The Martin Hotel in Winnemucca, Nevada, is a highly regarded restaurant in a tiny little casino town on Interstate 80. And it’s a trencherman’s paradise: if you like good food you probably like LOTS of it. (Don’t trust anyone who says he/she is a “foodie” but doesn’t eat much!). At any rate, here’s the meal I had at the Martin two nights ago. But first, here’s a bit of information about the restaurant from its website:
The Martin Hotel is located on the corner of Railroad and Melarkey Streets in Winnemucca. Established in 1898, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, its dining rooms served heavy passenger and commercial traffic generated by the adjacent Southern Pacific Railroad. As a rooming house it was once a favorite place for area cattle ranchers and sheep men to stay on their infrequent trips to town.
The Martin’s family style Basque dining room, bar, and meeting rooms are still a favorite gathering place for area ranchers, townsfolk, and travelers alike. With its unique stucco exterior, familiar veranda, and hitching posts, and its interiors covered with an amazing variety of pressed tin walls and ceilings, the Martin Hotel offers a truly wonderful setting to experience an authentic family style Basque American meal.
The approach. I hadn’t had anything to eat all day but a cup of black coffee in Idaho. I refrained from eating, for I knew what was coming.
Immediately after you’re seated, you’re given a full carafe of not-bad California pinot noir and a basket of freshly baked sourdough bread (and butter). It’s tempting to tuck into all that delicious bread (sourdough is the best of all white breads, I think), but I restrained myself, for I knew what was coming.
This is all homey comfort food, and none the worse for that.
The “amuse-bouche” was a huge tureen (only half is shown here) of homemade chicken noodle soup, with fat house-made noodles, large chunks of chicken, and vegetables. Again, I ate only the half (one bowlful), for I knew what was coming.
Another huge bowl, this time of a garlic-infused salad of iceberg lettuce. They also give you a dish of slightly warm kidney beans, and recommend you put them on the salad. I was dubious, but the combination of crunchy lettuce and savory beans was great, especially when you sopped up the bean juice with the sourdough bread. But I ate only half the salad, for I knew what was coming.
Below were my side dishes, and they informed me that I could have more if I wanted. At the top is a bowl of the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had in a restaurant: clearly homemade, suffused with garlic (apparently garlic is like salt to the Basques), and probably made with both cream and butter. Below that is a bowl of chicken Basque big chunks of chicken cooked with paprika, onions, and vegetables. Imagine a bowl of meat being a side dish! Finally, at bottom we have the vegetable: green beans (a bit overcooked but still good).
Your one choice in this family-style meal is the main course. I vascillated between the pork chops, lamb chops, or lamb shank (there are about a dozen other entrees), but finally chose the lamb shank, for Basques are lambivores. It came with a huge mound of homemade french fries (skin still on them) and some mint jelly. Notice the copious shavings of raw garlic on the lamb. I’m proud to say that I polished it all off, but couldn’t finish the side dishes. The lamb was excellent, gamey and juicy. (Lamb is a much underrated meat, and, in my opinion, the best of all meats to accompany a good Bordeaux or Burgundy.)
You won’t have any trouble with vampires after eating a meal like this.
And if that weren’t enough, dessert is included in the meal: a large bowl of bread pudding (one of my favorite desserts), infused with cardamom, studded with raisins and topped with real whipped cream. It was terrific, but I’m ashamed to say that, full as I was, I ate only about 60% of it. This may well be the first dessert I’ve had that I didn’t finish.
After all that food and wine I went back to my cheap motel room ($45), lay down on the bed and groaned for a couple hours while watching St. Louis play the Cubs on the big-screen television. Life is good.
If you’re in Winnemucca Nevada, which you will be if you take I-80 from Utah to California or vice versa, be sure to have lunch or dinner at this place. It’s open 7 days a week.
Honorable PCC: thanks so much for your delightfully written and savorinly photographed food entries . . . sitting here in NW Montana thinking about driving to Winnemuca for dinner!
savoringly . . . as if it were a word, anyway
Ha! Do christians saviour their wafers?
I am about to lick the screen… Mmmmmm! That would be four meals to me…
Because I live alone I tend to have strange combinations (I am strange) so the idea of lettuce & beans is nothing new to me.
