What’s at steak?

Eisenhower was president, Elvis released “Heartbreak Hotel,” and gas was 22 cents a gallon. The Steakhouse Grill at the Sparks Nugget opened back in 1956.

It’s a traditional room that will seat 155, with plush carpeting, padded booths, cushioned chairs and white linens everywhere. The members of the wait staff are all polished restaurant industry veterans, and the experience is nothing less than a throwback to the time when fine dinning was a very civilized, grand event.

There’s a very proper wine list with Wine Spectator kudos attesting to the quality and completeness of the offering. Fine dining manager John Ekizian, a respected Reno oenophile, oversees the impressive and very reasonable selections. He pays a lot of attention to buying wines that age well and increase in value, but he says he then passes that Nugget philosophy on to guests by selling at original purchase value, not current market cost.

It’s a well rounded menu with appetizers from $7-$12. I tasted the chilled fire roasted prawn cocktail trio ($9), with pineapple salsa, seared onion and chilies hanging on a large shot glass filled with grilled tomato-citrus cocktail sauce. What a ride for the palate—from the tropical fruit zing to a slight bite from the chilies to the savoriness of the onions. Then you drink the sauce, and it’s a shot that explodes with orange, lime and that roasted tomato pop.

They told me the baby spinach salad ($8) is John’s favorite, and since I know Mr. A knows food, I said, “Bring it on.” Its simplicity makes it elegant. It’s just chopped, hard-boiled egg, Bermuda onions, pine nuts and warm, smoked-bacon dressing. The onions blended with the slightly sweet-tart dressing, basting the fresh spinach and making every bite layered with easily defined savory flavors. There’s just something about a warm salad. …

It’s a beef house, and room chef Mark Lee Reveal picked the Certified Angus 20-ounce bone-in rib-eye ($38) for my entrée. The chef did an exceptional job of presenting many of the of the menu’s highlights, and told me that he will take anyone’s dietary consideration to heart for any meal with a simple phone call in advance, which is impressive and exemplary. The rib-eye is considered the most tender and succulent cut of beef because it has the most marbling (fat interwoven in the muscle). Folks, you’ve got to have fat to have flavor. Medium rare with crispy onions atop, my cut was perfectly trimmed and even the side-fat was tasty. It’s moist and tender, with a grilled flavor that lets you know you’re experiencing steak nirvana. The meal comes with a choice of starch and steamed seasonal vegetables.

This wine list is modest but exceptional and priced $5-16. Master Ekizian poured me a Surh Luchtel Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast ($9), a by-the-glass quaff. The ’08 shows beautifully out of the bottle, with complex aromas of cherries, mushrooms, damp earth and smoked meat. The tannins are extremely fine, giving the pinot just a hint of backbone to support the concentrated fruit flavors. A fruit-focused palate of black-red cherry and raspberry is lifted by the wine’s vibrant acidity.

We’ll never see 22 cents a gallon gas again, and Elvis has (probably) left the building, but they’re still making history at The Steakhouse in John Ascuaga’s Nugget.