Enough for a meal and then some
by Kristen Power, Outpost staff
"Have you been here before?" asked the Chevy's waiter with a shocked look on his face during a recent visit to the restaurant. "That's a lot of food for just one person to be eating."
I was ordering the Nachos Grande, the biggest pile of nachos I would ever see, and the Fresh Mex Sampler Platter, an assortment of Chevy's appetizers crammed onto a plate and garnished to the max. But the order of appetizers was for three people, and I actually thought we would be able to finish all the food.
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The Reno Chevy's unique, photo by Kristen Power |
Apparently Chevy's, located on restaurant row near the gaming floor at the Reno Hilton, is known for its massive appetizers. The west-coast chain is also known for a lot of other things.
Chevy's is the home of "El Machino," the tortilla machine at the center of the dining room where guests can make their own tortillas. And, the restaurant prides itself on an extensive selection of fajitas on the menu as well as their margaritas. They even boast that their freezer is nearly empty because they use so many fresh ingredients in their dishes.
But on this trip, I was only interested in the appetizers.
When our food arrived we had to clear nearly everything off the table just to fit the plates onto it. The nachos created a mountain of chips, shredded chicken, refried beans, cheese, chopped tomatoes, sour cream and guacamole in the center of the table. They tasted great, but the cheese wasn't melted enough and by the time we had carved away at the mountainside, the gooey platter was getting cold. Luckily the entire load only set me back $5.99 and filled a large space in the fridge with the leftovers.
Still serving 24-hour crowd , photo by Kristen Power |
The sampler platter arrived at the same time and was less of a disappointment. It included one pork and one chicken tamale, four chicken wings, four chicken quesadillas, and a Chevy's invention: chicken fajita nachos. It was garnished with lettuce, chopped tomatoes, sour cream and guacamole, and had ranch dressing on the side for dipping the wings.
Although this appetizer, at $9.99, cost nearly twice as much as the colossal nachos, it was much smaller. On the brighter side, we were able to clean the plate before the food got cold. The chicken fajita nachos were my favorite. They combined spicy, mesquite-grilled chunks of chicken with beans, cilantro and cheese, all balancing on crispy chips.
This was my second trip to the Hilton's Chevy's, that opened in mid-July. This Chevy's location is unique. Besides being the largest Chevy's ever built, it is open 24-hours. The restaurant took the place of the Patio Room, formerly the Hilton's 24-hour coffee shop, so it had to fill the gap and serve breakfast around the clock.
A waiter told me that Chevy's went through massive restructuring to accommodate this service. The restaurant had to expand its lunch and dinner menu for the location, providing a full breakfast menu that lists favorites like pancakes, eggs, bacon and toast as well as some specialty breakfast fare with a "fresh-mex" flair.
Before Chevy's Reno location opened I was travelling all the way to South Lake Tahoe to get a sampling of their southwestern-influenced Mexican food. At that location I ate the fish tacos garnished with black beans, which was fabulous. Nothing I've eaten at Chevy's since has compared to those fish tacos.
On my first visit to the Reno Chevy's I treated myself to two fajitas from the combination section of the menu that neared the quality of those fish tacos. I had a salmon fajita and a jumbo prawn fajita, garnished with all the trimmings and a bowl of black beans on the side. Unfortunately, I had to wait for over an hour to get served because the waitress forgot to enter the order. By the time I got my food I had to practically inhale it so I wasn't late for a concert. However, the manager mended the situation and I left a satisfied customer. Fortunately long waits aren't normal at Chevy's. During my most recent visit my food
Food servedquickly and with a smile, photo by Kristen Power |
Short waits for great food and the festive Mexican-style decor make dining at Chevy's fun. And Chevy's extends the fun to children as well.
Some locations in California hand out balloon animals to kids, and the Reno location distributes sombreros and coloring kits for younger patrons. For those celebrating birthdays, Chevy's waiters gather around the table singing to deliver a special birthday dessert.
Four days after my most recent visit to Chevy's I was still chipping away at the leftovers from the Nachos Grande. I got my fill of fresh-mex for the week, but I know I'll have to go back again just to try something new.
Posted Oct. 16, 1998
Copyright 1998 Nevada Oupost