“for I knew what was coming” – another PCC quote to remember!
and you Brits eat beans on toast, don’t you;-))
the problem with that being….?
LOL…also pilchards on toast in bed, according to Alan Ayckbourne’s Bedroom Farce;-)
Sardines when I was a child! One time when about 6/7 I had sardines or pilchards in tomato sauce – still available – went to bed in the lower bunk with big sister on the top. In the night I threw it up on the carpet, then went back to sleep. my sister still has a phobia about vomit & the smell never came out!
Ewwwwwwwww- your pooooor sister. And sardine barf at that😝
To me it sounds very messy. How do you keep the little buggers on the toast? I love beans and I love toast, but the combo would not occur to me. And since we’re having a foodie discussion, I just made a salad with grilled slices of sweet potato, corn, black beans, green onions, cilantro, red bell peppers, s&p. Deelish. The grilling really adds a lot to the sweet potatoes. Added a bit of rotisserie chicken to it on the second day.
I have them on bread and butter, as with tinned spaghetti. Add some chedder on top!
Tinned spaghetti on bread???
The culture that brought us Shakespeare and Keats and Barber and Handel and Turner and Whistler and Alan Turing??? LOL:-)
Yes but none of those are celebrated for accomplishments in the field of culinary art!(Also, I think we can only take partial credit for Handel as he was born and trained ‘on the Continent’ even if his professional life was lived in England).
Having said that, culinary standards have risen tremendously in Britain in recent times and anyone interested in eating can certainly find plenty of excellent food.
Oh, this is so good, even to just look at, PCC! So with all these generous portions, is one allowed to take away the leftover sides and salads and what-not? I sure hope so. Have cooler, will travel!
OMG, that sounds so delicious! I, too, love lamb, and bread pudding, and anything with cardamom! Food needs garlic, the more the better, and, oh, how I wish I were there, now, enjoying just such a meal!
Indeed, cardamom! It could easily be the Swedish National Spice – if you’ve never been here but have toyed with the idea, there’s further encouragement.
(And dill is the National Herb.)
Mmmmmm!
Oh yeah!! The Swedes make this sexy egg bread laced with blueberries, orange zest and juice and spiced with cardamom!! Delicious!!
you had me at bread and wine. but throw in two kinds of potatoes and some bread pudding…
According to my American wife, lamb is not eaten much in the United States. In England, it’s easy to find in supermarkets and restaurants, and very popular. When I was a kid, we’d eat roast lamb at least once a month for Sunday lunch. It’s a wonderfully flavoursome and aromatic meat.
Darn, now I have a craving for roast lamb and mint sauce 🙂
For some unknown reason, American lamb production shifted into high fat gear. I hope it returns to normal, more meat and less fat, soon.
Lamb does have a higher fat content than most cuts of beef or pork, but that’s what gives the meat its flavour and keeps it moist and succulent during cooking. A good leg of lamb should be well-marbled.
Lamb’s always been my favorite meat, and shanks are maybe the best part if you braise them slowly. In fact my parents used to call me Lambchop.
The lamb sold in America, today, is far fattier than that which my mother used to buy, decades ago.
Lamb producers in the USA fatten their stock up on feedlots before sale, in order to increase profits.
The growing Muslim population in America is starting to consume enough lamb to help: They don’t want all that extra fat. Other Americans eat so little lamb, the industry suffered. Now, they can make a come-back with a shift back to the healthier version.
Here’s more: wbur.org/npr/405952819/lamb-s-revival-rests-with-america-s-growing-muslim-markets
It isn’t eaten much in Canada either but since my mom is from NZ we ate it a lot in my house and even had it for Xmas dinner. I’m sure Greeks and a few other ethnic groups also eat lamb.
My Californian mother served it a lot wherever we lived (especially rareish leg of, and lambchops). Yes, a lot of my Canadian friends here don’t much like it.
Lamb is really the Australian national meat. My mother-in-law was raised on a sheep station and eats lamb chops at least 4 nights a week. This is changing now but historically Australians ate lamb.
http://tinyurl.com/pyhp55j
Sounds like a fun place to eat.
