Table
Lake Tahoe · All year
Villa Table: Your chef for the week.
Breakfast, dinner and the groceries, cooked in your rental.
$95a guest,
a day
★★★★★ 4.9 · 61 Google reviewsTen years on the lakeGroceries includedInsuredFood safety certified
How it works
You rented the house. We’ll cook in it.
A week at the lake goes wrong in the kitchen: a two-hour grocery run on the first day, someone stuck at the stove every night, the dishes. Villa Table takes all of it. Maren buys the food before you arrive, makes breakfast every morning and dinner every night, and is gone before the plates are cold.
- BreakfastEvery morning, hot, at the hour you pick. Early on powder days.
- DinnerEvery night, served at the table or on the deck, kids’ plates too.
- The groceriesBought, put away, and the coffee the way you drink it.
- The dishesWashed, put back where the house keeps them.
Arrival day
The groceries get there before you do.
- Three weeks beforeFifteen minutes on the phone
Who’s coming, who’s allergic, who only eats plain pasta, and what the week is for. Send the listing; we’ve likely cooked in the house.
- The week beforeThe week’s menu
Every breakfast and dinner, day by day, in your inbox. Change anything by text, up to the day before.
- Arrival day, noonThe shopping
Maren shops that morning in Truckee: the fish, the meat, stone fruit from the Sierra foothills, and bread from a baker she has bought from for ten years.
- Arrival day, 2 pmIn the house
Your host leaves us the door code. Fridge and pantry stocked, flowers on the table, snacks out for the drive-in.
- When you pull inDinner’s in the oven
You unpack, someone opens a bottle, and dinner is on the deck at seven. Nobody has to find a store.
Sample menus
A lake week, day by day.
Two real weeks from last year, eight guests each. Yours is written around who’s coming and what you’re doing that day.
-
SatDay 1
You arrive
- Breakfast
- Fridge stocked: coffee, fruit, the morning things
- Dinner
- Grilled trout, lemon and brown butter, new potatoes, a big summer salad
-
SunDay 2
A slow morning
- Breakfast
- Blueberry pancakes, thick bacon, warm maple
- Dinner
- Smoked tri-tip, charred corn with chili butter, heirloom tomatoes
-
MonDay 3
Paddle day
- Breakfast
- Breakfast burritos to go, salsa verde
- Packed lunch
- Turkey and brie on sourdough, peaches, cookies
- Dinner
- Pizza on the grill, everyone rolls their own
-
TueDay 4
The lookout hike
- Breakfast
- Yogurt, granola, berries, soft eggs on toast
- Packed lunch
- Chicken wraps, trail mix, lemonade
- Dinner
- Cedar-plank salmon, green beans, potato salad
-
WedDay 5
Boat day
- Breakfast
- Huevos rancheros, black beans, avocado
- Dinner
- Taco night: carnitas, pickled onions, three salsas
-
ThuDay 6
Your night out
- Breakfast
- A Dutch baby, lemon and sugar
- Dinner
- Off the bill. Dinner in Tahoe City; we leave dessert in the fridge
-
FriDay 7
The last long table
- Breakfast
- Frittata, sourdough toast, melon
- Dinner
- Lamb chops, peaches and burrata, s’mores by the fire pit
-
SatLeaving
Home over the summit
- Breakfast
- Egg sandwiches wrapped for the drive, a thermos of coffee
- After you go
- The kitchen left as you found it
-
SatDay 1
You arrive
- Breakfast
- Fridge stocked: coffee, fruit, the morning things
- Dinner
- Beef stew in the cast-iron pot, crusty bread, in the oven when you pull in
-
SunDay 2
First chair
- Breakfast
- Steel-cut oats, brown sugar, bacon and eggs at 7:15
- Dinner
- Braised short ribs, soft polenta, roasted carrots
-
MonDay 3
A long day up top
- Breakfast
- Breakfast burritos for the lift line
- Dinner
- Fondue night: gruyère, bread, apples, little potatoes
-
TueDay 4
Ski till four
- Breakfast
- Buttermilk pancakes, sausages
- Après
- chili, cornbread, hot cider
- Dinner
- Roast chickens, root vegetables, a proper gravy
-
WedDay 5
Powder day
- Breakfast
- Breakfast at 6:30 (we come early when it snows)
- Dinner
- Lasagna, a Caesar, garlic bread
-
ThuDay 6
A rest day
- Breakfast
- Eggs Benedict, hash browns
- Dinner
- Miso-glazed black cod, rice, bok choy
-
FriDay 7
The last night
- Breakfast
- Brioche French toast, berries
- Dinner
- Prime rib, Yorkshire puddings, sticky toffee pudding
-
SatLeaving
Chains on, home
- Breakfast
- Egg sandwiches and a thermos for Donner Summit
- After you go
- The kitchen left as you found it
Houses
Some of the kitchens we know by heart.
