The Session Room

1502 Mike Fahey St

402.342.4393
Sun-Sat: 11 am - 2 am
http://sessionroomomaha.com/

The Session Room has only been open since May, but they've already started to make a name for themselves with one of their trendy menu items: the pizza cone. You may have seen the review by the OWH (a quick Google search didn't turn up the review, but I know I saw one sometime in June); the cone is exactly like you think it is: the cone itself is made up of pizza crust and its filled with pizza sauce, toppings, and cheese. This is the thing that brought me in, and while very good, the other menu items are what's going to keep me coming back.

When you walk into the place you are greeted with a bare-bones establishment. An industrial ceiling with exposed I-beams, Edison bulbs hanging over tables on long electrical cords, cement floors, and just enough beer and alcohol-related decor to keep your eyes interested. There were a few TVs hanging over the long, well-stocked bar that were all tuned to sporting events, which I appreciated as I was able to follow my Kansas City Royals while eating. The music was a very good mix of classic rock. All the tables were hightops, though. I hate hightops. Those are another one of those trendy things. I dunno, I guess I like being able to put my feet anywhere on the floor, instead of being forced to rest them on that little ring around the base of the table or the base of my chair. That said, if the exclusive use of hightops is my only real gripe, then that's a good thing, I think.

I visited on a Wednesday in successive week, at about 6 pm, which was right before their main dinner rush happened. The first time my eyes were too big for my stomach and I ordered a Meat Lover's pizza cone, Timmy Tok Thai Egg Rolls, and 10 of their spiciest chicken wings (more on these in a moment).

Fried to perfection. Look at how delicate the shell looks.

The egg rolls came out first. They were spectacular. Tender, thin strips of cabbage and carrots with more than enough meat inside. The sweet chili sauce was an excellent addition. They are kind of expensive as you only get two whole rolls at $7, but my word are they delicious.

Side.

Top.

The delicious, delicious inside.

The pizza cone was next. The outside was crisp, almost crunchy, and the inside was ooey, gooey, and amazing. The top half of the cone was basically meat and cheese. About half way down was the pizza sauce that was reminiscent of, but a thousand times better than, Godfather's. The sauce on the bottom reminded me of the chocolate on the bottom of the Drumstick novelty ice cream cone. (Sorry, now you want a Drumstick. And so do I actually). These are fairly small; you can figure that each one is worth about a slice and a half of a normal pizza. At $5 each, this is a pretty good deal.

Very meaty wings, here. Also, my eyes regretted this decision when I took out my contacts.

I was, crazily, still hungry after those two so I ordered some of these wings. I decided that I was a man's man and ordered their spiciest wings. Unfortunately, I forgot what they're called and the sauce is not listed online. The sauce was not "Eat 12 wings in 30 minutes, get your order free" hot, but it certainly packed a punch. I got them down, but not without some tears. The wings themselves were perfectly fried and crispy, and they held enough meat to make a meal out of them. The ranch I got with them was a life saver, and I could tell it was made there. All-in-all they were excellent wings, but I'll stick with the classic Buffalo or BBQ wings next time.

All this, plus my pop and the tip came to just over $33.

The next week I obviously had learned my lesson and only ordered two things: another pizza cone that, again I cannot remember the name of and is not on their online menu, and the Caprese flatbread.

The sauce in the cup. Dear lord the sauce.

The pizza cone this time was not the best, I'll be honest. If you look on the menu, its essentially the Chicken Bacon Ranch with a few other ingredients thrown in. Anyway, what made me dislike it was the ranch sauce. It was just too much garlic and salt. I felt like if it was regular pizza sauce I'd have another winner here. Also, the crust was slightly underdone this time. I like it that way but I can see why others would not. As for the fries, they were in a novel shape that held a good crust-to-potato ratio, if that's a thing, and very well seasoned. The sauce, which they call "boom boom sauce," was slightly spicy and really made for a great dish.

I'll be honest, this was bigger than I thought it was going to be,

The flatbread was all about what was on top. The crust was okay, but the sauce, cheese, and tomatoes more than made up for it. Excellent stuff here, but really, it's good for two./ I once again waddled out.

This day, with pop and tip, I walked out at just over $21.

I should mention that the service I got both days was excellent and personable.

These guys have  a lot going for them, including being in a nice, up -and-coming location. Definitely a great location for before and after Blue Jays basketball games come winter.I can see a nice, long future for The Session Room.

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.

