Reno Tahoe Report

I found myself in Reno-Tahoe for a few days last week and managed to wrap some pleasure around the business side of the trip. The business part had me stuck in downtown Reno for a night. The locals there assured me that a revitalization of downtown was underway, but I saw no signs that there was ever a “vitalization” to begin with. To its credit, it has a fairly scenic river, the Truckee. Chapter One of the modern city planning text book dictates that any good downtown revitalization effort must begin with the construction of something called a River Walk. Every blighted town with even a dim hope of attracting its own quirky restaurant/microbrewery (see Chapter Two of textbook) seems to have one now or be in the process of building one. It can take the form of a concrete promenade or a Trexx-planked boardwalk, but the emphasis seems to be on throwing up lots of wrought iron benches and attendant curlicues, along with some sodium arc lights disguised as old-fashioned gas lights. The idea is that these improvements, coupled with the regular removal of floating corpses from said body of water, are all that stand in the way of an enthusiastic commercial stampede back to the once vibrant downtown district.

In Reno’s case, the jury is most definitely out, but to their credit, it’s still early in the process. Just to be safe, I stuck close to my home base at the Siena Hotel and Casino, whose marketing materials kept insisting was modeled after its Italian namesake. I saw very little evidence of that, but it was comfortable and fortress-like against the extreme seaminess of the surrounding area. A few fruitless hands of Blackjack and a complimentary Sierra Nevada IPA steeled my resolve to strike out into the night and banish myself without Siena’s walls. Mercifully quickly into the trip, we came on La Famiglia, a little trattoria doing business in what looked like a converted Greek diner. Our group stood huddled in the doorway tentatively before being swept up in a generous welcome by Sergio, whose family indeed ran the place. The place is pretty special. I’m still recalling the incredible ravioli ai funghi and wilted spinaci and pancetta salad I had, along with stolen bites from other plates, including a pasta, potato and green bean dish and a spicy salsicce. As memorable as it was, I was happy to head for the Sierras for the rest of the weekend. It was my first time in the area in non-winter months, and the vistas and overlooks kicked all kinds of ass.

The weather even changed toward the end of our stay to accommodate the Godfather II fanatics among us. The clouds turned purple, the lake went choppy and all that seemed missing was the little fishing boat on the water where Fredo met his unfortunate end. Contributing to the mood were our new surroundings at the aging Cal Neva Resort, the former side business of a certain blue-eyed crooner from 1960 to 1963. The director of security took us on a wine-soaked and altogether unofficial tour of the underground tunnel that Frank had installed to avoid awkward entanglements with star-struck fans and certain G-men who may have been sticking their big snoots around the place. The tunnel extended from his office off the casino floor all the way to his personal cottage, Cabin #5, where it came up into his closet. The Indian Room, which served as the original show room at the time, is dissected neatly by the Nevada/California state line, to the apparent chagrin of lawmen looking to get the drop on Frank’s more unsavory colleagues on the Nevada side. I could almost picture a jumpy Sam Giancana giving the finger to the local dicks from the safe side of the white line that runs down the center of the floor. Great fun.

Back to the food, two places in Tahoe deserve mention here. The first is another Italian on the California side called Lanza’s in King’s Beach. It was less ambitious than La Famiglia but many times warmer and more inviting. Most red check tablecloth places like this wind up being bitter disappointments. Invariably, a single, bright red mother sauce is slung Jackson Pollock style on all manner of unsuspecting noodles and proteins. Lanza’s takes pride in discrete sauces, good sturdy pastas and a full compliment of fresh fish and meats cooked to order. The adjoining bar reminded me of Martini’s Place in It’s A Wonderful Life…pre-Clarence and the seltzer bottle-wielding Nick. The place is tailor-made for a cozy dinner after a day on the slopes.

Another inviting place clearly designed to take the chill out of prolonged winter excursions is Wild Alaskan Fish Company. The décor is Alaska fishing shack and the menu is indeed centered around wild Alaskan salmon—farm-raised fish is omitted with extreme prejudice. It was an odd place for a signature soup of Thai curry coconut broth and crabmeat, but it worked. So did the raspberry, sunflower seed and feta salad as well as all manner of wraps, tacos and sandwiches.

Cursory research here and elsewhere prior to this trip indicated a dearth of good options in Reno-Tahoe, so I was pleasantly surprised. The only disappointments came as we ventured into chintzy South Tahoe long enough to take in a Vegas-style show at Harrah’s and look disdainfully at the assembled menus of the flashy $65 salmon entrée places at the big casinos before heading back north. I did notice a Fatburger outlet there, but I had already spent my hamburger capital earlier in the trip at In-N-Out Burger in Reno (did I mention that Reno has an In-N-Out Burger?)

See you on the slopes.

