For a long time when I was wandering around downtown, I found myself longing for a place where I could get food and cocktails in a setting that exposed me on at least some level to the outside world, yet insulated me from it.  I was fairly adamant in my mind that I wanted my food to come out of a kitchen, where they cook their food, but at the same time, I didn’t want the venue to feel overly restaurant-y.

Reno may or very well could (more on both later) have found that place with The River Room, the new café/lounge component of Wild River Grille on the Truckee River, at South Virginia Street.

Let’s start with the positives:  The River Room is situated perfectly:  Not only downtown, but also the Truckee River, are directly adjacent.  The place feels like it is in the middle of everything because, it kind of… is.

The River Room has a variety of appetizers and custom cocktails.  I say this after having perused their menu.  I like café/bar/restaurant type places that make up cocktails to serve and which have good food, even if there’s a premium in the cost.  The River Room takes care of this.  I had a cocktail called The Governor, which was invented by my bartender when she wanted to get a whiskey based drink on the menu.  Think Mint Julep only with a unique peach whiskey as one of the ingredients.  It’s a tasty beverage.

As for food the kind of things you see on the menu here are hopefully well represented by the dish I chose, the Tuna Crudo.  This is kind of a poke-style dish if you’ve ever been to Hawaii – a nice diced sashimi marinated in a variety of oils and herbs.  In this case it was served with a couple of different drizzles, and some lovely won-tons.

This was good food, and the cocktail was up to the task.  Let’s get into the negatives.

First:  Entering this establishment is imposing.  It only lists an opening hour, but no closing hour.  This is disturbing because things happen late in Reno often, and it doesn’t reassure me that it’ll be there later, nor does it give me a last time I should think of being there.

Second:  The entrance to this place is not the natural location on Virginia Street, but is instead buried within the River Walk and it is not particularly inviting to have to walk off your already chosen path to go into a bar/café that does not even bother telling you how late it’s open!

Third:  Price.  2 cocktails and a plate of tasty food, after tip:  near 40 bucks.  I wouldn’t mind paying just a little less for that.  I get that a lot of people in Reno are pretty cheap but I also think there’s a contingent of people who are less cheap and who would like to visit The River Room on a regular basis.  They’ve got tasty drinks, nice above-average food and a great atmosphere and location. All that’s left for them is to fix a few irritating things.  All that’s left for you is to go there and get some Crudo!

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Would someone please tell me where ELSE I haven’t been that I’m going to fall in love with next?

I love food, and I especially love food from places that are very Reno.   The Honey Bakery near Sundance Books (off Keystone) is no exception.  You can’t get more “non-corporate,” than this, and the little treats inside are decadent, insane, warm little packages of unfettered goodness.

I’ve had stuffed buns before.  Yes, giggle away, you ninnies, but I’m talking about good eats here, we’ll save those tawdry stories for another time.  Stuffed buns, in this instance, include the Asian variety, in this case, Chinese in origin.  They can have all sorts of things stuffed into them.  They are then baked and glazed, and are kind of like a dessert dumpling of sorts, reminiscent of a donut, but yet they can be savory as well.  You can have meat, red bean paste, taro root, even sausage stuffed in  your bun, all for about a buck a piece.

Who better to introduce me to such things than being randomly whisked away by Eddie Reynoso and the infamous Phillip Brown?  The lovely boys practically abducted me from my home (all-too willingly) and I knew they were up to no good.  Of course, they didn’t eat any of the lovely treats, they let the chubby one eat sixteen of them.  No, actually that didn’t happen, but like a woman and her age, a man and the size of his member, you do not talk about what a queen does and does not eat.

Unless you’re me, and like always, all stereotypes and bets are off!

The buns were wonderful.  I partook in a red bean paste and a taro root bun, and then went back for more.  The guy that runs the place is perfectly charming and helpful, too!

Incidentally,  I’ve had these treats before, in another town.  I usually favor pork-filled buns, for they are a meal in and of themselves.  As far as I’m concerned, these rival and possibly surpass the buns I dove into when in San Diego, San Francisco and New York.   All right here in Reno!

Where, you ask?

403 Keystone Avenue, which if you go to the Save-Mart on Keystone, and hang a left, it’s about 20 feet away from the front of Sundance Books, across the parking lot, right on the corner suite.

Find your own gaggle of queens and go have some Honey Bakery buns.  I highly suggest it!

GR

(PS - Thank you Eddie and Phillip, and especially to Phillip brown for letting me steal his photo for this review!)

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Buster Blue’s When the Silver’s Gone surprises almost immediately with a unique, characteristic sound that rarely lets up.

The first track, “Into the Trees,” is a great example of the kind of music you’ll find on this album.  The sound is characterized by frequent starts and stops between a very tightly integrated rhythm section, an accordion providing a constant unifying element to the song’s measures, and a really interesting effect involving a saxophone and some vocals that almost come across sounding like they were put through a vocoder, with a recurring riff that establishes the theme for the song, and also to a certain extent, for the album.

This is an album that is full of songs that return over and over again to their own unifying riffs.  No two songs are exactly the same, but one thing is shared by all the tracks:  they’re dark.  This is not a record full of happy music.  Good music, to be sure.  But many of the songs tend toward the macabre.

The album is divided into two halves:  from what I can tell, the first half is a tale of wandering through a dangerous world full of longing to not be let down by a best friend or lover.  Sadly, the culmination of the first half is a most unfortunate act of self sabotage.