Ray's Original Buffalo Wings

5424 S 36th St (inside the Lemon Drop Bar)
402.884.5300
M-T: Closed
W-Sat: 11 am - 9 pm
Sunday: 12 pm - 7 pm
www.rayswings.com

All through January I had been hearing a radio commercial for the re-opening of this joint, a place that the commercial exclaimed was an Omaha favorite. I'd never heard of Ray's until these annoying commercials (I've heard this style of commercial before for another company, where the story is told through an inner monologue that repeats what the outer monologue says, but in a "funny" voice; it must be a stock "script" one of the local media companies has for commercials they produce; if you are a business owner looking to advertise, please avoid this style. All that said, it worked on me - I walked into the joint) and with the claims they made there, I decided to give it a shot.

I did a little research and found that they were, in fact, a pretty popular place in the 1990s, somewhere around the 96th and Q area (OWH, 11/6/14) but was closed because life and all that entails happened to the owners. Now they're back up and running in a quintessential South Omaha Neighborhood bar.

The set up there is not your usual one: you place, pay, and later pick up your order at a counter that is at the end of a short hallway behind the bar. I put in to-go orders two different days for lunch because the Lemon Drop Bar is quite literally only 3 blocks away from work; a quick jaunt through St. Mary's cemetery (to avoid Q Street) and I was there. The bar itself is rather small, with a pool table right in front of the front door, a well adorned bar (liquor-wise) but with only four beers on tap. It was quiet, but this was a particularly late lunch. This place definitely caters to locals, but this being South Omaha, you don;t have to be a local to be welcomed in. I was treated like a regular by (who I'm assuming was) Ray himself.

The first day I ordered 18 traditional medium wings (way too much, even for me) and the second day I ordered the fried mushrooms and The Big Mike Jr. burger (again, still too much, even for me).

Big and meaty stuff, here.

I picked the medium spicy wing sauce so I could get a good bearing on where they stand on the heat scale in general. I can, in fact, handle super spicy foods, but I usually opt for less spice because I don't like spicy for the sake of spicy. In other words, if all I taste is heat, then what's the point? I want the spice to contribute, not dominate. The medium sauce did just that, and the wings were big and meaty as well, which helped me stomach the $1/per that they charge. I also very much appreciate that they fry their wings naked, that is, not battered or coated like a certain bawdy chain that semi-recently left Omaha. There were but two regrets: I was only afforded one cup of dressing (for 18 wings?) and the wings themselves just weren't quite crispy. I'll chalk that last complaint to being doused in sauce and being served takeout. All in all, they were very, very good wings, and in an area of town that is in serious need of them.

A classic bar food I have a hard time passing up.

That next Sunday I was filling in for someone at the bakery making the bread, so I had plenty of time while it rose to test Ray's again. Fried mushrooms are one of those classics that will always order if I see it, which if you remember from a past review also includes Spinach Artichoke Dip. Fair warning: you'll see plenty of both of these classics being reviewed here; think of them as common barometers by with to measure different places. Ray's fried mushrooms are solidly good. They had a thick, crunchy shell outside that nicely held inside all the mushroomy juices which render out while being cooked. The shell was seasoned well enough to taste like something, but not enough to overtake the mushroom. Again, though, just one cup of ranch to dip them in. By the time I was finished here, I was almost full, but since I had a burger to taste as well, I soldiered on. These are definitely enough to share.

Kinda wish I grabbed a plate to put this on so you could see it better. It looked much more appetizing in person.

I ordered the Big Mike Jr. Burger as my main meal. Since the description for this says, essentially, "half the size of the regular," here's what the regular, The Big Mike Burger, reads like on the menu: 

2-8oz Burger patties, 2 slices of Pepper Jack Cheese, 4 slices of Jalapeno Bacon all topped with Sautéed Jalapenos, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion and homemade Sriracha Aioli

A half pound burger is plenty enough for me. When I put the two halves together, I was presented with this:

Sans the dollar bill; that's for scale. I wish I got a buck for every burger I put together.

If I learned anything about Ray's, its that you won't walk away hungry, but you might waddle away asking why you look those last five bites.

This burger packs a lot of powerful flavors, and very surprisingly, they all played very well with each other. The bacon was crispy, the burger was well seasoned, the cheese melted well, and all the spicy elements certainly let you know they were there, but didn't overwhelm the entire thing. This is a solid burger, and I'd love to meet the one who can polish off a regular Big Mike Burger.

All in all, Ray's is legit bar food. The wings are excellent. but you should not eschew the rest of the menu. They are a little expensive (with taxes and all, it was over $20 for 18 wings, and my burger and mushrooms came to just under $18 - remember, this was without a drink for either ticket), but you will walk away with an excellent, excellent meal.