It began with a conversation over lunch at a locally owned Reno restaurant. Two enterprising friends with a fascination for the food industry met to discuss an idea that one of the pair was mulling over. Other cities and regions had been successful in promoting their local dining establishments through events called restaurant weeks, in which area restaurants provided dining specials and food-focused events to encourage residential culinary exploration and attract visitors.

Northern Nevada has a bounty of skilled restaurateurs and chefs. Why couldn’t Reno celebrate its food scene in similar fashion?

Reno Bites restaurant week was born in 2012, its two co-founders each bringing their respective expertise to the table. Chef Clint Jolly was born into the food business as a fourth-generation butcher to an entrepreneurial father who owned a decades-old butcher shop. There, he found a talent for cooking and worked his way to owning his own successful catering company, Great Thyme Catering.

Natasha Bourlin had spent more than a decade working in public relations and marketing, both for individual organizations and communications agencies locally and nationally, and then running her own. Both partners were entrepreneurial and wanted to shine a spotlight on Reno’s culinary community that the pair took pride in. They wanted locals to be just as proud, and for visitors to see Reno’s creative gastronomic side. They wanted local chefs to feel a sense of camaraderie, not just competition, and for a positive economic impact to be created and kept in the community by encouraging diners to patronize their local establishments, not just the chain restaurants they were familiar with.

“When we first decided to put on a restaurant week, our mission was to show locals and visitors what tremendous culinary talent the locally owned restaurants have,” Co-Founder of Reno Bites Natasha Bourlin states. “Unfortunately, most don’t have the marketing budgets that national chain restaurants do. The week encourages people to explore the area restaurants’ food and ambiance, keep their dining dollars within our community, and maybe they’ll find a new favorite.”

However, the creation of such an event locally wasn’t always served up with cherries on top. Bourlin and Jolly spent months researching similar events in other areas, looking at websites and business models, then calling and speaking to fellow restaurant week creators to learn of their challenges and successes, and what they learned from them all.

Between their research, and then trial and error over the first five years of putting on the Reno event, the Reno Bites founders learned many things themselves. The education process was long, both for the restaurants and their target market of food-lovers. Asking restaurants to be financially vested in the event produced far better results for the consumers. It also helped the duo, who created the community event in their spare time and out-of-pocket, pay for the expenses to put it on.

They strategically forged partnerships with local printers, media organizations plus regional and state tourism entities to help carry the message. Friends with talents the two didn’t possess were engaged. Eventually, it all paid off.

“As a chef, I really enjoy seeing my colleagues have fun and work together to build a great community. As an entrepreneur, the financial impact to the restaurants that embrace the week can seriously help them succeed,” Jolly asserts. “Win/win for everyone!”

Where before they had to explain at length what the restaurant week was about to potential sponsors, local—and then national—sponsors began to understand the event’s growing popularity and community impact. Some even began seeking out the week’s team to become a part.

“Whole Foods Market is really excited to be the official passport pick-up location for Reno Bites 2017. We have an amazing local food community in the Northern Nevada area and often see our local chefs shopping in the store,” said Heidi Rich, Marketing & Community Relations Lead for Reno’s Whole Foods Market. “We are proud to help promote these chefs and the local food movement.”

Now heading into its sixth year, Reno Bites Week touts approximately two dozen participating restaurants annually, and a bevy of culinary events that aren’t your average food and wine pairing. It also independently calculated a $1.25 million direct economic impact for the community, based on sales at restaurants, sponsor support, media value and salaries for the event producers.

But at its heart, the restaurant week is about, well, the restaurants.

“The exposure we get from Reno Bites Week is second to none,” exudes Chef Kevin Ashton of Zozo’s Ristorante. “We love the influx of new guests, preparing special menus and creating lasting memories…it’s exactly what a restaurant week should be!”

Can you hear it? No, that’s not thunder. It’s the collective stomach rumblings of everyone eagerly anticipating this year’s restaurant week, Oct. 9-15.

You’ve been patient as we get the event details together for our 2017 Reno Bites Road Trip, so today, your patience will be rewarded. We’ve got a heaping helping of amazing restaurants served up with a side of eight exhilarating events this year; here, let us give you a taste.

More than 20 restaurants this year will be serving up $10, $20 and/or $30 specials inspired by the chef’s fondest road trip memories. This year, it gets personal. In a good way. And not just at the Chef Showdown.

Some of your favorites are back, like Bistro 7, Noble Pie Parlor, Old Granite Street Eatery, SouthCreek Pizza Co., Süp, The Cheese Board, Two Chicks and Wild River Grille, just to name just a few.

The Newbies

Many new friends decided to come on this year’s road trip too, including…drum roll please…Bistro Napa at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, El Jefe’s Cantina at Circus Circus Reno, The Brew Brothers at the Eldorado Resort Casino and Canter’s Deli at the Silver Legacy!

These are the first dining establishments we’ve ever had from the gaming properties that are also a part of our culinary community, and we’re excited to welcome them.

