Costa El Sol

4456 S 84th St
402.596.1978
M-Sun: 9:30 am - 9 pm
http://costaelsol.com/ (Warning: music will play.)

The hole-in-the-wall. That legendary phrase that usually means amazing, authentic, and without frills. I think Costa El Sol fits that description fairly well.

When I first decided upon this place I had an image in my mind of a Mexican restaurant like, I dunno, Romeo's but with actual Mexican food. What I got was very different. I visited the first time on a very cold and blustery February Wednesday, at about 5:30. There were a few people in a few of the booths, and I was definitely the only white person there. I sat at a very small table facing the only TV in the room, which was playing Univision on mute. There was R&B, sung in Spanish, being played loudly over the speakers, which was eventually turned down a little bit, and was made a little more bearable, The walls were brightly pained, each in their own color. Its a very good thing they had bright colors on the walls, because with as dark in the restaurant as it was, anything else would have turned the room into a dungeon. At some point through the meal, I realized that although the room was carpeted, I was sitting at a table on tile. Then when I looked up, I saw track lighting that wasn't turned on and a small disco ball almost directly above me. I was sitting on a dance floor. They must have dances every once in a while.

So to sum up: I was the only white guy there, I don't speak a lick of Spanish and there's Mexican TV and R&B playing, I'm on a dance floor, and I don't like to dance. I'm pretty out of my element. Then I look at the menu. This place isn't just a Mexican joint, these guys do Salvadoran as well. In fact, the menu is mostly Salvadoran. I've never had Salvadoran. Okay, I'm really out of my element.

Well, where to start? What the hell is pupusa? "Stuffed tortilla?" How do you stuff a tortilla? Isn't that a quesadilla? You can get them at $2 a piece, so why are they not on the appetizers section? Hmm, Lots of soups. On a day like that day was, soup might have been a good idea, but at nearly $11 each, they must eat like a meal, and I wanted something other than soup only. (By the way, I didn't get one either day, but if you've been looking for Cow's Feet Soup, these guys have it.) What the hell do I do?

That day I settled on a pork and cheese pupusa, and a carne asada plate with rice, lettuce, cheese, and avocado.

Also, before I start to get too into the review, I should mention this: there is only one thing I dislike about doing this blog, and it's taking pictures of my food. I always feel like, well, "that guy" when I do, and I especially hated doing it here, because I already stuck out among the clientele. So for the first few pictures from the first day, I took pictures without flash which means they'll be kinda dark, as there wasn't much light to begin with. I had to bite the bullet for the steak, though, because the first few pics came back looking like a black blob. The second day I was seated near a window, so there was plenty of light. This is a long way of saying "Sorry the picture suck."

I'm sure I've seen that bowl the salsa came in before. There must be a local place that sells these to the area Mexican restaurants.

Both days I was given a small bowl of chips and salsa. The chips were always warm and unsalted, and of the flour variety. I would not be surprised if the chips were made there. The salsa tasted fresh as well, but it wasn't anything to write home about. Fairly standard fare here.

The cheese oozed out. This can only be a good thing. Also, huh, so that's how you stuff a tortilla.

Next came my pupusa. At first, I was just given what you see above, so I looked at it, put together a plan of attack, and dove right in. Then my server came back with something you're supposed to put on top.

OH GOD I DID IT WRONG. FORGIVE MY GRINGO-NESS.

The cup was filled on one side with, well, cole slaw, and the other with a red sauce. I'm not sure, but I think it might have been more of the salsa. So I dumped the contents on top.

It was good plain, and amazing with the topping. The cheese, which was a white Mexican cheese (actually, now that I think about probably Salvadoran cheese) of some ilk, was creamy and chewy, and the pork that was mixed in was tender, moist, and very well seasoned. The cheese and pork mixed together to create a creamy, porky slurry. The slaw offered a fresh, cool crunch and the sauce brought a bright, slightly spicy note. Where have pupusas been all my life?

Does this picture actually tell you anything?

