Time to get my Sunday Brunch on!

Big Ed’s Alley Inn is located in Reno at 1036 E 4^th St.  Big Ed’s is open Sun-Wed from 8am to 5pm.  Thu-Sat they are open 8am-9pm.  I happened to visit this restaurant on a Sunday for breakfast because several people had recommended it, I honestly had never heard of it. 

Upon entering the restaurant I was greeted by the little guy you can see pictured above… jk, I was greeted by a waiter who pointed out two open tables and walked away.  After waiting a minute I decided that must’ve meant I can seat myself.  The décor at Big Ed’s is very nostalgic and there are random pieces of newspaper clippings and wall art displayed throughout.  The newspaper article on the wall at my table was from 1984 and listed Big Ed’s as having some of the best fries in town… can’t tell you if it’s true or not as I didn’t try them!

The waiter was at my table real quick, he returned just as quickly with my drink order of a mimosa and water.  It only took minutes for a different waitress to come by to take my order but I wasn’t ready yet.  She was back within a couple more minutes which was wonderful because I hate it when I tell a waiter I need a little more time and then feel as if I’m being punished for not ordering right away because the waiter doesn’t come back for another 10 minutes…

I love my breakfast sandwiches so I ordered one with ham (there is a choice of bacon or sausage too).  The breakfast sandwich comes with home fries and is $8.95.  My breakfast partner ordered the biscuits and gravy for $5.25 and side of sausage for $2.50.

The food was at the table within ten minutes, very quick!  The breakfast sandwich was delicious and was composed of a slice of cheese on each slice of bread; it was perfectly melted to the ham and egg.  The egg was fried with no runny yolk which was a perfect complement to the sandwich.  Home fries were alright, no complaints there.  The biscuits and gravy were the perfect combination of gravy, sausage and biscuit and I appreciated that the side of sausage was patty style instead of links.  The sausage was cooked fresh and I could tell it hadn’t been       sitting under a heat lamp.

 Overall I was pretty impressed with the food for the price; the portions are big and not too expensive.  The service was excellent and super speedy so this would be an excellent place to eat if you’re looking for good food fast!  This place is a diner in Reno with good eats so what are you waiting for?? Give it a try!

 If anyone can back up my claim of good eats at Big Ed’s let me know!  In fact let me know if you dispute it too!  And I’d appreciate suggestions for my next stop too!!

Lunchtime at Kimmie’s Coffee Cup

This restaurant is located in south Reno at 6770 S. Virginia St.  The hours are Mon-Fri. 6am-2pm and Saturdays from 7am-2pm.  They are closed on Sundays for those interested in Sunday brunch and they don’t serve alcohol so you can forget about the mimosa’s and bloody mary’s.  The hours are a little inconvenient for me as I don’t usually eat lunch till two, but c’est la vie I guess.

I dined at this restaurant on a Friday around 1pm. Upon entering the restaurant, I noticed that it was very bright (possibly because it is painted a pastel yellow inside and out) and had décor that reminded me of my grandmothers house (in a good way).  There is a fairly large waiting area that was utterly deserted during my visit.  I was greeted promptly and seated in a decent booth.

The waitress was there asap and water hit the table almost as soon as I was seated.  I can say there was a limited amount of customers (only about 4 tables in the whole place were occupied) so there is no reason the service should have been anything but exceptional.  As I looked over the menu I noticed that a they had a wide variety of breakfast and lunch food.   After going back and forth between a few items I finally settled on something.  I ordered the hot turkey and Swiss cheese croissant garnished with lettuce and tomato then served on a croissant.  I got my sandwich with french fries and a cup of clam chowder.  My friend got the breakfast quesadilla with the redskin potatoes.

The food was brought out promptly and looked decent.  My clam chowder was good, not the best I’ve ever had and not the worst;  I could tell it was homemade and had a little twist to it too (there was shredded carrot in it and redskin potatoes).  My sandwich was absolutely heavenly; the grilled turkey added a beautiful smokiness to the sandwich and the melty cheese gave it a perfect kick.  My steak fries had probably come right off a restaurant supply truck.  There was no seasoning whatsoever and barely even any salt… hardly worth the calories.  The breakfast quesadilla was not memorable at all… It was composed of bacon, eggs, and cheese and was accompanied by pico and red skin potatoes. The potatoes were fairly flavorless and although I could see the bacon I couldn’t taste it at all.  There was nothing special about the pico either.

All in all I thought my sandwich was really good but nothing else really stood out about Kimmie’s except for the excellent service.  My sandwich was $8.59, the soup was $3.59, and the quesadilla was $8.99.  I would gladly pay that for the sandwich, even thought the fries weren’t good.  But I felt the soup and quesedilla were a little overpriced.  I would say it might be worth a try but don’t go in with really high expectations!

Let me know what you think about this place if you’ve been there and make sure to give me suggestions on my next stop!

The Reintroduction

I originally had intended my blogs to be about everything to do with opening a restaurant. It seems maybe I was trying to tackle a subject that is perhaps beyond my grasp at this very moment. I had to ask myself if I was adding value for other people? I don’t know if added value is something I can provide at this point about this subject because I know so little about the restaurant business.

