The Beach House opens in South Lake Tahoe, offering lakefront breakfast, lunch and dinner

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The last time Justin Foskett and his wife Nikki opened a business it was the day COVID shut down businesses around Lake Tahoe. Even with that challenge, their Bare Roots Coffee Roasting Company in South Lake Tahoe has been going strong.

Now, they have opened a second local business, the Beach House on Lakeside Beach, and while it's been a hectic few weeks getting operations ready to go, things are off to a good start just in time for the holiday weekend.

Located on the historic Lakeside Beach at 4081 Lakeshore Blvd., South Lake Tahoe, the Beach House will open at 7 a.m. to offer fresh drip coffee (Bare Roots of course), and pastries including muffins and coffee cake out of the snack shack. At 11 a.m. the snack shack will turn into beach food central with snowcones, Italian soda, Tahoe Pops, cold brew, and Nathans hotdogs.

On the restaurant side, lunch starts at 11 a.m. and the kitchen will stay open until 8:30 p.m. with the gates to the Beach House open until 9 p.m. They will keep those hours all summer except for the 4th of July when the beach and restaurant are closed to the public.

Justin has brought on Chef Mike Underwood to create a menu that will include Ahi Tuna nachos, fish and chips made with Mahi Mahi, the Pacific Reuben, burgers including those made with black bean patties or Beyond Burger (and gluten-free or vegan buns), hand-cut fries, vegetarian chili. He said he is offering fresher/healthier choices as well as traditional meal favorites.

His favorite item on the new menu? Teriyaki chicken with Swiss cheese, pineapple, and onion on a Hawaiian sweet bun.

Another hit is sure to be the Pacific Reuben - Mahi Mahi, Swiss cheese, apple sauerkraut, chipotle aioli on marble rye.

Justin said the first call he made when the lease of the Beach House came to him was to call Mike, the only man he said for the job of creating a great menu.

People entering the outside seating area will order upon arrival, then sit down and an "expeditor" will deliver the food to seats. The Fosketts are planning on live music on weekends, but it cannot be amplified so a solo ukulele artist or another performer will fit perfectly into their plans.

The sunsets from the outside seating will make a perfect backdrop for a night out with the kids, or with just the adults in the family. The beach is family friendly as will be the Beach House.

They are waiting for their beer and wine sales to be approved.

Only credit/debit cards or Apple Pay can be used at the Snack Shack, and cash along with the plastic options will be accepted at the main restaurant.

The history of Lakeside Beach from the Lakeside Park Homeowners Association, owners of the beach:

In 1859, fourteen years after John C. Fremont first set eyes on what we now know as Lake Tahoe, Billy Lapham moved to the lake from Placerville. Lapham built his “Lapham House” near the intersection of today’s Hwy 50 and the Pioneer Trail with barns and a corral across the street where Raley’s stands today. The Lapham House was a 12-room hotel with a saloon that was located between stops on The Pony Express.

By 1873, Billy Lapham had over 700 acres in the South Lake Tahoe area including Lapham’s Fish Market & Landing where Lakeside Marina sits today. He decided to lease out The Lapham House and take a mortgage from Mrs. A. Marion Hill of San Francisco, so he could build a steamer ship. After changing names, the hotel operated until 1876 boasting to be placed in the middle of the Nevada- California Stateline. The Lapham Hotel burned down, and as a result, Billy defaulted on his loan with Mrs. Hill, and she foreclosed taking over all his land, and remaining buildings.

n 1892 Mrs. Hill’s husband, E. B. “Starvation” Smith rebuilt the house and named it “Lakeside House.” Smith also re-named the area Lakeside Park and the Smith-Hill holdings were almost 1,000 acres. In 1899 a new survey found the line to be 2000 feet North and the Lakeside House was not in Nevada but in California. The Stateline is still in this 1899 location today next to Harvey’s and Harrah’s Casinos.

In June 1901, a steamer pier was installed, and a post office opened in the west wing of Lakeside House. The lake steamers made regular stops all year long. The area bordered by Park Avenue and Stateline Blvd. from Highway 50 down to the Lake was subdivided in 1909 into home-size lots as campgrounds and kept the name Lakeside Park as the first subdivision in South Lake Tahoe.

29 years later, in 1938 the owners of the campground lots would become incorporated to form a mutual water company, that would provide drinking water and recreational facilities for the property owners, their guests, and other people visiting the lake. See more history about our water company here. The corporation called Lakeside Park Association was established on June 25, 1938.