Local institution features casual eats, great atmosphere
by Camille Kelly
“Man cannot live by bread alone,” but if he could live on corn fritters he’d live a long, fat, happy life at the Surfside Club. This good ol’ Omaha staple is alive and well on the riverbank, just north enough of the city that you can truly relax. Surfside Club has been open since 1970, serving fried catfish, chicken and corn fritters that have become as much a part of summer for locals as fireworks and swimming pools. The atmosphere is kind of campy/casual, with big band music in the background, picnic tables on the patio along the river, and dark paneling in the dining room.
* Linda Meigs is the push behind a new farmer’s market at the historic Florence Mill ArtLoft on N. 30th Street. The Mill features vendors selling fresh produce and homemade goods Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Meigs said the patch of the land the Mill sits on provides a more rural feel for the market. She plans to make good use of this by inviting 4-H members for displays and possibly offering pony rides at some point this summer. For information call 551.1233.
* The farm stand on 84th and Grover opened last week. The stand brings in an impressive variety of produce from farmers in Missouri Valley. Sweet corn is their specialty and claim to fame.
Spontaneity and experimentation pay off at Latino Restaurant
by Phil Jarrett
In a not-so-distant past, Victor Alfaro supervised pill production at a pharmaceutical plant in New Jersey. His pupsas, (a biscuit-like flat bread stuffed with beans, cheese and meats) now peddled as “the best of Omaha,” were but a twinkle in his eye.
And they still are.
With no recipes, no official measurements, Victor’s pupsas are like his restaurant, the strategically named Latino Restaurant. They are artfully improvised, moving from Central American traditional to the stuff tradition is made of; all while avoiding the U.S. tendency to think good Latino cuisine only goes as far south as Mexico.
* Sweets of Eden set up its chocolate shop several months ago at 40th and California. Now owner Tina Tweedy’s husband is getting into another niche market: gluten-free baked goods. Those who suffer from celiac disease have difficulty processing gluten-loaded whole grains; thus they also have difficulty finding quality cakes and cookies that aren’t homemade. Tweedy’s business is called Bird’s GF Bakery and operates out of the Sweets of Eden storefront, delivering buns, pizza crust and dessert to Blue Planet Natural Grill, with more outlets to follow. Visit Tweedy’s blog for updates on the business at birdsgfbaker.blogspot.com. Lainey Seyler
Maria Fernandez likes to say the Old Market’s Indian Oven brought spice to Omaha. The restaurant opened in the summer of 1984 in an area populated by a handful of restaurants some of which have become local institutions, some of which did not survive.
“I think we were (the first), other than Chinese food and Mexican, which Chinese I do consider ethnic, and Mexican with the borders has been a part of U.S. for a long time,” said Fernandez, one of the partners who launched the restaurant. “If you think about the number of ethnic cuisines available in the city (now), I think we started something.”
“There was King Fong and a maybe a sprinkling of Chinese restaurants here and there, nothing with the dimension of Indian food,” she said. “And literally we taught the local people about interesting and spicy cuisine. Obviously we’ve been around for 25 years with 10 times as many restaurants around town and in the Old Market. I think we’ve taught people how to not be afraid and to embrace spice.”
*The College World Series may be half over but there’s still time to enjoy some sun and food, and maybe even some baseball. The stadium brings typical nacho/hot dog fare but also offers barbecue courtesy of Famous Dave’s and beef courtesy of Omaha Steaks. Pauli’s, 40th and Leavenworth, calls itself the official bar of the World Series (with good reason it draws crowds beyond 3,000 every night). The bar’s CWS specials include Moon Juice made with Tang and vodka, Cubbie lemonades and beer specials (while supplies last); as well as DJs spinning tunes, while people mill under outdoor tents.
La Mesa receives first Tequila Regulatory Council certification in the Midwest
by Jesse D. Stanek
I love a good Mexican meal. Everything from the salty chips and homemade salsa appetizer, to the tabletop stack of warm tortillas, to the crunch of delicious fried ice cream. And while all those things are great, it’s the salted margarita on the rocks bringing the whole affair home for me. The light green elixir of summer makes everything just that much better. La Mesa Mexican Restaurant takes tequila lovers to heart by offering an array of the distilled agave product.
* Starbucks, long criticized for its food offerings, is promising yet another makeover/redesign of its menu. The latest, which goes into effect at the end of this month, features baked goods made without high-fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors and dyes, as well as salads and other items. The new campaign will be promoted with the tagline “Real Food. Simply Delicious.”
* The USDA recently reported that one in nine Americans is now receiving food stamps. The Department of Agriculture reported that enrollment rose to 33.2 million recipients in March, hitting a record for the fourth consecutive month.
The second annual Urban Wine Festival brings the fest, lacks on wine education
by Lainey Seyler
Last Saturday was perfect for an outdoor festival. It was sunny and hot, the kind of day where everyone is either eating a popsicle or wants to be. Last Saturday marked the second annual Urban Wine Festival, hosted by the Urban Wine Company, outdoors at 11th and Jones.
