My heart is broken after witnessing the devastating health impacts and economic fallout throughout our community from the coronavirus pandemic.
I am sending huge heaps of love and respect to all involved, especially our health care heroes. I hope everyone in the local food-and-drink world, in particular, survives it.
As of this writing, all Nevadans and Californians were asked to stay home. Consequently, restaurant and other business owners had to lay off all or most of their employees, and some even shut their doors. The economy is struggling. As of April 9, a historic 16 million people filed for unemployment benefits nationally. We all are in an unprecedented, turbulent, and challenging time.
As scary as this experience has been (and may continue to be) for local businesses and organizations, I am proud of how quickly and innovatively people pivoted in response to the conditions.
With on-premise dining and imbibing discouraged, local restaurant owners offered curbside pickup and delivery, as well as special offers. They encouraged customers to buy gift certificates to support their businesses. Some gave big discounts on bottled wine, including 4th St. Bistro and Napa-Sonoma in Reno. Lucky viewers watched fun, free, virtual cooking classes from Nothing To It! Culinary Center in Reno. To those missing their local watering hole, Death & Taxes bar in Reno packaged batched cocktails to go.
On the fly, leaders of the Great Basin Community Food Co-op in Reno created an online store of 1,200 items (including local produce and meats) and encouraged curbside grocery pickup. The co-op also provided Reno-Sparks home delivery through D.R.O.P.P., usually reserved for farmer pickups and restaurant drop-offs.
Local distillers created 1,000 gallons per week of grain alcohol to be crafted into hand sanitizer. Those involved in the effort were The Depot in Reno, Ferino Distillery in Reno, Seven Troughs Distillery in Sparks, and Verdi Local Distillery in Verdi. And Damon Industries in Sparks packaged it for distribution. Old Trestle Distillery in Truckee also created hand sanitizer from its alcohol. The finished products from all of those listed above were dispensed to local hospitals, county health employees, and residents. Team members at Bently Heritage Estate Distillery in Minden made hand sanitizer and disinfectant spray for Nevada first responders, and they worked with Douglas County and Nevada COVID-19 Incident Management teams to distribute the sanitizer to hospital managers, law enforcement agents, and other health and human services entities at no charge. By late March, Bently had produced more than 1,300 gallons of it.
Liberty Food & Wine Exchange in Reno opened an essentials store selling grocery staples to residents, as well as crafting kits for people to make meals at home. Old Granite Street Eatery in Reno, BJ’s Nevada Barbecue Co. in Sparks, and Great Full Gardens in Reno and Sparks also offered grocery items that were priced below retail costs.
In an effort to keep employees paid, Jessica Schneider, owner of Junkee Clothing Exchange in Reno, launched a mystery bag program, with staff members hand-picking items based on customers’ requests and desired price ranges. SBK Beauty and Extension Parlour in Reno sold skin care products at a 20 percent discount and delivered them for free. Evoke Fitness in Reno, Juice Box Yoga in Reno, The Studio in Reno, and others presented virtual exercise classes. The University of Nevada Cooperative Extension’s Grow Your Own, Nevada classes — such as herb growing and backyard livestock raising — also went virtual. Our vet, Southwest Veterinary Hospital in Reno, let clients do curbside appointments, only allowing pets to enter the building.
One of my favorite special offers was that in which Reno restaurants — such as Peavine Taphouse, Arario, and others — tucked a free roll of toilet paper into every delivery and pickup order.
Even we had to get creative in getting magazines out to readers while some businesses were closed. Whole Foods Market and the Co-op graciously put our magazine in every home delivery order. Junkee’s Schneider also put a copy of our magazine in each of its mystery bag pickups. We delivered magazines to other businesses that remained open, including Natural Grocers, The Urban Market, and doctors’ offices.
Benevolence was prevalent.
Restaurants emptied their walk-in coolers and storage rooms and gave away food to those who needed it most, including employees. Süp, Great Full Gardens, and others also donated to nonprofits such as Community Health Alliance in Reno, which distributed food and meals to its low-income clients. India Kabab & Curry Indian Restaurant in Reno also gave away free meals, and Pawl Hollis, owner of Rail City Garden Center, passed out crates of free potatoes and tomatoes donated by Plan B Ranch in Reno.
Kaya and Kevin Stanley, owners of Old Granite Street Eatery and Rue Bourbon in Reno, created Feed Our Heroes, having sponsors pay local restaurants — including Liberty Food & Wine Exchange, The Cheese Board, Rounds Bakery, and Bangkok Cuisine (all in Reno) — to provide meals to first responders and emergency room staff members. Coffeebar in Reno and Truckee also passed out free beverages and pastries to health care workers. IMBIB Brewery in Reno gave away beer to health care workers, as well as police officers and fire department personnel. Full Belly Deli in Reno, in partnership with the owners of Anytime Fitness in Reno, also passed out free lunches to health care workers at Renown Health in Reno.
