Who knew Omahans loved shrimp this much?

I’d heard about the annual Shucks Fish House “Shrimp Fest” for years, but somehow never managed to check it out. It turns out I might be the only person in Omaha who wasn’t there.

Owner Greg Lindberg said during the four-day event, Shucks sold about 47,000 shrimp to close to 3,000 diners.

That’s a lotta shrimp.

If you, like me, are among the uneducated, Shrimp Fest is, in a nutshell, a whole variety of shrimp dishes priced at $5 a dozen. The menu varies between the three locations of Shucks (We visited the one on Leavenworth Street downtown.)

A massive amount of people filled the lobby, and we were in for a 25 minute wait when we arrived on Friday night around 6. In about half that time, a seat opened at the bar, and we dined there instead.

Most of the menu remained available (spicy sauteed shrimp had sold out) so we ordered two others: Canadian grilled shrimp and shrimp scampi, plus red beans and rice, one of the suggested side dishes, and a selection of the daily oysters.

Fun fact: the menu’s lemon shrimp, he said, found inspiration from that one iconic scene in Forrest Gump.

The shrimp was fine – for the two of us, two dozen shrimp is a good amount for dinner. The red beans and rice needed salt, which I added. Would I write home about this meal? Not really.

I think Shrimp Fest is mostly about the price, and also the idea that a diner can essentially have an all-you-can-eat experience, if they wish. Lots of people had virtually every dish from the $5 shrimp menu spread out on their table.

Were it up to me (and had it not been shrimp fest) I’d have sampled some of the other good looking stuff on Shucks’ menu: the Minnesota-style walleye, for instance. Or the snow crab legs, maybe with a a side of the green bean risotto. I’ll have to go back and try those items, plus more oysters, another time.