Ah, flash. Much better. Good amount of char on this baby.

                             

Next came the steak. The menu never stated what cut of steak I was getting, so I'll assume it's a sirloin. The steak was tender and very juicy, which kind of surprised me because they were cut so thin, about an inch thick, and they were irregular in shape. I say "they" because I got two chunks of beef. The rice was not the "Spanish rice" I was expecting, but a slightly seasoned white rice with a small amount of peas and corn mixed in. The lettuce, or "salad," was shredded iceberg with tomatoes, radish and cucumber. I was served about a half an avocado's worth of avocado meat, and a large chunk of, again, unidentified white cheese.

A little on the cheese: it was a solid, crumbly dry cheese. It reminded me of feta, but dryer and less intense in flavor. I broke off small chunks and ate it with other parts of my meal.

I was also served two tortillas, the likes of which I've never seen. Very obviously they were made there, because they were the thickest, chewiest tortilla I've been served, perhaps a quarter inch thick. They didn't really made for good impromptu tacos, as all I really tasted was the tortilla itself, but was excellent for sopping up juices and the like on my plate.

Not really knowing how to tackle something like this, I ended up cutting the steak into small chunks and placing a bit of steak on some tortilla I ripped off with one or two of the other things on the plate. So a bit of steak with rice and avocado, or with cheese and radish, or rice and cheese, or cheese and avocado, etc. Everything I combined was amazing. This meal was the real deal.

With an iced tea, tip and taxes, it all came to about $19.

The next time I visited was the next Tuesday. It was a earlier in the day, about 2:30 when I walked in. There was just one other group there, two men. I think they were on break from one of the area businesses. This day I ordered another pupusa, the taco and enchilada combo plate, and an horchata.

This was the whitest I've ever seen horchata. I was kinda worried it would be a little flavorless. I was very wrong. Good stuff.

Horchata, for the uninitiated, is a sweet, cold drink that in Mexico is usually made with rice, cinnamon and some other spices. Very good stuff on a hot summer day. A little research shows Salvadoran horchata is made with something called morro seeds, and not rice. From my previous experience, it would not surprise me if this is a Salvadoran version, because this tasted a little different than what I am used to. Certainly not in a bad way. This was very good.

Those beans look crazy good because they are crazy good.

Oddly, my main course came first. You get a choice of what kind of meat you want in your taco and your enchilada. I chose a cheek for my taco, and carne asada for my enchilada. The taco was small and very, very crunchy. The only other time I had ordered cheek meat was at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint in Grand Island, some 10-12 years ago, and it left me with a very good impression. I was excited to try it again, and it didn't disappoint. Cheek meat is among the most tender part of the pig, and a little greasy, but in the best way possible. The taco was excellent. The enchilada, on the other hand, was a little lacking. The meat was just as good as I had the other day, but it was just wrapped in a tortilla and covered with a little bit of red "enchilada sauce." The sauce was okay, but with everything else the menu offeres, just stay away from the enchies.

It came with the same rice as before. Very good stuff. The beans were porky and runny. I'm sure there's better beans in Omaha, but I haven't come across them yet.

Hmm, separate bowls this time...

This time the pupusa I ordered was with cheese and loroco. Again, a little research shows loroco is a flower that is native to El Salvador, and its flower buds are a traditional ingredient in many dishes, including pupusas. The best description I found was they offer a "green flavor", and as undescriptive as that is, it's probably the most accurate.

See those green bits on the left? That's loroco.

The cheese was even chewier without the pork juices like the last one had, and I could barely taste the loroco. Although it was still very good, I'll stick with the pork ones.

With taxes and tip, Tuesday's order came to $12.60.

I came away very, very impressed by what Costa El Sol offers. Score another point for the holes-in-the-walls.

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.

