The Tahoe House Story…
The Tahoe House Bakery and Gourmet is one of the last true “Mom and Pop” operations around. In May of 1977 Peter and Helen Vogt moved to Lake Tahoe with their two little girls and opened the Tahoe House Restaurant. In the beginning, The Tahoe House served dinner only. We were open from 5 pm every day. Peter, who is a Swiss trained chef, oversaw the kitchen. Helen managed the dining room and was the hostess who greeted one and all at the front door. Peter and Helen are originally from Switzerland and brought with them a love of European style breads and pastries. In the early 1980’s the lack of availability of quality breads and cakes prompted Peter to begin baking. He experimented with many of his favorite recipes and developed a dessert cart full of cakes as well as freshly baked bread. Many of these creations are still available today.
From a young age, Peter and Helen’s girls helped out in the restaurant. In the early years Barbara and Caroline peeled potatoes and carrots. As they grew older, Barbara was more interested in the kitchen and Caroline was Helen’s bus girl in the dining room. After high school, both “girls” went off to college. Barbara went to culinary school and Caroline studied restaurant management at Cal Poly Pomona.
In 1994 the whole family came back together at the Tahoe House to make some big changes. We added a small retail bakery inside our front doors. We began attending local farmer’s markets and developing our line of sauces, dressings, seasoning rubs and jams. Eventually things got so busy that we had to make yet another change. In 2001 we stopped serving dinners all together and remodeled one more time. We took out the dining room and made the bakery and gourmet food store that stands today.
These days Barbara and Caroline are running the show at the bakery. You will find at least one of them there every day. Peter and Helen still help out by stocking shelves, sourcing product and helping cover the bases. Barbara and Caroline manage this with the helping hands of their husbands who do everything from snow removal to errands and repairs. You may find Caroline’s daughter, Alicia, ringing you up when she is home over the summer and holidays. We are still very much a family run operation
The Tahoe House is now best known for our fresh, brewed to order coffee, pastries, cakes, breads and sandwiches. We offer a selection of deli salads that change daily, unique hard to find gourmet items, cheeses, wines and gourmet food. Daily offerings include: sandwiches made on our famous fresh bread, homemade soup and a variety of salads. Breakfast goodies such as cinnamon rolls, fresh bagels, scones and coffee drinks are available from 6 am on daily. Deli style lunch is offered until 3 pm daily. Telephone and to-go orders are welcome (530) 583-1377.
We hope you will stop in and see us soon!