Truckee: Tahoe Donner and Dinner on the Town

This is another post in the series about our visit to see our friends Kelley and Mark in Truckee, CA. Earlier in the day Monday, we had accompanied Mark and Kelley up to see the sights in Donner Pass: the petroglyphs, the China Wall, the railroad tunnels, the Rainbow Bridge, and the Sugar Bowl ski resort.

Earlier in the day, we had told Mark and Kelley that we'd like to come to Mark's restaurant and see if we could squeeze in for dinner. So, that was our ultimate plan for the evening. In the late afternoon before that, Kelley wanted to run an errand in Tahoe Donner as well as show us around that area where we were staying.

On our way back into town, our car still at Kelley's, she took us on the tour of Tahoe Donner, a neighborhood of some 6500 properties on the mountainside above Donner Lake and Truckee. As one of the country's largest HOAs, the residents have some crazy amenities including a golf course and their own private ski area at which Kelley used to work. We drove higher and higher up the mountain circling the ski hill until we peaked out at a small park on Donner Ridge where we took a brief walk before heading back into Truckee.

Stately Mountain Hemlocks, Tsuga mertensiana

Anderson's Thistle, Cirsium andersonii

Which Pine is it: Jeffrey or Ponderosa?
The Size of These Jeffrey Pine Cones, Pinus jefferyi

Leaving the heights above town, Kelley wanted to stop at the Safeway and pick up some supplies for our boat ride tomorrow plus a bottle of sparkling wine to take to her friends' brand new-to-them house to celebrate their closing and imminent move-in. For our boat ride, Kelley wanted to make sandwiches of genoa salami, spinach, and Boursin on baguette, so while she got those items, I went on the hunt for beer for the boat ride and a reasonably priced bottle of sparkling wine. I rolled the dice on a couple of different California beers (up in Bend, home to so many breweries, we just don't feel the need to drink imported beer, so good are our local and Oregon options). But when in Rome, right? 

Rolling the Dice on "Imported" Beer

After dropping the groceries at Kelley's, it was pushing six and moving on towards dusk. We all piled in her truck for the very short ride to her friends' new house which was directly on the way to Mark's restaurant, not that everything in Truckee isn't pretty much on the way to everything else in Truckee. It's a very small town that is basically laid out in a straight east-west line in the Truckee River valley or the Donner Creek Valley, the outflow from Donner Lake. The town has evolved really in a narrow straight line, like so many others, on the only flat land available in a mountainous area.

Two minutes after leaving, we met Forrest and Deanna at their very cute new home built back in the 1940s. After pouring the bottle of sparkling around, we got the grand tour of their house which unlike so many modern homes, has a ton of character. We even managed to recruit them to continue on with us into the heart of downtown Truckee to have dinner at Pianeta, Mark's restaurant (or in any case, attempt to dine at the highly booked establishment).

Mark in His Element

Beautifully Appointed Bar

My Delicious Cocktail, a Mezcal Paper Plane
Mezcal, Nonino, Aperol, and Lemon Juice

Ann and I Shared Ravioli for an Appetizer
Then Had More Pasta for Dinner

Pianeta: Reputed Former Laundry; Wall Construction by Chinese Laborers

Fortunately for us, when we arrived just after 7pm, pretty much prime time, there were four seats available at the bar, all the tables being booked all night as usual. Being the tallest, I stood while everyone else sat at a stool for a round of cocktails. This gave me a chance to look around the charming space. From the street, you enter to a host station and from there, you head up a half flight to a mezzanine level dining room or down half a flight to the long bar area. The bar area also has booths built against a beautiful old stone wall that Mark told me was also built by the same Chinese laborers who put in the railroad. Pianeta is charming and very tastefully appointed.

In about twenty minutes, another seat became available and I sat down with the crew and we ordered dinner and wine. We had a most pleasant dinner, great conversation, and to top things off, at the end of the meal, Mark picked up the check. Thank you friend, we owe you!

At pretty much closing time, we all bailed out into the now deserted downtown and went our separate ways. Ann and I were really looking forward to our cruise on Lake Tahoe in the morning (afternoon as it turned out), the subject of the next post.