The city of Reno, which harbors a reputation for being a dusty casino town with dining options limited to all-you-can-eat casino buffets and musty steakhouses, has seen an impressive number of new restaurants call this city home in recent years. Could a food renaissance change the way the public perceives Reno?
Driving east on Interstate 80 from Truckee, the Reno skyline doesn’t look much different than it did 15 years ago. The lights from the high-rise casinos shine bright and the billboards pointing travelers in the direction of loose slot machines and all-you-can-eat lobster buffets are aplenty. This archetypal view of the city hides the fact that that Reno is on the brink of something great: a gastronomic revolution.
In the last decade, the city has seen an impressive number of new restaurants, an emergence of support for local food, and more “foodies” calling Reno their home.
“People used to go to Reno mostly for shopping and maybe cheep ethnic food. They had some dive spots, but nothing world class,” says Billy McCullough, the owner and head chef of Dragonfly Cuisine in Truckee, 30 miles west of Reno. “Nowadays, there are some really great restaurants down there, and people are willing to make the drive and go check it out. ”
Up-and-coming restaurants can transform the character of a city. They can rejuvenate neighborhoods, making rougher ones more alluring, and attract a host of new businesses and residents. In recent years, restaurants have helped transform parts of Oakland, Calif. Once a city known only for its crime-heavy headlines, some Oakland neighborhoods are now vibrant dining destinations.
The creation of Edible Reno-Tahoe, a quarterly publication that promotes and celebrates the abundance of local foods in the Northern Nevada and Lake Tahoe region, is documenting the changes in the Reno food scene. The magazine highlights locally grown foods, eating locally and promotes all of the things that will help to make Reno and the surrounding area a true culinary destination.
“There is a food renaissance happening in Reno now,” says Amanda Burden, Editor of Edible Reno-Tahoe. “There are several factors contributing to this. Because of the poor economy, many people have lost their jobs and are looking for employment and have decided to follow their hearts and open a restaurant.”
Reviving Downtown
In Reno, there is no better example of a restaurant that could change a city than Campo. Step inside Campo, Mark Estee’s new downtown Italian eatery on the Riverwalk, and the feeling of change is instant. The lighting is dim, and the smell of the wood-fired pizza oven overwhelms the senses. The bar and the dining room are packed to the brim. Campo has been open for less than a month, and reservations are already hard to come by.
“The whole experience was great. I felt like I was in San Francisco,” says local food blogger Sophie Karadanis, a Reno native. “The atmosphere was so unique, so hip. It’s always busy; unlike anywhere I’ve been in Reno. And the food, phenomenal.”
Prior to opening Campo, Estee worked at world-renowned San Francisco restaurant Gary Danko and a host of other well-known eateries in the Lake Tahoe area. A few years ago, when the right timing presented itself, Estee decided to make the move to Reno. “I fell in love with this city, I feel love with this spot, the windows, the city feel. I wanted to do pizza, I wanted to do pasta and I wanted it to be affordable. I hoped to bring a level of knowing where your food comes from.”
One clear indication to Estee that Reno was a town on the brink of a food insurgency: Whole Foods. “If you look at any great city or neighborhood that is changing food wise, there is always a Whole Foods in the middle of it and it’s always busy. When there’s a busy Whole Foods, you know that people don’t mind spending the money on good food that and that they care where their food comes from. You can do the math.”
“For the longest time Reno has been a second tier city with gaming as the main focus. The casinos are very important to Reno, and they’ve done a lot of great things here in the past. But, if you’re going to really grow a city, you need great restaurants. My goal, is to grow Reno into a top tier food city,” Estee says.
Estee says he hopes that Campo’s success will inspire other restaurateurs to bring their business to Reno, “By coming down to Reno and doing what I am doing with Campo, I hope I am showing other restaurateurs and people that it can be done.”
Why Reno?
Reno’s unique location makes the city an optimal place for restaurant owners to open new businesses.
“Northern Nevada has tremendous access to farmers all year round,” Estee says.
Local food is often fresher than food coming in from outside the area; it’s also less expensive for restaurants to purchase, creating better profits. Reno is also home to the Great Basin Community Food Co-Op; a community owned grocery store that supports local farmers and sustainable growing and manufacturing practices.
Reno was one of the cities in America hardest hit by the recession. And Reno’s two major industries, gaming and tourism, took a huge blow. The upside to this? Discounted real estate.
“Because of the deprived economy, buildings are cheaper to buy and lease,” says Burden. “Some people are hopping on the chance to nab buildings at low prices and are opening second and third locations as well.”
Estee adds: “My general feeling is that Reno is on an upswing, and we need the whole community to come together. There is a lot of unemployment here, tough times are falling upon a lot of members of the community, and the idea is that by bringing in restaurants like Campo, which is relatively inexpensive, it gives people a place to come and have fun, and shake of those doldrums.”
Other Players
Dish Café & Catering, 4th Street Bistro, and the Old Granite Street Eatery are just a few restaurants that buy and serve almost entirely local, organic, and humanely raised food. These are the kinds of places where Burden sees the biggest changes in Reno diners. “Diners yearn for smoke-free, gaming-free, smaller restaurants that serve healthy, local, natural, and delicious food,” she says. “So new restaurants have popped up to accommodate that desire.”
