Baxter’s Bistro & Lounge Restaurant Review, Truckee

Baxter’s Bistro & Lounge is a high end Mountain comfort food restaurant in Northstar at Tahoe’s Ski Resort’s village. Local, organic, seasonal focus. It opened in December 2008 and is owned by the folks who also own the popular Moody’s restaurant in Truckee. Both restaurants have similar styles and menus. We found Moody’s food slightly better than Baxter’s when compared back to back, in early 2010.

Decor, Vibe – New space with high end decor, lots of dark wood, beautiful bar with attached lounge area, main dining room with big paintings and puffy lights, wine lockers, open outdoor patio. Some nice live jazz music was playing when we went for dinner. (Thur-Sat) Diners consisted mainly of guests coming up to Northstar and a some locals, mostly in their 30’s to 50’s.

Menu Pictures (Click to zoom into any picture)

The menu changes fairly often as ingredient available changes.  Lots of hearty items as one would expect. They have some vegetarian options.

Website Baxter’s Bistro Menu

Baxter’s Bistro Full Image Set

Picks:

Naughty Cider ($9) Charbay Rum, Brown Sugar, Organic Unfiltered Apple Juice, Spiced  Rum Whipped Cream, Dried Apple was a perfect hot drink for a cold winter’s night. It warmed the soul and the spirit with its hidden alcohol.

Beets, Beets and more Beets ($10) Roasted, sliced, dressed was a nice simple starter salad. Several kinds of beets with a light dressing. Greens were on the bitter side.

French Onion Soup ($8) classic gratinee was served traditional style with a nice cheese crust.  Decent warm soup and cheese flavor although we have had more intensely flavored onion soups.

Dungeness Crab Tower ($14) Avocado, Fennel, Grapefruit, Yuzu wasn’t exactly towering tall but it had lots of fresh crab and nice flavors when eaten with the avocado.  The grapefruit was overpowering, so you might want to eat it separately.

Chicken ‘N’ Dumplings ($25) Braised Sonoma  Range Chicken, Potato-Pumpkin Gnocchi had a ton of crispy skin chicken that was cooked just right.  Nice broth that needs to be slurped.  Way too few gnocchi pieces though.  Ask them for more.

Hunter’s Plate ($34) Venison Loin, Boar Chop, Quail, Spaetzle, Winter Vegetable Fricassee was a nice hearty meaty dish that fits in with the mountain locale. Venison was cooked to a nice medium rare and was still tender and tasty with no gaminess.  Boar chop was more medium, gamey, and had charcoal grill flavors.  Quail was filled with a light bready stuffing.

Fish du jour Pan Roasted Wiled Alaskan Halibut ($30) Braised Rumps, Easter egg radishes, fava beans, fingerling potatoes, sorrel Nage was a perfectly cooked fish. Tender and great flavor. Sauce was awesome. Better than fish we’ve had at Boulevard!

Duncan Ranch Venison Loin ($34) Celery Root Puree, Mushrooms, Leeks, Peppercorn Demi-glace was cooked to a perfect medium rare, not gamey, tender, decent portion size, and flavorful. Lots of exotic mushrooms.

Kids Grilled cheese Sandwich ($10) had some high quality cheese and bread and a ton of fries. Top notch.

Kids Pasta ($10) Butter sauce Bowtie pasta was very tasty and huge. High quality pasta even adults enjoyed.

Rhubarb Crisp ($9) with mousse and pistachio brittle had some pretty buttery, sweet and tart crisp. Good flavors on the crisp though.

OK:

Grilled Asparagus ($6) were pretty average.

English Pea Soup ($9) Truffled Popcorn, Mint Oil was on the spicy side. Heavy flavor, rawish hint.

Pans:
Apple Gratin ($9) Pecan-Brioche Crust, Vanilla Ice Cream was a huge dessert served on a hot mini skillet.  The apples lacked any caramelized sauce, making them very dry. The crust was crunchy and very nice.  Ice cream was high quality also.

Baxter’s Bistro & Lounge had friendly and competent service. It did fade as the place filled up though.  Prices were on the high side, typical for high end places in a nice locale. We did not expect the food to be very good (Expecting another overpriced tourist spot), so we were impressed and have no qualms recommending this place. You can dip your toes by trying drinks and lower cost happy hour appetizers. They also have a kid’s menu. Baxter’s joins Manzanita as very good dining spots in Northstar at Tahoe.

Pretty extensive wine list with high markup. Wine by the glasses from $7, bottles from $32. 3 ounce tastes available. Happy hour 7 days a week 2:30-5:30 with Apres Ski Specials. They add a $2.20 resort fee to the bill.

They have an interesting Whole roasted Liberty Farms Duck “For the Table” at $100 with 3 days advanced notice.

Sister restaurant:

Moody’s Bistro and Lounge
10007 Bridge St
Truckee, CA 96161
(530) 587-8688

Book Reservation

Overall Rating: (Very Good)

Come Back?

Food Rating:	(Very Good)
Service Rating:	(Very Good)
Atmosphere Rating:	(Very Good)
Value Rating:	(Good)

Guide: 0 = poor, 1 = Fair/Average, 2 = Good, 2.5 = Very Good, 3 = Excellent , 4 = Extraordinary

Alcohol:	Full Bar
Attire:	Casual
Hours:	Daily 1130am - 530pm, Sun-Th 530-9pm, Fri-Sat 530-930pm
Parking:	Street
Reservations:	Yes
Prices:	$16 - $100

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