The Depot Craft Brewery Distillery

This is not only one of the best breweries, but also one of the best restaurants in Reno. First of all, the gastropub food is excellent. There are cornbread fritters glazed with bourbon honey, burgers piled high with housemade pastrami, soft-shell crab po-boys, and even housemade kimchi snacks. And the beer and whiskey are meticulously made in house in small batches using local grains.

Then there’s the decor. The Depot is housed in a three-story brick building built in 1910, the former to headquarters of the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway. It’s since been transformed into a trendy gastropub complete with wood-and-metal furniture and sputnik chandeliers.

Don’t Visit Reno without Trying The Awful Awful

For 60 years, people have been ordering up the burger with the unappetizing name for a reason—it’s awfully good. It’s also awfully large. The burger, which comes smothered in secret sauce and served on a lightly toasted onion bun, is a substantial half a pound of meat. It’s also typically accompanied by a basket filled with a pound of fries. It’s definitely enough food to share; if you don’t share, expect to feel, well, awful later on.

Where to find it

• Reno: Little Nugget
• Carson City: Carson Nugget
• Sparks: Nugget Casino Resort

Orange Pedal

This Fairfield Heights hidden gem serves up a really good cup of coffee. But you may not know that from the outside. That’s because Orange Pedal is also a full-service bike shop. And while Orange Pedal caters to the biking community, it welcomes nonbikers for lattes and $1 shots of espresso. Our customers especially love it, saying things like:

“New to Reno and new to Orange Pedal. Very friendly crew. Warm and welcoming. Even helped me with some suggestions for myself and my little one! Made a good almond milk latte too!” – Crystal

“Trish, Kevin, and John are awesome! Fabulous coffee and really great customer service for bikes and accessories. Shop local!” – Bernadette G.

“Nice staff, friendly atmosphere, beautiful bikes, and delicious coffee.” – Amy L

Peg’s Glorified Ham n Eggs

Despite its modest name, Peg’s doesn’t sell unremarkable breakfasts. It actually serves up one of the best breakfasts in Reno and manages to attract long lines on the weekends. It’s worth the wait once you dig into one of Peg’s egg scrambles with unlimited toast, a benedict dunked in a lemony hollandaise, or a breakfast burger crowned with ham, egg, hash browns, and cheddar.  

The Five Essential Ingredients for a Reuben

It’s not a real Reuben unless it has these five essential ingredients:

1. Corned beef (kosher, of course), carved by hand while the meat is still hot
2. Rye bread
3. Swiss cheese
4. Sauerkraut
5. Thousand Island dressing (no substitutions)

What pairs well with a Reuben?

According to Chicago deli owner and reuben master Dan Raskin, a reuben goes great with a cream soda.

“I've always been a big fan of cream soda. I think it's a typical deli drink. To me, there's nothing like eating a big deli sandwich and a cream soda.”

Harrah’s Steak House

Yes, this steakhouse is inside Harrah’s Casino, which may seem a little strange for tourists used to dining at stand-alone steakhouses. But it really does serve one of the best steaks in the area. This Fine Dining Hall of Fame restaurant wows with its steak diane, beef-tenderloin medallions flambéed tableside, its Colorado rack of lamb in a jalapeno jelly, and its chilean sea bass in a lemon pink-peppercorn sauce. Naturally, the service here is top-notch too.

Great Full Gardens Cafe & Eatery

When you want to eat a bit more mindfully, check out Great Full, a cafe designed with people with special dietary needs in mind. There are vegan, gluten-free, raw, and paleo options. Plus, Great Full appeals to the health-conscious with such dishes as the Hemp Hemp Hooray bowl with organic raw hemp seeds, seasonal fruit, almonds, and almond milk. We personally love to indulge with the liège benedict, featuring a liège waffle, organic eggs, Daily’s uncured natural bacon, hollandaise, and organic potatoes

Fancy Steakhouse Decor: How Important Is It?

Steakhouses are known for their white table cloths and wood accents. But how important is fancy decor, really?  

"Fancy is a relative term," longtime Las Vegas food writer Grace Bascos says. "As long as it's clean and the servers are nice, I don't ask for much. I just want a good steak."

However, she does believe that the guests at a steakhouse should dress properly, which she says is a sign of respect for the restaurant and its other guests. "There's nothing worse than showing up to a meal ... where you're celebrating something big, and there's some schmoe in the restaurant wearing flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt."