4 minute read
Chef Reno Rodriguez Takes New Hotel Renegade to Epicurean Heights
By April Neale
Name any city, and you can also name the iconic hotel for which the place is known. New York? Park Plaza. Boston? The Copley. Edinburgh, Scotland? The Balmoral. Boise, Idaho has the new Hotel Renegade at the corner of Grove and 11th, the latest must-experience destination jewel in a city on fire for new places and dining spaces.
The Hotel Renegade is a masterpiece of symmetry and proportion with curated architectural details and refinery that call back to a time in the last century when going out meant style and a feeling of understated luxury. It is the perfect setting for Reno Rodriguez, who has built a following of devoted diners following this beloved Boise chef to this swanky joint venture between Hendricks Commercial Properties and the Geronimo Hospitality Group.
The Hotel Renegade is ready for its closeup, and Rodriguez aims to make it your favorite recommendation on where to stay and what to eat. After his exposure to Geronimo properties and learning the midwestern secrets of the supper club, he was excited about this new challenge in his career.
“What impressed me the most about the [Geronimo] properties was that they have their fingerprints and identities. The way they put these properties together is so well thought out; just the artwork and the simplest things, like their showers and copper tubs, are unique. They spare no expense when it comes to giving that luxury feel, taste, and experience that everyone wants. And it’s up to us to deliver. Geronimo and Diane Hendricks are bringing the identity we need here to make this the preeminent hotel for Boise. It’s up to us to provide the experience on top of that,” he said.
The chef uses top local vendors and creates a talented staff to carry out the vision of the menus for each dining spot inside the property.
He said, “We’re going to have five outlets. Baraboo, a supper club, will also service this impressive lobby lounge and beautiful coppertop bar, a very social setting leading into the supper club experience. We’ll have an in room dining program, including interim dining (room service). We’ll have some breakfast, with an ultra-luxury feel to the banquet program. The Highlander, our rooftop lounge, is outfitted with swanky, hand-crafted cocktails. The dining up there will be different than in Baraboo, honoring this change in dining over the last seven years, especially with the younger generation where you don’t necessarily go and have a traditional meal but more shared plates for a group setting. We are making the food fun, sexy, and craveable.”
The hotel’s main restaurant is named after Baraboo, Wisconsin. “The supper club has extensive roots in Wisconsin,” explained Chef Rodriguez. “The menu is very similar to what you think a steakhouse would be.”
The environment and the restaurant’s dynamic make a difference. Chef Rodriguez added, “Once I could fly out to Wisconsin, we went to several supper clubs. You walk in, there’s a ‘Cheers’ aspect to it, and cocktail hour is a big thing, where you are socializing for an hour—plus many classic dishes, steaks, and seafood dishes—Shrimp de Jonghe is one. It’s a classic, but they’ve allowed me to spin it. I just wanted to find a way that we could tweak it to make it our own. They’ve trusted me, and I know it will go well here in Boise.”
Other delights await. Chef Rodriguez teased the menu ahead of the opening, “We will have a beautiful Icelandic crispy-skin salmon with a delicious sauce. I call it a truffled onion sauce, which has Japanese roots, French roots, and a little bit of American roots. Plus, a scallop dish with a saffron cream sauce. We’ll do prime rib every night, Snake River Farms, a 12 and a 16-ounce cut. And we’re having some fun with the potatoes, our scalloped potato dish you will dream about at night, and those simple touches of making good food great.”