Which brings us to “Funeral March Interlude”, a song that for its first 50 seconds or so, will have you scratching your head wondering if this crazy American swing noir band has been replaced by Radiohead!  Following the interlude, “Rise Up” sets the tone for the rest of the album, a tale of dime store redemption, introspection, and ultimately, death.

Yes, it’s happy stuff.  And well worth a listen.

This is why we recommend joining us in attending the CD release show at John Ascuaga’s Nugget on June 18.

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I just had to tell all of you, so that you could in turn find out for yourself. That’s how these things work, anyway. Someone told me about it first. Come to find out, people have been enjoying this little find for years.

It’s right up my alley for a place to eat, too:

1.) Out of the way
2.) Small and suspicious
3.) Near a college/university
4.) Very small, very independent

I’m speaking of “Mi Ranchito,” a Mexican restaurant just off Valley Road, north of I-80, west of N. Wells, East of UNR and just up the street from Taylor Memorial Park. It’s in a totally utilitarian strip mall with other small Hispanic businesses (you can usually tell by the 300 signs for international calling cards presented by scantily-clad almond-skinned females) and right on the end unit.

This place was introduced to me by some fine lads working at Bibo coffee (B3bo, the Record St. location) when a group of us were having a hankerin’ for some grub. We hoofed it over there along Highland Ave, so if you’re a UNR person, it’s easy to get to. Upon entering, it’s totally charming. It reminds me of the roadside diners you find in southern “border states,” along lonely stretches where you’re lucky to find a gas station or food at all. I’ve been to many of those, and to tell you the truth, it’s some of my favorite eating in the country. It pretty much ruined me for so-called Mexican fast food or even chain tex-mex places.

No exception, this place, only about ten tables, interesting barrel chairs, a few booths and you can either walk up and introduce yourself or just sit right down and get a few menus from the friendly personnel. That’s probably the neatest part of this place, the people that work there. They’re probably the friendliest and sweetest folks serving up food ANYWHERE in town. Every time I’ve gone in there so far, a different person has taken care of us, and it’s been beyond great. They’re perfectly bilingual, and you get treated like a regular or good friend, even if you are a brand new face. This is probably what also charmed me into thinking this was a “border state,” cafe-style place, because that’s how they do it down there. I’ve walked into places that see “gringo,” and you get treated like “crapo,” but never in places like this. Clean, friendly, but how’s the food?

I’m stuck on one menu item, well two, if you count the beverage. If you get anything there to try the place out, look for the “chile relleno burrito.” Have it with an ice-cold glass of horchata (cinnamon-goodness-rice-milk-drink), and you’re in business. I tried a tamale, part of a taco and another burrito from friends’ plates, and all were beyond good.

Prices run around $5 - $7, and it’s well worth it. Truthfully, I can’t wait to go back.  When I do, and I suggest this to you, too, the mid-to-late afternoon seems to be best.  Though they close at 9:00pm, they have no problems with going home early if no one is around!

500 Denslowe Drive (at Valley Road)
Reno, NV 89512-2305
(775) 337-8411

GR

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Ah, Buster Blue. 

It was with tremendous excitement that I learned this band had headed up to Virginia City to record a new album at Piper’s Opera House, to be titled, quite appropriately, When the Silvers Gone.  You can catch two tracks, “Bloody Your Teeth” and “Cowboys & Indians” on the band’s Myspace.

Buster Blue’s debut, 2008’s This Beard Grows for Freedom, was an amazingly fun ride through a style of music perhaps best described as swing noir.  Seeing this band play live in a tiny little bar was quite an experience.  A six piece fitting into a tiny space like The Zephyr is something all its own, but it’s quite another thing to have the sound come out with almost perfect fidelity.  So many instruments are employed in the production of Buster Blue’s songs that it is quite something to see it all come together.

What I just describe was my first time experiencing their music live.  The last time I saw them play live was in a really, really crowded house at St. James Infirmary on a Friday night.  The show was to raise money for the band to record their new album.  The atmosphere that night was tense and difficult.  The crowd was very noisy, and there were so many people in the bar that it was next to impossible to move through the room.  Forget trying to hear the band!  My party ended up outside the bar, standing by a window in the chill of a December evening, grateful then to finally be able to hear the music.  This was before the Knitting Factory had opened downtown, and I said to my friends that I could not wait for the new album to be done and the Knit to open, so that I could hear them play in a proper music venue.

Well, Buster Blue has played the Knit lately, and I haven’t been able to make it out to see them play.  Imagine my surprise when I learned that the CD release show would be happening at a swankier venue still – John Ascuaga’s Nugget’s Celebrity Showroom.  This event will take place June 18 at 8 pm.  Tickets are $16.50 and can be booked online.  Highly recommended.

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Sweet Jesus, what IS that sound?

It’s Reno Noise Night.

Noise music is usually an abstract version of sound.  Sometimes there’s a beat to follow, sometimes there isn’t.  Sometimes it’s irrtating, sometimes it’s texturally fascinating.   From home made, home-built acoustic instruments to racks of ancient synthesizers, you’ll see what people decide to do with them.   It’s avant-garde questioning if people actually do just bang on stuff for the sake of minimalistic simplicity, or if they know how to play an instrument (or break it live, on stage) altogether.  A good time will be had by all.  This is a free show, so what do you have to lose?

The Lineup:

Little Sister
Noise-Comm Labs
Stickybop
Slurry (aka Spoonful of Slurry)
and more…

May 22 - 7:00pm
The HenDen
538 Sinclair
All Ages - Free

PS - Please respect this neat little venue, free show or not!

GR

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