The Awful-Awful Goes Middle Class
Is it the end of an era or the end of the world as we know it? Either way, a local institution has just announced its celebrity status with a big ca-ching! That’s right, the beloved gut-busting wonder of the purest and greasiest hedonism (besides deep fried twinkies?), the infamous “Awful-Awful,” will now cost you an extra $2 bucks. The city’s favorite prelude to a premature heart attack now costs $5.50. While the rest of us were sleeping, the Reno Nugget raised the price a few weeks ago–hoping that no one would notice since most people who order the fried cow on a plate at 3am are drunk and barely awake. Its a good strategy, but one of the minx’s hipster tipsters Maresa was alert enough during a recent stop at the local greasy spoon to not only notice, but to interrogate the “chef dude” about the offensive increase in price. According to “chef dude,” the Awful-Awful was priced at $3.50 for 40 years. That’s right—40 YEARS! From Maresa, our understandably devastated eyewitness to this travesty:
So I walked in and felt like I was in bizarro land. The menus were the same, the signs were the same (they didn’t look patched or anything!) but, yet, the price was different. I knew I wasn’t stoned but I couldn’t understand. “I don’t understand…. How could it be $5.50?? That’s a $2.00 increase… Wait, lemme check the menu…” I couldn’t figure it out. I asked the chef dude, and he confirmed it. He said, “Yep, it was $3.50 for 40 years…”
Damn. The minx knows that nothing gold can stay, but in a world full or chaos and paradox, can’t just one thing stay unchanged? The beauty of the Awful-Awful was its blue collar vibe–its celebration of the ordinary as larger than life. Now, that’s changed a bit with the price increase. Sure, it’ll still be the greasiest and goodiest hamburger withing 300 miles, but part of its mystique has been lost forever. We can’t begrudge the Awful-Awful its new place on the Reno upswing gravy train, but we can mourn the passing of a symbol of how something common, rough, and even seedy can be both gratifying and liberating.
Photo By David Robert
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Trackbacks & Pingbacks
[...] Don’t you want to escape Bill? In Reno, people would let you eat an Awful Awful at the Nugget counter in peace. Instead of reporting the contents of your meals to the local press, they’d roll their eyes at you for not knowing how to order right. I can see Bubba getting loose from that Brook Brother’s suit at Louis’ Basque Corner over glasses of pacharan and oxtail soup with the boys, or over a plate of corned beef hash and scrambled eggs at Peg’s Glorified Eggs and Ham. Bubba would find some respite in Wingfield Park while wading in the Truckee River with rolled up pants, laughing at the street kids harassing the tourists. [...]
Comments
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OK, I await the input of longer-time Renoites than myself. Unless the chef dude was 65+, and actually has been a short order cook or Reno resident for 40 years, I think the price change story is apocryphal.
Also, the Awful-Awful was recently listed in Via magazine’s best burgers around the West. The online listings are much more extensive than the magazine article, wherein the Nuggest is the only Nevada mention.
http://viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/best_burgers06.asp
So now it costs you two more dollars to sit next to a HoBo and eat a meal. The Awful isn’t that good, it’s just an old time Reno thing to do.
I’m sure you ask most people in Reno, and they would say that Juicy’s puts the Nugget to shame. I am personally a fan of Brickie’s (The old Stagger Inn for real Reno people) food on second street. You can get a great burger for $3.50, not to mention there other great foods there.
OK, chew on this…
A new casino in Fernley just opened up called Pioneer Crossing. It is rumored that the same owners own Little Nuget in reno.
The Awful Awful is on their menu at a lavish suit and tie price of $6.50!
Does it taste the same? Absolutely not! An Awful Awful will NEVER taste like an Awful Awful if you didn’t get it from the cramped and colorful quarters of the Little Nugget Diner in Downtown Reno.
BTW… I ate Awful Awful in Reno maybe a year ago and I could of sworn it was $4.75.
Yeah, I was in there in March and it was just $4.50! I was pissed, but now that it is $5.50, i’m not going there anymore, I’d rather pay $2.00 for a burger at In and Out!
