Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa & Casino

Indulge in these pampering packages for Valentine’s Day from the Stillwater Spa ~ Available February 10-14.

“I Love Me”

• 50 Minute Stillwater massage
• 50 HydraFacial with our pink touches
• 35 Minute Healing Waters manicure
• Includes a champagne toast & $25 to spend towards retail – must be spent the day of the package.
• Cost: $300

“I Heart You”

• 75 Minute Stillwater Romance Couples massage
• 25 Minute Scalp massage and Conditioning treatment
• Includes a champagne toast & $25 to spend towards retail – must be spent the day of the package.
• Cost: $420

Call 775-886-6745 or visit http://laketahoe.hyatt.com/hyatt/pure/spas/index.jsp for more info.

Lone Eagle Grille

• Champagne Dinner served February 10-14 with chocolates and roses accompanied by live entertainment for $105/person. Reservations recommended

Cal Neva Resort Casino Hotel

• Romance Package – Executive Lake view room complete with chilled Champagne on arrival for only $139.
• Romantic Lake View Dinner – A three-course meal, glass of Champagne and a long stem rose. $45 per person.
• Couples Massage in the privacy of the Cal Neva Euro Spa. $120.

All offers are now available for this special weekend. Call today to book your reservation at 800-233-5111.

Resort at Squaw Creek

Ultimate Valentine’s Getaway

This two-day package for two adults includes:

• Two nights’ accommodations
• Two adult lift tickets to Squaw Valley USA
• Dinner for two on Valentine’s evening from the special gourmet prix fixe menu in the signature restaurant, Six Peaks Grille.
• Choice of one spa treatment per person – choose from either a 50-minute massage, facial or body treatment.
• “Sparkles and Sweets” champagne amenity.
• Turndown service

Prices start at $999 for the two-night package. Offer valid February 13-14. Call 800.401.9501 for complete details.

West Shore Café

• The ‘Romantic Getaway’ package starts at $179 and includes accommodations + lift tickets OR $50 dining credit.
• Valentine’s Day menu is available for everyone from lodging guests to day visitors.

Call 530.525.5200 to make lodging and/or dining reservations today.

Check out the results from Reno Magazine’s Best of Reno 2011: Dining. From the Best New Restaurant to the Best Romantic Dinner to the Best Girls Night Out, these 26 restaurants will go above and beyond satisfying your taste buds.

Click on the image to start flipping through their online magazine to view the list.

As I read through the reviews on Yelp, there’s definitely a recurring theme for those who have dared to step inside one of the newer international restaurants in Reno. The reviewers write that they were “unsure of what to expect” and “resistant” to the idea of eating at Naan & Kabab etc. Much to everyone’s surprise, it seems, their taste buds were pleased.

Since it’s opening on Valentine’s Day 2009, Naan & Kabab etc. has captured the hearts of its customers – 85% of which are repeat visitors.

Owner Chef Maurice describes his menu as a “journey of flavors” through authentic Mediterranean cuisine, the kind he grew up eating with his family in Tehran. The Mediterranean steak, for example, includes a wide array of flavors like saffron, cinnamon and coffee.

Chef Maurice was born to a Jewish family that had fled Bolshevik Russia and later Azerbaijan. When he was 17, he left for California, taking a job in a roadside steakhouse for 95 cents an hour. The story goes that one day, the hard-drinking head chef was too intoxicated to cook, so Maurice stepped up and prepared a steak and eggs breakfast for one of the most critical customers. Chef Maurice says the customer said it was the best breakfast he’d ever had, leaving a 25 cent tip. ”A 20 percent tip, huge for those days!’ Maurice recalled. ”That’s when I knew cooking was my passion.”

While Chef Maurice’s career took him throughout California, he was no stranger to Reno. He had a vacation home in Reno that he visited several times a year. He had always dreamed of opening his own restaurant, so when he “retired” in 2009 from restaurant operations in Northern California, he opened Naan & Kabab etc. in Reno.

Chef Maurice (always donning his chef hat) is a friendly man who takes much pride in his food, his culture and his establishment. Each night he makes the rounds and greets every one of his customers. He’s filled with colorful stories from his childhood, describing elaborate potluck dinners with the families with whom he shared his apartment building in Tehran.

Chef Maurice boasts healthy, fresh meals with all natural ingredients. Perhaps one of the most appealing aspects of the menu is the ability to get a delicious, three-course meal for only $8.95! (This offer is available every day from 11:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) The dining room of Naan & Kabab etc. is cozy and friendly, and the staff hasn’t changed since it opened over one year ago.

Check it out for yourself at 2740 S. Virginia St. Reno, Nevada 89502 or take a virtual tour on their Web site. 

Friday and Saturday nights you can enjoy a belly dancing show, and be sure to try their signature dessert, the “Awesome Dude Baklava”; a saffron ice cream with pistachios, vanilla, rose water and pieces of cream topped with baklava chunks.

Sitting on the exact location where Reno began in 1859, the newly renovated River Room in the historical Riverside Hotel is now open for business. Chuck and Jan Shapiro, owners of the thriving Wild River Grille, expanded their business into the space previously occupied by “Dreamers Coffee”.

The River Room has now doubled the size of the Wild River Grille, known for its creative cuisine, extensive wine list and picturesque spot along the Truckee River.

