For years, my experience with Auburn was strictly as a pit stop on weekend trips to Lake Tahoe. The main draw was Ikeda’s: the classic spot to refuel on burgers and milkshakes, and pick up a strawberry rhubarb pie for the cabin. Beyond that, I had never bothered to explore.
That changed when the James Beard Foundation nominated the chefs behind Restaurant Josephine for Best Chef: California, putting Auburn’s dining scene firmly on my radar. Looking back, overlooking this town feels like a major oversight. My apologies, Auburn — I was unfamiliar with your game.
Nestled in the foothills 45 minutes from Sacramento and 90 minutes from Tahoe, this historic Gold Rush town offers plenty of natural draw. Outdoors enthusiasts flock here for mountain biking, hiking and whitewater rafting along the American River. But it’s the burgeoning food and drink scene, powered by local wineries, craft breweries and chefs utilizing hyperlocal produce, that makes Auburn worth an extended stay.
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The historic Auburn Courthouse sits on top of a hill of Old Town Auburn in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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During my visit, I sipped a latte on the sunny patio of a pioneer artisan coffeehouse, gorged on pastries packed with peak-season summer fruit, and enjoyed my favorite meal of the year so far at Restaurant Josephine. Auburn’s culinary identity is vibrant and expanding, not by imitating Sacramento or the Bay Area, but by leaning fully into its own unique character.
The Pour Choice
When Jordan and Melinda Minyard opened the Pour Choice on a hill overlooking Old Town Auburn in 2017, some locals expected them to fail.
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“People were very negative, thinking who’s ever going to walk up the hill?” Jordan Minyard said. “Who’s ever going to park in Old Town? And I said, ‘We’ve never given them a reason. We’re going to create a space to bring them up here.’”
And they did: The Minyards brought not only third-wave coffee to Auburn, but also the town’s first hybrid coffee shop and beer taproom. Jordan, who had previously worked in the construction industry, studied coffee extraction in Portland, and they filled their taps with local beer from Auburn’s burgeoning microbrewery scene.
“We were the first of its kind, certainly in Auburn and in the surrounding communities,” he said. “But I wanted to be the best in the world, not the best in Auburn.”
Co-owner Jordan Minyard at the Pour Choice in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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Customers hang out at the Pour Choice in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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As the Pour Choice perfected its craft, they transitioned from serving Santa Cruz-based Verve Coffee Roasters to roasting their own beans just down the road at Remedy Supply Co. (where the couple also now operates a tapas restaurant called the Hillmont). Today, the Pour Choice is one of the major draws of Old Town, drawing lines out the door all day on Saturdays and Sundays.
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On a Thursday morning, I walked up the stairs of the historic-looking, multi-tiered brick building to place my coffee and breakfast order. Passing customers working on laptops inside, I headed straight for the sunshine-soaked patio on the second level — one of three patios the Pour Choice has to choose from.
Sipping the not-too-sweet iced Strawberry Fields cream-top latte and munching on the well-seasoned, lemony avocado toast on thick, lightly toasted bread from Truckee Sourdough Company, I could see what made the Pour Choice more than just another coffee shop. With the building’s unique architecture, it’s the kind of homey third place where you could spend a whole day hanging out, from coffee in the morning to beer and wine at night.
Avocado toast in front of a Strawberry Fields cream-top latte and a strawberry banana iced matcha at the Pour Choice in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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Jordan and Melinda were both born and raised in Auburn, and returned here to open their business after five years in LA. Jordan said he’d always envisioned more for Auburn’s culinary scene — something like the lively food and beverage scene in Bend, Oregon, for example.
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“I’ve always said I’ve watched Auburn never quite get over the hump,” Jordan said. “We’ve always struggled to kind of get out of our own way.”
But lately, he feels that’s finally changed thanks to a wave of new business owners of his generation determined to bring more elevated dining experiences to town.
“We are absolutely over the hump, and we are in a place now where we are creating our new identity, which is very serious, high-end enough to attract anyone, but also the locals,” he said. “Auburn is very casual and surprisingly serious.”