La Famiglia
180 E. 1st Street
Reno, NV
775-324-1414

Lanza’s Restaurant
7739 N. Lake Blvd.
King’s Beach, CA (North Tahoe/Truckee area)
530-546 2434

Wild Alaskan Fish Company
919 Incline Way
Incline Village, NV
775-832-6777

In-N-Out Burger
8215 S. Virginia
Reno, NV



Cal Neva Resort
2 Stateline Road
Crystal Bay, NV
800-225-6382

In all fairness, the River Walk along the Truckee River is a vast improvement over the two long abandoned casino hulks that were there.

http://www.nationaltrust.org/11most/list.asp?i=13

http://www.jour.unr.edu/outpost/community/com.conrad.riverside.html

The "major" project in Reno these days is "the big dig" or "the hole" - the effort to move the train tracks that run through the city underground. The city could have paid the cost of soundproofing the large casino-properties for about 10% of the cost that has been wasted on those train tracks.

There is a pretty decent coffee shop along the riverwalk area. Most of the best restaurants in downtown Reno are at the Eldorado.

There are a couple of good Reno posters on Chowhound who are up to the minute on the local scene.

To give you an idea of the "vitality" of the city, you can get a room in downtown Reno at an acceptable hotel property for $12-24 Sunday - Thursday which is one of the better travel bargains.

The worst part of Reno isn't downtown. It's the appalling corporate sprawl on the "nicer" end of town. It makes one almost nostalgic for the hookers and hustlers.

There's also a Reno poster on LTHForum-moi. I'm in Incline Village, about 2 minutes from Wild Alaskan, where I often have their salmon, along with that nice salad you mentioned. Unfortunately, you didn't post that you were going to be in the area. I would've steered you to some different places. I certainly wouldn't send you to South Shore to dine, except for a great sushi place that rivals any Chicago or San Francisco restaurant. Reno still has some work to do-it's not quite the cowtown it was 10 years ago. There's a new, fun hip place called the Chocolate Bar which would've been nice to hit that evening you had in Reno. If and when you return, just ask

As a native born and raised Chicagoan, I was blown away by the mindblowing natural beauty of Lake Tahoe when I visited a couple of weeks ago.

As much as I enjoy cooking and eating food, sometimes just chilling with Mother Nature is all the nourishment that is required!



Wish I was floating in the mountains today.....

Ok, Rev -

Where is the Chocolate Bar??

Shoot the dog! I just went through your local posts. Sorry I missed them, but I'm happy to see that I came by Wild Alaskan independently. There is also a Mexican place (whose name escapes me) in that same shopping center. Was I right to be fearful of it?

You are fortunate indeed to be living in such a beautiful part of the country. Great radio station as well--KTHX. I enjoyed listening early in the morning while driving around Incline and Crystal Bay with a coffee. It was so nice being able to do that without worrying about snow and ice. I'll be back in the winter to do some schussing, so I'll definitely check back in with you then.

CoolerbytheLake wrote: There is also a Mexican place (whose name escapes me) in that same shopping center. Was I right to be fearful of it?

Be afraid, be very very afraid! That restaurant and another across the street called the Hacienda are horrid. You can find great mexican but they're not the kind of places you sit down and enjoy margaritas and nachos. There's a couple tiny joints in Kings Beach that have very authentic tacos, taquitos, home made tamales, etc. Weekends have terrific posole served up.

JLawrence, the Chocolate Bar is in Reno on Arlington.
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/Reno/2 ... 28/eat.asp

RevrendAndy wrote:That restaurant and another across the street called the Hacienda are horrid. You can find great mexican but they're not the kind of places you sit down and enjoy margaritas and nachos. There's a couple tiny joints in Kings Beach that have very authentic tacos, taquitos, home made tamales, etc. Weekends have terrific posole served up.

Will they be easy to spot or do I need to ask for specific recs?

Jalisco is tiny, and it's right on 28 in Kings Beach. Great posole on weekends. A more upscale restaurant recently opened in Kings Beach called Caliente. Drinks are excellent, but pricey, however they are all made with fresh squeezed juices. The food is a cut above Tex-Mex, and very good. This was my post on a rival board.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/438377

Damn! Now is that amazing or what? Didn't get a chance to check the board in time to catch the particular recommendation for Jalisco but, of all the places on the road, you'll never guess where I ended up! Yup--something about an LTHForum member mind-meld, I guess. Damn. Need to go back there a few dozen more times to check out the rest of the menu. That was well worth stopping by.

Also well worth the visit was Big Water Grill. Expensive as hell (entrees topped out at $42 and they tended to congregate up in the upper end of the range). I'll save the post for when we get the camera fixed and the pics downloaded. For now, suffice to say, an absolutely excellent meal. Spindleshanks, one very good (petrale sole fresh from Monterey Bay) and one surprisingly bad (baby back ribs--just not good meat, and not a lot of it).

More later.