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A selection of my favorite cookbooks and food books, which you can buy at Tiny House Bar Wednesday night
When Tiny House Bar owner Megan Malone asked me what my favorite cookbooks were, it led to a great idea: Let’s have a selection available at the Tiny House Holiday Scholastic Book Fair, which is this coming Wednesday, November 16. It has been a pleasure not only to pull together a partial list of favorites,…
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Review: At Anna’s Place, Omaha’s underground history is served in original, beautiful cocktails
Tucked behind a softly lit door — that light green or red, depending on luck — in the lobby of downtown’s new Hotel Indigo sits the city’s latest speakeasy, serving a succinct lineup of original, artful cocktails. If the light is green, knock with the big brass door knocker shaped like a woman. (If it’s…
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Review: At Benson’s Virtuoso, much has changed, but the high-quality pizza remains the same
It’s been a while since I found myself in Benson with a slice of what is, in my book, one of the city’s top pizzas. I can’t quite say why it’s been several years — since 2017, to be exact, when I was first reviewing the restaurant — since I’ve returned. But here’s what I…
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Review: At Hacienda Real, home cooked Mexican and Tex-Mex hits the spot
Sometimes when I’m deciding whether or not to review a place, I turn to Google, simply to learn a little bit more. When I googled “Hacienda Real,” the Lincoln-based, locally owned chain of Mexican restaurants that opened its third location in Omaha in August, this line popped up inside the box devoted to recent Google…
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Review: At Winchester Bar & Grill, your small town dive bar burger dreams come true in Omaha
I’d heard a lot about Winchester Bar & Grill — in particular, about the burgers at Winchester — long before I ever set foot in the dive bar dining room a few weeks back. I kind of love it when rumors turn out to be true. Winchester made me feel like I was in some…
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Review: At Dynamite, some dishes are on fire, while others lack spark
Dynamite Woodfire Grill, the restaurant inside the new Farnam Hotel at 12th and Farnam streets, presents diners with an interesting proposition: Would you rather dine with us, or at The Boiler Room? With us, or at V. Mertz? For its price point — our dinners, after tip, stretched to $300 one night and topped $160…
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Review: At the tiny Khao Niao, Thai and Vietnamese classics are made with care
Whenever a friend says something along the lines of “have you tried the Thai place on 155th and Ruggles?” a little light flips on in my head. After two recent visits to that west Omaha hole-in-the-wall — which turns out to be called Khao Niao Thai-Lao Restaurant — I’m glad I have such friends. This…
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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,…
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Review: The Dundee Dell is back for a new generation of locals
One of the toughest things a restaurant owner can take on is the reinvention of a classic. The Dundee Dell, which is nearing a century of history in midtown Omaha, is certainly that kind of an icon. So I was excited to see a successful revamp of this neighborhood spot, at 5007 Underwood Ave., when…
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Review: At Gather in Omaha, “something for everyone” turns out to be a rare success
Gather is the type of new Old Market restaurant that long-time Omaha diners haven’t seen in several years. The Old Market arguably hasn’t welcomed a good new restaurant since 2013, several years before the infamous M’s Pub fire. Gather, located in a rebuilt space also destroyed in that fire, is working to change that —…