The exterior of the Pour Choice in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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Some of the outside seating at the Pour Choice in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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While it took a while to win over old-school locals resistant to change, “what we do is we kill them with kindness,” he said. “… We’re just people who are doing things well and consistent, and we want everyone in here from every walk of life to feel this is your place.”
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The Baker and the Cakemaker
When Jen and Brent Hause took over beloved downtown Auburn bakery the Baker and the Cakemaker in 2024, the goal was to change nothing. Having recently moved to the area from Tahoe, where Jen owns a consignment furniture store, they wanted to tread lightly.
“We retained all the recipes,” Brent said. “We inherited our sourdough starter, which is now 17 years old, and we also retained all our key employees.”
The exterior of the Baker and the Cakemaker in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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Alice and Nathan Shreve founded the artisan bakery in 2009, building a following at farmers markets for their sourdough made with wholesome ingredients, before finally opening a brick-and-mortar in 2019. When the couple decided to retire, the Hause family was ready to step in: Brent and Jen had been searching for a restaurant to purchase. They were looking for a reason to convince Brent’s father, Ken Hause, who had a background in food service, to relocate from Georgia to California.
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“It was an opportunity for Jen and I to work together, and an opportunity to get my parents out here and work with my dad,” Brent said. “… You spend most of your adult waking life working, and so why not work with the people you love?”
The bakery’s calling card is its Meyer lemon rosemary sourdough, which won second place at the 2025 International World Bread Awards in Las Vegas in the savory sourdough category. The crusty, fragrant bread is made with freshly chopped rosemary, olive oil, sea salt and the zest of local Meyer lemons, which they bank a supply of every winter to freeze and use year-round (“Our bakery becomes a little lemon processing factory in the lemon season,” Jen said. “The whole bakery smells like lemon all night.”)
An assortment of different offerings at Baker and the Cakemaker in Auburn, Calif., clockwise from top left: freshly baked sourdough bread, pesto cheese sandwich with roasted eggplant, a cinnamon roll, and Thai rice salad with seasonal vegetables.
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An assortment of different offerings at Baker and the Cakemaker in Auburn, Calif., from top: freshly baked sourdough bread, pesto cheese sandwich with roasted eggplant, Thai rice salad with seasonal vegetables, a cinnamon roll.
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On my lunchtime visit, I ordered what felt like the entire pastry case. I loved the cinnamon roll, but my personal favorite was the peach sweet brioche, which highlighted the natural sweetness of the peaches with guava pastry cream and a crumb topping. Off the savory menu, I tried the pesto cheese sandwich, slathered with a punchy pesto, cheddar, a pile of greens and shredded carrot, and savory roasted eggplant, which I enjoyed at a sunny picnic table on the cafe’s patio.
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The bakery also offers a different cake every week, which on my visit was a cherry white chocolate matcha cake. The most popular flavor is the peach bourbon cake, which they only make once at the beginning of peach season and once at the end.
“When it’s peach bourbon cake week, our bakery is insanely busy,” Jen said. “People come from two hours away, three hours away to buy that cake.”
While at first the bakery’s customer base approached the new owners with “hopeful skepticism,” the Hauses now feel they’ve been fully embraced by the community. Jen said she’s excited to see Auburn’s foodie star rise. The focus on seasonality and small, independently owned businesses has impressed the Hauses since moving from Tahoe, where they found the food scene more limited.
A young customer looks at the pastries at the Baker and the Cakemaker in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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“We have such great access to local farmers in this area,” Jen said. “The majority of the high-quality places to eat in this area are doing that: They’re working with the local producers and focusing on what’s in season.”
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Restaurant Josephine
A few minutes before Restaurant Josephine opened for dinner, an eager crowd had already gathered outside. In January, chef-owners Eric Alexander and Courtney McDonald were named semifinalists for a James Beard Award, a first for Auburn. The couple told me they never expected the nomination.
“We wanted to have a restaurant that served really good food and wasn’t pretentious, and was a great place to come in the community, and that was it,” McDonald said.
Customers dine at Restaurant Josephine in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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But if you ask their community, no one else was really surprised by the accolade (“Of course they did,” Minyard said. “No one deserves it more.”).
