As any person that enjoys food so much, you know that cooking at home is great and all but sometimes you need to take a break and treat yourself. One of the best parts about living in Omaha is having a vast selection of restaurants. Are you craving Chinese we got it, you craving Nepalese we have it, you craving Mexican food it’s here.
One of my favorite restaurants out west is Firebirds. I try to go every 6 months and I used to go a lot more frequently with a couple of my friends, but since the pandemic we haven’t been able to go out as much. Recently, I went and got to try the peppered sirloin and let me tell you it was phenomenal! I really really love pepper so if you’re not a pepper lover its probably not the steak for you. Every time you eat there you also get a yummy hot loaf of bread with their butter so that’s always a plus. The steak it self was cooked to perfection and it had this pepper sauce that was out of this world. I also got a loaded baked potato as my side and it was delicious. The crust of the potato was nice and salted and the inside had sour cream, cheese, green onion, butter, and bits of bacon. I would highly recommend this place and the peppered sirloin plate if you’re in town or looking for some good salads and steaks.
Another great restaurant that I recently tried was Mouth of the South. This restaurant has been open for a while, but it was in a different location much farther from us, however, it then moved to 168th and Center. Ive heard many great reviews and saw it on yelp, but I had not had the opportunity to try it out yet. So two weeks ago, my fiancé and I decided to finally try it out. As an appetizer we ordered the crab dip and it was really good. Usually when you order a seafood dip the meat ratio lacks, but here they made sure to overload it with plump crab meat. My only complaint was chips… I was really hopping for something a little more homemade, but the Tostitos chips worked (Am I being too picky?).
After we finished the dip, our entrees came out and I can’t tell you how amazing they both were. My fiancé was feeling the chicken pasta and she was not disappointed. It was cheesy buttery goodness and the chicken was blackened so it was sooo good and it had an amazing seasoning. For my meal I ordered the classic etoufee and it was the right choice. Etoufee can be so different depending on the region you eat it and whose making it, but this was as close to the original etoufee that I had when I was down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was well seasoned and it also had a ton of crawfish in it. The grits that came in the etoufee were also very delicious and fluffy. I added a little hot sauce, because it always needs a kick. There’s some other delicious etoufee that I have had in Omaha, for example, Herb Saint, (which is also amazing) but I felt like this was the closest take on the original dish. They did ask us for desserts, which thinking it was a cajun restaurant they must have beignets but they actually did not. Maybe next time.
Another classic Omaha that I had not been to since I moved here is Jerico’s. At first when you look at the yelp page you might not be very impressed because it seems like a little old fashioned restaurant with basic regular food. However, looks are deceiving. We ordered the fried portobello mushroom appetizer to start off, and while it seemed nice, they were out of this world. The mushrooms had a really great batter and seasoning and the cheese sauce they served them with was delicious. You also get a salad when you select an entree so I decided to get the salad with ranch and my fiancé selected hers with blue cheese. So while I waited for the salad to come out, I decided to treat my self to a glass of wine. I selected the house red Jerico’s wine made by Soaring Wings (local winery south of Omaha in Springfield NE). It was some of the best wine that I have had. I even asked the waitress if they sold bottles in-house, but sadly they didn’t.
Our salads arrived, and again they looked very basic but the dressing and the toppings made it one of the best salads I have had. My fiancee’s salad also had a lot of blue cheese crumbles which was her favorite part. After we devoured our salads they brought out the main course and WOW it looked phenomenal. I had the 10oz cut of prime rib with garlic mashed potatoes and a side of creamy horseradish and my fiancé had the same but a smaller cut of prime rib. We cut a piece of the prime rib and dunked it in the au jus sauce and tried it. Words couldn’t describe how much our taste buds were enjoying that bite. Hands down it was the best prime rib I have had. I like mine cooked medium rare, and it was cooked to perfection. The au jus also was very well seasoned and just took the prime rib to the next level. I would definitely say that we will be back here very soon.
I really hope you enjoyed this post and hope that you get to try one of these Omaha gems soon. Whether you live in town, or if you visit Omaha for CWS sometime.
In my next post I will introduce you to a new delicious restaurant focusing on chicken that just opened in the Blackstone Switch called Dirty Bird.
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