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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…
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Review: Cottonwood’s update on the Omaha Reuben is a winner
The Reuben at the new Cottonwood Hotel lives up to the legend. I’ve paid several visits to the hotel, and you may have already read my review of their Committee Chophouse and Matthew’s review of their beautiful bar. (If not, read away!) But if I’m honest, the Reuben — the Omaha classic that has its roots…
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Review: At the Committee Chophouse, old-school steak meets modern whimsy
When it is the first time sitting down for dinner in a dining room in more than a year, you make it special. You put on a long-forgotten outfit and break out a vintage bag. You make a reservation, invite some family members — some of whom you haven’t seen in more than a year!…
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Cocktail review: The Cottonwood Room is a great place to return to indoor drinks
On a beautiful late April evening, I tugged on my mask, descended some stairs and entered an Omaha bar for the first time in 13 months. I was fully vaxxed, not quite relaxed and a little in awe of the scene before me. I heard the familiar clinking sounds, the low, comforting hum of a…
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My top five pizza spots in Omaha (that got eliminated from the pizza bracket way too soon.)
Many, many people have strong, bold opinions about the first ever Omaha Pizza Bracket, which racked up more than 110,000 votes over the course of March Madness and closed earlier this week with its first ever winner, Mangia Italiana. In the hopes to continue the conversation — to debrief after the bracket, as one friend…
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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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Six last minute gifts that support Omaha’s food & beverage scene
This year it is more important than ever to keep our dollars in Omaha and shop local this holiday season. It’s also more important than ever to support our local, beloved bars and restaurants, especially if we want to keep them open beyond the pandemic. To that end, here’s six ideas to consider for all…
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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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Matthew Hansen: On the joys of dining outside in a pandemic summer
Sarah and I haven’t wined and dined inside a restaurant or bar since COVID rudely interrupted life’s regularly scheduled programming in March. Five months feels like five decades. We miss cozying up to our favorite back table at Dante and splitting the Cortona pizza and the Bolognese. We miss sidling up to the sushi bar…
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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…
Neighborhood: Blackstone
South 33rd Street to 38th Street; Leavenworth Street to Dodge Street.