I hope your week has been going well! I’m *this close* to being done with my last semester of college and it’s kind of crazy to think about. Zumba and carbs have been getting me through test taking and paper writing. I was so excited to get to share apartment pictures with you guys the other day. Josh and I are so excited about all the blessings we have to look forward to. Next up in our recap of Omaha is the food!
Getting to travel to Omaha before we move there this summer was so helpful because it helped us get acclimated to the area. We still have so much to learn about Nebraska but everything we’ve seen so far makes us feel confident it is the place for us. While there are tons of amazing restaurants in Omaha, and I’m so excited to get to share our discoveries so far with you, the best thing we experienced in Omaha was the people. So many of Josh’s co-workers reached out to us and invited us to get to know them. People were going out of their way to make us feel welcome and that meant so much to us. The lady at the grocery store gave us maps of the city and a waitress brought us a free appetizer when she heard we were moving to the area. I love the community feeling Omaha has and how genuinely nice everyone is.
Researching Omaha made us realize there’s lot of neighborhoods within the city. Some of the most popular areas are Old Market, Midtown Crossing, Dundee, and Aksarban Village (that I always call Azkaban). We managed to get to check them all out and eat at almost all of them.
First up was Old Market. We love old market. It has brick streets and a really quaint feeling. We know we’re going to be spending a lot of time there in the future.
This was indoors. We sat at a table here while the rain poured on the glass roof. It was really romantic. We went to Trini’s Mexican Restaurant for dinner.
I got the black bean burrito and it was fabulous. It had olives on it and I loved it which is so strange because I normally hate olives. Maybe my tastes are changing? And bonus: my meal was less than $8! I feel like that’s a really good deal for all the food we got!
We headed out to the suburbs to explore the Whole Foods and Trader Joes. Both are awesome. At Trader Joes we finally got to pick up a bottle of two buck chuck! I love that Nebraska isn’t so restrictive with when and where their liquor is sold like PA. I’m going to miss Wegmans so much but am sure we’ll be able to get into a new grocery store groove.
We went for snacks at Red Mango. I love their froyo (and froyo smoothies!) and the lack of all the weird additives. As someone with IBS I also love that it has pro-biotics.
(Source)
We loved exploring Midtown Crossing.We stayed at the Element here (review coming tomorrow) and just loved all the energy and cool shops. I’m so excited for Jazz on the Green and Yoga on the Green on the weekends in the summer.
One of the restaurants we went to in Midtown Crossing was called Crave. I absolutely loved the decor
I got a plate of veggie goodness. I’m not sure what the dressing on the mushrooms was but it was fabulous. I’m going to see if I can look it up so I can replicate it at home.
Josh got a pizza that was out of this world good. He was very sweet and shared a few slices with me. 😀
We also went to Ingredient in Midtown and got fresh made veggie burgers. They were really tasty and I love the avocado pairing.
Also at Midtown Crossing is Catina Laredo. Josh and I both got the veggie burritos (he got enchilada style) and we were really impressed.
We ventured out to Dundee one night to go to Pitch for dinner. I love the cute shops and welcoming neighborhood feel.
We started off with brussels sprouts appetizers. Any restaurant that serves these is a winner in my book.
And split a delicious pizza. It was so tasty and something we really enjoyed. The pizza was cooked on a coal fire and really gave it a lot of flavor.
Josh and I were so sad when it was time to end our Omaha trip. We had a long layover in Detroit so we decided to grab dinner there. We Googled best hotel airport food and realized Dema at the Detroit airport was on every list. We decided to check it out.
It is located in the Westin at the airport. How gorgeous is this?
My handsome fiance.
We took in the beautiful surroundings while chowing down on delicious veggie quesadillas. It was the perfect way to kill a few hours with a layover.
And that was our food! We enjoyed every bite. 🙂
Questions of the Day: What’s your favorite restaurant in the Omaha area? What’s your favorite airport food?
Im so crazy in the airport.
for some reason it makes me wanna shop and snack and shop in ways I DONT DO 🙂 other places.
thats all Im saying…
I love airports! I always feel like something exciting is going on.
Omaha looks like a great city. You are going to have a blast exploring!
We’re so excited! There’s so much to see and do!
