One place that I hadn't been to for quite sometime was Stella's in Bellevue, NE, a suburb of Omaha. I first went to Stella's back in the 80's when one of my dealers told me about the place. Since then I've been to Stella's a number of times, but I figured that I've not been back for about five years. I remember trying to find it one time a couple three years ago, but didn't have the right address - or I didn't go to the right place. I thought it may have gone out of business, but I found out that it was going strong during a recent trip to Omaha.
Stella's has a long and rich history. In 1930, Estelle "Stella" Sullivan and her husband, