It’s afternoon at Sage Leaf, a cozy restaurant nestled along Tahoe Boulevard. Behind the counter, chef and owner Shane Hammett flips a burger. Its toasted bun is stamped with the restaurant’s logo, a small touch, but one that says a lot.
Sage Leaf is a family-run restaurant that has become a local staple over the past five years. Shane and his wife Lara, originally from Northern California, had a dream of moving to Tahoe to settle down.
“We would talk about it and fantasize about opening a restaurant together, and we just were, I guess, scared to take that huge leap of faith in doing that, because it’s scary opening a business,” she said.
That dream turned real in 2020, just as the world was shutting down. Sage Leaf opened its doors on June 4, the day when restaurants were allowed to reopen in Nevada…