Justin Owen, owner of the Old Granite Street Eatery, saw a void in the Reno restaurant scene and jumped to fill it. “With Old Granite Street, we wanted to offer diners a place that was casual, affordable and comfortable. We were trying to hit a market we thought was untapped at the time and serve as much local food as possible.”
Owen had seen what food did to Nevada’s other major metropolitan area, Las Vegas, and knew that he wanted to go in another direction. “With Las Vegas, you saw a big insurgence of all of these well-known celebrity chefs making their name inside the casinos, selling their food for a high dollar,” he says.
“In Reno, you can get great food, made by local chefs, at a great price, outside of a casino,” Owen adds. “All of these factors, combined with Reno’s close proximity to so many great activities and everything else Reno has to offer, why wouldn’t you want to go out to eat in Reno?”
Foodies and Farmers Markets
The Urban Dictionary defines a foodie as, “A person that spends a keen amount of attention and energy on knowing the ingredients of food, the proper preparation of food, and finds great enjoyment in top-notch ingredients and exemplary preparation.” New York City and San Francisco are two examples of places that are often described as “foodie towns.” Reno might be next on that list. Foodies run rampant in this city, Tweeting about their experiences and sharing recommendations with other like-minded food aficionados.
“Foodies are searching for something that’s more unique. They’re not looking for all-you-can-eat for $4.99. They put a lot of time and thought where they eat and with that they get something that’s a lot more magical,” says Kristy Crabtree, creator and owner of the Website RenoFoodies.com.
Crabtree sees the recent influx of smaller, locally oriented restaurants as vital piece of the puzzle, “I hope that they succeed. With all of the restaurants, such as Bowl, 4th Street Bistro and Campo, it’s nice to see people enjoying finding those places and seeking them out.”
“A lot of the new restaurants are very community driven,” she says. “The organic and locally grown side of it is so alluring. Eating at a restaurant that serves locally harvested organic food is more appealing than going to a fine dining restaurant or to a steak house like Harrah’s or something of that nature.”
During the warmer months of the year, The Northern Nevada area plays host to six to seven famers markets each night of the week. Besides the produce, there are vendors offering a variety of food, drink, crafts, and other products. Thousands of people attend this market every week. These markets don’t only benefit the public; they also play a part in restaurants. According to Owen, “Local farmers see that restaurateurs and chefs would much rather buy locally and they try to meet the demands and supply to them as much as they can.”
The Casinos Adjust
To stay relevant in this changing environment, the casinos have had to give a little more thought to the quality of the food and the presentation. Sterling’s Seafood Steakhouse inside the Silver Legacy has been the top rated restaurant in Reno on Yelp for over a year, but that hasn’t helped commerce. “Business has gone down about 50% in the last 5 years,” says Morgan Shecklen, who has worked at Sterling’s for over 8 years. “Because of the change in the economy, we have been forced to become more profitable. Sink or swim. People are still going to dine out. They just are going to be more selective and expect more.”
While Sterling’s may have five stars on Yelp, it’s the restaurant’s downtown neighbors that are hopping on the local food bandwagon in an effort to stand out.
“Casinos cater to the tourist masses who visit our town, for the most part. They aren’t as concerned with the distinction of touting local and natural food. However, there are two standouts. Atlantis Hotel Casino has Bistro Napa, which is almost all organic, and Eldorado Hotel Casino has owners and an executive chef who care about good, natural, fresh food,” says Burden.
To Owen, the casinos are helping smaller restaurants in the area thrive. “A lot of what is happening with the food scene in Reno has to do with people’s aversion to casinos. They don’t want to walk by gamers, smokers and the typical casino clientele to get to the restaurant. Heaven forbid you have to use the restroom during your meal, you’re forced to walk through the smoke filled casino floor past the slot machines. It’s not very appealing.”
Mark Steel, manager and Maitre’d at Bistro Napa inside the Atlantis Casino just south of downtown Reno, isn’t too concerned about some of the newer, smaller restaurants opening up around town. In fact, he thinks that the casinos have a leg up in the competition, “Restaurants come and go, it’s the toughest businesses there is. Anyone will tell you that in the restaurant business, it’s all about location. Being inside a casino and close to the convention center, there isn’t a better place to be in Reno.”
Could a food renaissance change the way the public perceives Reno? Only time will tell. But it can’t hurt. “I think it may change some people’s perceptions. But that’s a tough perception to change, especially when we are up against all types of media portraying us at a rundown casino town,” says Burden.
For Campo’s Estee, the answer is simple. “Food could absolutely change people perceptions about this city,” he says. “I already see it happening. Great restaurants breed great chefs, great chefs breed even better restaurants, better restaurants breed more customers, more customers bring in more money and there you have it; a revitalized economy.”
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Take a look inside Campo, Reno's Newest Restaurant:
Where should you go to get a taste of what Reno has to offer? Check out this interactive map below:
View Reno: Where to Eat on a larger map
Want more information about Reno’s food scene? Follow these key players on Twitter:
Amanda Burden, Editor of Edible Reno/Tahoe @EdibleRenoTahoe
The Great Basin Food Co-Op @GreatBasinCo_op
Whole Foods, Reno @WFM_Reno
Mark Estee, Chef/Owner of Campo @CAMPORENO
Kristy Crabtree, Reno Foodie @gowestward
Nancy Horn, Owner of DISH Cafe & Catering @Nancydishingup