Union Pizzeria & Sports Bar

3636 N 156th Street, Omaha, NE 68116

402.614.2755

Sun.-Th: 11am-10pm

F-Sat: 11am-11pm

http://www.unionsportsbar.com/

If you read my previous post, you'll see that I wanted to visit I Don't Care, but found out they went out of business then found out too late that they reopened. Well, I visited I Don't Care and found out they're a straight bar now, and they no longer serve food. Nearby, however, was a sports bar I've eyed for a while, so I took the opportunity to visit.

Union is a fine mix of DJ's Dugout and Mama's Pizza in atmosphere and food. There is a small arcade-like area to the right as soon as you walk in, and a dart board in the room proper to the left of the bar. The walls are surprisingly barren of sports memorabilia, save for a Doug McDermott jersey, a Creighton Bluejays neon sign, and a few CWS posters; but the TVs were plentiful, and even on this January Wednesday, it was still fairly busy. I was joined by my mother this time, and she was pretty happy with the atmosphere. She particularly liked the volume levels of the TVs: not too loud that you have to yell to talk to your tablemates, but loud enough to follow the action of the game.

We each ordered a salad, we got the fried ravioli as an appetizer, and my mother got the Chicken Parmesan Sandwich and I got a personal sized The Mobster pizza. All told, with drinks and tip, we were in the $40 range

Ugh. 100% iceberg.

When the salads appeared, we were greeted with a vegetable-rich bowl with iceberg lettuce. Well, at least the veggies looked and tasted fresh. The tomatoes were actually good, too. My mother loved the fact that the bowls were ice cold. I dunno, the salad was small but okay. At least my ranch wasn't Hidden Valley and my mom's Italian wasn't Kraft.

Fried pasta? Fried pasta!

Our basket of fried ravioli came next. We got a mix of beef raviolis and cheese raviolis. The breading was crisp and well cooked, and they didn't feel or taste greasy. I first bit into a beef one, and I was inundated with a stream of hot, erm, fluids that briefly burned my tongue. This happens to me all too often on these types of things, and I never remember to cut them in half first. My suggestion: cut them in half first. The beef ones were fine, though the meat was unremarkable. The cheese ones weren't what I had in mind when I ordered them. I thought they would be more ricotta filled than anything, but these were much more gooey than that, like a mozzarella mix of some kind. They were better than the beef ones, in my opinion.The marinara certainly wasn't the worst I've had, but they won't be winning any awards with it either. The good thing about it was it wasn't awash in basil, which seems to be a problem around these parts. Basically, it was passable, which was good, because we were about to be served a lot more of it.

Gooey sandwiches are the best sandwiches.

I didn't have any of the Chicken Parmesan sandwich, so I'll tell you what my mom told me: Really juicy, and well seasoned. It was pretty thick, however, like it hadn't been pounded flat enough or at all, which made for difficult eating. The marinara was the same as what we got with the ravioli.

The Mobster: think Meat Lover's pizza, but with all Italian meats.

Just by looking at it, my entrée brought me back to my Book It! days and Pizza Hut's personal pan pizzas, which was both good and bad; good nostalgic memories, but what did that portend about the pizza itself? After one bite, I can say not a damn thing, because this was pretty good stuff. The Mobster's toppings include, according to the menu: pepperoni, prosciutto, salami, Italian sausage, and provolone cheese. And my, my, my, was there plenty of all of those.

Seriously, look at that pile of meat!

Don't let the height of the pie fool you; there is proportionally very little crust, and what crust there is isn't bogged down by grease or undercooked. It was solid and crispy to the last slice. The marinara was, in my estimation, the same as the ravioli's which actually worked well with all the spicy meats that was included here.

All in all, Union is a good little sports bar that caters to families. I can see myself visiting again in the future for some pretty legit pizza and a brew. Now, maybe if Creighton basketball could put together a good game for once this year...

Sean O'Casey's Pub

2523 S 140th Avenue, Omaha, NE, 68144
402.593.1746
M-Sat: 11am-close

Closed Sundays
http://www.seanocaseyspub.com/

I was driving through Omaha looking for a bar or pub to chow down on for this review because the place I wanted to visit, one I spied a few days earlier on about 150th and Maple called (and I am dead serious) I Don't Care, was closed for good. (Author's note: while doing a little further research, I found out the location I found is, in fact, open, but the previous location, about 108th and Maple, closed about 2012-2013, and this is the one that is reported throughout the internet. Guess I know where I'll be going soon!)