As a Cali girl, I have never thought that Omaha is so cool. I don’t know what I expected….cows?? But now I want to visit just for all the food choices! 🙂
I know right? haha When we first heard of Nebraska we thought of cows and cornfields. I’m so glad there’s so much more to it!
Some of my favorite restaurants in Omaha are:
Jaipur (for Indian) – It is in the Rockbrook area and it is so delicious!
Pizza Shoppe (for pizza, obvs) – It is in Benson and they have tons of unique options and gluten free pizza too!
V. Mertz (fancy French cuisine) – also in the Passageway where Trini’s is – it’s a little on the expensive side, but so worth it!
Mojo – In Aksarben village also – they have these slider burgers called “Crabby patties” that are made of delicious crab cakes
Blue (for sushi) – There are three locations around Omaha – downtown, way out west on 144th and Maple, and one in Southwest Omaha – it is the best “Americanized” sushi I have ever had!
McFosters (for vegetarian fare) – This is in the midtown area and they serve so many amazing vegetarian options (and the meat they do serve is cruelty free) and also make a mean smoothie
Mantra – Also in Benson, this is a very cool little spot with fancy gastro-pub style food. They have a ketchup sauce for the fried that is flavored with my favorite local beer (Lucky Bucket) and they have a dessert consisting of Pistachio french toast covered in maple syrup and ice cream! Haha
…If you couldn’t tell, we like to eat out a lot so we have probably tried about 75% of the places in Omaha! Haha.
McFoster’s is awesome!! 🙂
Thanks so much for the recommendations! They all sound amazing. Josh and I have big food plans when we move there! haha
Great re-cap post! I really don’t know too much about Omaha, but it looks like a great city. You guys certainly ate well.
It’s amazing that people are so nice when they don’t even know you. Specifically, the fact that Josh’s future co-workers are already so welcoming must make you both even more excited and at ease about moving there.
Thanks for sharing!! 🙂
Josh and I always seem to eat well wherever we go! haha We love food.
Josh and I feel so lucky that we’re moving to such a friendly area with such a great work environment for him. This move so far away from friends and family would have been a lot harder if we didn’t have such welcoming people.
I am LOVING reading about your experiences here in Omaha! Since I, myself, am still quite new to the area I am learning so many new things just from your posts. 🙂 I now have several restaurants to add to my list of places to eat! I am SO glad that you checked out Pitch and that you loved it. I think that their pizza is fabulous. Also, I have no idea they had Yoga on the Green. I definitely want to do that on the weekends! Thanks for the heads up :).
We should go to Yoga on the Green together! I’m so excited for all there seems to be to do in Omaha. There’s so many good food places!
Agreed! That sounds like a great idea! 🙂
So glad you two had a GREAT trip despite the horrid weather was have been having! I think you’ll see the summer is filled with activities that are free or affordable. Plus, you two will have to hit up the Omaha Henry Doorley Zoo!
There are lots of pockets of Omaha that you two will enjoy exploring — or at least I hope you do!
We’re so excited to explore more of Omaha! Everyone kept telling us it’s even better when there’s sunshine! haha We want to go to the zoo so badly, I love penguins. We also saw there are a lot of museums. We found an arboretum that was having a cool exhibit but it was outdoors and it was sleeting so we decided to wait and check it out when we move.
When you think of Omaha, you don’t think of the great food and sites that you’ve shared. You have so much to look forward to! Congratulations on the next exciting step in your life after college!
Thank you so much! We’re both very excited. And you’re right, when we first heard of Omaha we thought of cows and cornfields. That was definitely not the case.
Oh my gosh, you weren’t kidding when you said ‘eating your way around Omaha’!!!I’m amazed you got anything else accomplished. lol Looking forward to trying some of the yummy dishes when I visit. Love you
Erin,
Have you been to Blue Planet yet? It is fantastic, organic, yummy eating! Omaha has some of the best restaurants for a city its size. You have picked a great time to move to our city. It’s booming! You wouldn’t believe what Midtown Crossing looked like several years ago. Welcome, and I cannot wait to meet you. Sign me up for next weekend!
I’ll have to try Blue Planet! I’m excited! Do they do sushi?