Basquing in sunny Reno

We left the East coast in the nick of time, leaving our loved ones back home to face the deluge.  This is Cindy with her raincoat on (we don't normally live by a lake!).  Meanwhile, it is sunny here, there's snow on the mountains and it's generally very pleasant, if rather cool.  When we were here six years ago, there was no snow, and there was a heat wave.

Yesterday, between sessions, we went to Louis' Basque Corner, a bistro specializing in food from the Basque country.  In terms of value of money, this was by far the best place I've eaten out for quite some time.  Indeed, I think it was the best place, regardless of the cost.  We had a prix fixe meal for $23.95, sitting refectory style with eight people to a table (our party was only four).  I always find this kind of seating very friendly -- it takes me back to my boarding school days.  Here's what we had: a spicy pasta soup with excellent freshly baked bread; a platter of beans and chorizo; a really tasty salad; followed by chicken Basqué (I'm guessing on the spelling) which was really fantastic.  A mix of chicken, peppers, aubergine (egg plant) and various other things that I didn't particularly notice at the time.  These were all served family style.  Then came our main dishes.  I had chosen salmon.  This was the best salmon, and certainly the biggest portion, that I've ever eaten at a restaurant.  Seriously.  Two of us had steak, which looked incredibly good but would have completely knocked me out for the evening bridge session.  Our fourth, an adventurous gourmand, had the sweetbreads.  With a considerable experience of sweetbreads, she declared them to be "very good".  We finished all of this off with ice cream (or cheese) and coffee.  Did I mention the large carafe of red wine that was all part of the deal (as bridge players we wouldn't normally be ordering wine)?

I could happily go back there every evening.

Meanwhile, so far (one day) the bridge has not been entirely memorable for us.  We played in different events and didn't distinguish ourselves greatly, although Kim's team managed to scratch in the consolation Swiss.