For a town of three thousand people, Nevada City eats unusually well: a chef-driven kitchen, an 1856 hotel dining room, a winery, and a brewery, all inside four blocks.
This is not every restaurant in the county. It is what we tell guests: the two dinners to book first, where to go before and after, and the places we eat on an ordinary week. Almost all of it is walkable from Mill Street, so the car can stay where it is.
THE TWO RESERVATIONS
The best two dinners in town, three and five minutes from the door.
RESTAURANT DAKAN
The most serious cooking in the county. Chef-owner Garett DaKan runs a small farm-to-table room with a short menu that changes with the season — Hokkaido scallops, yakiniku skewers, oysters, Moroccan-spiced brick chicken — plus a quarterly tasting menu. Intimate inside, with a few patio tables off the street.
Closed Monday and Tuesday, and Saturdays fill weeks ahead, so book it when you book the house. Beer and wine only — if you want a cocktail first, start at the National Bar or the Fern and walk over.
LOLA, AT THE NATIONAL
Lola is the dining room at the National Exchange Hotel, the 1856 landmark at the top of Broad Street. California cooking with a French accent: roast chicken, brussels sprouts, olive oil cake. Low light, brass arches, piano some evenings. The National Bar next door is the best place in town for a cocktail, whether or not you are eating.
Ask for a booth in the dining room rather than the bar side. Weekend brunch is the same room at half the volume. Catch one of the Drag Brunches at the National.
THE REST OF THE EVENING
Where to start the night, and where to end it.
NEVADA CITY WINERY
The wine is made in the building below the tasting room, next door to the Miners Foundry. Walk in for a glass or a flight, or book a seated tasting in the wine library. Five o'clock here is the right start to dinner.
BREWBILT BREW HAUS
BrewBilt's taproom, and the biggest patio in town: German-style beer brewed on local malt, pretzels and sausages, dogs welcome. Good after a hike, and next door to the winery if you want both.
CRAZY HORSE SALOON
Where most of the live music in town happens: touring bands, local ones, DJs. An 1862 building with a balcony and a porch strung with lights, and a marquee out front they still set by hand. Open late.
THE FERN
Across the street from Crazy Horse - vintage furniture, chandeliers, a courtyard out back, twenty-odd taps, and bartenders who will make you something off-menu if you tell them what you like. More about the Fern →
HOW WE'D SPEND IT
About half a mile of walking, most of it downhill on the way out.
Nevada City Winery, four minutes up the hill, or the Brew Haus patio next door if the sun is still on it.
DaKan for the cooking, Lola for the decor. Both are a straight walk from the winery, and both need a reservation on the weekends.
Crazy Horse and the Fern face each other on Commercial Street: one if there is a show, the other if you would rather hear yourself talk. Five minutes home.
MORE PLACES WE LIKE
Casual dinners, breakfast, and the short drive to Grass Valley.
HEARTWOOD & THE ANNEX
Bowls, toasts, and salads through the day, with good espresso. Next door, the Annex turns into a ramen and bone-broth bar in the evenings. Where to eat when you do not want good local ingredients.
GOLDEN GATE SALOON
Same owners as the National, ten minutes down the hill. The bar has been pouring since 1852 — the oldest one still running in the Mother Lode — and the kitchen does wood-fired California cooking. There is a speakeasy, the Iron Door, in the cellar.
BICYCLE THIEF
East Coast-style pizza, Italian wine, and house-made bread and ice cream, in a bright room on Main Street. Dinner Wednesday through Sunday.
The hotel dining room, quieter than dinner. Eggs, hollandaise, good bread. Website →
The big shop: produce, meat, a cheese counter, deli, and a good wine aisle. Website →
Walkable produce, pantry basics, and wine for a mid-stay top-up.
Book the table early
Both rooms are small and this is a weekend town. DaKan is closed Monday and Tuesday; Lola fills up around festivals and holidays. Book the table the day you book the house.
Kitchens close early
Most dining rooms stop seating around nine, and several are closed two days a week. The bars run later, so if you get in at 9:30, plan on Commercial Street.
Ten minutes down the hill
Grass Valley is ten minutes away and worth one evening: the Golden Gate Saloon, Bicycle Thief, and BriarPatch for the grocery run on the way in.