Business Spotlight: Sassafras takes eclectic to another level

Eighteenth Century English poet William Cowper once wrote that variety is the spice of life.

In Carson City, both variety and spice can be found together in one place at Sassafras Electic Food Joint, currently located on the Carson Hot Springs Resort property at 1500 Old Hot Springs Road.

Owners Tony Fish and Jayme Watts have taken a distinctively unconventional ethnic approach with Sassafras.

From the interior design and decor to the menu -- offering a diverse collection of old ethnic and regional favorites, as well as creative fusions of them -- so much about the business looks, feels, sounds, and tastes eclectic.

Fish said when he and Watts started Sassafras, they wanted a menu that was as unique as it was creative.

"We wanted it to be all encompassing," Fish said. "I don't want to be pigeon-holed. I get bored."

"And I like to tweak things," added Watts.

Consider the appetizer menu, for starters.

There's the Sassafras take on deviled eggs. Seasoned with paprika, shrimp and roasted peppers are added to egg mixture for a tasty tweak to an old favorite that Sassafras creatively calls "Eviled Eggs."

Or, how about the Black and Bleu Shrimp Fondue? Made with blackened shrimp, blue cheese, onions, peppers and smoked paprika, it is a purposely diverse collection of flavors meant to both satisfy and educate the palate.

The restaurant's entire menu shows a willingness to be bold and try new things.

"Who'd a thought of adding bleu cheese to coleslaw?" Watts said.

"And what kind of freak pickles zucchini?" Fish added.

From Asian chicken tacos to the veggie burger, the Haitian Port Au Prince sandwich, and the tongue-twisting Superfraggacheesalicios Loaf, the menu is a veritable cornucopia of dishes that cry out to be tried.

"I take things from different cuisines and put them together," Fish said.

Fish and Watts admit, though, that their zeal to be different doesn't jive with everybody.

"We're all getting so used to cookie cutter restaurants, that sometimes we throw too much of a curve ball," Fish said with a chuckle. "Some people just don't want weird, but we do what we can to accommodate them."

If you want just a plain hamburger sandwich -- ground beef patty between two slices of bread -- no problem, says Fish.

"We do that, too," he said.

But, clearly, the draw to Sassafras is not convention. It is about allowing the palate to expand, and giving the tastebuds a new experience.

It's about changing things up, something Fish and Watts know a little something about.

Before moving Sassafras to its current location at Carson Hot Springs Resort, the restaurant was downtown along Carson Street.

Sassafras has been on the Carson Hot Springs property for a little over a year now.

It left the North Carson Street location in the summer of 2014 after the landlord had declined to extend the restaurant's lease. Sassafras replaced B'Spghetti's in that space in 2011.

Before that, the couple ran Mo & Sluggo's Bar and Grill (now the Westside Pour House) at 110 W. Telegraph Street. And even before that, they worked at Adele's on North Carson Street.

At first, neither Fish nor Watts were sure that the location at the Carson Hot Springs Resort was going to work out.

For one thing, the location was no where near central to Carson City as the couple would have liked.

"We're so far off the beaten path, that you really have to want to find us," Fish said with a laugh.

Some of the building's wood was about a hundred years old, Fish said. Plus, the interior was going to require a lot of costly work.

Fish said that, at one time, the building had been an adobe lodge and then the Hawaiian Cactus Club casino back in the day.

But the price and the terms on the space were right, Watts said, and they decided to take the risk. After all, they had been without a home for their restaurant since being forced to leave the North Carson Street location.

Sassafras found itself evicted and without a home in July 2014 after wew ownership of the North Carson Street property had decided not to continue the restaurant's lease.

Friends in the community stepped up, though, to help the beloved restaurant with the unexpected transition costs by holding a fundraising event called "Save Our Sass." This gave Fish and Watts much needed time in their search for new digs.

"It was going to take a lot of work, but we thought we could make it work," Fish said of the hot springs space. "The lease terms were reasonable enough, too, with money for tenant improvements."

True to the Sassafras philosophy, though, the pair had to be creative in their approach to the restaurant's interior design.

"We had to think outside of the box," Watts added.

At the old B'Sghetti's space on North Carson Street, Sassafras enjoyed a spacious 1,800 square-foot kitchen and had seating for 150 people in the dining room.

At the hot springs property, Fish said the restaurant lost 800 square feet of kitchen space, but also gained 800 square feet in the dining room to accommodate more patrons.

"It's better laid out here," Fish said of the current space on the hot springs property. "It's a more welcoming space, and more open."

Watts agreed, saying feedback from customers has been very positive, too.

"People say to us that this new place has such a good vibe, so it's a better spot for us," she said. "We wanted it to have a circusy carnival like feel."

Yes, even the old stripper poles, flanking either side of the stage and adorned with threads of glowing lights, contribute both to the fun vibes and the eclectic charm of Sassafras Eclectic Food Joint.

So does the "Day of the Dead" wall mural art that Fish and Watts salvaged from the old North Carson Street space and put on display at the hot springs resort location.

"Day of the Dead" is a Latin American celebration of life for family members that have passed on, the couple said.

In fact, there are a number of interior accents that pay homage to this ethnic holiday, held in the fall close to Halloween, Fish said.

The skull art seen throughout the restaurant is displayed in honor of the holiday, Watts said, reflecting the couple's love for Latin American and Carribean cultures.

But the true draw to Sassafras is, has been, and always will be the food. Creative fusions of ethnic favorites, and unique twists on traditional cuisine.

It does more than get people talking. It brings them back for more.