People only like Juicy’s because it looks like a mom and pops place, and it has a good name. BUT, their burgers are DRY and they aren’t good. At all locations.
Yeah, I think that they raised it to $4.50 somewhere between. The thing is, is that if you get it to go they add $.25…. I couldn’t think. I was like, “wasn’t it $4.50?” So, I think they raised it to $4.50, and then, shortly after, raised it to $5.50 because that first one went unnoticed.
Remember when they tried to close down the diner at night!?!? And people freaked out, so now it’s 24 hour again?
Anyway, I’ll still pay for it because I LOVE it.
maresa
I agree abou tJuicy’s. Completely overrated. I haven’t had an Awful Awful in years. I’ma have to go get me one, though. $5.50 is still pretty reasonable for that burger and the 13 pounds of fries you get.
I have to admit the last time I had one was about two years ago. I asked for a salad instead of fries–you would have thought I asked for a bowl of blood or something eventhough its right there on the menu.
Damn it was good…..but at the new price, its much closer to becoming yuppie kitsch. And what’s with the rush of price changes? 25 cents here, 25 cents there, 50 cents here again?
And its 6.50 in Fernely of all places? Amazing…..
Could be inflation is just happening. An awful-awful is worth it at 5.50 in my opinion. The Nugget needs to stay open. That right there, folks, is some Reno if ever there was.
I will pay 5.50 for an awful awful because you’re not just buying an awful good awful big burger you’re buying a peice of reno history and culture. I mean,
the Awful Awful-$5.50
take it to go-$.25
the drunken stumble down the alley at two in the morning for one of the best burgers on either side of the Mississippi-Priceless
and Kris, you know what, I bet its because of fast food and In and Out that they had to raise the price in the first place.
Also, I think its great that of all the postings I have read on here, its the one about the Awful Awful that sparks the most vibrant comment thread.
We really are Reno Discontents
No kidding–we talk about the important stuff at Discontents—junk food. I dont think there is any arguing that the Awful-Awful is worth 5.50….I just see it as a symbol of the homey seediness that makes Reno Reno…we can’t soup things up too much or we risk losing some of that.
Can I just say - I clicked the link to the Deep Fried Twinkie. My God, that looks fantastic.
Sounds like we can all afford the $5.50. How do you think the street people who treat themselves to an Awful Awful feel?
And, mrjerz, if you think the twinkie looks good try a deep fried oreo cookie!
Everything costs more these days. Gas costs more to deliver the raw ingredients from Sacramento up here. Beef costs more, onions and tomatoes cost more, and frankly I don’t know how they have survived this long without raising their prices. Had they taken that $2.00 price raise and spread it over over 40 years you guys and girls would barely notice it. To me it seems more like a case of some accountant going over numbers in a back room and suddenly realizing, “Hey! We lose money every time we sell one of these” and had to raise the price to compensate for high expenses.
M da M- You’re right. It is a sad sign of the Californication of Reno that a symbol of Reno’s most Reno-y past now costs more than a Sunday New York Times.
And I am happy to talk about Junk food here and leave the contentious political battles to some more southern based political blogs, if you know what I mean.
But we love contentious political battles in northern Nevada!
On that note, sort of, I’m waiting for Monday Morning Politicking’s inevitable Kathy Augustine post.
Well, from what I understand, the awful awful ALWAYS cost less than what it cost to make. That’s the beauty of gambling. I know that I’ve gone in there to buy a hamburger and dropped $40 gambling. That’s how they always afforded it before, right? Maybe people aren’t gambling enough? Hm…
People aren’t gambling enough. I’ve noticed every time I visited the Nugget. They actually took out slot machines to enlarge the diner. The diner is the real draw; the casino is mostly a fantastic locals bar with a bunch of slot machines and a change lady. I always go there to at least get a greyhound and play roughly 4 bucks in nickels, and every time I do it there are less people putting money in the machines and more people putting awful awfuls in their bellies. You can feel the arteries hardening from across the room!