TASTE NEVADA

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Table of Contents: 
Fresh Fish and Seafood
Everything Else
Fruits and Vegetables.
Influences.
Experiences.
Honorary Dish.

Wines of Nevada.                            Nevada Beers.                               Nevada Spirits.

When I say, what is the taste of Nevada, what comes to mind?

If you’re like most people, nothing comes to mind.

Nevada doesn’t have one food or even dish that they can call 100% their own.

Perhaps, if we go back pre-1800s, we can find a dish the local natives were making. Although most signs indicate, it was whatever they can catch or dig up.

Go Home Foodie

So if you’re a culinary collector, a food finder, a foodie, is there any reason to visit Nevada?

Maybe not for the state’s signature dish, but let’s take a closer look to see what they do have.

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Taste Nevada Fresh Fish

Bass

Salmon

Perch

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Is There Anything not from the Water?

Would you believe free-range beef? In the north and eastern parts of Nevada are mountains that catch snow. Eventually, it melts and waters the valleys below. Where you can grow grass, you can raise livestock.

Cattle and sheep are the major breeds you will find, yet dairy is not a significant product. Swine and goat are almost all for local consumption.

So do not let the desert fool you. Nevada has more than 2,900 farms and almost six million acres of farmland.

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The Green Green Fields

The high desert areas are perfect for the growth of alfalfa seeds and hay, the state’s largest cash crop.

Some of the other high-value grains are barley, winter and spring wheat, rye, and oats.

And all that alfalfa (and other plants) need pollinating. Nevada has over 3,000 species of bees, and you can find fresh honey from the north to the south.

For fun, taste Nevada honey from the north and then the south. Climate and location do affect honey consistency and taste.

Vegetables

The state produces commercial amounts of potatoes, corn, onions, and garlic. The rest are for local consumption. Fresh vegetables from the farm are hard to beat.

Fruits

Fruits are predominantly for local consumption. Apples, pears, plums, cherries, apricots, and peaches being the most popular.

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Influences

As almost all cuisines have impacts from past occupants, Nevada is no different. They tweak recipes from the homeland using the products that cooks can get locally. Although it still does not lead to an original, “only in Nevada” dish, it makes it local.

The most significant wave of non-locals to pass through were the miners. They brought many of their food items with them, all dried. They were eating jerky, beans, and things out of cans that could tolerate adverse conditions. If they were lucky, they might catch a small animal or find local fruit to add. They left almost nothing, except some sourdough. Anything you can make out of yeast they would make with sourdough.

When the settlers began coming through, the womenfolk were not going to eat jerky and dried beans. The majority were Irish, English, and Welsh, but there were Americans and other Europeans.

Recipes from back home began appearing. Stews and soups using every part of the animal. Pastries (pies) with meat or vegetable stuffing and even the occasional sweet found their way west.

Every state has recipes that began years ago in a pot.

Unfortunately, as they move on further west, they take their recipes with them — all except one group that stays put.

The Basque

A small group from northern Spain’s Basque country never leaves north Nevada. Although some were miners, many were sheepherders, and I suspect the hills of Northern Nevada made a few homesick.

What is Basque cuisine? Meats, such as sheep, that they grill over hot coals. Fish and lamb stews, bean dishes with paprika, and sheep’s cheese. All items they can already produce or introduce to the area. They stay, have babies, work the land, and build towns. Explore Winnemucca and Elko, where they have a Basque Festival at the beginning of July. Taste Nevada’s Basque cuisine.

Basque food in Northern Nevada. What next, Chinese in the south?

Las Vegas China Town

Is it there because of all the Chinese workers from the railroad? That sounds better than the truth. It is a planned shopping complex. A Taiwanese American group, opens a strip mall with the name Chinatown Plaza, circa 1995. Four years later, they then get the Nevada Governor to designate the area as Chinatown. At that time, very few Asians, let alone Chinese, live in the area.

Wait, why are there so many Asians in Las Vegas that it needs a Chinatown? Well… Since the 1960s, many people from Asia have moved to Las Vegas to work in the casinos.

But they are not Chinese, well, most of them are not. Philipinos outnumber Chinese 4/1. But let’s not confuse the story with facts. Chinatowns sell to tourists. So it’s a tourist trap? Well, it began as one.

The architecture is undoubtedly that of an amusement park. However, something outstanding is happening. You can find Chinese food. (Cantonese, Szechuan, Hunan, Yunnan, and more). And it’s good.

But there are now additional strip malls nearby. And they offer Japanese noodle bowls, incredible sushi, Thai food, pho, Korean barbecue, and more. And it’s good.

