Tag Archives: Winnemucca Nevada

No Shorts but Great Short-Order Cooks at The Griddle in Winnemucca, Nevada

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The Griddle is a colourful, go-to place for breakfast in Winnemucca, Nevada

The Griddle is a colourful, go-to place for breakfast in Winnemucca, Nevada

Maybe The Griddle‘s gone corporate. A friend tells me of servers in short skirts and a cook in an apron-covered bikini during long-ago visits.

Things are much more sedate when I roll in recently at 6 am, met with a friendly greeting and a display case of bottled jams and salsas for sale. (The Griddle has expanded beyond this flagship location to three others in Nevada and California.) Still, there’s sufficient character in the green vinyl booths, the big horseshoe counter and the gleaming wood-panelled ceiling.

And the Griddle delivers where it counts—on the plate. I swear my Caribbean French toast arrives in under three minutes. It’s two thick slices of Texas toast dipped in a coconut batter and grilled till the little coconut slivers are slightly crispy. A good, refreshing take on a standard, though a little pricy at $8.30.

A Caribbean take on French toast, featuring coconut

A Caribbean take on French toast, featuring coconut

The Griddle obviously knows what it’s doing at breakfast. By the time I’ve licked my plate clean at 6:20, seven tables are full.

The Griddle
460 West Winnemucca Boulevard
Daily 6 am-2 pm
Griddle on Urbanspoon

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Basking in Basque Cuisine in Northern Nevada

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Customers sit at communal tables for the Basque-style meal at The Martin Hotel in Winnemucca, Nevada

Customers sit at communal tables for the Basque-style meal at The Martin Hotel in Winnemucca, Nevada

A quick glance at the The Martin Hotel‘s dinner menu is a bit sobering for the frugal road tripper. Thirty-two bucks for lamb shank, $28 for a full rack of ribs. But those plate-filling main courses are well into the future should you decide to sit down at a long, shared table in this Basque-style restaurant in Winnemucca, Nevada (Note: There’s a strong Basque presence in northern Nevada, thanks to long-ago gold mining and sheep herding immigrants).

For starters, there’s soup and salad, along with a basket of bread. Then arrive little dishes of green beans, mashed potatoes and chorizo. Did I mention, the server plunks down a carafe or two of included red wine for the table? All this is mere preamble to the table-shuddering mains, along with an overflowing plate of fries. Oh, there’s bread pudding or maybe ice cream for dessert. Hope you crawled through the mountain desert for three days to prepare for this extravaganza.

There seems no getting around this all-in, very popular, menu. But I manage to sweet talk my way into ordering just a side dish of that Basque specialty, tongue ($7), plus a few furtive sips of wine.

A Basque specialty, a heaping bowl of tongue

A Basque specialty, a heaping bowl of tongue

And I must say, it kinda tastes like…. beef stew. Lots of tender, thin slices of tongue in a rich sauce; must be more than one critter’s mouth parts sacrificed for the cause.

As I leave, a bartender shouts out: “How was the tongue?” “Cat got it.”

As for the rest of the full-fledged customers, suffice to say no one staggers away hungry. Not sure they all stagger away.

The Martin Hotel
94 West Railroad Street, Winnemucca, Nevada
Lunch weekdays 11:30 am-2 pm, dinner daily 4 pm-9 pm
Martin Hotel on Urbanspoon