While driving east on West Center I noticed an Irish pub tucked into the same spot where Prima 140 used to be, a place I regret never trying before they shuttered. "Well," I thought, "if its as good as Brazenhead, then I'm in for a treat!" As I pulled into the parking lot, I was greeted by this:

Yes, I took this while leaving the lot, not as I was entering it, as the preceding sentence states. Sorry for the incongruity, but I didn't think about a taking a picture until I was sitting in the restaurant.

Again, this place is making it all too easy. If you think so highly of one of your menu items you're willing to put a "garage sale"-type sign in your front lawn proclaiming it to be the best, then I guess I have to try it.

The pub was split into two sections, a bar to the right and the restaurant area to the left. When I entered there on that Thursday at about 5:30, there was a large group of people having a good time at their table. At first I thought it was a family get together, but there weren't any children, so I thought that it was a business meeting of some kind. (I found out later from my server, who gave it up without prompting, it was a group of nurses.) There were two other groups of two sitting and talking at their table. The room is dark, with old whiskey barrels scattered throughout, and the walls were full of Guinness, Jameson, and other Irish drink advertisements. A large screen with SportsCenter projected on it dominated the northeast corner of the restaurant. Throughout the dinner classic rock like Led Zeppelin, The Doors, and Eric Clapton played loud enough to understand the lyrics but not to overpower any conversation you might have. I could get used to this kind of place.

This day I ordered the Three Cheese Spinach and Artichoke Dip, the Chili, and, of course, the Reuben.

I love me some Spinach Artichoke dip. If I see any variation of it on a menu, I'll probably order it. You'll see it a lot on the blog throughout time.

The dip was served piping hot with toasted French bread. For some reason, I was expecting the bread to be baked to the point of being a cracker, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was still soft, though definitely toasted. I'm not sure about the parsley that was sprinkled over everything on the plate, but whatever. There was a thick layer of cheese on top of the dip (I'm assuming containing at least two of the three cheeses). Once I broke through that, the dip was heavy on the cream cheese (the third?), and light on the spinach and artichoke. Maybe it was too hot to taste anything else, but the cream cheese dominated everything else inside. I don't know, maybe it needed a little more of everything. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't terrible by any means. I've certainly had worse, but I've definitely had better.

It was kinda cold outside, and I'd been craving chili for some time. When is arrived, it was very welcome.

Chili can cause fistfights between friends, or so I've heard. I have opinions on what makes a good chili (the best ones don't have beans; beans are filler that only serve to stretch the stuff for more people, and I think it can ruin the texture of the rest of the chili. Come at me, bro!). But I also understand that I'm not the only one who likes chili and other people have different thoughts, no matter how wrong they are. Plus, I love chili, so I'll give pretty much any chili at least one shot. I'll pass on that shot the next time I visit Sean O'Casey's. It had large chunks of ground beef, usually a good thing, but here they weren't seasoned well, or not at all. Also, it was thin. Chili shouldn't be thin. This chili had a broth, and that's kinda weird in my book. The broth was, however, surprising spicy. Not enough to knock you out of your chair, but in a "Really? Something spicy in an Irish pub?" kind of way. And what I'm about to say may make you laugh, but Sean O'Casey's scored big points with me with proper soup crackers instead of a package of saltines I would need to crush into the chili. Very good there.

Oooo, gooey.

