From Mr. Chow to Gordon Ramsay, Nevada’s food and drink scene beckons celebrity chefs from all backgrounds and culinary styles. Get your hands on a bartender flair-ified cocktail, then stroll the Strip. Claw your way through a king crab feast in the buffet capital of the United States. Slink into a red leather booth at a Rat Pack-approved steakhouse. Take your pick of food comas at Reno’s more-per-capita-than-anywhere all-you-can-eat sushi spots. When it comes to Nevada’s food and drink scene, the menu is long and the options are endless.
Here you’ll find tried-and-true Nevada flavors and a classic haunt to savor it all in.
Nevada Basque
Northern Nevada’s Basque influence is on full display in many historic “boarding house” dining halls peppered across northern Nevada, and stopping at any one of them guarantees a satisfying meat-filled, gloriously garlicky meal, often served family style, with a Picon Punch to wash it all down.
A Picon Punch, Nevada’s boozy-then-bitter-then-sweet unofficial state cocktail, is made with an Amaro liqueur, soda water, grenadine, a lemon twist, and a stiff brandy floater.
Throughout Nevada, you can find bars and saloons decorated with original red oil lamps and squeaky 19th-century wood floors, holdovers from those who came out West to strike it rich in gold and silver. These Sagebrush Saloons each have their own personality and charm, and attract both road trip warriors and history hounds alike.
Roadside Diners & Burger Joints
It’s no secret that Las Vegas and Reno go big on the over-the-top luxury dining and exquisite all-you-can-eat extravaganzas. But you can also count on the rest of the Silver State’s cities and towns to bring their flavor game—serving up some of the tastiest, classic American food faves with a tried-and-true Nevada flair. From Basque chorizo patty melts to the Middlegate Monster burger challenge, backed up with decadent pies and homemade milkshakes, a flavor-filled Nevada road trip is one your taste buds will never forget
Every day, thousands of people will go to each and every one of Nevada’s 136 buffets, and while Nevada doesn’t have the most buffets of any state overall, the Silver State still has roughly one buffet for every 20,875 people. Of the 136 buffets in the state, only 72 of them are in Las Vegas, which means some of the best buffets are beyond the Strip.