![]() ![]() “Restaurants that have a specific point of difference and a unique value proposition will thrive and stay and continue,” Tragash said. From food trucks to white-tableclothed restaurants to brewpubs, chefs and brewmasters gather some of the region’s finest ingredients to transform into immaculate tacos, handmade pasta and imaginative IPAs. It has also spurred creativity in food and drink establishments, old and new, he said. “This is a signal to me that the community is starving for variety and more exotic and different types of dining experiences and dishes.” Tragash said Northern Nevada’s booming population has enabled the community to support the growing number of bars and restaurants that come in all flavors and sizes. “The fact that they’ve kind of taken off shows the change in the diner’s outlook on what cuisines they’re looking for,” Tragash said. Creating Asian-inspired comfort food, Rice Box, which has a small dining space, serves all of its dishes, like its Thai Chicken Noodle or Khao Moo Dang, in an eco-friendly to-go box. So restaurants are going to be looking for ways to do that and do that well.” Rice Box Kitchen in Midtown Reno, which opened in spring 2021, is one such restaurant. “They still want to support restaurants, but they don’t want the dine-in thing. “Many consumers absolutely don’t want to dine in as much as they did before,” he explained. Many, Tragash said, are shifting to a fast-casual concept that allows them to offer dine-in and takeout. CONSUMER SHIFTS Restaurants are also moving with pandemic-related changes in consumer behaviors. Now? Take your pick from dozens of restaurants specializing in or offering poke bowls. Four years ago, a search on Yelp for poke in Reno-Sparks would have yielded zero results. A poke bowl traditionally consists of white rice topped with cubes of raw fish that’s been marinated in a blend of sesame oil, soy sauce, vegetables and seasonings. We’re seeing newer concepts come in and change the dynamic.” A more recent food trend that Tragash said belatedly washed on Reno’s shores is poke (pronounced “poh-KAY”), a Hawaiian dish deeply rooted in Japanese cuisine. “Today, we have restaurants that sell out on the regular, and have to run limited hours because the interest in them is so great and they can only do so much,” Tragash said. Centro serves an array of small plates, everything from beef tataki to bone marrow, and innovative desserts, like sake kasu cheesecake and croissant bread pudding. “And we have a population now that’s willing to, and interested in, dining as an experience versus just eating.” Tragash pointed to Centro Bar and Kitchen in Midtown Reno as an example of an eatery being embraced by Reno-Sparks that would have struggled to fill its restaurant a decade ago. “In the last four to five years, I think that the timeline of being behind trends has shortened,” Tragash said. In fact, Reno’s reputation as one of the best places to live in America comes not just from its booming job market, burgeoning tech scene and access to the great outdoors, but also from its medley of modern restaurants, food trucks, coffee shops, breweries, bars and more. With a fast-growing population, the city’s restaurant scene has become multifaceted - traditional and offbeat, casual and stylish, covering hundreds of cuisines from various countries and regions around the world. Eight years later, the Biggest Little City has caught up in a big way. “If it was a food trend blowing up on social media, and you’d see a lot of it on Yelp in other bigger communities, we would be about 12 months behind.” A lot of the region’s population, he also noticed, had a strong appetite for chain franchises, rather than the local eateries dotted in Reno’s Downtown and Midtown districts. “I used to joke that we were about 12 months behind the rest of the country,” Tragash said. In 2013, when Michael Tragash first became the community manager at Yelp in Reno, he immediately noticed something about the food and beverage offerings in greater Reno-Sparks. EDITOR’S NOTE This story is adapted from the 2021-2022 edition of the Northern Nevada Guide, a 116-page specialty magazine published in late September by the Northern Nevada Business Weekly. ![]()
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