When my server came with my Reuben, I got a little more than excited. I love me a Reuben. And Omahans like me don't take their Reubens lightly, this being the birthplace of the venerable sandwich. So I was interested to see the liberties taken with it (and chefs out there, take notes: take liberties with the classics!) Two things of note here: it is served club style, with three slices of bread, and the corned beef is in tender chunks, not slices. Do you see that chunk of meat that fell off just in front of the sandwich half on the left? As soon as I took that picture, I ate that piece to test it out. And it was amazing. Salty and tender, the rendered fat and connective tissue made the chunk melt in my mouth. I haven't had corned beef that good in years. But here's the thing, and this is something thought I'd never find myself saying: there was too much of it in the sandwich. Or, conversely, there wasn't enough of the other ingredients. I could kind of tell there was some Swiss cheese, but the Thousand Island dressing and sauerkraut, usually two things that are quite capable of standing up to other flavors, were completely drowned out by the beef. Also, the double decker-style made the already-difficult-to-eat sandwich even more messy and uncontrollable. I can definitely see why some people would like this sandwich, but I'll keep looking for Omaha's best.

The tab, including tip and a pop, came to just over $25. The service was kind of slow, but there was just one poor server helping the entire room, and that big group of nurses seemed a bit demanding. I figured it would be much better the next time I visited.

That next time was on a Tuesday, at about the same time as the last. And sure enough, the service was much better. This time I ordered the pub classic Fish and Chips and a cup of beer cheese soup.

Again with the soup crackers. Good stuff. And again with the parsley. Weird.

The soup was good. Not ground breaking, but certainly not inedible by any means. I was hit a bit by the bitter taste of the soup. I'm not sure if it was the cheese or the beer, but it was slightly bitter. Also, is it weird to think the shredded cheese on top was a bit much for cheese soup? Because I think it was a bit much. Maybe bacon pieces if you want dress it up? Just a thought.

This picture was washed out a little bit by the flash, but I needed it in that dark room. The fish was a much better looking brown when it arrived.

I was given two fairly large fillets of cod. The first was sadly tough and over done. I could tell there was an area where the oil and gotten through the batter and started to fry the fish directly. Cod should not be leathery. But the second fillet was much better, with the meat soft, flaky, and not overcome with grease. The batter was good, though not the star of this show. I would give that crown to the tarter sauce. I'm not entirely sure, but I would not be surprised if this was made in house. The sauce was not overly sour with too much pickle, and the addition of dill was a very nice touch. The chips were thick steak fries that were very lightly salted, which means I was overcome with potato with each bite. A lot of malt vinegar and ketchup helped. 

With the pint of beer I had (on Tuesdays, all draughts are $3, including Guinness) and tip, my tab came to just over $21.

Overall, I'll be searching for better Irish pubs in town, though I may show up again on a Thursday, where the special is Corned Beef and Cabbage. That may be the diamond here.

El Basha Mediterranean Grill

7503 Pacific St. Omaha, NE, 68114
402.934.6266
M-Th: 11 am - 8:30 pm
F-S: 11 am - 9 pm
Sunday: 12 pm - 7 pm
http://www.elbashagrill.com/ (Warning: albeit nice and soothing, music will play as soon as you navigate there.)

I won't claim to be an expert in all things Lebanese. In fact, I'm very far removed from expert status. One of my best friends from high school is Lebanese. I spent a lot of time over at his parent's place playing pool (alliteration, much?), watching bad movies, chattering away with idle talk for hours. I got drunk for the first time at his house (Was that with the bottle of stolen Absolut a different buddy nicked from The Champion's Club? Or was that the second time I got drunk? I forget.) and we planned firework shows throughout June there, as well. I was never offered hummus or falafel, nor did I expect to. I have had Sabra hummus from the grocery store on more than one occasion, so I feel like I have a decent idea of what passable hummus should taste like. And I ate at Amsterdam Falafel and Kabob once, a while back, so I feel like I have an okay idea of what good falafel is. But that's about the extent of my knowledge of Lebanese cuisine. This is all a long winded way of saying "I had no idea what to expect when I walked in to El Basha."

