Taste of Omaha 2015

If you're a foody and you're in Omaha, then the Taste of Omaha is your ComiCon. Now, I would have been there anyway, but since I convinced my uncles to have a booth there for the Lithuanian Bakery, I was there anyway. This is a good thing as it afforded me three days to sample the goods throughout the event. Here's a quick SparkNotes review of all that I had. It's in alphabetical order, so don't think I'm ranking them or anything.

The Back 40 

317 Main St., Macedonia, IA, 51549 (712) 486.2687

This one time, at the AppleJack Festival, my dad had BBQ pork nachos. He physically retched after a few bites. I thought it was pretty good. I did not get the pork nachos here.

If what I had here was any indication, this little bar and grill in Macedonia is one hell of a restaurant. 

The BBQ sauce was Sweet Baby Ray's I believe. 

The pork sliders were very, very good. Tender meat, plenty smokey, and the bun was in the same vein as a King's Hawaiian roll, though not quite as sweet. At was amounts to $2.50, this was a good value for a festival.

Mac and Cheese. perfect on a hot day! (/sarcasm)

The smoked mac and cheese was of the KFC variety, though much, much better, obviously. I could taste plenty of smoke throughout the cheese sauce. Very creamy.

Chicago Dawg House

3157 Farnam St 68131 (402) 504.1234

The guy who runs this shop has a deep understanding of marketing, as he's all over the place, including being a regular caller/character on Todd 'n' Tyler and 1620 The Zone. He also has a pretty good understanding on what makes a good hot dog. I've had a few from him, including the namesake Chicago Dog before. I'll just say the one I had from the cart outside the Shedd Aquarium was better, but not by much. This time, however, I had the other Chicago classic: the Hot Italian Beef.

I'm sorry, I was walking and trying to take a picture with my phone. At least its in focus.

The giardiniera was nice and spicy. The beef was tender, and well seasoned. And of course I got it dipped so the entire thing was sopping and messy. Solid sandwich. This was a half size, and at what amounts to $3.75, not a bad deal either.

Curri

1028 S 74th Plaza 68114 (402) 614.0009

Alphabet soup.

The beauty of the Taste is you have the opportunity to try things you might never otherwise try. The beauty of working an event like the Taste gives you the opportunity to barter the stuff you brought to sell to eat the stuff other people brought to sell. In this case, those two beautiful things met in one place. I've never had Indian food before, and they approached my table offering a trade (they did this twice, actually). So, without money coming out of my pocketbook directly, I accepted.

This looks like Indian comfort food.

First I tried the chicken tikka masala. The sauce was very creamy and spiced with flavors I wasn't familiar with. It wasn't spicy, per se, but there was a little bit of kick. I wasn't a huge fan of it to be honest, but my dad, who was with me at the booth, loved it. The rice they served with it was an odd long grain white rice I've never seen before. All in all, I wouldn't turn it down if it was placed in front of me, but I'm not sure I would go out of my way to order it.

I thought with the bright red color of the chicken, it would be spicy. I twas not. It was just delicious.

The next day they came by to trade again, and this time they brought over tandoori chicken and, um, I'm not really sure. I think it was the chat on the menu, which after a little research on Google is actually spelled "chaat." I would be willing to bet that Taste screwed that spelling up.

The chicken was perfectly juicy and, again, full of flavors I didn't recognize. the chaat looks like, essentially, a spicy chickpea sauce over rice. It was a lot spicier than I thought it would be, which isn't a bad thing. Good little side dish.

La Casa

4432 Leavenworth St. 68105 (402) 556-6464

Hey, they got a roach coach!

Their pizza is constantly in the top 3 for pizza places in Omaha, and oddly I've never had it before. Personally, for me, it goes Orsi's, Mama's, and Roman Coin. I'm not sure I'll put La Casa anywhere in there after the slice I had, but I can totally see why people have such a high opinion of them now.

I wanted the beef, but I only had six tickets, and the hamburger was eight. This pepperoni was six.

Hey, the pizza was very, very good. Thin crust that wasn't soggy, and was actually nice and crispy, a miracle for pepperoni pizza. but at what amounts to $3.75 for this single slice, there were much better deals around.

Little España

11036 Elm St. 68144 (402) 557.6738

I've always wanted to try España in Benson but I've heard it can be pretty expensive, so I jumped at the chance to try it at the Taste, especially after I saw some folks walking around with bacon wrapped stuffed dates. Unfortunately, by the time I visited on Sunday, they were out of those, so I tried the stuffed peppers.