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It became obvious to me, too, after sinking into a candlelit brown leather booth at the neighborhood French bistro and taking my first bite of a dish from the chalkboard specials menu: the wild bay scallop crudo with Sungold tomatoes, Elephant Heart plums, serrano chile and lemon verbena gelée. Each bite was a mindblowing explosion of textures and flavors — tart, sweet, spicy, herbaceous and savory — setting the tone for the meal ahead.
McDonald is originally from Auburn, and met Alexander while they were both students at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. The couple worked together in kitchens in Washington, D.C., and Connecticut, until McDonald’s early mentor offered her a job that brought them back to California. After that, they worked at Old Town Auburn fine dining restaurant Carpe Vino for 13 years until they finally decided it was time to open their own place.
Co-owners Courtney McDonald and Eric Alexander at Restaurant Josephine in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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But right as Restaurant Josephine was about to open its doors in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. McDonald called it a “terrifying time.” They had to max out their credit cards to support their family and the Auburn farm where they lived, while only able to serve takeout.
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“There wasn’t really an option to fail,” she said. “So, we kind of just did whatever we could to be able to open as soon as those restrictions lifted, and then from day one, it was so busy.”
Being French-trained, they chose a French bistro concept, but with Eastern European influences — Restaurant Josephine is named after Eric’s Lithuanian great-grandmother, Josephine (their teenage daughter is also named Josie). The menu is composed of French bistro staples executed with incredible skill and always served with a twist: the plush moules frites, served in a creamy, fragrant broth of lemon thyme, garlic, serrano chile and creme fraiche, reminded me of tom kha thanks to the fragrance of the herbs.
Duck liver mousse with Siberian pine cone caramel and pickled turnip at Restaurant Josephine in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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Moules frites with steamed mussels, lemon thyme, garlic, serrano chile, creme fraiche and fries at Restaurant Josephine in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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The Tom NA nonalcoholic cocktail at Restaurant Josephine in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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Duck liver mousse is served with Siberian baby pine cones in caramel, and the Foothill Roots beet salad is served with a garden of fresh herbs and Tkemali, a Georgian plum sauce they make using Santa Rosa plums from their own farm. Another standout was the farmers cheese vareniki, a vegetarian dish of Ukrainian dumplings stuffed with mild cheese, coated in a silky squash blossom sauce, and served with a bounty of seasonal produce: summer squash, sweet corn, cherry tomato and lemon basil. It was summer on a plate, and I haven’t stopped dreaming of it since.
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The cocktails were also creative and sophisticated, and the oysters were fresh. Restaurant Josephine isn’t just good by Auburn standards — it was one of the best meals I’ve had all year, and I believe it could go toe to toe with San Francisco’s best. While McDonald and Alexander weren’t expecting national acclaim when they opened, they were confident that Auburn was ready for the kind of fine dining experience they wanted to offer.
“I think being from here really helps know what the population is ready for or will embrace or accept,” McDonald said. “We weren’t people coming in from out of town and not knowing our community.”
Farmers cheese vareniki at Restaurant Josephine in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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A sign shows the house cocktails at Restaurant Josephine in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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The wild bay scallop crudo special at Restaurant Josephine in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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Over the 13 years they worked at Carpe Vino, they earned the trust of locals and convinced them to try new things. And now, they’re leading a foodie revolution in Auburn, with others, like sourdough pizza restaurant Pizzeria Luba, tapas eatery the Hillmont and steakhouse Oakhouse, opening in recent years.
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“I think more and more people that grew up here are coming back and starting families, and they’re younger and maybe what they’re looking for in a restaurant or drinks is a little bit more refined or eclectic,” Alexander said.
While the couple says the James Beard nomination doesn’t change anything about how they plan to run their restaurant, they’re excited to see its domino effect on the area. While Auburn used to be all “meat and potatoes,” the evolving scene is more “exploratory” and “farm to fork,” McDonald said.
Some of the neon signs in Old Town Auburn in Auburn, Calif., on Aug. 13, 2026.
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“Being that we’re so small, I think it’s only a great thing that there’s a lot of other places that are opening up now that have great food and great cocktails,” McDonald said. “It just makes this area so much more vibrant and a reason for people to come.”
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Dining and Cooking