A University of Nevada, Reno student started Shopping Angels NV, a free grocery delivery service for residents age 60 and older and those more vulnerable to the coronavirus. The effort was powered by a large group of volunteers.
One local restaurant owner didn’t take his salary to keep several of his workers on payroll and some owners continued to pay their employees even while they weren’t working. For instance, Edgewood Resort in South Lake Tahoe reported that it paid all its team members for the 30 days it was closed. Edgewood also donated all of its perishable food to local charities.
Wild River Grille in Reno donated 50 percent of its gift card sales to Sierra Arts Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for local artists and the arts. Money raised went to performance-based entities: Good Luck Macbeth, Reno Little Theater, Brüka Theatre, and the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts, all in Reno.
The situation also resulted in many events being cancelled. Some organizations acted quickly to postpone them, including Big Brothers Big Sisters (moving its event from April to Nov. 7) and Toll Brothers’ Own the Kitchen event (from March to a soon-to-be-determined date).
School closures greatly impacted food insecure students, who rely upon school breakfasts and lunches for their daily meals. The Nevada Department of Agriculture stepped in, serving grab-and-go meals at various sites and even delivering to some areas. For children ages 1 to 18, from Mon. – Fri., the Food Bank of Northern Nevada provided meals; and the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows gave away free boxed lunches Mon. – Fri. for children ages 1 to 18. Other food pantries helped in a myriad of ways. To those facing food insecurity in Lake Tahoe and Truckee, Sierra Community House delivered pre-packaged, non-perishable boxes of food to all who signed up.
So many local and national funds were set up to help, too, including GoFundMe accounts for out-of-work employees, rent abatement, and more. The NV Energy Foundation gave $1 million to nonprofits across the state. The Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation founded a crisis relief fund. The Independent Restaurant Coalition worked to effect a legislative change for restaurants. The USBG National Charity Foundation helped bartenders. Children of Restaurant Employees provided financial support to food-and-beverage service employees with children diagnosed with coronavirus. American Farmland Trust started a farmer relief fund.
Putting our dollars to work for the benefit of our local community is more important than ever in times of crisis. And showing compassion is so respectable.
What can you do? Support local restaurants, farmers’ markets, farmers, and artisans; join a CSA; patronize or buy gift cards at breweries, distilleries, and wineries; help the less fortunate; check in on your neighbors; plant a garden; and cook and bake.
Speaking of those last activities, the coronavirus scare made me realize more than ever that we all need to know how to cook and bake. While we were holed up at home, we constantly pored over recipes for tasty dishes. I realized I shouldn’t eat Great Full Gardens’ tomato soup and grilled cheese (with House of Bread sourdough) every day. Variety is the spice of life.
For that reason, we are presenting you with our Cooks! edition. In it you’ll find tons of recipes, tips and tricks, and features on local cooks to inspire you to get in the kitchen.
Cooking is a great way to unwind, take a break, and be creative. We are here to make connections in the community and be your cooking and baking ally. Since stressed spelled backwards is desserts, we thought it was particularly appropriate to focus on the sweet side of life.
Do you have little ones at home you’re looking to entertain? Get them involved with stirring ingredients and helping to decorate a cake. It’s also a fun way to work in math and reading lessons while unleashing their creativity.
For more comforting, immune-boosting recipes, you can visit our website. It’s there you’ll find the recipe video project we launched with Peri & Sons, a local organic onion farm in Yerington. And you’ll find other ideas by clicking on our Recipes tab.
Something else you can do in this situation is support edible Reno-Tahoe. Local journalism is suffering (RIP Reno News & Review), and we are struggling, too. Advertisers allow us to tell the important and entertaining food-and-drink stories of our region. Without their help, we would not exist. We want to thank all of the advertisers in this issue who stayed with us. Please patronize them! And you can assist us by advertising as well.
You also can buy a subscription — $24 for the year and $38 for two years — for you or a friend. To boost the community we love so dearly, for every subscription we receive before June 30, 2020, we will donate $10 to a local restaurant workers relief fund. To subscribe, visit Ediblerenotahoe.com/subscribe.
Now is the time to band together as one community. If we do so, I’m optimistic that once the situation settles down, local food and businesses will be more important than ever, and our economy will rebound and thrive.
Stay well, remain strong, keep calm, and cook and bake on!
Amanda
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About the Cover An assortment of macarons made by Daniella Rinaldi and Kristy Kirsh, owners of Sierra Bakehouse in Truckee. Photo by Candice Vivien
