A Sample of the Sierra

Food should taste good.

There’s something to be said about eating clean, fresh and organic. We — buy organic, shop at the farmers market, participate in a crop share, and attempt to grow a summer veggie garden (it’s not easy in Tahoe) — that’s just scratching the surface. It’s not just a trend, but a lifestyle and it takes work.

In Tahoe we are starting to see local restaurants buy local produce/meat and offer seasonal menus. The Tahoe Chamber introduced Sample the Sierra, a farm to fork festival, in 2010 and it’s been a hit ever since.

Of course we couldn’t miss the 4th annual Sample the Sierra over Labor Day weekend. Sunday was a perfect day to sample wine and food from the region. The smoke from the rim fire (near Yosemite) had cleared a decent amount so we assembled our bike renegade (of three) and headed to Ski Run Blvd. Sorry — all my photos are from my iPhone.

Lovely Ladies: Arica, Erin and Yours Truly

So how does it work? For $30 we were able to enjoy samples from 15 wineries/breweries/distilleries and 15 local chefs/restaurants. Each dish was paired with either wine or beer. See the full list here.

Boeger Winery

The highlight — Sierra Chef Challenge! Do you recognize the MC? Well that’s my friend Dreu and he just happen to marry Nick and I last year. Ok, back to the food. Three chefs went head-to-head for the title of the best chef! Each dish needed to include either pork or scallops. In some cases the chef used both.