Reno Bites 2014 Kickoff Party @ Pignic Pub and Patio

October 9, 2014 Thursday — 5:15 PM
2 adults
** Review is for the 2014 Reno Bites Kickoff Party — Chef Meet and Greet
** Was placed under the wrong event, sorry.
Atmosphere — 4 stars
Food — 4 stars
Service — 5 stars
Experience — 1 star
Background — Meet and Greet with some local Chefs and taste their food, awesome idea.
Atmosphere — Never been to Pignic before. Love the old house and the bar area. But did not learn anything about the concept of the place since it is not a traditional restaurant. I think the crowd was too big for the venue. I get that it is hard to know what kind of turn out you will have but it was nutty crowded. But free draws in a lot of people.
Food
Drink — The bar area was crazy so we skipped it.
Food
Pulled Pork Slider was the longest line and ended with a mini sales talk and the lady complaining about her husband’s lack of help. The meat was really good on the slider.
Grits with pork cheeks — Grits were thicker than I am use to but good. I only had one piece of pork but did not realize that was not the standard until afterwards. I would have loved to try more of the cheeks.
Tequila Salmon on a chip — The soft salmon with the chip gave a nice contrast to each other. The tequila did not jump with flavor to me, but other indicated it did. Perhaps I drink too much and was masked by the salmon to me. I am not a big fish eater, but at the end there was some nice heat.
Pork Belly — Some of the most tender pork belly I have ever had. I could have just kept eating that. My favorite of the night, thanks Dough.
Dessert — They were actually the only item that was easily obtainable as they had plenty on one table to obtain on your own. The cookie was nice and gooey, which was my
Service — The crew worked hard I have a feeling they did not expect this kind of turn out.
Experience — Just trying to hang out and talk to people seemed to be a challenge as the crowd was too big. People trying to move from one area to another forced everyone to move. Lines to get stuff were not lines. There was no meeting the chefs like I expected. Dough and the Pignic guys have seen at other events in town so I knew who they were but they all were working their stations.
The passport idea is great, as Reno does not do the event like bigger cities where a restaurant does a special menu for a week or two. It really helped to educate me on the whole concept and found more restaurants involved then I thought.

Just got an email from Unilocal HQ telling me that I posted my review for this event on the wrong listing, oops!
Below is my original review:
After hearing and reading so much about this event from my fellow Reno Unilocalers, how could I miss the kickoff event?
I arrived right around 5pm when the event was supposed to start and there were already a lot of people inside and on the patio. I checked in with Michael T. and got my Unilocal passport. He explained to me what it was for then I was off to explore the venue.
I was offered some tacos and let’s just say, I’m glad I found out what it was after I ate cause I probably wouldn’t have tried it lol! I skipped the already crowded bar and headed outside. The dessert table had a wonderful spread. Loved the lemon tart and the very chocolatey cookie!
Hang out with some fellow Unilocalers around the Dough Catering table and got to sample some beef cheek with grits, braised pork, and a salmon on a piece of chip. Eventually got in line for some pork bbq on a hawaiian roll. Everything was delicious!
Thank you to all the sponsors for making this event happen :)

What do you get when you have a brand new bar opening at the same time the premier food event for the city kicks off? You get free food, good drinks and lots and lots of people!
First lets talk about the free food. A number of Reno Bites chefs were on hand to be either met or to serve a little tasty morsel. All of the food was top notch. Now, I have to be clear. This was excellent, would pay for it top notch food, yet it was free! So the lines were long, what do you expect when you get high quality food for free?
The event was exactly as I had expected. Lots of fun people turning out, my whistle getting wetted and my appetite being piqued.
To be honest, when I saw the great turn out and the quality this event, it upped my excitement of not only Reno Bites Week, but also of getting to try Pignic in the near future!

I wrote this before and must have pushed the wrong button and it did not show up.
I think that I must have arrived shortly after Allie, as I got there a little bit after 6:00 PM.
When I got there, there was a long line of people to the side of the building. I saw Clint there and he suggested that I go through the building and see what I could get from that end. I am glad that I did. All that was left on the desert table were some yummy marshmallow things, then I went down some stair and Dough was there with some very tasty pork belly skewers and cheesy grits with beef cheek and a chip with some salmon and spice. All of their dishes were excellent and I wish that I had felt comfortable to ask for more that seconds. They were the only ones with anything left, and it looked like they were running out! Good job Dough for lasting longer than anyone else!
I got no meet and great of the chefs and now explanation of how Pignic was going to work. I was glad that I was able to see a few of the people that I knew, Clint, Nancy V. and her husband, Allie, Robert and Ly, and Michael T. I also saw Ernie but I did not talk to him.
I think that the idea was great but that they were overwhelmed by the amount of people showed up. Next year I will make a point of getting there early!

The third annual Reno bites kickoff event was very cool. Located at Pignic Pub & Patio, we enjoyed a chef meet and greet. The bar was hoppin’. Dough Catering offered a selection of delicious treats. The sponsor, Sierra Meats is responsible for this event being FREE!!! There were homemade marshmallows, mini lemon tarts, pork sliders, tacos, amazing salmon appetizers, and more. And the Reno Unilocal crew was representin’ – holla!