The Star Hotel Restaurant & Bar

This isn’t just an “if you happen to be passing through” rec — The Star is worth a pilgrimage (at least for carnivores). Opened over 100 years ago in Elko, Nevada, The Star Hotel originally served as a "home away from home" for Basque sheepherders who were sorely in need of comfort and community after weeks of isolation in the mountains. The Star is no longer a hotel, but continues to offer a deliciously overwhelming Basque family-style dining experience rooted in Wild West boarding house tradition.

Order the ribeye or the porterhouse, sling back a stiff Picon punch, and buckle in for the soup, bread, salad, beans, French fries, more beans, and spaghetti (???) that are about to arrive uninvited to your table. Just don’t fill up before the beast steak of your life — all 36 ounces of it, if your ordered the porterhouse — shows up!