The River Room will continue the Grille’s tradition of live music, entertainment and exceptional hospitality. The new operation will employ up to 50 people during peak season, creating 20 new jobs. The new venue features vibrant décor that celebrates the history and significance of the site. Oversized images from the Nevada Historical Society frame the windows and an enormous image of the old Reno Arch covers the back wall. A fresh and creative menu accompanies the new space.

In the evening you can expect classic infused cocktails, martinis and the new “Ring Toss”, the River Rooms Signature Drink. (Homage to the Reno legend of newly-divorced women tossing their rings into the Truckee River from the Virginia Street Bridge.)

The menu also showcases a tempting array of small plate options and desserts such as brie potstickers, short ribs, and espresso mousse. “In the coming months we will also include a daytime cafe offering fresh sandwiches, salads, pastries and espresso.” said Chuck Shapiro, Owner of Wild River Grille and the River Room.

“Since 2007, we have been a proud part of the urban renewal going on in Reno,” said owner Chuck Shapiro.  “Our patrons enjoy a restaurant where they can meet up with friends to enjoy great food and drink, while celebrating the art and music renaissance of the Riverwalk. We are very excited to offer an additional space for dining, entertainment and relaxation.”

The building, a Frederick DeLongchamps design and on the National Historic Register, was saved from demolition and renovated in 2000 by the City of Reno and Artspace Projects of Minneapolis to create live/workspace for local artists. “We are delighted that the Wild River Grille has decided to expand into the space,” said Will Law, Chief Executive Officer of Artspace. “It is a successful example of a local business that strives to serve the needs of the community within and around the Artists Lofts.”

Check out the River Room at 17 S. Virginia Street or call 775-284-7224.

The spirit of abbondanza prevails at Briscola, Charlie Palmer’s newest restaurant at Grand Sierra Resort. Under the direction of Executive Chef Dave Holman, small plate offerings, including Parmigiano rice cakes, and hand-cut fresh pastas accompany main course dishes that take a light approach to classical Italian cooking, from grilled lamb chops with eggplant caponata and creamy polenta to crispy barramundi with fennel and tomato stuffing.

Briscola, a traditional Italian card game, inspired the club-like comfortable decor.  A creamy, off-white paint palette softens rustic exposed brick walls, and scattered lighting diffused through linen shades creates a warm, welcoming ambiance. In characteristic Roman-style, the dining room with vaulted ceiling is almost like eating in a wine cave, where an over-sized wooden table used as meat station takes center stage. The fire-truck red replica of a vintage manual Berkel meat slicer guarantees that salume and prosciutto are hand-cut and arranged to order.

Palmer, known for his support of small label wine makers, carries out the la dolce vita theme with a selection of Italian wines as well as California bottlings of grapes with Italian descent.

Bricola’s menu includes Italian favorites at affordable family prices. Pastas start at $7 and entrees at only $15. Kids will love the spaghetti and three-cheese lasagna, while you enjoy a glass of classic Chianti with your Crispy Chicken or Veal Parmesan.

House Specialties:

• Antipasti including a house salad (mixed baby greens and Balsamico), arugula (asparagus, tomato and Parmigianino), caprese burrata, heirloom tomato, basil and 18-year Balsamico and Caesar (romaine, marinated tomatoes and white anchovies).
• Hand-cut fresh Pasta dishes include pappardelle (braised rabbit and apricots), chitarra (shrimp, scallops, mussels and clams glazed in a spicy lobster broth) and fettuccini.
• Main Course options take a light approach to classical Italian cooking, like grilled lamb chops (eggplant caponata and creamy polenta), crispy barramundi (fennel and tomato stuffing) and a Florentine-style sirloin.

Hours:
Dinner
Sunday to Thursday: 5:30pm to 9:30pm
Friday to Saturday: 5:30pm to 10:30pm

Lounge
Monday to Sunday: 5:00pm to 12:00am

Phone: 775.789.2456
Reservations: OpenTable.com (recommended)

Video: Pasta Making in Briscola’s Kitchen
Briscola sous chef Rocky Woods demonstrates fresh pasta making techniques

Sterling’s Seafood Steakhouse at the Silver Legacy Resort Casino presents a Ferrari-Carano Jazz Dinner featuring music from CeCe Gable on Thursday, July 9 at 6 p.m.

Chef Neil Campbell will pair the five-course meal with selections from Ferrari-Carano vineyards. The inclusive meal is $99 per person.

The first course is a Lollipop Colorado Lamb Chop surrounded in blueberry, a balsamic butter sauce (PreVail, West Face, ’04.) The second course is a Chilled Leek, Chive and Potato with English Clotted Cream (Fume Blanc, ’06,) followed by a Butter Lettuce and Double Cream Roquefort Cheese Salad (Alexander Valley, Chardonnay ’06.)

For the main course, guests will enjoy a Filet of Fresh Chilean Sea Bass with Lobster Crust, Butternut Squash Risotto and Caviar Sauce (Tre Terre, Chardonnay. ’06.)

Dessert is an Apricot Chocolate Ganache, Almond Pecan Nougatin and Chocolate Mascarpone Cream in a Hazelnut Sweet Dough Shell (Eldorado Noir, ’06.)

For reservations, guests can call Silver Legacy at (775) 329-4777.

By LJ Bottjer

We’ve all been here.

One wants Italian, the other Chinese and the recurrent dieter desires nothing but salad bar fixings.

Such edible diversities can often cause strife and discord, and destroy a vacation’s harmony unless, while in Reno, your hungry horde heads for the Buffet at the Eldorado.

Read the complete article Here