The wine bar and retailer took over Jones Street just outside its storefront from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with two tents that housed a stage for live music, food, a couple games and loads of wine, yet (mysteriously) no one who knew much about said wine at least no one I could find.
* The chef shuffle continues. Glen Wheeler has moved from Liberty Tavern to Taste in Rockbrook Village. He began the first week in May and has a menu change slated for June 15. The lunch menu will remain largely the same, but Wheeler is restructuring the dinner menu and will remove about one-third from the rotation. Among items to be added are sliders, steak kabobs and seared Alaskan halibut. “We’re more of a small plate restaurant,” said Wheeler, “so we’re not going to do the whole rib-eye steak thing. We’re going to keep it well-rounded with lots of choices.” Call 884.3175 or visit tastedining.com for information.
In Thailand, they say the person who takes the last of something at a meal will have good luck in love. I was staring at the last slice of our spring roll appetizer, topped with savory-sweet plum sauce, and I wanted it for myself sure, I could use some luck in love, but mainly, it was so good and you don’t get to be a restaurant reviewer living life as a casual eater.
Stuffed with crisp cucumber and tofu, the steamed spring rolls at Blue Orchid in downtown Lincoln are lighter than typical Thai appetizers (here and in Thailand) but the plum sauce was spot on the combination of which, I’d say, is the best you can get.
The rest of Blue Orchid’s menu leans more to the fusion side than to the straight-up, neighborhood Thai restaurants that dot Omaha strip malls. And the restaurant’s dιcor is soothingly upscale, with a light green motif, several bronze Buddhas in various states of meditation and orchids at every table.
* Many mourned the passing of Dundee staple Trovato’s on 50th and Underwood. The space, vacant for nearly a year, is now under the direction of Sally Kawa and Cari Harding. Officially open since May 22, Kawa describes The 1020’s menu as “a neighborhood bar and grill with an Italian influence, so sandwiches, salad, pizza, pasta.” Kawa and Harding have spent years in the Omaha restaurant business over at family-owned Johnny’s Cafι near 24th and L. Kawa says their plans for The 1020 are to join in the Dundee late-night scene, serving drinks until 1 a.m. on the weekends, but, unlike Trovato’s, there are no plans for live music at this time. Call 991.1020 for more information.
* Urban Wine Company expects 1,000 attendees at this year’s Urban Wine Festival. Two-hundred wineries (from around the world) and just about every kind of wine you can think of will be featured at the day-long event, held May 30, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. A $30 ticket gets attendees a wine glass and 12 tastings, additional tastings are available for $1 each. Urban Wine will be taking over the street adjacent to its store on 10th and Jones. The restaurant’s sushi and bistro chefs will serve food all day and there will be live music. Attendees will have a chance to win bottles of wine, wine tastings and gift cards with a ring toss. Call 934.0005 or visit urbanwinecompany.com for more information. Lainey Seyler
Tips for getting the most out of your grill this season
by Kyle Tonniges
Say what you want about the pool, the tan and extra hours of daylight. For many people the best part of summer is cooking outdoors regularly. It’s hard to imagine summer nights without the smell of charcoal wafting through the neighborhood.
* The New York Times reported last week that the burden is now on consumers to make sure their pot pies, microwaveable lunches and other prepared foods are safe to eat.
ConAgra and other food producers have altered labeling on many items instructing consumers how to prepare the food to ensure it’s free of pathogens.
Remember those pot pies that gave an estimated 15,000 people salmonella a few years ago? Well, ConAgra, maker of Banquet pot pies, isn’t taking that chance again. It’s now up to you, Mr. And Ms. Pot Pie Consumer, to cook the living shit out of your pie in order to kill any potential pathogens. The instructions and diagram on the 69-cent pies now tell you to cook it until “Internal temperature [reaches] 165 degrees Farenheit as measured by a food thermometer in several spots.”
Why is it now up to you? In the case of the pot pies, ConAgra was unable to determine which of the 25 ingredients carried salmonella. If you need more reasons to consider making your own pot pie next time, consider this from the Times article: “The supply chain for ingredients in processed foods from flavorings to flour to fruits and vegetables is becoming more complex and global as the drive to hold down food costs intensifies. As a result, almost every element, not just red meat and poultry, is a potential carrier of pathogens, government and industry officials concede.” But we love our cheap pot pies!
A fresh new restaurant is open in South Omaha with a menu geared to seafood lovers and south of the border fans. Los Girasoles, “the sunflowers” in Spanish, offers authentic Mexican cuisine and preparations unique in Omaha. The restaurant is unassuming from the outside; bright, comfortable and friendly inside. Embossed leather menus hint at the care and attention to detail the kitchen gives to the fare. Bright, cheery colors and the dιcor’s authentic relics link traditional recipes to fresh ingredients and preparations.