I'm not sure if they were supposed to be warm or cold. The ones I was served were cold. Nevertheless, they were amazing.

The peppers, called piquillo peppers, were sweet and not at all hot. They were stuffed with a soft goat cheese and almonds, and covered in a balsamic reduction. These were most likely the best thing I tasted all weekend, but at $3.75 for three peppers, on the expensive side, thus confirming my fears about the hit to the pocketbook. In a completely related note, look for Little España as my next review.

Nothing But Goat Grill

No permanent place, it's a food truck. Lexington, NE (308) 651.0327

Goat? Goat!

When I saw these guys were going to be there in the newspaper, I knew I had to try them out. I've had goat once before, at Guaca Maya when they happened to have it on the lunch buffet. I remember it having a very beefy flavor, and since it was very slow roasted, the meat was super tender and fell apart when you picked at it. So I got a brat.

Um, I only remembered to take a picture when I was on my last bite. Sorry.

As you can see, it certainly looked like a proper brat. But the flavor was completely different. It was very smoky, almost too smoky. It was stuffed in natural casing, so there was a very satisfying snap when you bit into it. The kraut he put on it was tangy, and probably something like Frank's kraut. All in all, I think I'd rather have a real brat than this one, especially when it cost me, essentially, $8.75. I should have gotten the burger.

Salty Dog Bar & Grill

2411 S 24th St, Council Bluffs, IA 51501 (712) 256.4851

It was a long walk over the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge to get here, but this was worth it.

Well, they kept things simple with only one thing on the menu. What so you think I got?

Unassuming, but brilliant.

They were grilled to perfection, with a great smoky flavor, tender and juicy. The ranch was unneeded. And at $3.75, there are places that have wing specials that cost more than that! Great value, especially at a festival.

Thai Esarn (aka Thai Spice)

555 N 155th Plaza, 68154, (402) 493.9944

I want to be where these guys were next year. It was always busy. Really good spot.

Only after doing some research into these guys did I realize that I've eaten here before. They must be in the middle of a rebranding, because the roof outside their storefront says "Thai Spice." Anyway, they've got some really good stuff there, and in no way did what I got this weekend represent what I've had there before.

I love sweet chili sauce.

The crab rangoon was slightly sweet to my surprise, but good. The vegetable ball was hot and kinda bland. A whole bunch of "Eh..." going on here.

Taste of Asia

333 N 78th St. 68117 (402) 905.2258

These people were so generous, it was unbelievable. You should go there just so I can start to repay them.

Okay so these guys were right next to us, and there was almost no trading going on because they just straight fed us all weekend. Like, we tried to give them some slices of torte, and sure, they accepted some of the time, but they mostly turned us down. That's why I have so many pictures to show here.

I can't count how many of these I had. So many egg rolls...

The egg rolls they fried fresh right there before serving them, and they are out of this world. They had pork ones and veggie ones. Each had that really thin, transparent rice noodle that is common in Thai cuisine. They suggested a sweet fish sauce to dip it in, and that was excellent, as well.

Lots of peanuts.

They made a ton of pad thai, which is why I had so much of it. It was slightly spicy, and though the sauce that coated the noodle was good, I just kinda wish they put more on it. 

I've never had pho before. Now I need to find more pho.

As I said in the caption, I've never had pho before. I'm familiar with it, though, as my Vietnamese friends rave about the stuff on their Facebook every winter. And normally, in summer, a hot soup really isn't high on my list, but, being Nebraska, that Saturday morning it was 49°, and by the time I was given this bowl, it was still only about 60°. Now, never having had it, I don't know where this ranks in the world of pho, but I loved this stuff. The broth had a surprising amount of ginger, the noodles were a lot longer than I gave them credit for (which must be an Asian thing, having long noodles like that), and the beef was in big wide, thin slices. A little bit of chili oil went a long way, but all in all, it was delicious.

I've seen people make Korean wings before, but I've never had them. What was I thinking?

Finally, the Korean wings. Sweet, kinda spicy, fried to perfection. What a sauce. Gotta get more of these the next time I visit the restaurant.

Jazz, a Louisiana Kitchen

1421 Farnam St

402.342.3662

Sun-Thurs: 11 am - 12 am

Fri-Sat: 11 am - 1 am

http://omaha.jazzkitchens.com/

Based on some recommendations from some friends of mine, I decided I was due for some Creole cooking and made a couple trips to Jazz, a small chain that is, I think, based out of Kansas City.

