Midtown Restaurant Moves to Permanent Outdoor-Only Dining |

The pandemic has completely changed the way we dine out. And for some local restaurants, it's spurred some permanent changes. Beefy's, a burger joint in Midtown Reno, is one of those places.

It's located in a historic building that used to be known as Landrum's.

"This building has been here since 1947," said Beefy's Owner Roy Brennan.

There are plenty who remember the old times.

"I'm an original person from 1971, and that was the place to come at the time, Landrum's," said Jeff Spalin, a longtime Reno resident. "So I was a customer of Landrum's for years."

Brennan opened Beefy's about six and a half years ago in a space that's always been, well, cozy.

"It's about 400 square feet, we're certainly not running for the biggest restaurant in Reno, that's for sure," Brennan said.

Pandemic guidelines made any type of indoor seating impractical, so they moved to an outdoor dining model in the only space available - the parking lot.

"We decided we could increase outdoor dining here and not have to worry anymore," Brennan said. "Obviously, I can't have 500 people out here, our kitchen is still so tiny, and that's why we get backed up a little bit, but for all intents and purposes we've doubled our capacity since the pandemic hit. So it's been a blessing in disguise."

Now, the inside has been reworked to better accommodate the staff, while improvements continue on the new dining space.

"What we've done to plan for next Winter is we've upgraded our whole electrical system," Brennan said. "So we can add more heaters, make it even nicer and warmer in here, and hopefully that will do it."

Most of the regulars are taking the changes in stride.

"Business models change all the time, the pandemic has shown us that," Spalin said. "That what happened in the past, what was quaint and nice, with the pandemic you might have to change that. But he's willing to grow and change to meet the times."

The menu is one thing that hasn't changed, and a lot of fans are grateful for that.

"I'm eating the burger of the month right now," said Justin Spalin, in town visiting family for a few days. "I love that it's moved to the outside, it used to be really limited seating and now's it expanded, it's wonderful, so everybody come to Beefy's for the best burger in town all day!"

For more information on Beefy's click here.