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/