The menu is in Spanish and we lumbered through unfamiliar territory on our first visit, taking our time, enjoying spicy homemade salsa and chips while deciphering things. An English version is in the works. On two subsequent visits I armed myself with my Mexican brother-in-law Jorge. Many of the words are already familiar: tacos, burritos, fajitas and huevos. The tacos are small, like those served by street vendors in Mexico. Some words new to me included tortas (sandwiches) with fillings varying from tripa (tripe), lengua (tongue) and jamon (ham), or chicken, pork or beef. Fillings for the tacos and tortas are prepared by asada (char-grilling) or adobada (flat grilling). Frita means “fried” and two popular sauces are ranchera (somewhat spicy) and diabla (very spicy).
I’m still thinking about the brains I ate Saturday night. Cold, of an unmistakable texture, served on a sliver of cracker. You couldn’t avoid them, as Artist Paul Renner had them served communion-style at the second of his two “Omaha Diners” at the Bemis Center.
I expected the meal to be meaty, and it was, though there wasn’t the emphasis on Omaha beef I expected. The six-course performance began with a runny Alaskan king crab sandwich, served on a hard roll somewhere between crab salad and egg salad and it began the emphasis on texture, a theme that continued.
Renner described the American Diner as “more brutal” than Friday night’s European Diner. We learned he wasn’t kidding.
Paul Renner has been running around Omaha picking up plates and silverware from local Salvation Army stores in preparation for his art installations/black tie dinners at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art. Called The Omaha Diner and held two nights, May 8 and 9, the dinner and accompanying exhibition explores the marriage of vulgar and lavish.
Renner, known for bold work that combines art objects with nose-to-tail cooking, will present an installation and two six-course meals to 160 Omahans during his stay at the Bemis. Though he works with haute cuisine, he’s quick to say he doesn’t consider a chef to be an artist. Instead, he uses food as a medium like a pencil, he said.
His work spans traditional artistic boundaries: It’s part performance art, part social theater and part adventurous cuisine. Each meal is set in an environment singular to that dinner; food works as sculpture against a transformative background in which diners are part of the art.
* NECCO, the makers of those small, chalky hearts with sayings like “cutie pie” and “kiss me” that are seemingly everywhere around Valentine’s Day, are putting their hearts in the hands of the public. Literally. All 80 variations of their candy hearts next Valentine’s Day will boast sayings submitted by visitors to their website. Visitors to mysweethearts.com can enter a phrase (five characters on line one, up to four characters on line two) for their ideal heart. One lucky winner will get 1.6 million hearts with their phrase on it. The contest ends May 31.
* Better loosen those belts: not only is May National Hamburger Month, it’s also National Barbecue Month. Guess that makes June National Lipitor Month.
* Speaking of elastic waistbands, Cold Stone Creamery, the raison d’etre for many a sweatpant puchase, is introducing a couple low-calorie, reduced-fat ice cream options that can be substituted in any ice cream creation, shake or cake. First is Cold Stone Creamery’s Sinless Sans Fat Sweet Cream, containing 190 fewer calories and 20g less fat than a like-size Sweet Cream ice cream. New this year is low-fat Sinless Cake Batter ice cream, reduced in calories by 50 percent and 95 percent less fat than a like size.
Our top five local Mexican joints just in time for Cinco de Mayo
Guaca Maya 5002 S. 33rd St., 733.3440, guaca-maya.com The menu at this South Omaha gem looks like a really cool comic book, with vibrant colors, cartoon graphics and other drawings, and headings like “Viagra of the Sea” and “Manteniendote en Forma” (“to keep you in shape”). Fittingly, there are dishes at Guaca Maya that look like works of art, such as one April special, Parrillada Cielo Mar y Tierra (“Heaven, Sea and Land Grill”). Grilled chicken, steak, onions, chiles and cheese are terraced with breaded shrimp and Mayas Shrimp (shrimp wrapped in cheese, ham and bacon) and stacked with cilantro and fresh orange and lemon wedges producing a colorful and delectable entrιe that arrives looking like something of a temple. While the restaurant specializes in Mexican seafood everything on the vast menu is perfectly prepared. The dιcor reflects the festive mission, with bright, multi-colored flags hanging above, intricate tiling and a fountain. The restaurant features mariachi on weekends, Xiotal and Nayare Ballets Folkloricos and other live entertainment regularly. Tuesdays from 5-8 p.m. the bar offers Mayas Margaritas accented with lemon and tamarind for just $1.49, they have the huevos to serve breakfast all day, and in addition to its stacked lunch buffet, Guaca Maya offers a taco and enchilada buffet Wednesdays, 5-8 p.m. Sarah Wengert
* Is there anything bacon can’t do? According to researchers in the UK, a bacon sandwich can cure a hangover. It’s the amino acids that do the trick, Elin Roberts, of Newcastle University’s Centre for Life told The Mirror. “Bread is high in carbohydrates and bacon is full of protein, which breaks down into amino acids. Your body needs these amino acids, so eating them will make you feel good.” Why? “Bingeing on alcohol depletes neurotransmitters too, but bacon contains a high level of aminos which tops these up, giving you a clearer head.”
* If you’re like us, you’ve probably spent countless hours wishing someone would devise an edible business card. They have. The fine folks at Meat Cards (meatcards.com) will literally sear your contact information into a piece of beef jerky with a 150 watt laser. So, there you go.