Newcomers to Reno Creazian, The Shore Room and Washoe Public House have come on board this year, two of which will also host one of this year’s Signature Events. New to Reno Bites, but not necessarily to town, this year are Feast, Sierra St. Kitchen & Cocktails and Yosh’s Unique Deli.

The Events

This year’s selection of Signature Events is stellar. On Monday, Oct. 9, kick off restaurant week at Roundabout Grill downtown. Chef-Owner Colin Smith will throw down his tantalizing and creative comfort foods alongside other skilled chefs at this free event.

Tuesday, Oct. 10 will be a beer-lovers delight at Mellow Fellow, where a bottle share event will be accompanied by all-you-can eat BBQ, including turkey, ribs, sausages and tri-tip plus all the fixings.

Wednesday, Oct. 11, at the stunning Tannenbaum Events Center on Mt. Rose Hwy., Chefs Whitney and Josh Deri of Blend Catering will share flavors inspired by their two cross-country road trips on their way to becoming the culinary duo they are today.

“Whodunit?” will be the question of the evening on Thursday, Oct. 12 at Homage’s interactive dinner and show where guests take part in solving a 1920s murder mystery, with era garb encouraged.

A scrumptious stroll will take place on Friday, Oct. 13 at the Downtown WalkaBite, Reno’s Tastiest Meet & Greet Tour. Each of the four stops will serve up a course paired with a delectable drink. Begin at Creazian, then stroll to Chez Louie in the Nevada Museum of Art, followed by the nearby Washoe Public House before culminating the evening at Liberty Food and Wine Exchange, where people can rub elbows with the chefs from each locale over desserts and drinks.

One of the week’s most popular events each year is the free Chef Showdown event, where eight of Reno’s top chefs compete for bragging rights and prizes in the fully functional, gourmet kitchens at Czyz’s Appliance in south Reno. This year, we’re changing things up slightly with a road trip theme, come down for food and beverage samples and a heart-pumping culinary action and see what’s new, and who comes out on top!

Then, Pignic celebrates the month with PIGTOBEERFEST III. Break out the suspenders for all-you-can-drink Oktoberfest and German-style brews, accompanied by a Wurst trio with grilled peppers & onions, German potato salad, & fresh kraut, plus live Polka by the Reno Jazz Syndicate.

Closing out the fantastic food frenzy this year is The Grand Illusion at Zozo’s Ristorante. Who knew the incredibly talented Chef Kevin Ashton was also a magician?? He’ll show off his many skills alongside a professional magician in an evening filled with wonder and awe-inspiring cuisine on Sunday, Oct. 15.

The Freebies

Did we mention that the Reno Bites Passport is back?? You’ll be able to pick them up at our new partner Whole Foods once they’re hot off the presses in late-September, and also at the Kickoff event.

Don’t forget to take part in TravelNevada’s fun social media Reno Bites Road Trip promotion also, where one winner gets a coveted spot on the Chef Showdown judging panel and dinner at Zozo’s!! Just visit the communities on the online itinerary and post pictures of your restaurant meals with the hashtags #RenoBitesRoadTrip, #DFMI and #TravelNevada and you’ll be entered into the drawing held on Oct. 11.

Start working up those appetites now for Reno Bites 2017, see you in October!

Welcome to our first Reno Bites blog!

About time, now that we’re in our 6th year, huh? Well, the wait is over, we’re going to be reaching out to you at least monthly with culinary news from around the region, maybe a national trend or two, and, of course, Reno Bites updates. Hey, think of us like a fine wine that only gets better with time…

We promise to share helpful—or at least insightful—tidbits and not yammer on too much.

This year, we’re putting a road trip theme around the restaurant week. This means our participating chefs will be coming up with creative concoctions based on their road trip memories. Whether their dish is based on the bag of potato chips their parents tossed in the backseat to keep them quiet, or the Lobster Thermidor they had driving through New England last summer, chefs in Reno Bites will be putting an even more personal touch to their $10, $20 and $30 dishes offered to you this year.

Joining us on our road trip this year are our friends at TravelNevada – or to be all formal, the Nevada Division of Tourism – who have put together the Reno Bites Road Trip, a culinary travel itinerary around northern Nevada. Please check it out and share with your friends…especially those from out of town that don’t believe northern Nevada’s a haven of amazing food, talented chefs and fun things to do!

We’re in the full throws of getting our 2017 event together, so if you have a locally owned, favorite place to eat in town that hasn’t been part of Bites yet, please share it with us on Facebook.

It’s exciting to see so many new restaurants in town, from the Redwood Rotisserie to Washoe Public House! We’re looking forward to a fresh crop of participants this year, and are thrilled to have some longtime friends back in for 2017, like Bistro 7, Blend Catering, Noble Pie Parlor, Süp and Zozo’s.

Kicking off our week this year on Monday, Oct. 9 is an event at Roundabout Grill, and the beloved Chef Showdown will be on Saturday, Oct. 14 at Czyz’s Appliance, so mark your calendars now, and keep checking back for more morsels of info.

Thanks for reading our first blog, and see you for the 6th annual Reno Bites Week October 9-15, 2017!