Last week, we visited South Lake Tahoe to beat the horrible Sacramento heat and celebrate my sister-in-law’s birthday.

It was tremendously busy with little room availability, but I found and booked two dog-friendly rooms at the Econo Lodge in South Lake Tahoe, a bit south of the casinos.

While exploring South Lake Tahoe for a few days, we had the opportunity to eat at some delicious restaurants, shop, and spend plenty of time at various beaches for fishing and relaxing.

We spent one afternoon at Round Hill Pines Beach Resort and then an afternoon at Zephyr Cove.

Kalani’s

Kalani’s sits in the heart of the Shops at Heavenly Village, right next to the mini-golf course. The menu features Hawaiian food along with sushi rolls, ribs, and various seafood dishes.

We had to visit the restaurant since my sister-in-law’s name is Kalani herself.

We ate at Kalani’s earlier in the day, so we chose selections from their brunch menu. I enjoyed a slow-simmered lobster bisque highlighted with sherry and chives but almost chose New England clam chowder, a favorite. The lobster bisque was creamy, rich, and full of flavor.

A light meal was on my mind, so the second item I ordered was the Kalani’s wedge salad—including iceberg lettuce, bacon, plum tomato, red onion, and mango chili blue cheese dressing. I’m not a huge fan of gorgonzola blue cheese dressings with heavy blue streaking, causing the signature potent blue cheese flavor, so this salad thrilled me, as the dressing was milder.

Barrett tried the Kalua pork benedict, featuring smoked kalua pork, poached eggs, caramelized Maui onion, kimchi hollandaise, and fingerling potatoes. We had eaten at Ten Crows BBQ the night previous, so the BBQ theme continued to be on the mind! The Kalua pork was a hearty, original addition to eggs benedict.

Other brunch items at Kalani’s in South Lake Tahoe include baby back ribs, Kalua pig quesadillas, breakfast burritos, eggs, rolls, burgers, and sandwiches.

Gunbarrel Tavern & Eatery

Food closes early in South Lake Tahoe, around 9 pm outside the casinos, so we were lucky to find late-night seating at Gunbarrel Tavern & Eatery.

Gunbarrel Tavern & Eatery has a lovely outdoor seating deck where you can hear live music throughout the day. The menu includes elevated ski lodge offerings—American comfort food and pub grub.

I ordered 8oz beef short ribs in demi-glaze sauce, mashed potatoes, and vegetables but started with the Gunbarrel nachos. I think the nachos were my favorite part of the meal, with house-made jalapeno cheese, tomatillo salsa, crema, cotija, and guacamole. Barrett ordered the lemon garlic salmon with mashed potatoes, asparagus, and basil in a lemon garlic sauce.

To finish, we had a scrumptious blueberry cheesecake.

Dog Dog Cat

With the incredible heat through California over the weekend when we were on vacation even South Lake Tahoe was notably warm.

To keep our dog’s feet safe on the hot asphault while walking around, we decided to visit the pet shop Dog Dog Cat to buy some dog booties. The staff were super helpful in talking through the different dog booties available, and fitted Turtle Dove with the right size.

We enjoyed our visit to Dog Dog Cat so much that we visited again the next day and bought a front dog pack to carry Turtle Dove, since we were doing so much walking. They were once again super helpful and addressed all our questions and needs, with products at a fair price.