Outdoor seating was available, but it was still kinda chilly out, especially in all that downtown shade.

Walking in, you are first greeted with the classic wrought iron fence and gate that surrounds many yards in New Orleans. I love that touch. Inside, the walls are adorned various New Orleans ephemera, including an authentic-looking, gigantic cape that a waiter said came from the '88 or '89 Mardi Gras parade. Very, very cool stuff even if it's a replica.

Despite the name, both times I went in I heard no jazz. The first day I heard classic rock, and the second I heard blues. No complaints from me, though. Maybe the employees would go nuts if all they heard was one style of music everyday.

Ugly and worn? Yeah. Full of character? Absolutely.

The first day I visited was at about 5:30 on a Wednesday, and as I expected, even at a downtown restaurant, it was pretty quiet inside. I was seated at a table that was all kinds of scratched and graffiti-ed, befitting a down-home jazz bar. I ordered the Voodoo Wings and the Chicken ala Mer.

Hmm, baguette? Not really crusty enough, but close.

After ordering I was presented with a basket of baguettes and butter. The butter was whipped, making it very creamy, and they added garlic and herbs to it, so there was a lot going on with each bite. Very good, but, you know, its bread and butter. Moving on.

I very much dislike breaded wings. These are breaded wings. I loved these wings.

I'll admit I was slightly disappointed when I saw the wings were breaded. I've always thought the breading on wings just added an unnecessary barrier between you and the delicious fried goodness that you ordered. But these were just very slightly breaded, and doused with their Voodoo sauce. I should mention, you don't get to choose sauces here, as the Voodoo is the only choice. Yes it is spicy (though certainly not overly so), so if you can't handle heat, you may want to stay away. If you can, however, you'll need to order a plate of these. If "the sauce is the boss", then this is le patron. I was told they take their hot sauce, which is available in a bottle on every table, and add brown sugar and black pepper. Slightly sweet, but with the classic Louisiana hot sauce still present. I can't get enough of it. Get the wings.

Not the best picture I've ever taken, but certainly not the worst. I need to work on my staging.

Here's how the menu reads on the Chicken ala Mer: 

Here it is: our most popular item and the one that’ll keep y’all comin’ back. This chicken is topped with a shrimp & krab parmesan (sic) cream sauce over a bed of rice with your choice of veggie. Ooo, baby!

I'm not sure I had a choice after reading that. Fried chicken breast covered in a creamy seafood sauce, dirty rice, and sautéed veggies? Can't go wrong! And it was very good. The dirty rice gave that late Cajun kick that it should, the chicken was moist and tender, and the sauce was very creamy and full of flavor. The veggies needed a little bit of help with the house seasoning that is helpfully put on every table, but otherwise was well done, as well.

Because the wings were still on Happy Hour pricing, I got out of there with tip, tax, and everything for less than $20.

Two weeks later I visited again, this time on a Thursday, again at about 5:30 pm. I ordered the stuffed mushrooms and the shrimp po'boy.

Fried or stuffed, I love me some mushrooms.

I'm kinda sorry to report I didn't care for the mushrooms. They've got a seafood stuffing that was baked with Parmesan and white wine. But all I tasted was bread. Like, I know there was probably shrimp and fake crab and all that, but it was so loaded with bread crumbs, that's all I could taste. So much potential, so little reward.

Again, I need to work on my photography. I hate being that guy in the restaurant, but you gotta see what I'm eating!

The po'boy was one of the things I was specifically told to order here by my friends, and it didn't disappoint. Po'boys are essentially simple sandwiches made with one of about 3-4 meats, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. Some of the seafood ones and the beef one has a special sauce, but they're all on baguettes. This one has what is essentially popcorn shrimp, and there was an orange sauce that I wasn't able to identify but was delicious. The shrimp was perfectly fried and wasn't too rubbery, and the batter held enough flavor to compliment the sandwich and not take it over. The cole slaw was decent, nothing to write home about. The hush puppies, though. I was taken aback.

I'm not too proud to admit the only hush puppies I've ever had was from Long John Silver. I know that they are certainly not the be-all-end-all, but I also thought I had a good idea on what hush puppies can be. I was very wrong. These held all kinds of flavor that I never expected, with visible herbs and spices. And slightly sweet which surprised me the most. It's just a hush puppy, but boy, what a hush puppy.

With tax, tip, and everything, I walked out at just under $25.

The menu is rather large, and I want to try a few other meals (I'm looking at you, stuffed catfish and muffuletta). I don't know when I'll go back, but it certainly is on the list of places to visit again.