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The 11 best food experiences I had in 2021
It took me a few hours to shuffle through my iPhone’s camera roll to prepare for this year’s recap, which includes a wide variety of individual dishes, meals, destinations in and outside of Omaha and memorable experiences that together make up the best dining during the last year. I didn’t include any of my own…
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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…
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A week in Phoenix: Here’s everything we ate
Matthew and I were lucky enough to get away to sunny Phoenix for a week, and though I posted on my social media while we were there, I thought a recap of the best places we went and the best food we ate might be a great resource for those Nebraska snowbird types that spend…
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Nebraska-based Sandhills Elixir is the key to zero-proof cocktails for the holiday season
Yes, yes, you know I love a good Mr. November like the rest of us. But this year — particularly after 2020 — I’m all about the zero-proof cocktails. Just in time for both the holiday season and dry January, I’ve partnered with Sandhills Elixir, a Nebraska-based zero-proof spirit distiller in Valentine. They make absolutely…
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Our greatest hit cocktail, the Mr. November, is back for another Thanksgiving (now with video!)
I wrote what follows in 2020. I feel very lucky to say that, after glorious vaccinations and boosters, Sarah and I are planning to host several holiday events where the delicious cocktail I describe below will be served. Life during a pandemic remains challenging. Life in general is constantly shifting. But a Mr. November cocktail…it…
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A coffee and cocktail-filled eight days in Omaha
I don’t know about all of you, but I have really, really been enjoying being out and about this past week. Maybe it’s the extra zing I felt after I got my Covid booster. Maybe it’s that there is just so much new and exciting stuff happening around Omaha. Maybe it’s being invited to soft…
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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…
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Omaha’s essential 38 restaurants are live on Eater.com
It would be accurate to say I’ve been thinking about Omaha’s 38 essential restaurants for a decade. I finally got the opportunity to make it real: My list is live right now on Eater.com. What an honor to have been asked. Many ask how one puts together such a list, and let me tell you,…
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Review: West Omaha’s Kinaara is serving some of the most singular Indian food in town
It is a rare experience these days to be truly surprised by a dish, at least for this writer. But Kinaara’s fish Pollichathu? I was, as the kids say, shook. I found several hits and only a few complaints during a recent visit to the tiny but extremely busy Kinaara, which opened just before the…
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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…