Fredrick’s Fusion Bistro

Vacationing at Lake Tahoe and looking for a place to have a special dinner?  That's what I was doing and I found Fredrick's Fusion Bistro.  Their website has recipes for Lobster Dogs and Coffee & Doughnuts.  They looked so good...  we had to try them out.

We arrived a little after their opening (5 pm) and we were the first ones to arrive.  We sat at the bar for their Happy Hour (from 5 to 6:30 pm nightly except Thursdays) specials.  They offer $5 appetizers.  We decided to try two of them.  The Chicken Satay is served with a delicious coconut-peanut sauce.  The three skewers of chicken were nice and tender, but the best part was the sauce, which had real peanut halves - something I've never seen before.  It tasted like a sweet chili sauce.  The Spicy Tuna Tartar came with very crispy wonton chips.

We also ordered two appetizers from their regular menu.  (There was a long wait even though we were still the only ones there.  I can only hope that it was because of the extraordinary care they put into making their finest for us.)  The Filo Wrapped Crab ($14) is made with togarashi and sits in a pool of Mirin-Valencia orange beurre blanc, topped with asian micro greens.  This was very creamy inside.  A small portion in a very big plate though.  The Lobster Dogs ($15), ginger-leek breaded lobster, came with two sauces: spicy red banana and tomatillo.  It was disappointing.  The lobster itself was tasty, but the breaded part was a little too greasy for my tastes and the sauces were a little bland.

The desserts were by far the best part of the meal!  The Basil-Berry Tart ($9) consisted of fresh seasonal berries (strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries) with basil simple syrup, a homemade tart shell, and whipped cream.  Basil in a fruity tart sounded interesting...  It was delicious!  And I couldn't get enough of their Coffee & Doughnuts ($8).  The "doughnuts" are actually cinnamon sugar beignets (shaped as small round balls).  Yummy!  The coffee was a buttered mocha emulsion.  I normally don't like coffee and I like espresso even less, but this drink was so good!  It's a small serving, so be sure to savor every sip.

They also offer soups, salads, sushi rolls, and entrees.  The Taiwanese ‘Coffin Bread’ sounded intriguing.  Let me know if you've been here and what YOU would recommend!