A new cafe is open in Tahoe City giving locals and visitors another option for coffee and sandwiches on the North Shore.

The Gear and Grind Cafe offers coffee, pastries, ice cream and grilled panini sandwiches every day from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The cafe shares space with the Backcountry outdoor shop, with couches and chairs available.

“You can go get your skis mounted and then get a cup of coffee,” said Lizet Christiansen, who co-owns the cafe with her boyfriend, Mark Sanders.

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Christiansen, a former geologist, said she and Sanders kept hearing about the lack of affordable lunch options in the area, so they decided to open their own lunch spot.

“Tahoe is a great place to be and I wanted to stay and I thought this was the way to do it,” Christiansen said.

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The Gear and Grind Cafe brews each cup of coffee individually and is “super fresh,” Christiansen said. Coffee beans are from Red Star Coffee in Santa Barbara.

The restaurant’s ice cream is from Tahoe Creamery in Minden.

“They make fabulous ice cream,” Christansen said.

The “simple, no frills” grilled panini sandwiches cost $5. A cup of small coffee goes for $1.25 and a large coffee is $1.75.

“We thought we would provide a laid-back atmosphere,” Christiansen said.