by Kerstan Szczepanski, Exhibit City News
What to do when there’s no breakout meeting or the panels are done for the day? Where to go when you need a little time away from the hubbub of convention chaos? Exhibit City News’ 5 in 15 offers five places to go to eat, relax, or simply stay that are a fifteen minute or less walk from the convention center. That means Reno and the convention center of the biggest little city in America: the Reno-Sparks Convention Center.
The Atlantis Casino Resort Spa (3800 South Virginia Street), the closest hotel to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, is directly connected to the convention center. The hotel offers daily housekeeping, casino, eight restaurants and bars/lounges, a spa, an indoor and outdoor pool, airport shuttle, and sauna. For those that like to leisure with the family, children stay for free.
Atlantis Steakhouse at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa (3800 South Virginia Street) offers a lavish and luxurious dining experience with steak and seafood. The menu features items like prawn cocktails, seafood towers, California abalone, and Caesar or spinach salads prepared tableside. For steak, you’ll get Allen Brothers of Chicago, some of the nation’s finest steaks. The very best beef, selected for their marbling and flavor, made to your liking. Cocktails include the Moulin Rouge (raspberry vodka, elderflower liqueur, bitter apéritif, rhubarb bitters, fresh raspberries). Chow down and drink up!
For something simpler and less expensive, the Black Bear Diner (2323 S Virginia St) is a classic American diner with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Pancakes, chicken fried steak or New York steak, and eggs to start the day; slow cooked roast beef, Santa Maria Tri-Tip, ribs and shrimp for dinner. In between panels at the convention center, grab a lunch of half sandwich and soup, tri-tip dip, or Bob’s Big Bear Burger. Don’t forget to wash it down with a Huckleberry Lemonade.
Need a late night meal after all the convention socializing? Or maybe an extra early breakfast? There’s the Purple Parrot (3800 S Virginia St), a 24 hour diner in the Atlantis Casino Resort. American fare for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, and late night, with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options. With old style milkshakes, New York steaks, burgers, queso birria beef and baja fish tacos, bread bowl clam chowder, Purple Parrot has just about anything to satisfy a late night craving.
Reno’s Midtown District is a little more than a 15-minute walk away from the convention center, but no list about Reno would be complete without it! You’ll want to cab or Uber there. The neighborhood has plenty of shops, bars, and restaurants highlighting the local scene. If you like live music, checkout Cypress Reno (761 S Virginia St), featuring live music performances with food and drink.
This article has been split in two, for the second half please check back Monday. This story originally appeared in the Q2 2024 issue of Exhibit City News, p. 86. For original layout or to read the full story, visit https://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/ecn_q1_2024.