We’ve cooked in over 140 rentals around the lake. Send the listing when you book; chances are we know where the good pans are.
-
Homewood, West ShoreSleeps 12
The Boathouse
A six-burner range, a grill on the pier, and the best breakfast light on the lake.
9 weeks with us this year
-
Glenbrook, East ShoreSleeps 8
Pine Deck House
Dinner on the deck every night it doesn’t rain. One oven, so we bring a second.
7 weeks with us this year
-
TruckeeSleeps 14
Snowline Chalet
Two dishwashers, a boot room, and twelve minutes to the lifts. Our busiest ski house.
11 weeks with us this year
Prices
$95 a guest, a day. That’s the whole bill.
A day is a dinner and the next morning’s breakfast, with the groceries, the cooking and the dishes in it. Less than most of the house’s restaurants charge for one dinner, and nobody has to drive back after.
- ChildrenUnder five free, under twelve half
- Packed lunches$18 a guest, on the days you want them
- Big housesA second cook from eleven guests, at no extra cost
- Holiday weeksChristmas, New Year’s and the Fourth of July, $115
Your week
8 guests × 7 days × $95$5,320
Under $50 a meal, a person, groceries in.
Check these dates
The chef
Hi, I’m Maren.
I grew up in Truckee, where every family I knew had cousins arriving all summer and somebody’s mother stuck in the kitchen for a week. Usually it was mine.
I cooked eight winters in a lodge kitchen at the top of a chairlift and five summers on the line at a lakeside restaurant in Tahoe City, and spent the shoulder seasons cooking for the houses I’d see from the water. In 2016 a family from Palo Alto asked if I could just stay the week. I did, and I’ve been going from rental to rental ever since.
I plan every week myself, shop it myself and cook most of them. For the big houses, Teo Alvarez cooks beside me; he’s been with Villa Table since our second summer.
Maren Holt
- Since 2016weeks cooked around the lake
- 140+rental kitchens
- Certifiedfood safety manager, Placer and Washoe counties
Reviews
4.9 from 61 families on Google.
“We came home from the beach on day one and dinner was on the deck. Nobody cooked, nobody shopped, nobody argued. Best week we’ve had as a family.”
Laura P.Eight guests, Homewood, July“Four couples, two vegetarians, one celiac. Maren knew every plate before we did.”
Marcus D.Ski week, Truckee“The packed lunches alone were worth it. The kids still ask for her burritos.”
Hannah S.Twelve guests, Glenbrook“Seventh year with Villa Table. We book the house and Maren the same day.”
Robert and Ellen K.Christmas week, Incline Village
Where
All the way around the lake.
The West Shore, the East Shore, Incline, the South Shore and Truckee, summer and winter. No travel fee anywhere on the map.
- Tahoe City
- Homewood
- Olympic Valley
- Truckee
- Incline Village
- Glenbrook
- Stateline
- South Lake Tahoe
Questions
Before you book.
What counts as a day?
A dinner and the next morning’s breakfast. Arrive Saturday, leave the next Saturday: seven days, dinner the night you get in and breakfast before you drive home. At $95 a guest, a week for eight is $5,320, groceries in.
What isn’t included?
Lunch, unless you ask for packed lunches ($18 a guest on the days you want them), and wine, beer and spirits. Tell us what you drink and we’ll stock it at cost, receipt on the counter.
Do you work with any rental?
Any house around the lake and in Truckee, booked through any site or straight from the owner. We need the door code on arrival day and a working oven; we bring sheet pans, knives and anything else the kitchen is missing.
How many guests, and for how long?
Four to sixteen guests, three nights or more. From eleven guests a second cook comes with Maren at no extra cost. Children under five eat free, under twelve at half.
Allergies and picky eaters?
Written into every day of the menu. Celiac, nuts, shellfish, vegan, one child who only eats things that are white. Each plate is made for its person.
When do I need to book?
July, August, Christmas and Presidents’ week go by March. Shoulder seasons a few weeks ahead. $500 holds your dates and comes off the bill; the rest is paid on arrival day.
Enquire
Pick the day you arrive. $500 holds the week.
Tell us the house and how long you’re staying. Maren texts you within the day to set up the call, and the menu for your week follows.
$95 a guest, a day · breakfast, dinner and the groceries · the rest paid on arrival day
- 1Service
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- 3Details
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