Jerman's Italian Cafe in Spring Creek, Nevada, Serves Up Authentic Tasting Italian

Many have said Italian food is right there with Mexican food as being some of the easiest for to make. While this may be true, that doesn't necessarily mean it can be made well. Anyone can throw some tomato sauce into a pot with some oregano and garlic and call it spaghetti sauce, but that doesn't make it so.

It takes the right attention to details including quality ingredients and the right combination of spices to get it right. And then there's the preparation of meat and pasta too.

Jerman's Italian Café, which operates in the Spring Creek Golf Course clubhouse in Spring Creek, Nevada, does Italian food not only right, but extremely well. It's hard to find Italian cuisine of this quality outside of an Italian neighborhood or the country itself.

The restaurant is open Thursdays, Friday and Saturdays during the winter months when the golf course isn't abuzz with golfers. Jason Jerman, a self-taught chef mind you, offers a limited, but diverse and flavorful menu including such items as chicken Alfredo, stuffed fillet of sole, herbed clams, lasagna and the standard spaghetti and meatballs. The restaurant has the clubhouse bar open during that time, so all the typical alcoholic beverages one would typically find at a bar are also available in addition to wine and beer.

Jerman's rich sauces are what speak the loudest in the dishes. His meat and marinara sauces use rich ripe tomatoes as a base and have just enough spice to give the dish the Italian flavor, but not so much that you can't taste the tomatoes. His Alfredo sauce is just enough to lightly coat the pasta and chicken, but not so much to make the food dripping wet with it. Also, it's not too thick where the food clumps together.

The pasta is cooked so it's not mushy, but it isn't too chewy either. And if you're a fan of shellfish, Jerman's clams are among the best I've ever had. It would seem so simple to cook clams in a light herb-butter sauce, but some either have it too herby, too bland or they overcook the clams to the point of rubberization.

At a recent visit, the only detraction from the food was room temperature garlic bread served as an appetizer. Still, the food more than made up for that. However, it seems a group of snowmobilers decided to get loaded at the bar and move into the dining area to "spread their joy" with the other more quiet diners. The light jazz and pleasant conversation was overwhelmed with the clinking of beer bottles and obnoxious, boisterous laughter, as well as the occasional crude comment. They must've been people of community prominence because the wait staff refused to acknowledge the disturbance, and more than one couple seemed to notice.

This is unfortunate because Jerman's is such a great place to dine with a family or the special someone. In the future, I plan on going there on a Thursday instead of a Friday or Saturday when the crowd from the bar is likely to be more rowdy.