Neighborhood: Aksarben/Elmwood Park

South 50th Street to 72nd Street; Center to Pacific/Leavenworth

  • Review: At Tracks, carefully crafted chicken wings keep regulars coming back

    Review: At Tracks, carefully crafted chicken wings keep regulars coming back

    At Tracks Lounge, chicken wings might be the main attraction.  You would be hard pressed to walk past the handful of patio tables or the regulars holding up the bar and not see a basket of extra large, charred, saucy wings in front of them, along with a beer and a pile of crumpled napkins. …

  • Review: At Omaha Bagel Co., from-scratch takes on new meaning 

    Review: At Omaha Bagel Co., from-scratch takes on new meaning 

    Around 9 a.m. on a recent weekday morning, I met a friend in the parking lot of the Dundee Theater on a secret mission: collecting a dozen bagels from the Omaha Bagel Co.  The cottage bagel bakery, which has been around for almost a year, only accepts orders via text message until farmers market season…

  • Review: At Saffron, well-executed Indian classics are great, and there’s more to come

    Review: At Saffron, well-executed Indian classics are great, and there’s more to come

    Saffron Urban Indian Kitchen is trying to figure out a way to stand out in Omaha.  Our city already has a lot of good neighborhood Indian spots (Kinaara is one I like) and a couple of higher-end choices (Jaipur is one I like, too.)  When you first arrive at Saffron, and take in the upscale,…

  • The 2022 heart-shaped pizza list

    The 2022 heart-shaped pizza list

    I wasn’t planning to make a heart shaped pizza list this year — a lot of other local outlets do their own version now — but then, while scrolling Instagram, as one does, I changed my mind. There’s three reasons, really: Wednesday is National Pizza Day, next week is Valentine’s Day, and I saw a…

  • The best zero-proof hot toddy for sub-zero Omaha

    The best zero-proof hot toddy for sub-zero Omaha

    We spent the last week of 2021 in sunny Palm Springs (I know, I know, it was great) and wow, was the weather upon returning home the shock of a lifetime. We stood outside Eppley’s snowy, windy tundra in thin jackets, shivering while we waited for our taxi at 11 p.m. Ugh. I still feel…

  • On the Edge of Essential: Six more spots worth checking out

    On the Edge of Essential: Six more spots worth checking out

    There’s been no shortage of suggestions as to the spots I may have left off my list of 38 Essential Omaha restaurants. To that end, I decided to share six that made my first working list, but didn’t make the final cut. But that doesn’t mean I like them any less — or that they’re…

  • It’s Negroni week!

    It’s Negroni week!

    I couldn’t have been more excited to be asked to judge the return round of Mercury’s Negroni Throwdown, this year the kickoff event to national Negroni week. Mercury is Omaha’s home for the Campari-themed event, and owner Clark Ross told me they’ll be running specials all week. The format of the Throwdown is simple: the…

  • Takeout chronicles: Crystal Jade

    Takeout chronicles: Crystal Jade

    Editor’s note: Welcome to our new series. We can’t dine out right now, but we can order in. I’ll share my chronicles of getting to-go meals, curbside takeout or delivery from various Omaha restaurants a few times a week. How to order Crystal Jade is on Grubhub, and you can also call for a takeout…

  • New African food in midtown, Thai takes over at old High Peak Asian spot, J’s on Jackson is back and a Salvadorian bakery

    New African food in midtown, Thai takes over at old High Peak Asian spot, J’s on Jackson is back and a Salvadorian bakery

    → Okra African Grill is headed to 72nd and Pacific Streets, in Aksarben Center. I’ve seen glimpses of the food, which looks wonderful, on friends’ Facebook pages, and you can see it yourself courtesy of Omaha photographer Ariel Panowicz’s image above. I’m still working on gathering more information about the menu. More soon. → Though…