The Woods opens in SLT

The Woods Restaurant and Bar opened in early June at 3115 Harrison Ave. by brothers Dillon and Connor McKeen, South Lake Tahoe natives.

The restaurant is open daily for lunch and dinner featuring sandwiches, salads and entrees like the Woods Fried Chicken & Beignet, a twist on chicken and waffles, along with a Ribeye Asado, Baja Fish Tacos and a Crispy Skin King Salmon. Starters include a Charcuterie Board and the Duck Confit Chicken Wings, and desserts include Woods Beignets. The restaurant will also host live music. | @thewoods_laketahoe

Hot and spicy, barbecue, Korean-style or classic buffalo-style chicken wings are not just for game night. And they aren’t just chicken, either — think cauliflower, broccoli or artichoke hearts. Wings are easy to prepare, tasty and great to serve at a summer picnic, barbecue or family gathering. They can be baked, broiled, pan-seared, deep-fried or cooked in the air fryer or on the grill. And who doesn’t love a crispy wing?

Wings come in several styles: the whole wing, drumettes (they look like a little drumstick), flats (also called wingettes) or tips. Sauce and preparation are the keys to a delicious, flavorful wing. Wings can be prepared spicy or mild, served hot or cold and with or without a dipping sauce. There are numerous flavor and sauce variations that could take all summer to taste and experiment with.

Classic Buffalo

The classic buffalo chicken wing is made with Frank’s Red Hot and butter. The wings are cooked, tossed in the sauce and served with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks. I add minced garlic and honey to my recipe. These are delicious prepared vegetarian style with cauliflower or tofu.

Saucy ideas

Some saucy ideas for wings include honey mustard, cilantro lime sauce, grilled peach and garlic, chimichurri sauce and soy ginger. Prepare a mari- nade of soy sauce, sesame oil, sriracha and rice wine vinegar for wings with an Asian flare. Mix marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add wings and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Grill wings and serve with a siracha yogurt sauce. Korean Bulgogi sauce is delicious on the wings. Pears, gochujang (Korean chili paste found in most Asian markets or online), chili flakes and soy sauce make wings pop with flavor. Wings with a sticky, honey, sesame glaze offer a Chinese flare to chicken and are excellent on cauliflower.

Huli-huli Chicken

I recently returned from a trip to Hawaii where I fell in love with Huli-huli Chicken. Ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar and pineapple juice are key ingredients in this Hawaiian sauce. Marinate wings in Huli-huli sauce and grill wings until crispy.

Barbecue sauce

Barbecue sauce is a grand way to consume wings, especially when grilled. Louisiana, Texas, the Carolinas, Memphis and Kansas City are just a few places renowned for barbecue sauce. Depending on the region, barbecue sauces are tomato-forward, vinegar-based, mustard-based, tangy, spicy or sweet.

Alabama is known for its white barbecue sauce prepared with mayonnaise. Slather on the barbecue sauce for a delicious-tasting wing.

1 head cauliflower, cut in 2-3” florets

½ C flour

2 T cornstarch

3 T milk or water

1 t coarse salt

1 t fresh ground pepper

½ C vegetable oil, for frying

SAUCE

5 cloves garlic, minced fine

4 T butter

¼ C Frank’s Hot sauce

1 t honey

Heat sauce ingredients in a pot and cook on medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Prep cauliflower by cutting it into florets and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add milk or water and whisk until smooth, then add cauliflower to coat.

Heat oil in a large pan. When hot, add battered cauliflower to the pan. Brown and set aside on a paper towel.

Toss cauliflower in sauce and serve with blue cheese or ranch dressing.

Wolf by Vanderpump coming to Harveys

Restaurateur, television star and philanthropist Lisa Vanderpump will open Wolf by Vanderpump at Harveys Lake Tahoe this winter, according to a press release. The name Wolf is a family name and the middle name of Vanderpump’s grandson, Teddy.

Wolf will feature a bar with great visuals that dominate the center of the space and, like Vanderpump’s other locations, the substantial cocktail menu will showcase unique and never-before-seen options, while playing on traditional recipes. Hand-crafted drinks will feature nods to local themes and flavors, with an emphasis on incredibly visual garnishes and presentations.

The menu will be crafted for every season, using some regionally sourced and inspired ingredients. | caesars.com/ harveys-tahoe

BY KAYLA ANDERSON

There’s nothing like enjoying healthy food sourced straight from the sea, but there’s only one catch being so far inland: there aren’t many raw bars in the Tahoe Sierra. Fortunately, there are a few purveyors who work diligently to bring in delicious seafood, stored on ice and served until it sells out. The key is to get there early.

The Oyster Bar

“You can always tell how busy the town is by how packed The Oyster Bar is,” says Tom Russell, Hard Rock Casino’s food & beverage vice president. It’s true that at certain times of the day or night, there can be up to an hour wait at the Stateline, Nev., location. I was fortunate to get in right at 11:30 a.m. on a midweek afternoon.

Shipments of seafood are flown into Reno, Nev., from both coasts a couple of times a week. While oysters on the half shell are quite popular, this raw bar is also known for its bouillabaisse and rich and creamy pan roasts. I ordered a half-dozen oysters and the first one I tried, with a little lemon, tasted like it came right from the ocean maybe an hour ago. The second one I tried was with a sweet vinegar mignonette. All of it tasted incredibly fresh and delicious, which is why it is no surprise that it’s been voted the Best Seafood in Tahoe. | hardrockcasinolaketahoe.com

Buoy & Trap

Over in the Pioneer Center in Truckee, Buoy & Trap Seafood Market owner Zack Duksta has been crushing it in the seafood department since he opened in February.

My partner Jason Forcier and I were fortunate enough to enjoy the seafood tower, a lovely presentation of a pile of crab legs, jumbo shrimp, ahi poke and three kinds of oysters equaling a dozen on ice.

People came in and out as we enjoyed our meal, buying pounds of fresh crab legs or market fresh fish.

Duksta sources oysters from both the East and West coasts —Bodega Bay, Tomales Bay and Rhode Island where Duksta is from. The oysters I tried that day were the Ninigret Nectars from the Behan Family Farm in Rhode Island, the Beausoleils from New Brunswick and the Salt Bay oysters from Nova Scotia. They all tasted uniquely different — the Nectars remarkably different from the West Coast oysters I had in the past. All of them were crazy good, especially paired with the house-made mignonette sauce that included a bit of tarragon.

Immersing ourselves in the seafood tower was an experience allowing us an hour to conversate, crack, pop and slurp until all the meat was shelled and discarded. | buoyandtrap.com

Other notables

Stella at Gravity Haus | Dinner includes oysters on the half shell sold at market price sourced from Bodega Bay. | stellatruckee.com

Old Town Tap | Serves oysters in historic downtown Truckee for $3.75 a piece, which are typically Chelsea Gems from Puget Sound, Wash. | oldtowntaptruckee.com