Sezmu, I Love You
This doesn’t usually happen with new restaurants in Reno, but the minx hadn’t even heard of Sezmu until Juiced mentioned it in comments last week. And since another commenter referred to Sezmu as the best new restaurant to open in Reno in years, I only waited a day before making a reservation for me and Bjorn the Houseboy who deserved a reward for all the extra clean-up after the husbands and I decided to have a multi-national Thanksgiving for 25 people.
Sezmu is exactly the kind of restaurant a city girl like me has been waiting for. Its intimate and elegant without being pretentious so you’d be equally comfortable dining in Sezmu’s cozy, but bistro chic brick and burnt orange interior dressed in your finest cocktail dress or your most worn jeans. The dining room is long and lean and dusky, seating about 30 people (7 more at the bar) at tables lined up against the wall. The wall opposite the bar is covered with taupey suede panels that add a lovely softness to the room and provide valuable sound insulation so you don’t have to hear the conversation of someone sitting 4 tables down from you. There is nothing I hate more than eating in a restaurant full of concrete that amplifies every sound and you have to yell at your table mates or wave your fork around just to get their attention.
The food, which its owners refer to as New American, is simple and delicious. I had a pork chop that was to die for. It was the tenderest and tastiest piece of meat I’ve ever eaten. Bjorn enjoyed a meat duo that was served with some delicious potato and bacon stuffed dumplings I ended up stealing right off his plate. The menu appears to change each week, probably depending on what fresh and interesting products Chef Larry Dunning, formerly of Truffula and Plumpjack, finds available. Nothing is complicated or fussy which creates the perfect environment in which to enjoy good food and conversation.
And dessert! Let me start out by saying Pastry Chef Kristi Hoffman–I love you. The quadruple chocolate masterpiece should never leave the menu. Where else can you get a delicious layered chocolate cake, two perfect-sized scoops of bittersweet and chocolate malt ice cream, and a miniature chocolate shake, complete with mini straw? I wanted to clap when they set it down on the table in front of me and that was before I’d even tried it. I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a dessert more.
Sezmu is the first restaurant in Reno I’ve eaten in where I felt like I could’ve stumble in off the street in Dupont Circle which is a huge compliment. The night I dined at Sezmu, it was filled with a young, professional crowd–the kind of crowd Reno restaurants (not to mention the city) need to do more to attract. Sezmu is what Ciao wants to be on a smaller scale–its in the right neighborhood to attract a discerning crowd still decades away from collecting Social Security. Don’t get me wrong, the food at Ciao is very good–but its in the wrong place and attracts a much older crowd–not exactly the hallmark of a hip restaurant. The wait staff at Sezmu is charming and the whole place has a nice neighborhood feel in which its easy to relax and enjoy all the wonderful food that comes your way. Sezmu is the first restaurant I’ve walked into in Reno and known instantly that it was the right place to be.
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[...] I finally dined at Dolce Enoteca e Ristorante’s Reno location inside the GSR, and although I wasn’t wowed by the food, it was good enough–the bruschetta was hardly toasted and contained onions (not my favorite), but the gnocchi, a dish I usually order as a test, was cooked correctly and served in a nice pesto sauce. Their chocolate cake and ice cream dessert pales in comparison to the one I recently enjoyed at Sezmu, and Bjorn was not happy with the decaffeinated coffee he was served. Like the rest of GSR, Dolce’s interior is dark and rich and features the most comfortable dining chairs on which I have ever had the pleasure to sit. Its the perfect place for a romantic rendezvous or to hang out with a group of friends. If I’m not mistaken, the dining chairs are even on wheels so you can easily move from table to table for maximum socializing late into the night as the restaurant reportedly blends into a large bar. If you are looking for a deliciously dark place with food that’s good enough, Dolce is it. Plus you can eat as late as 10:00 or 11:00pm on the weekends–more late dining choices are always appreciated in Reno. Decorated as it is, in a scheme I would call “den of iniquity,” its an easy place to hide or to be seen depending on your needs. You can drop a lot of cash here easily but you can also be fairly thrifty depending on what you order, and considering that this is our first pseudo-celebrity (inspired) restaurant, its hopefully a harbinger of what’s coming Reno’s way in the next few years–more good restaurants. I can’t be the only one who’s heard rumors about upcoming celebrity chef restaurant/s in the GSR. [...]
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Thanks for the review — will definitely be visiting their restaurant shortly.
I am glad you enjoyed Sezmu, as I thought you would. I am actually opening a new bar/restaurant/lounge downtown Reno in January and we happen to share the same contractor as Sezmu. Finska Contractors (I would say they are part interior designers because we have changed so much from the architects renderings and there is so much custom work they are doing) are on the job and like Sezmu we are using a lot of the same raw materials, (hardwood floors, brick walls, and steel) for out interior. The location is 150 N. Arlington Ave., next to SE7EN and across from Tonic. I think you will be very surprised when you see the inside of the place. We are going to have a full kitchen, no-smoking, no-gaming and offer 30 wines by the glass. I think it will be a refreshing change of pace for the Reno locals.
oh and the bar is going to be caleed Imperial Bar and Lounge
Ah, I was wondering what was going in there–can’t wait to see it! Someone told me that it was going to be an Italian restaurant….
Yum Myrna’s review prompted me to go check it out. What a unique combination of foods for Reno. The salad I had there was amazing, and I am a big salad fan.
Juice 6, your bar sounds amazing, can’t wait until it opens! Downtown Reno is really coming alive lately, even in the normally-dead winter.
But did you have the dessert?
I finally had dinner at Sezmu. Not sure what the hype is about. Server had to go ask someone else every question we had about food and or wine. Interior is nice but to me they seemed to copy both Loulu’s and Ciao. Food was good but like his other restaurant not enough sauce and makes things seem dry. I’ll give it another chance in a few weeks.
I had such high hopes when we went to Sezmu! I loved the dining room and 3 of our four courses. We were terribly disapointed by the entres (Seared Ahi and the partridge with chestnut mousse) and our server was terrible (he might have been having a bad night). The desserts were amazing! I’m not sure we will be headed back anytime soon.
I really wanted to like Sezmu. I love the fact that they do the whole local, organic thing. Alas, it was not to be. The service we received was really bad (I would maybe have expected it in a snotty city resturant but not here) and the appetizers were almost inedible. Our waiter upon hearing that we would not be ordering a cocktail was visibly miffed. Clearly we were not worth his time and we barely saw him the rest of the evening. While I will say the entrees were done very nicely- my chicken was cooked perfectly, I seriously considered sending the appetizers back. We ordered the Yam Chips and Blue Shrimp. I don’t believe I have ever been served anything as salt laden as these two items in a restaurant before. I have no idea what they actually tasted like- all I could taste was salt. Did I order wrong? Was my waiter having a bad night? Not sure I want to go back to find out.