Chef-owner Bill Gilbert’s French bistro on Riverside Drive changes its dinner menu with the season.
Bill Gilbert’s route to Beaujolais Bistro began with a move from Maine to Lake Tahoe at age 19. He first worked as a busboy, then found his place in the kitchen and studied French cooking with mentor Jean Pierre Diognon. In 2002, with support from his wife Trisha and her parents, he opened the Reno restaurant of his own.
Today, the chef-owner works from Riverside Drive, where French technique and a changing dinner menu define the bistro. Gilbert connects that cooking to his French-Canadian heritage, while the seasonal approach keeps the menu from becoming a fixed list of dishes.
A sample of the kitchen’s range
The restaurant’s sample dinner menu moves from escargots, country pâté and onion soup to fish, meat and vegetable-based main courses. Hanger steak with fries and béarnaise sits alongside preparations such as duck breast, rack of lamb and baked phyllo with risotto, chèvre and vegetables. These are examples of the kitchen’s style; Gilbert changes the actual dinner selection daily.
Small plates also give room to ingredients such as local radishes, oysters, mushrooms and seasonal seafood. A separate wine list and cocktail menu accompany the food, and the restaurant’s current website describes a collection of more than 150 wines.
Dinner by the river
Beaujolais takes reservations and offers private-event arrangements for occasions ranging from cocktail receptions to larger celebrations. The restaurant’s contact information and booking links are available through its own website.
The business remains closely identified with Gilbert’s cooking and family-supported beginnings. For a diner planning a visit, that means a chef-led French meal in Reno with the exact ingredients and dishes determined by the day’s menu, rather than a promise that a photographed plate will always be available.
Contact Beaujolais Bistro
753 Riverside Drive, Reno, NV 89503
Phone: 775-323-2227
Visit the business website
Researched October 8, 2026. Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4. Independent researched listing; not an owner interview. For corrections or removal, email cody@702alliance.com.
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