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Steak Town USA: The Committee Chophouse is a steakhouse straddling the city’s past and future of dining
A Committee Chophouse chef can pinpoint the first moment when he sensed the restaurant he works for was an honest-to-goodness steakhouse. It was the day that a few Nebraska ranchers arrived with their families, unannounced, for dinner. Then the ranchers’ friends started showing up, too, to this landmark spot inside the historic Cottonwood hotel. “That…
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The SBH Review: Fifteen years in, Dante is still local, seasonal and exceptional
In 2015, I got in a van with Dante chef and owner Nick Strawhecker and we drove out into Nebraska to see where a handful of his restaurant’s ingredients came from. We visited a small farmer near the small town of Walton who raised vegetables, a huge portion of their crop going to Dante. We…
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Steak Town USA: At Jerico’s, prime rib — and memories — cook low and slow
When I was growing up, my parents gave me two choices each year for my birthday dinner: the now long-gone Imperial Palace in Old Mill, or Jerico’s Steakhouse. You see, my birthday is on Christmas, and we weren’t going out that day. Instead, my parents took our small family out to dinner on Christmas Eve.…
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The SBH Review: Star chef takes over Sakura Bana, improves sushi, focuses menu
There’s a thing that happens to restaurants that have been around, doing what they do, for decades. While some remain at the top of my mind — and on my list of regular spots — others fade into the background, overwhelmed by the new. I can’t remember, for example, the last time I visited Sakura…
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SBH’s Faves: My 5 Favorite Omaha Restaurants of 2024
Last week, I shared my first of two year-end food lists: a look back at the best restaurants I think have opened in the Omaha metro in the past five years. This week’s list is more personal. These are simply my Omaha favorites, the tried-and-true places I return to again and again. They’re the places…
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The SBH review: The top 5 new(-ish) Omaha restaurants
It’s that time of year again: annual food lists are back. Honestly, I always enjoy digging around my own archive, remembering what I enjoyed (and sometimes what I didn’t) and realizing which restaurants, in my real life, I have visited again and again. Favorites change. This year, I’m trying something new: taking a look back…
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The SBH Review: Hot Pot steams into the suburbs
Lately, I’ve been writing about and talking a lot about soup dumplings, with their recent arrival in Omaha. This week, I’m taking a look at another ancient Chinese dish (like, two millennia ancient) that’s making a splash in west Omaha. Hot Pot 88, which opened in October off 132nd and West Center, isn’t the first…
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The SBH Review: Bathed in pink and further west, the new Saddle Creek Breakfast Club still a delight
My favorite brunch spots are the ones that mix just the right combination of good music, great coffee, funky decor and an excellent plate of food, be it a burger or an egg dish. Saddle Creek Breakfast Club has always had that combination, with its tiny midtown Omaha dining room, a never-empty cup of coffee…
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As food costs rise, locally owned restaurants — and the diners who support them — adjust to paying more
One day recently, Paul Urban, who co-owns Block 16, did some math. For the first time in a long time — maybe ever — he noticed business at the popular downtown Omaha lunch spot slowing down. At the same time, food prices were steadily rising. Together, it felt significant enough to investigate. “I sat down…
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The SBH Review: Delicious new empire, built on dumplings, rises in Ralston
I have been waiting years for soup dumplings to come to Omaha. Twelve years, to be exact. I’ve been waiting since we returned home from a memorable trip to China, where we ate hand pulled noodles, stinky tofu, egg and tomato, Sichuan peppercorns and, most memorably, xiaolongbao, also known as soup dumplings. We ordered them…