Also, now I know what state Winnemucca is in. I used to play a lot of XConq, which randomly assigned “countries” and “cities” based on real names of countries and the cities therein, but with completely fictious physical geography and what not. So I knew it was in the US, but …
I’m not lecturing, but I have read where lying down or strenuous exercise after eating hinders digestion.
Just passing on information (or maybe I am lecturing?)
My parents used to tell us kids that movement was good for digestion, thus why we had to clean the kitchen following a meal, yet they promptly stretched out on the couch to watch TV. Perhaps the effects of digestion are age-determinant?
Light exercise is fine. Strenuous exercise makes the blood flow to muscles and takes away from the digestive system
are you saying my parents were justified in their laziness?
Somewhat. A stroll around the block would have been better.
sure, but Roseanne was on, or Seinfeld…!
My parents always warned about swimming after a meal at the lake. Wait an hour they would say. We kids assumed awkward squirming postures for abut 10 minutes, and then they’d let us go in the water. But not too deep!
I’ve heard that that objection is bogus; indeed, I can’t see any physiological reason to avoid swimming.
I stayed at a cheap motel in southern Portugal in my early 20s and the concierge wouldn’t let us use the bathtub down the hall for two hours after dinner for fear we might drown! She finally relented when the two of us went into the bathroom together and took turns playing life-guard.
Yeah that has been proven to be a big fat lie. I have no idea why people thought we’d cramp up if we ate then swam. It’s not like we suddenly can’t walk after eating!
I dunno…there’ve been certain meals where walking was ill-advised afterwards….
b&
I my family the joke was that you could never swim again after a meal of franks and beans.
This swimming thing is totally bogus, but it was extremely popular in my youth here in Australia. I never believed it but many of my friends’ mothers did, it was damn irritating.
I understand that it’s best not to lie down, especially for people who are prone to acid reflux. Sitting is ok. Swimming is ok.
Walking is better!
In Germany we have a proverb: “Nach dem Essen sollst Du ruh’n, oder 1000 Schritte tun!” After the meal you should rest, or walk 1000 steps.
Have not been through Winnemucca in many, many years and never heard of this restaurant before, but it is on my radar now. Finding places like this with homestyle food is one of the delights of any road trip. Years ago, when I was a grad student at U.C. Davis, we would go to the marine lab at Bodega Bay, which put us in striking distance of Occidental, California which had 3 Italian restaurants that had similar meals. Our favorite was the Union Hotel, which had only 3 entrees, but they brought copious amounts of all the appetizers and side dishes. They did not however, provide a carafe of wine.
It must be 25 years since I’ve been to the Martin Hotel. If you like Basque food there are many great places along the byways of Nevada and California. Nearest me is Wool Growers in Los Banos, California.
We have a terrific Basque restaurant here in Seattle called The Harvest Vine, which I’d be happy to take you to if you’re passing through this corner of the country. Their format is more tapas-style, a succession of small plates featuring seafood, game, egg dishes (tortillas and revueltas), fresh vegetables, imported cheeses, etc. Plus an extensive list of excellent Spanish wines and sherries. Pricier than the Martin Hotel for sure, but well worth a visit if you’re in town.
yum! I had heard about this place somewhere else. Might have to make a sidetrip through Winnemucca in the next year or two. I’m sure I drove through it a number of times in my Stanford/Berkeley days when I’d meet up with family in Sun Valley, Idaho (before Deets was born;-)
Excellent! I had seen references to Winnemucca’s Basque eatery when I was researching the motel scene. So glad you photographed the main attraction! (so much more fun than playing slot machines)
Looks good!
I’m always surprised when I hear those Americans who do eat lamb describe it as gamey. We eat a lot in the UK and I’ve had plenty in NZ too and that’s not how I’d (or, I imagine most people here) describe it. Seems to be quite a common sentiment in the US though. Funny how tastes differ.
I’m wondering if those who find lamb too gamey just aren’t seasoning it right.
I make lamb chops with onion powder and garlic powder. That certainly doesn’t taste gamey. I buy other cuts of lamb when I can from the supermarket and we probably eat lamb once every other month.
