One of my quieter ambitions in life is to make Reno a thing. Not in the way it’s already a thing. I want it to be a good thing. Or rather, a thing people appreciate as good. A good thing in which people wish to participate.
This came to the mind over the weekend when I drove past a “Nashville Hot Chicken” truck. It wasn’t until 2018 that I learned Nashville considers itself known for its hot chicken, but despite my previous ignorance, when I learned it was suchly known, I accepted that as fact (especially because, while I’d eaten chicken that was hot before, and I mean in terms of both temperature and spice, I’d never eaten it in a setting in which it was being called “hot chicken”).
I’m wondering if Reno needs something like that for itself. Not hot chicken, of course—Nashville already has that one claimed—but some food that at least some people associate with the city.
If you, like me, wondered if Reno maybe already has something like this, and you and I just haven’t heard of it, rest assured. I did my diligence. I read 12 things you must eat and drink in Reno—a piece from the Reno Gazette-Journal that sounds like it’s going to murder you if you don’t eat and drink those 12 things but is really just something of a tourist guide—only to find it was all hyper-specific: ‘You must drink [insert drink], made only at [insert bar].’ In one case, the dish was a New York style pizza. I’m sorry, Reno Gazette-Journal, but we’re not going to make anyone take Reno seriously by trying to brand pizza slices as Reno-Style New York-Style Pizza.
The Food Network was more helpful. In listing classic Nevadan dishes, it mostly focused on things more native to Las Vegas, but it gave a few clues. Evidently there’s a lot of eggs benedict being eaten in the state, and Peg’s Glorified Ham n Eggs, a Reno diner, has eight benedicts on their menu. There’s also a prevalence of Basque food in Nevada for whatever reason (I’m going to guess immigration policy timelines and agricultural aptitudes), and it doesn’t sound like Las Vegas is aggressively claiming it. Finally, elk chops are a thing. Like a pork chop. But elk.
With this, I think we can go somewhere.
And that somewhere is Reno Elk and Eggs.
We’ve got the ingredients. We’ve got the seasonings. There are no elk in the actual Basque Country. I just checked, and the only things called elk over in Europe are actually moose, and they phase out once you’re past the Baltic Sea.
What we need to do, beginning with Peg’s Glorified Ham n Eggs, is say to ourselves (I don’t know why I’m using the “we” here—I am not in Reno), “How would the Basques cook elk, were they allowed by ever-wise Providence to cook elk?” If no answer comes to mind, that’s ok. Just putting something unusual-but-appetizing on an elk chop will do the trick. We can call anything Basque that fits those guidelines.
I’m counting on Peg to figure this out first, and because Peg’s serving Peg’s glorified ham n eggs out of a diner, I trust Peg to get it right. Something simple.
From there, we’re making a benedict. But not quite a benedict. Poached eggs, yes. But we’re going with regular toast, and we’re going with cheese, because I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that both I and the Basques like cheese more than we like hollandaise sauce. What kind of cheese? Again, Peg, that’s on you to decide. Just needs to be easily procurable.
So what we’ve got, in the end, is poached eggs, elk, and cheese, all on toast. The elk’s seasoned kind of funky. Doesn’t have to be Basque-esque. Just has to be easy to replicate, and it has to be convincing enough for the 99% of Americans who don’t know what Basque food tastes like to say, “Oh, really? Reno Elk and Eggs has Basque origins? Sounds cultured and sophisticated, yet accessible! Let’s all go to Reno, the Basque-est place in the United States, which is also fun for all sorts of other reasons! There, we will eat Reno Elk and Eggs for one quarter of our meals!”
That is what they will say. And they will come to Reno. Because what’s going to happen, after Peg invents this dish, is that Peg’s gonna tell everybody else in town about it, and everybody else in town’s gonna put it on their menu too. Little recipe variants. Piece in the Reno Gazette-Journal debating who has the best Reno Elk and Eggs in Reno. Food Network special on Reno Elk and Eggs. Then, we’re gonna open a Reno Elk and Eggs foodtruck in Austin, and we’re gonna open another one in D.C., and we’re gonna open a third in Cincinnati, a necessary city in which to build a tourist pipeline if you’re going to become a metropolitan powerhouse (look what they’ve done for golf courses on the South Carolina coast).
A whole bunch of Reno Elk and Eggs, coming right up.
