Winnemucca’s Martin Hotel to open Carson City location

A Nevada landmark is bringing Basque dining to Carson City.

The Martin Hotel, a historic and popular mainstay in Winnemucca, is opening a second location at 308 Curry Street downtown.

“I think Carson City and The Martin Hotel would be a good match,” said John Arant, the restaurant’s owner since 2004.

The Carson City restaurant will feature much the same menu as the original — including steak, lamb, fish, and Basque dishes such as solomo, a marinated pork entree, and sweet breads — and served in the traditional Basque way with homemade soup, salad, beans, home baked bread, hand-cut french fries, and Martin’s-made bread pudding.

For those who know the Winnemucca icon, the dining room will look the same, too.

“The front door is on Curry Street and there will be a bar right there,” said Arant, during a tour of the 4,600 square foot space in Carson City, which is awaiting tenant improvements. “There is always a bar right at the front door of a Basque restaurant.”

Arant said the restaurant will include a banquet room seating between 50 to 60, and a patio on the south side of the building seating about 20.

The walls of the dining room, like the Winnemucca restaurant, will be lined with the work of photographer Linda Duferrena, and painters Gordy Glazier and Teddy Swecker.

“Each of them already said they’re working on art for Carson City,” which will be for sale, said Arant. “And we’re very interested in establishing relationships with local artists.”

There will also be Basque items on display, including a duplicate of a montage of sheepherding and other Basque-related photographs that’s featured prominently in the Winnemucca restaurant.

And Great Basin Arts & Entertainment, which books musicians in Winnemucca, is working on lining up music for monthly performances at the Carson City location.

Arant expects to employ about 25 people, including some wait staff who grew up working at the Winnemucca establishment.

“They’re all up at UNR or Truckee Meadows and they’ve called me,” said Arant. “On the cook side, we expect to have a lot of success in attracting cooks. This is for people who like to cook.”

The Martin Hotel will operate the same hours in Carson City, opening for lunch at 11 a.m., Monday through Friday, and serving dinner seven days a week from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Arant hopes to start opening the doors in June.

Most of 308 Curry Street, the mixed-use building being developed by the Hop & Mae Adams Foundation that will house The Martin Hotel, is now leased, according to Steve Neighbors, manager of the project and a co-trustee of the foundation.

Engineering firm Lumos & Associates is opening an office this month in about 6,000 square feet. PrimeLending, a mortgage lender, and Edward Jones Investments, a financial services firm, are opening offices in the next couple months and will fill in the rest of the building’s second floor.

Ten apartments on the third floor and in a second building are being finished now with 36 people on a waiting list to rent them, said Neighbors.

Space on the first floor, next door to The Martin Hotel, has yet be leased, said Neighbors, and will eventually be filled by either office or retail tenants.