That being said, I still have a large interest in food and service. After doing a little bit of research, I noticed there were not many blogs about restaurant in Reno and the surrounding area. The blogs that I did find didn’t really give many details about the food and service or what I could expect when dining at a particular restaurant being reviewed.

If you’ve read anything about me you know that I love food. I also love experiencing new things. I am a college student so sometimes money can be a little tight; in other words, when I do go out to eat I want to get a good deal for my money and I want to be eating food that I thoroughly enjoy. There is nothing worse than spending money on a meal that lacks taste or getting service that is sub-par.

So now I will tell you what my promise is to you as the reader. When I review a restaurant, I will always give you the honest truth (in my opinion). I will never be swayed by factors such as: knowing the person who owns the restaurant (which I know is what happens in many reviews). I will never make any employee or owner of a restaurant aware that I am doing a review as this defeats the whole purpose of an honest review; after all, no restaurant is going to serve lousy food or give bad service if they know they are being reviewed. I will give you the specifics, including pics and price so you know exactly what you might be getting into BEFORE you go there to dine.

This is something a am really passionate about and have ALWAYS wanted to do! I know this will add value to everyone who lives in or visits the Reno/Tahoe area, so join me in my quest for the greatest tastes in the Reno/Tahoe area and I would appreciate any and all suggestions for new and different places to review.

Hatching the theme

Now it’s time to think about what kind of food and service it is I might want to provide.  This will take a lot of brainstorming and doesn’t seem like an easy task.  The ‘theme’ (which, for my purposes is the décor and type of food served) will be a big determining factor in whether a restaurant will sink or float.

So I’ll want to think about types of restaurants.  There are fast food restaurants which are normally franchises, small service restaurants, dinner houses, ethnic varieties, Pub/bar restaurants, and gourmet.  I’ll have to think about this in combination with who my target audience will be.

Here in Reno, NV there are a lot of restaurants so it will be important to differentiate what I can offer.  I would like to offer food for lunch and dinner and I would like to target families as well as a younger crowd so I think that a brew house and eatery would be perfect.  Serving a combination of many different selections in a relaxed setting might be ideal for this audience.

I think it’s safe to say that midrange pricing and a wide variety of food can properly cater to this crowd.  Brew houses typically serve American food but in order to hook a younger/more diverse crowd, offering a fusion of international cuisine might work out well.

No matter what them is chosen it’s really important to always think of a solid way to bind it all together; so the theme will be one of the most important things to think about.  Think about what kind of themes that have worked well while still trying to differentiate from other restaurants.  What do you think would be a good theme??  What do you think would work best for your neighborhood/town?

Once again thanks for reading and any pointers are appreciated!

 

Location, Location, Location

I’m sure we’ve all seen it before; the wacky restaurant that doesn’t at all fit in with the location it’s in.  I think this may be strike number one for any new restaurant.  It’s the strangest thing (still wishing there was a font for sarcasm), but people love to go to places that can somehow relate to the neighborhood, city, lives, etc.  If people can associate stuff with other stuff they like, well that’s the golden ticket.

So I realize that I can’t just think up a restaurant theme and expect it be successful at any location, so I think doing research on location is an important factor.  For example: putting an Italian restaurant in china town, probably not a good idea.  Also, what about established restaurants?  It would probably be best to stay away from a similarly themed restaurant that is already well established.

Matching a restaurant to location is important so I think the best way to do this is to either choose the location, then think of the theme or to think of the theme and then look for the perfect location because I’ve seen plenty of awesome restaurants that never made it because they just didn’t fit nearby demographics.

Now that we’ve established location, let’s go back to the idea of associating stuff with other stuff.  I have to think about what the people around the chosen location value, what is their culture?  Is it a middle class neighborhood that values bang for their buck, or is it a place that young adults frequent that might be single and willing to spend a bit more on their meals?  How will my location influence who will frequent my establishment?

So what have I missed?  Anything?  I’m sure there are some things about location I need to know…  I’m all ears so send me a post; I’d appreciate any pointers!

Inventing the Restaurateur

Hello all!  My name is Jessica Parkhurst and welcome to my blog!   This is my inaugural blog so bear with me as I get the hang of this!

Finding something to be passionate about can sometimes take a lifetime; then again, some of us just know what it is we love because it draws us in.  Either way, once we discover our passion it drives and motivates us to accomplish just about everything in our lives; i.e. passion is very important!

Speaking of passion, allow me to share mine with you!  I love cooking, baking, wining, and dining.  I love kitchen gadgets, dinnerware, stemware, and centerpieces.  Most of all I like it when  people enjoy their dining experience from the food and the wine, to the ambiance and conversation.  It’s safe to say that I am a (somewhat obsessed) meal enthusiast.

As I lamenting one day about not ever having enough time/space/money to throw the amazing dinner parties I want to so badly, it occurred to me that maybe I would be the perfect candidate to open my own restaurant!

Since I have the drive, now all I need is that all important knowledge about the ins and outs of the restaurant biz.  And this is where you come in…. I’m going to need a lot of help from anyone who knows anything about owning and running a restaurant.  Of course I will be doing a lot of research myself but I know that no amount of research can compare to the real thing.

I look forward to this journey and I hope you can come along with me on my quest to Invent a Restaurateur!