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Of the 25 restaurants I reviewed in 2023, these are my top eight
A quick reminder before we dive right into the year’s best reviewed restaurants: As it has been for many years, my annual best-of list only includes restaurants that I have reviewed in the last calendar year. If you don’t see one of your favorites, that is probably why. Want me to review that favorite, or…
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Omaha chef ditched ‘familiar trappings’ in his restaurants. Now he’s a James Beard Award finalist
The first thing a person notices when spending time with chef David Utterback is that he’s constantly in motion. He rearranges the bottles behind the counter at his new six-seat, high-end sushi counter, Ota, which sits next to his wildly popular Omaha sushi restaurant, Yoshitomo. He stacks and re-stacks boxes of ingredients. He paces. He…
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Review: At Omaha’s Ota, find the best sushi experience between Chicago and Los Angeles
Today is all about bold pronouncements. I am now prepared to make several, starting here: two-time James Beard semifinalist David Utterback, who has just opened a new, upgraded omakase experience in Benson called Ota, is making the best sushi in the Midwest. Period. I’ve been writing about Utterback’s restaurant and his omakase since 2018, when…