Grace - Omaha Food: Bigger than Beef (American Palate)

Published by American Palate

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2015 by Rachel P. Grace

All rights reserved

First published 2015

e-book edition 2015

ISBN 978.1.62585.568.8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015948835

print edition ISBN 978.1.46711.781.4

Notice : The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project is the culmination of five years of a highly immersive, at times obsessive, experience with Omaha food that all started when I moved here in 2010. Conversations with new friends would most often turn to food; theyd immediately scribble out the names of their favorite places on bar napkins, insisting I had to try them. And so I did, fascinated by the level of persuasion that was unrivaled by any other city I had lived in before. Before long, I was going out to eat nearly every day trying to keep up with the recommendations, and people would check back with me, asking what I had thought. The semi-genius idea for a food blog was birthed out of necessity to keep track of my opinionsthat, and a love of writing. At that point in time, there werent any other active Omaha food blogs.

It would likely have not gone much further than that had it not been for the early supporters, those who sat around with me patientlyand sometimes impatientlywaiting to eat while I found just the right angle with my iPhone. Without a doubt, it was the enthusiasm of my original champions that motivated me to push forward. You know who you are.

Ive been genuinely touched by the level of support given by a number of busy restaurant owners who didnt even bat an eye at the prospect of helping me out: Robert Tim Peffer at Sgt. Peffers, Jeannie Ohira and Joe Pittack at Ted & Wallys, Paul Urban and Jessica Joyce Urban at Block 16, Lou Marcuzzo at Louie Ms and Bryce Coulton of the French Bulldog, to name a few. In addition, the chefs and artisans who provided recipes for these pages are my heroes.

Thank you to Jon Hustead for coaching me on photography, and extra special thanks for believing that I could do it in the first place. I am indebted to Jon, as well as the other photographers who loaned their work for this project: Alexander Rock, Bill Sitzmann, Colin Conces, Dillon Gitano and Mark Swanson. Thanks also to the team at The New BLK for lending their constant opinions about restaurants. Youre all a bunch of experts.

This book would have definitely been lacking something had it not been for Jessica Luna, who brought me up to speed on everything I needed to know about being a real native Omahan. She even let me borrow her mother and grandmother!

I selfishly convinced my sister, Lydia Catone, to move to Omaha just as this project was kicking off. She was a wonderful research companion and feedback provider, and I was extremely happy to have her be a part of it firsthand. And there is no doubt in my mind that I wouldnt have made it to the finish line without the support of Shane Bainbridge, who calmly reminded me why I was doing this in the first place as often as needed. He was my main connector, moderator and motivatornot to mention illustrator. (And he was forced to enjoy many nights out without me while I stayed home and worked, bless his heart.)

Its been clear for some time that Omaha food deserves a lot more attention than its historically gotten, from residents and nonresidents alike. Im thrilled to have had the chance to tell at least a part of that wonderful story. Thank you to Becky LeJeune and Artie Crisp at The History Press for making that possible.

No small thanks, either, to the guy who accidentally slammed his oafish body into me at the Sydney one night and broke my finger. While it forced me to lay off the guitar for a while, I could still type on a keyboard. I took this as a sign that it was time to act and write the book I had wanted to write for some time.

This is a city filled with incredible energy right now. Lets make the most of it.

INTRODUCTION

There are a lot of people in the United States who cant pick out Omaha on a map. I know because I used to be one of them. From Los Angeles to New York, Portland to Miami, sea to shining sea, a lot of fellow Americans couldnt care less about where Omaha is, generally speaking. Mention Omahas food scene, and they start to glaze over. The perception that Nebraska is nothing but cornfields is alive and well, and the struggle to convince people otherwise is real.

In an attempt to win them over, Ill sometimes throw out to a jaded New Yorker that our airport only takes a few minutes to pass through security, which is pretty awesome. That is, until I remember that its actually just an airfield , with no international destinations. Theyll often ask if Omaha has a lot of chain restaurants, to which I reply, sort of. What, are there no Olive Gardens east of the Mississippi? Sure, a 1993 book of reviews published by the Omaha World-Herald , the citys leading paper, included an Olive Garden review alongside real, locally owned, noteworthy restaurants, but so what? Its not like they reviewed T.G.I. Fridays and Chilis, too. (Except they did.)

That was 1993, and this is today. The chain restaurant flak we give ourselves can go away now. Long before the national chains arrived, Omaha had an absolutely thriving restaurant scene.

Take the menu from 1944 seen on the next page, for example. I, personally, would love to have tried Baked Oma-Ham with French Fried Potatoes for fifty cents. Or perhaps the Genuine Castle Spaghetti, the recipe for which was procured from the Castle of Count Belvidere. It was likely over this very menu, in fact, at the Hotel Castle downtown, that the Omaha Restaurant Association was formed. Its founders, a group of seven early Omaha restaurateurs, had a lot of great eateries on their hands that they felt they needed to promote. If I could fossilize any single moment in Omaha restaurant history, it would be that: a bunch of suits sitting around a table over their prime rib and braised ox joints, yammering on about how great the food is. It sounds suspiciously familiar.

Above and opposite : Menu from the Hotel Castle. Courtesy of Lou Marcuzzo .

Omaha is, and always has been, a food town by every generally accepted criteriait just flew under the national radar for a while. If youre looking for chef-driven restaurants churning out new ideas, weve got that. If specialty eateries are your favorite fad du jour, then boy do we have something for you. With dozens of international cuisines represented in every capacity, from the strip mall hole-in-the-wall to the high-end dining destination, weve got that market covered, too.