RENOUX, RENOUX...BIGGEST LITTLE DIVE BAR IN THE WORLD.
...but seriously, we love Renoux, have been visiting multiple times a year for the past two decades and want to pass on some of our favorites. (We've added the "ux" to "Reno" in order to class it up a bit.)
Coffee:
Hub Coffee Roasters
The Jungle
Breakfast:
-Daughter’s – limited menu but well worth it. The chef is the mom and is an archaeologist. The daughters serve and are great to visit with. (We trade pickled veggies with one of the daughters.) Their hours revolve around the grand kids so check their website before going because sometimes they are only open on weekends.
-PJ's – great sherry eggs benedict and omelets.
-Dish – healthy, light breakfasts. Great breakfast sandwich and house made granola – they were on the Food Network once.
-Two Chicks – new place – very good American breakfasts
-Big Ed's – dive bar* with great fresh big American breakfasts
-Brickies – another dive bar* that makes great scrambles and omelets but I think they only serve on the weekends.
*I say “dive bar” but in Renoux these places are nice compared to the Renoux dive bars.
-Stone House Café – serves great breakfast, lunches, and dinners.
Lunch/Dinner:
-Old Granite Street Eatery – everything is good, especially the charcuterie, drinks, and desserts. We usually order one of everything on the appetizer menu, especially the stuffed dates, bacon chips, deviled eggs, and pickled veggies.
-St. James Brasserie – hearty fancy American comfort food.
-Juicy's – the best non-fancy burgers in Renoux, bar none. (The Awful-Awful is always chosen as the best in Renoux, but it is not…we’ve eaten a lot of both.)
-Silver Peak Brewery (pot stickers),
-Brew Brother's (sausage platter, pizza),
-Sake & Sushi – if you are in the Silver Legacy this place is at the fountain as you go into the El Dorado. Next door is a piano bar with great drinks called Roxx’s.
-Hiroba Sushi – some of the best sushi I’ve ever had, and I lived in S.F. and the East Bay for two decades.
(All sushi places in Renoux offer an all-you-can-eat option, which helps explain why their fish is so fresh. They sell a lot of sushi and have to replenish regularly.)
-Louis's Basque Corner – historic (and tasty) family style restaurant
-Bavarian World – very famous bakery/grocery store with a rather tacky restaurant, but tacky in a good way. The German/Austrian server is a real hoot, and the food is traditional, hearty, and good. They also have authentic German beer on tap that you won’t find anywhere else.
-Men Welding Fire – great BBQ – the deep fried corn bread is a must have.
-Gas Lamp – good solid dinners
-Sup – farm fresh meals
-Wild River Grill – fancy and good
-Beaujolais – haven’t been but have been told it is great. It appears to be on the fancy side.
I’m sure I am forgetting some but these are a good number of the places we visit on a regular basis.
Near UNR
Archies, Little Waldorf, and Pub n Sud are the main places near campus. Archies is okay but the décor is awful. Little Waldorf has never had good food. Pub n Sud has good pizzas and sandwiches.
If you have time, I highly recommend:
-Nevada Museum of Art. You can go through in as little as an hour, or spend several hours really enjoying their exhibits. For its size, I think it is one of the best museums I’ve ever been to. I think they are open late one of the days during the week. We never miss a visit even if we are only in Renoux for a day or two. (They have a great roof deck and their café is quite good too.)
-Harrah’s Car Museum is pretty spectacular too. A lot of one-of-a-kind cars there.
-UNR sports, if they are playing. I’m not a huge sports fan but love to watch live sports and those college kids are really trying to hardest.
-Reno Aces - local minor league team (this is the Arizona Diamondback's AAA team. You'll see rehabbing major league players from time to time. The stadium is right downtown, tickets are cheap (as is food and beer), and the games are exciting. Personally, I purchase tickets from season ticket holders on Craigslist because I like sitting behind home plate and those are all held by season ticket holders.
-Scheel’s – If time permits, and you want to see the world’s largest sporting goods store, thisis it. It’s so big they have a Ferris wheel inside, plus two enormous fish tanks.
-National Bowling Stadium. I think it is the largest bowling stadium in the world, and it is truly impressive especially when full of bowlers. The general public can’t bowl as it is only available for national tournament play but it is still neat to visit if open. They shot the final bowling scenes of King Pin (Bill Murray and Woody Harrelson) there.
-The real “biggest little city in the world” sign is not the main one you see on Virginia Street downtown. If you go east two blocks to Lake Street it is right next to the river. It is more of an Art Nouveau style.
-The River Walk – after the last big flood they re-did the river to add a nice river walk. It runs from Virginia west for several blocks. It is worth walking a few blocks out and back.