One of Nevada's top burger joints — on U.S. 95 between Reno and Las Vegas — is for sale

A burger joint often ranked among the best in Nevada — a sizzling outpost of double cheeseburgers on a wind-scoured stretch of U.S. 95 — has gone on the market.

Socorro's Burger Hut occupies blazing barn-red digs in Mina, a minuscule settlement (population 150 or so) in dusty Mineral County, south of Reno roughly one-third of the way to Las Vegas.

For the past 16 years (the past eight with an assistant), owner Soccoro Streight has been chief cook and bottle washer. But at 74, she's finally ready to sell.

"I'm getting old, honey," she said, "honey" being a signature locution that brightens her conversation like spurts of a favorite condiment.

"My legs are killing me, my hands are killing me. I need two surgeries in my hands, one in my shoulder," Streight continued, a smile in her voice even as she described her aches and pains.

3 deals that fell through

Streight is asking $89,000 for the Socorro's property and contents, plus an additional $10,000 for the Socorro's name if a buyer wants to purchase that, too.

Streight said she first considered selling about five years ago. Last year, she affixed a "Business for Sale" sign to the "Now Open" sign rendered in bright red and yellow in front of the restaurant.

Streight said she'd received three seemingly serious sale inquiries that ended up falling through.

"They make a lot of promises," she said, "but the time they are supposed to bring the money, one thing or another happens. I say, 'When you bring the money, it's yours.' "

Starting with a brothel and truckers

Streight, who once cooked down the way at the Wild Cat brothel in Mina, got her start selling food to truckers from the back of her pickup (some of those truckers also having enjoyed her  Wild Cat culinary efforts).

"The truckers say, 'If you put in a restaurant, we'll stop and buy some food,' " Streight said. She purchased Socorro's, all 375 square feet, in 2003, and word spread from there. 

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SOCORRO'S BURGER HUT

Address: 710 Front St., Mina

Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and Thursday through Sunday

Phone: 775-573-2444

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Today, Socorro's menu features items like burgers with classic adornments, a B.L.T., hot dogs and corn dogs, onion rings and chili cheese fries, and milkshakes and ice cream.  

Sometimes, Streight will offer Mexican dishes like taquitos, enchiladas and chiles rellenos. "If people want breakfast in the afternoon, I do it," she said.

Streight takes your order at the window. The burgers arrive wrapped in kitchen paper. Seating? Outside: a smattering of picnic tables or red (of course) high top tables at which you stand and share space.

What's in a name?

The roadside sign at Socorro's actually reads "S'Socorro's," and there's a story there, too. The leading "S" stands for "super special place." That's what the truckers called the burger hut, Streight said, when she first opened the restaurant.

Given that affection, it's perhaps not surprising that "a lot of people are hoping I won't sell," Streight said, and at times, Streight herself seemed to have mixed emotions about leaving behind the flat top and the fryer. 

"I do want to sell, but I'm not rushing it."

Johnathan L. Wright is the food and drink editor of RGJ Media, part of the USA Today Network. Join @RGJTaste on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.