Let’s face it. Bay Area residents rarely zip up to Tahoe. Most of the time, we inch and crawl through traffic that moves at the rate of molasses.
The days of hopping in the car at 3 p.m. on a Friday in downtown San Francisco and sitting at a bar with a beer and a burger in downtown Truckee three and a half hours later were long over when the Bay Area and Sacramento began to sprawl.
Food stops are a must on most weekend trips between the Bay Area and Tahoe (unless your boss lets you get off work at noon so you can be on the highway by 1 p.m.) — and so we’ve rounded up a collection of the best ones.
Our list that takes you from the Bay Area to the Sierra foothills (along Highways 50, 80 and 88) includes a variety of spots, from cheap and quick taquerias to fruit stands where you can pick up car snacks and groceries.