El Basha is a very, very small restaurant. And that's okay. The cramped quarters are well adorned with busy Middle Eastern patterns in deep reds and gold. The tables have pretty table cloths with a glass top (easier to clean; I don't blame them there), and the chairs are well padded and covered with faux leather, and some of them are showing their age a bit. There was nice Middle Eastern music playing over the speakers. In the very few places of open counter space, they have various Middle Eastern vases and other kitsch. They have a small area of outdoor seating as well, but this being January in Omaha, well, it obviously wasn't in use.

I went twice for this article. The first time I visited was on a Wednesday night, strategically chosen so it wasn't busy. There were two couples already eating when I entered. The second time I went was mid Saturday afternoon, about 2:30. I was surprised to see how busy the place was. After I sat down at the last available table along the wall, the only open tables were the two in the middle of the room.

You place your order at the counter at the back of the restaurant, pay, fill up your drink at the pop machine just to your left, find a table, and wait to be served. The menu is a little larger than I thought it would have been, considering the size of the room, and I can only assume, the kitchen. The service was very quick, even on the busy Saturday afternoon.

On Wednesday, I ordered the Beef Shawarma wrap platter, which comes with a drink, potato salad, and either a lettuce salad or soup, and with tax comes to a paltry $9.86. The soup that day was Lentil, and it being as cold as it was that night, soup sounded really good.

I've never had lentils before this, let alone in a soup. The bright yellow kind of surprised me.

The soup looked like it had gotten the blender stick treatment, which is alright. That gave it a creamy consistency. It was topped with paprika (I think) and a little bit of chopped cilantro. I know of some people that wouldn't like that latter touch, but I thought it was a nice addition. I was served with a lemon wedge and a nice crispy piece of toasted pita. Although it was good by itself, there's a reason it comes with the lemon. The tart citrus flavor a little squeeze imparts brings the soup to life. I thought I tasted some mint sometimes. Good stuff.

Not sure why I thought the potato salad was more important.

I've never had shawarma before, so this was an interesting experience. First, I know there's all kinds of flat breads along the Mediterranean and throughout the Middle East, but I'm not sure tortillas are one of them. No biggie, though, I can look past that when what's inside is so good. First, the thin strips of beef, well seasoned, were tender and easy to bite away. The grilled tomato was excellent, and tomatoes, as a generality, are something I avoid if they're not in season. They make their own pickles, which are very thinly cut lengthwise and give a nice salty, tart flavor that doesn't overtake the rest of it. The thin tahini sauce ran out the bottom as I came to the end of the wrap, but otherwise was a good addition.

As you can see from the picture, this is no Hy-Vee potato salad. More of a mashed potato, but less creamy, and with nice big chunks of potato throughout. It had a surprising tart flavor with it, a nice bit of lemon that works very well with the other seasonings that was used. Although certainly not cold, it was certainly not a hot salad.

When I next visited on that following Saturday, I was just coming of a day's work, and was a little hungrier. I ordered the hummus, which has received rave reviews in the past, and the falafel wrap platter. This time I opted for the salad. 

I'll never go back to Sabra again. Well, not immediately.

I'll just come right out and say it: the hummus was excellent. It was very creamy, and the addition of olive oil made it even more so. It was served with four halves of warm, fresh pita. Simply, if for no other reason, you gotta come here to try it at least once.

I love it when the salad I'm given has no iceberg lettuce in it.

The salad was good not great. It came with thin slices of green pepper, cucumber and tomato, and very lightly tossed with a vinaigrette of some ilk. I'm really not sure as I was never told. No big deal, I could at least tell it was made there and not something that came out of a squeeze bottle. The dressing was good, but there was just a small bit of it; my dad, who likes to drown everything in sauces or dressings, would have been very displeased.

I really need to work on my staging when I take these pics.

I'm not exactly sure what made me choose another wrap, as there is very little difference between the two I ate; the only difference was they swapped out the beef for falafel, everything else was the same. Well, except for the addition of the house-made pickles and what are, I think, sport peppers as a garnish. The potato salad this time was oddly a little warmer than what I was served Wednesday.

