the lab on location: south lake tahoe.

July 20, 2010

It can be daunting to have planned a fun summertime vacation and realize that while you’re on vacation you’ll have to eat. At a restaurant. In an unfamiliar town.

Here at The Lab we like to do a lot of research before we head to a new place. We look for blogs like our own that can point us to GF-friendly eateries, and we take advantage of online resources like Yelp to try and find GF-categorized restaurants.

Such is the case this week. One of us is here in South Lake Tahoe and had done absolutely no research on food (and if you know us, you know that that’s a complete rarity. Food ALWAYS comes first). Sunday was our first night in town. Starving. Road-weary. Need. Food. Now.

Enter a series of stunning reviews of Freshies Restaurant. The location, like many eateries in SLT, is a bit odd, situated on the rooftop of a stripmall, but the view of the lake — and, more importantly, the food — easily makes up for any deficiencies in ambiance.

First up? A bottle of Redbridge. And as soon as that arrived we immediately placed an order for My Tri Fries, which are a trio of yams, russet potatoes and sweet potatoes dusted with a Carribean spice blend (kind of sweet, kind of earthy, all kinds of delicious). While pondering the deliciousness of said fries, enjoying the ambiance of the lake view and the Barbie still-life (you’ll just have to go see for yourself), we perused the menu, which boasted any number of gluten-free-friendly options. It was especially gratifying to see a blurb at the bottom of the menu that ensured diners that wheat-free Tamari was always used in place of soy, and that all dishes made with tempura (the veggie tempura, the fish & chips, the fried fish tacos, for starters…) were GF-friendly, as the tempura batter is made from rice flour. My kind of place!

Most everything on the menu was GF-friendly, and I was torn between the nori-wrap, the sweet potato & quinoa cakes and the fish & chips (seriously. I can’t remember the last time I had fish & chips in a restaurant!), but ultimately settled on the fish tacos. I ordered one grilled, one fried, and the platter came out looking fresh & gorgeous with a side of brown rice & black beans, sesame slaw and salsa. We’re in town for a short time only, but it’s a no-brainer. We’ll be back for another meal before long.

Filed under: delicious,eat out gf,flour of the month