a fine-dining touch. In the three-plus years, they have been in business they have gotten glowing reviews online for their food, and briefly opened another location at Rodeo 39 food hall in Stanton, but that spot recently closed this month suddenly. 

This Newport location showed no signs of having any trouble whatsoever. During our hour-long visit on an early Saturday evening at 5, there was a consistent crush of people filling in the rather small dining area, and the line to order grew at least eight parties deep once during our stay. We quickly snagged one of the larger tables available for our party of six. 

The menu here is pretty extensive for such a small spot. The menu starts off with a quintet of lobster dishes and then continues with various offerings of sandwiches, tacos, fish and chips, salads, and various fresh fish plates. There's also a small chalkboard with even more specials located right behind the cashier. We all made our selections rather quickly and waited for our food to be run out to us. 

Whenever I'm eating in a seafood restaurant for the first time, there's no question that I'll be trying the Clam Chowder ($6). This one was pretty impressive with its inclusion of clams, potatoes, carrots, and celery. For a thinner chowder, this was better than most. There were plenty of clams, the potatoes were not cut into large chunks, and there was a nice creaminess in each spoonful. Definitely worth trying if you like clam chowder. 

For part two of my meal, I went with this Lobster Quesadilla ($15). This was an unusual selection for me, and I'm still not entirely sure why I picked this. The ten-inch tortilla was filled with lobster, and cheddar cheese then topped with a lemon herb sriracha aioli, which did its job of boosting the flavor a bit. I liked that the tortilla was grilled on the flattop, which provided a nice crunch to each bite. I just felt this was not the best way to highlight their lobster. I'd probably try a lobster roll or maybe just get a surf and turf plate the next to I visit Hook and Anchor. 

If you know Katie, she's never really been described as crabby, unless she doesn't get one of her two Starbucks coffees a day. Here she is though, having the Crusty Crab Sandwich ($15) for dinner. This crab cake sandwich was dressed in shallot caper lemon mayo, lettuce, and tomato on a brioche bun. Katie was pretty pleased with this sandwich. The crab cake was nicely breaded but was not overly stuffed with filler. The crab was present, and you could actually taste it in each bite. The bun was spongy, but they could have used a little more in the way of the mayo to help moisten things up a bit.  

Both my cousin Chris and my aunt tried the Lobster Roll ($28.50 was the market price when we were here). There are two sizes, a four and six-ounce version of this roll filled with buttered claw and knuckle meat stuffed inside a brioche split-top bun with butter and herbs. This won rave reviews from both of them. I'm not sure if they got the four or the six-ounce lobster meat sandwich, but there appeared to be plenty of lobster on both sandwiches. This sandwich also came with a side of chipotle crema, but I did not observe either of them using it to any great extent. The fries were crisp and hot. A very rich sandwich for these two. 

My uncle had these good-looking Fish and Chips ($15) for his dinner this evening. At Hook and Anchor, they use Mahi for their fish and chips, which is a definite upgrade from the usual cod you get at most places. I was excited by the thick and crunchy batter used, as it looked delicious from across the table. No complaints about this meal from my uncle, who ate all of this at his usual leisurely pace. The fries were nicely seasoned. He also added a three-ounce side of coleslaw for an extra buck, which looked to be worth it for people that get excited by coleslaw. 

As we were walking out the door of Hook and Anchor we all found it necessary to thank my aunt Hiroko for suggesting this restaurant. I think we were all pleased with our meals this evening. This is another great option for a fast-casual seafood restaurant, joining the ranks of Slapfish, California Fish Grill, Santa Monica Seafood, FishBonz, and Bear Flag Fish Co. I do look forward to coming back and trying more of their menu, as the fish and chips caught my eye, along with the Lobster Cajun Fries, their fish plates, and the numerous other specials offered. With food this good, it might make it easier for me to convert into a pescatarian. Definitely not going to happen, I just wanted to make sure you were still paying attention. 

Out of five tattoos, (because one of the most popular tattoos that people get is an anchor), five being best to zero being worst, Hook and Anchor gets 3.5 tattoos. 

For more information about Hook and Anchor, head to their website here: https://www.hooknanchor.com/