As I mentioned before, I'm no expert in Lebanese food, and if given a choice I'd prefer my food undercooked rather than overcooked, but I think I can speak fairly confidently when I say the falafel was overdone. The outside was a little bitter and the inside was dry. The tahini sauce helped a little, but overall I came away much less impressed. Given the track record I've had up until now, however, I'd be willing to give the falafel another go. Maybe after I sample the kabobs, though.

P.S.: www.elbasha.com is something completely, hilariously, different.

Welcome!

My name is Dan, and I have a growing passion for food, and Omaha, my family, and my family's business has helped fuel that. Let me explain.

Omaha

I love Omaha. I'll defend it to the death. But just about the only thing to do during the weekend is going out to eat and drink. Oh, sure, we do concerts pretty well. And there's those two weeks during June around that one baseball stadium where things kinda get hopping. But let's not kid ourselves; Friday and Saturday you'd better have reservations or show up before 6 if you want a seat at pretty much any restaurant in town. And there are a lot of restaurants in Omaha. There are 1300+ listings on the Yellow Page's website when I posted this. Obviously, this includes all fast food restaurants and the like, but still, that's a lot of places to sift through when you're trying to figure out where you want your next basket of wings or whatever. And the sheer volume of restaurants in Omaha means that you, as a customer, can be very picky when deciding where you'll spend your dollar. Which also means the restaurants out there need to do at least one thing spectacularly if they want to survive this town. Because of this, a big portion of this city has developed a bit of a refined palate. I won't place myself in that category, but I will say I'm wading through the morass of food joints in Omaha trying to reach that level.

My Family

I'm sure a large portion of you out there can say just about the same thing that I'm about to: my family makes damn good food.

I'm part Italian (most Italians in Omaha can claim distant relations with the Caniglia family, and I'm no different), part Polish, and part Lithuanian. Now, the last two can't claim a culinary history that the former can, but I will put up kugelis (koo-gah-liss) and Lithuanian stuffed chicken legs against nearly any classic French dish. So here I am surrounded by sugo and salsiccia, or crazy good Lithuanian ribs and cabbage, or mom's homemade pizza, or chocolate pecan pie, or totos (pronounced"the-those"), or...you get it. I'm going to develop a taste for more quality foods.So I'm not going to like that crappy pizza with bitter sauce and cardboard crust. Sorry, cheap college bros.

My Family's Business

My family owns the Lithuanian Bakery. I've been working there in some way since May 1999. Everyday, I'm surrounded by Sourdough Rye breads made with a sour culture more than 50 years old, and of course the Omaha-famous Napoleon Torte. And all those other, really-shouldn't-be-a-secret-but-for-some-reason-they-are things like the Bacon Bun, Hazelnut Torte, and zagareliai (commonly called "bowties"). I work at one of those places that the kids in Buddy Holly glasses, tight jeans, and flannel seek out because they're foodies, and I totally share that mentality (if not their fashion sense).

I'm surrounded by good food. So now I'm looking for more good food. I hope I can help you wade through the choices in Omaha as I go head first into it.

I hope to post a new review every Thursday. I don't know if that will be possible, but that will be my goal.

There are, however, some places I won't review because of a conflict of interest. I will just say this: you should go to all four places at some point. The three are:

7M Grill - My cousin, Aron Mackevicius, is the head chef here. He works in what he calls "comfort fusion." I've eaten there more times than I'm willing to admit (no, they don't give me a price break, and they shouldn't), and I've never had a bad dish. Website. Facebook.

Lot 2 and Baxter's Pizza - I know the owners of these two trendy eateries through a weekly poker game that lasted about three years. If you can get into either place, and they have limited seating in both places, you need to. Lot 2 website. Lot 2 Facebook. Baxter's website. Baxter's Facebook.

Lithuanian Bakery and Kafe (obviously) - My aunt makes great soups and an awesome Reuben. We only do lunch until 2 pm, but that location is open unto 6 pm for pastries, breads, and tortes. Website. Facebook.

I hope you enjoy my reviews!

Dan.