Cottonwood Restaurant Review

It was a Saturday night (April 1st 2006) during a very powdery snowboarding weekend in Tahoe, and the three of us on this trip were hungry. A few lookups on chowhound later, we had reservations and were on our way to Cottonwood in Truckee.

Cottonwood Restaurant, with an attractive (and packed) dining room, was quite good throughout, although the service felt bumpy at times. We decided to order mostly appetizers (since they looked so tempting) and share.

First to arrive was a traditional Caesar salad. By traditional, I don't just mean traditional flavors -it definitely was a respectable Caesar- but that it was served with large crisp Romaine lettuce leafs intended to picked up by hand. It was a fun and messy start of a meal; more places should serve this. And I got to impress my companions with my knowledge of the origins of the Caesar salad, because I had recently heard this NPR report on the roots of Caesar salad.

Some tasty butternut squash ravioli arrived next. While it was our favorite appetizer -the salad doesn't count-, we all had some nit-picks about it. For instance, I wanted more of the butternut squash in each ravioli (because it was so good).

Then we ate our corn polenta. Covered with (sauteed) red bell pepper slices, the pepper slices and the juice from them (with garlic too) was the best part of the dish. The polenta was fine; the dish as a whole was unremarkable.

Unusual crab cakes rounded out our appetizers. Rather than the typical fried cakes, these were more like a small mound of moist shredded crab mixed with corn meal and topped with a sweet sauce (which the menu claims was based on mango and nuts). Definitely good although surprising given our expectations.

The one entree we ordered was a pan seared red snapper vera cruz. (Vera cruz is a smooth sauce based on jalapenos and tomatoes.) The moist snapper had a toothsome spicy crust caused by the combination of pan searing with the sauce. Alongside came vegetables and flavored rice, both also good quality.

We debated whether we were hungry enough for dessert but ended up ordering a brownie. But it was good, and we were happy we did.

They have an extensive drink list. One person tried a Chardonnay (pronounced to be fine); another tried a excellent Zinfandel; I had one of their microbrews on tap -they had four-. Mine was a fairly decent, light and mild: Wolaver's Pale Ale.

I should also mention the atmosphere. It was nice; the dining room we were in had a picturesque candelabra hanging in the center, completely loaded with candles. (We spent a while debating whether the candles were gas-powered or, if not, how they were lit. I voted for hand-lit via a long lighter.) The room also had a nice view of "historic downtown Truckee" -- really just some buildings with pretty lights at night. Of course, a view of the mountains would've been nicer if it were daytime and we could see them, but I don't have the power to move the sun and simultaneously rotate the restaurant. One maybe, but not both.

Finally, to elaborate on the service comment above, service was superficially fine but lots of little things were wrong, such as collecting plates when someone at the table was still eating, asking how we're doing but starting to leave before hearing the answer (as if just asking because she's supposed to), and not thinking about where plates should go before starting to put them down.

All in all, quite a nice place. I'd go back. (Warning: reservations are advisable on popular evenings. Call ahead.)

Total $33/person including tax and tip but without drinks.

Original Announcement

Since this was a destination we chose while at Tahoe, there was no original announcement.

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