Yummy Eats! A Culinary Tour of Reno

Hi everyone,

While I was in Reno, my friend Elizabeth promised that she was going to take me to the yummiest places in Reno to eat--all her favorites.  Now I love food.  I wouldn't call myself a foodie, but I love to watch the Food Network and cooking shows.  I appreciate simple, flavorful food.  All of the places Elizabeth took me to featured fresh, local food.  So yummy.

Usually, if I'm on the road with Catzie, she's the one who takes pics of the food and blogs about it.  So I was not on-the-ball and camera-ready when Elizabeth took me to the first restaurant after she picked me up from the airport.  But I had a big, juicy burger with crispy, shoe-string fries, and a bowl of tomato soup.  The soup was like a tomato puree, so vibrant and tomato-y fresh.  I'll try to find out the name of the place.  Alas, no pics :s

The next morning, I had breakfast at the Eldorado buffet.  It was the usual buffet fare.  Before the workshop and show at the Holland Project that night, Elizabeth took me to a cute, little restaurant called
Süp.

Here's the inside:

They specialize in (Guess what?!) SOUP--what else? :)  And I looove soup.  They also serve yummy sandwiches.  You can get a whole sandwich or a 1/2 sandwich.  You can get sandwich and soup combo.  That's what I got.  This is my order: a 1/2 a Club sandwich with a bowl of tomato bisque soup:

Oh yeah! and it came with a side of salad.  Doesn't that look scrumptious?!  Now, if you're wondering why I got tomato soup again, first, let me say, that I love tomato soup.  And I enjoy comparing foods from different restaurants, so I wanted to see how this would taste different than the tomato soup I had the night before.  The soup at Süp was much creamier.  But they were both very yummy.  Just different takes on tomato soup. And can you see how big my sandwich is?! That's a half of a Club!  The bread was very soft.  The dressing on the salad was so tasty. Everything had a fresh taste--so YUMMY!

Elizabeth had the tomato soup and grilled cheese:

And here we are posing with our plates--you can get a better sense of how big the portions are in these pics:

Believe me when I say we scarfed that food down! :)  The next morning before we hit the road for our adventures at Pyramid Lake in search of Stone Mother, Elizabeth took me to a small cafe/bakery called Creme:

Elizabeth told me they specialized in crepes, so I ordered apple crepes in caramel sauce with a side of fresh fruit.  Elizabeth ordered vegetable crepes with a side order of fresh fruit.  Dear people, I'm sorry, but I was not thinking of you when that plate of warm, sweet, apple deliciousness was set before me on the table. I ate it ALL without snapping one pic.  But I got some shots of the aftermath:

Do you see the powered sugar on the rim of the plate?  MMMmm--Can you imagine just how good it must have been?  The apples were warm and slightly crunchy (freshness!), the caramel sauce not too sweet, the fruit so juicy.  Dear people, if you are ever in Reno, you must go.  Here are the remains to be found on Elizabeth's plate:

I'm sorry to tease! :)  Later that afternoon, we were starving, and since Ben at the Pyramid Lake Museum said there were no restaurants--only a small corner store or something like that nearby (but I saw the other lady in the museum with an Arby's cup darn it! lol), we headed back to Reno for some grub.  Elizabeth took me to Midtown Eats.  Their food is organic and local. I decided to go vegetarian and get a grilled portabello burger with a side salad.  Elizabeth ordered a falafel sandwich with sweet potato fries. Umm . . . did I mention we were STARVING:

You missed out again! :) Lol. By the time I regained my senses after inhaling the food on my plate, there were only crumbs to take pics of.  But I did take pics of dessert: lychee custard with toasted coconut flakes. . . Yuuuummm:

So creamy . . . and the toasted coconut flakes added just the right touch of crunch and nuttiness.

The next morning before taking me to the airport, Elizabeth took me to a bakery called

Hömage (have you noticed that folks in Reno really like the umlaut :).  They're best known for their almond croissants, so I got one and a Greek yogurt with fresh fruit:

Do I have to tell you, dear people, how light and flaky the croissant was? See how fresh the fruit looks in the pic?  Do not settle for casino buffet fare and think that's good dining--venture out into Reno and enjoy the culinary delights that abound around the city. Your taste buds and tummy will thank you for it! :)

Thank you to my friend Elizabeth for sharing all her favorite get-down-and-grub-down spots with me.  I will post soon about our adventures at Pyramid Lake.

REMINDER: the next stop on my book tour is this Thurs, June 27 at Wheaton College in Norton, MA :)

Love,
Michelle