I find that Ontario lamb can have a alightly stronger taste than NZ lamb, but I’m not sure you’d quite call it “gamey”. I like every kind of lamb I’ve ever tasted, including fried lamb’s blood which I had as a kid ( no pun intended) in Martinique.
I’ve only ever eaten NZ lamb.
Yes, Ontario lamb has a stronger flavour than NZ, but it’s not a negative, imo. When it’s done up with either curry concoctions, or with rosemary and garlic and onions, with the mint and vinegar sauce on the side, or lemon wedges, it’s all delicious. Also, lamb is good stewed down with a dash of soy sauce, brown sugar, 5 spice powder, bay leaves or fresh lime leaves, and anise stars, plus pickled lime chutney served on the side.
Found some really good and cheap lamb souvlaki at Costco today:-)
Well, now I know where I’ll be eating next time I visit Buckskin Mountain….
b&
Mmmmm yummy, yummy food coma! I’d be afraid my intestines would cramp up & my vagus nerve would make me pass out (it happened a few weeks ago to me – first time I’ve ever lost consciousness). Such are the risks of being a gourmand with IBS. 🙂
Aw, that must be awful, Diana.
The nap was okay even though it only lasted 30 seconds but fainting was awful because your vagus nerve basically slows your heart. You get a cold sweat and have a hard time breathing. It feels worse than it is though.
Holy crap I have IBS, but I’ve never passed out from over-eating! I didn’t even know that was a thing.
I think it is a rare storm with the colon. I don’t expect it to happen again and I’ve never lost consciousness this way ever.
After all that, you’ll need to round out your trip with a visit to Gilroy CA, the Garlic Capital of the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilroy,_California
Heavenly! (ahem) One of the most appealing meals you’ve ever documented here, IMO.
lovely meal! As a child I lived in Southwestern Idaho (New Plymouth), and with a friend used to ride our horses outside the irrigation area, and ‘chat’ with the Basgue shepherds looking after the sheep in the drier parts of the area. Sadly they never invited us to a meal… I say ‘chat’ in quotes since we did not have a common language, but we managed to communicate, and I have fond memories of those times.
That’s some amuse bouche. They must have trés grandes bouches in Winnemucca.
What a great address: Melarky Street, Winnemucca! Sounds like fun 🙂
Or they take a lot of amusing.
Lamb is really the national meat in Australia. Grilled chops and sausages as well as roast legs are all popular here.
But the king of cuts in my view has to be shanks. I braise them at home in red wine, lamb or chicken stock and a mirepoix (carrot, celery and onion) Big bunch of fresh rosemary from the garden thrown in. Simmer for about 2-3 hours. Strain the liquid and reduce to a syrupy sauce.
Serve with garlic mash, a green vegetable and good Shiraz or Cabernet. Yum!
I’ve braised shanks very successfully in my slow-cooker. Especially good in summer when you don’t want to heat up the kitchen, but also when we have company ( often New Year’s Eve)and you don’t want to hovering over the stove with finicky timing. I’ve done it this way with all manner of sauces, including a couple where I brown the shanks first, either in the oven or in a skillet, and then 5-7 hours in the slow-cooker with all the other ingredients.
Not a massive fan of lamb. Too many bad memories of bad roasts from grandmother while growing up!
Try it medium rare or even more rare, and with nothing at all on it. Then, you can judge its flavor and texture more fairly. You can broil it, if it’s too hot to grill outside. Just don’t overcook it. I hope you’ll find it enjoyable.
Yup – very pink with just s&p is great.
Just remembered the great lamb shoulder braised in oven (covered) at ~175F for 20 hours.
Mmmmmm….
Call me crazy, but here’s how much I love lamb:
Someone shared fresh goat’s milk with me, and I didn’t know what to do with it, so one morning, I used that in my coffee instead of cow’s milk. The scent and flavor were so strong and familiar… and then I realized: the milk was lambchop flavor, and so was my coffee, with that in it!
I relished that deliciousness for quite a few morning cups, before it ran out.
Sounds interesting, but coffee doesn’t agree with me, and I don’t like milk in my tea. I’ll bet that’s done in the tea in the middle east.
Beautiful!