If you can survive without the clutter, secret alleys, and “traditional” fortune-cookie factories, I have an area to recommend. But think of it more as Asia Land instead of Chinatown.

And if you need traditional tea or a great Asian market, they have plenty of those. Entrees range from around $10 to over $100 per person. Remember, it’s Vegas.

Fickle Fate

Reno did have a Chinatown. It was the result of laborers working on the railroad. Unfortunately, the 1924 fire levels a large part of the area. Another part is now a casino parking garage.

I tried to find a Chinese restaurant dating back to the time of Chinatown. I found a pizza club, coney island, a coffee shop, and even a basque restaurant with 50+ years of experience. But no Chinese restaurant going back that far.

Carson City has a similar history.

Taste Nevada’s Asian offerings in Las Vegas.

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The Other Eating Lands

No discussion of eating in Nevada is complete without mentioning something that Nevada did not invent. But boy, do they take it to a whole new level.

The all-you-can-eat buffet.

Back in the early 1940s, the El Rancho Vegas, the first resort on The Strip, saw a problem. Eventually, gamblers were leaving the casino to get something to eat. They did not want to keep a full-service restaurant open, but they did not want to lose patrons. First, they offer a “Chuck Wagon” where gamblers help themselves to cold cuts, chips, and something in a chafing dish. Think – what do I grab from the kitchen during a commercial.

Next came the Buckaroo Buffet. Guests could eat all they wanted for $1. The selection was full of gut-filling dishes centering on quantity, not quality. There were free drinks for those gambling, and all through dinner, “winning” bells were going off nearby. Very few people ever got to the parking lot directly from the buffet.

Soon every gambling establishment had a variation on the “free” or cheap buffet. To compete, they begin featuring lobster, steaks, and shrimp. But there are cold cuts, salads, and other “filler” dishes at the front of the line.

Although prices would occasionally go up a little, the cheap buffets continue until the end of the 1980s.

With the wave of Celebrity Chefs and gourmet restaurants starting circa 1990, quality starts creeping into all the food outlets. This includes buffets.

Buffet Today

There are still buffets for under $10—the further from the strip a person has to travel, the lover the price. Diner beware.

On the strip, the buffets now battle like the elegant dining rooms and hotel themes. I love buffets. I like not having to make a decision. There are more than 30 to choose from in Las Vegas. They have a great dessert, but that one has incredible this and that.

And how much money is too much for a buffet? $50 for a breakfast buffet? And that’s before adding a bloody mary.

ANd do not get me started on the Bloody Marys. Every resort has the best one. You could do a week just drinking bloody marys without repeating a place.

And this is not just in Las Vegas. Expect it in any town with three or more casinos vying for the business.

I am not saying to avoid buffets. On the contrary, you need to taste Nevada buffets; it’s an experience.

But choose the one that will give YOU the most bang for the buck.

What quality do you expect from a buffet?

What level of “service” will you tolerate?

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An Honorary Dish

There is one dish that Nevada sells more than any other state in the country.

It’s not a dish that has its origins here. That honor goes to France and Escoffier.

It’s not a dish you expect in a state 200 miles from the closest ocean.

The Shrimp Cocktail.

Surely Florida or Louisiana sell more shrimp cocktails, right? Not even close. Daily in Las Vegas alone, they consume more than 60,000 pounds of shrimp. In fact, Nevada consumes more shrimp than all the other U.S. states combined.

It began with peeled shrimp with cocktail sauce and lemon in a parfait glass. Soon, it was a staple on every buffet.

It has alter-egos, including Mexican, which is more a gazpacho with shrimp. There are cocktails with bay shrimp to colossal prawns measuring several inches long. Then there is the cocktail sauce. When, if ever, is there too much horseradish?

Every place in Nevada has the “best” shrimp cocktail; just look at their sign. If you like shrimp, why not try a shrimp cocktail while in Nevada.

Taste Nevada Cuisine by Regions

There are no specific regions in Nevada cuisine.

However, in the north, you have the large cattle and sheep ranches. There is going to be a higher amount of fresh meat on the menu.

Central Nevada, look for freshwater fish and meat. Especially near Lake Tahoe and other lakes.

Southern Nevada enjoys frost-free evenings (usually) from mid-February to November. So they have fresh local produce sooner and longer. There are also cattle ranches near Las Vegas.

Maybe you do not go to Nevada for their original cuisine, but try some of their ways of serving it.

Try a buffet once, or nibble on a shrimp cocktail for a taste Nevada has put its own spin on.

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Wines of Nevada.

Nevada Beers.

Nevada Spirits.

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