5 ways to experience Nevada’s Basque cuisine and culture

Spend just a little time in the rural communities and lively cities of northern Nevada and you’ll soon discover it’s an unexpected pocket of Basque culture. This part of the state became a key hub for the Basque people, who first began to emigrate to the American West in the mid-1800s, drawn by the prospect of gold and better opportunities. Many never returned to their homeland, a distinct region in the Pyrenees that straddles northern Spain and southern France. Settling as ranchers and sheepherders in Nevada’s rugged ranges, their deep-rooted traditions and unique customs endured and have become part of Nevada’s unique tapestry of cultures.

How better to bask in the warmth of the state’s Basque culture than at the National Basque Festival? Fiestas run deep in the veins of the Basque people, and the one that takes place in Elko every summer has brought the community together for 60 years. On over Independence Day weekend in July, there’s folk dancing, singing and music from locals proudly wearing the traditional colourful costumes of their ancestors. Be sure to catch the Elko Ariñak Dancers, a folk dancing troupe who also perform their aurresku, romerías and jota dances around the country. Hotly contested woodchopping, heavy stone lifting, Basque handball and bread baking competitions also keep the community’s rural traditions alive. As you’d expect, great food and wine are also central to the festivities. The National Basque Festival takes place over three days at the Elko Basque Club, which was founded in 1958 to connect descendants of the Basque immigrants and preserve their way of life. Winnemucca and Reno also have vibrant Basque festivals of their own.

Take a road trip along the Cowboy Corridor (the I-80 through Nevada) and you’ll discover a region steeped in the distinct traditions of the Basque. After the Gold Rush, many of the European émigré travelled further east and found back-breaking work toiling on the rugged mountainous terrain as cattle ranchers and sheepherders. The immigration continued into the mid 1900s, as many established roots in Nevada and their families joined. Elko County was at the epicenter of the region’s ranching and burgeoning sheepherding communities. Get the lowdown on the region’s rural culture, an intriguing blend of buckaroo, Basque and American Indian traditions, at the excellent Western Folklife Centre in Elko. And discover how Basque culture became an integral part of western heritage at the city’s Cowboy Arts & Gear Museum. While you’re in town, don’t miss a look at J.M. Capriola Co, which has handmade its leather saddles since 1929. Imagine what life was like for the nomadic stockmen by staying on a working ranch, hiking around rugged ridgelines and epic canyons and exploring bygone boomtowns like Unionville where it all began.

Tables spread with thick steaks, lamb shanks, glistening chorizo, rustic bread and bowls of beans, all washed down with red wine and followed by flan. The family-style feasts at Elko’s Star Hotel are legendary. Dating back to 1910, it is one of several dining houses where Nevada’s Basque community go for a taste of the old country. Boarding houses sprung up in this part of Nevada, offering simple lodgings to the early wave of immigrants. It was where these men came together to eat, speak in their Euskera language, play card games and generally transition into their new lives. Later on, the women often worked in these houses, cooking up the hearty dishes of their homeland while the men were away for long periods herding sheep. The historic dining room at the Martin Hotel in Winnemucca is another classic, first opened in 1898 to cater for the Basque sheepherders. Today, its garlic-spiked steak sandwich is just the ticket after a high country hike. In Reno you’ll more meaty delights at Louis’ Basque Corner including sweetbreads, tongue, oxtails and tripe. While Gardnerville’s J.T. Basque Bar and Dining Room claims to serve the best Picon Punch in the west.

Always wanted to stride through the swinging doors and across the creaking floors to prop up the bar of a wild west saloon? Nevada is the place to go. The state’s Sagebrush Saloons offer a preserved slice of western culture and damn fine drinks to boot. Many of these historic watering holes have Basque heritage, including ranchers’ favourite Paradise Valley Saloon & Bar G in the living ghost town Paradise Valley, just north of Winnemucca. Along with oodles of authentic frontier ambience and strong liquor, the saloon serves an epic chorizo sandwich. Cosy up by the wood-burning fire and chow down. South of Elko, Jiggs Bar is another haunt with its roots firmly in the ranching community. Nevada has the Basques to thank for its unofficial cocktail too. The picon punch is said to have been created by the newly arrived Basque in their American boarding houses. Based on a bitter orange spirit called Amer Picon, it’s a must try when you’re in a sagebrush saloon – preferably as you nibble pintxos and listen to the trikitixa (the Basque accordion).

The Basque love their wines, but they don’t have to look to the old country for a tipple anymore. True to its pioneering spirit, the arid state has a burgeoning wine industry with vines growing in the north. As with all the state’s wineries places like Palomino Winery and Nevada Sunset Winery in Reno produce their own estate vinos – head along to the latter’s tasting room to try its estate grown varietals. In Sparks, Engine 8 Urban Winery also runs tours and tastings. Small-batch spirits are also a big thing in northern Nevada with a crop of craft distillers adding a local twist to time-tested methods. Based in a beautiful, century-old building, the Depot Craft Brewery & Distillery in Reno is preserving traditions of the Old West with its award-winning craft gins and rye and bourbon whiskies. Its beers are pretty standout too. Seven Troughs Distilling Co is another innovator with a foot proudly in the past. Its moonshine, rum, vodka, gin and bourbon use local grains and are made to a traditional and painstaking mid-19^th century process. See how its spirits are open fermented in wooden hogsheads and distilled in direct-fired pot stills on tours then taste the difference for yourself.