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2020 closed these five restaurants. We will miss them in 2021.
It’s been a long year for restaurants, chefs, owners and the service industry workers who have fought through the 2020 pandemic. It’s been a long year for diners, too, trying to support the restaurants and bars we care about most to make sure they stay open. Business owners pivoted once in the spring, and then…
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After a decade and thousands of memorable dinners, The Grey Plume has closed
The Grey Plume is closing its doors, ending its decade-long run as Omaha’s most nationally acclaimed restaurant. The permanent closure, rumored for months, also sounds the loudest alarm yet that the pandemic is battering our city’s restaurant industry — particularly brutalizing those restaurants, like the Grey Plume, that were financially endangered before COVID-19 hit. “I…
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Lucky Tiger Izakaya, from the owner of Ika Ramen, is new in Blackstone
If you’ve ever dreamed of getting a whole roasted Peking duck in the Blackstone district, your dreams are about to come true. Jose Dionicio, of Ika Ramen, JoJo’s diner and Taqueria Chignon, has taken over the former Forno space, at 3852 Farnam St., which closed this summer. He’s opened a new concept, Lucky Tiger Izakaya,…
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Ika Ramen is headed to Papillion
In other ramen news, Ika Ramen is headed to Papillion in early 2021. Ika chef and owner Jose Dionicio said the southwest Omaha location of his popular ramen spot was to be his 2020 project, until the pandemic hit. Now, he’s planning to open in Shadow Lake Town Center early next year. “We signed the…
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The Dundee Dell is the tip of the iceberg
Greg Lindberg feels like two years have passed since the beginning of March. He’s reinvented his business model at least a dozen times since then, the unofficial start of the COVID-19 pandemic. None of it mattered for the Dundee Dell, the restaurant he bought in 2016 and that has been a midtown staple for 86…
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Review: At Best Burger, the goal is simple: tasty burgers at the right price
Universal Allah figured out the focus of his restaurant after a traveler asked him one simple question: “Where can I find the best burger in Omaha?” He set out to make it. At Best Burger, in Florence, Allah and his partner, Ashlei Spivey, serve grass-fed black angus beef patties on brioche buns topped with all…
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The new Blackstone food hall will open with precautions June 22
The Switch, the new food hall in the Blackstone District, is one of the more anticipated openings since the beginning of the pandemic. The hall, which will open June 22, has precautions in place to make dining in (or taking out) safe. General manager Miranda McQuillan said the hall and its large outdoor patio will…
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Fizzy’s Fountain & Liquors will be the new Omaha retro hot spot
Noah and Katie Mock are Omaha’s king and queen of nostalgia. They’ve already wooed us with their singular wood-paneled grandparents’ basement vibe with Nite Owl, in the Blackstone District. Prepare to be wooed anew. Fizzy’s, their latest effort in Little Bohemia, at 1408 S. 13th St., opened Wednesday. I was lucky enough to be invited…
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Saddle Creek Breakfast Club reopens this weekend
Saddle Creek Breakfast Club, the midtown cult classic, is reopening its doors Friday. The restaurant closed about a month ago and was unusually open about the reason: its chef and co-owner Chase Thomsen went to a treatment center for addiction and mental health issues, according to a post from his wife, Niki. This is the happy…
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Two West Omaha breweries closed this week
→ Old Chicago at Shadow Lake Towne Center closed this week; no one answered phone calls. It’s not the first Omaha-area Old Chicago to shut; the Old Market location closed last fall, and Lincoln’s Old Chicago closed Sunday night. Its parent company, CraftWorks, has closed numerous stores and filed for Chapter 11. Omaha’s last Old Chicago…
Category: Openings & Closings
Omaha restaurant openings and closings, reported each week.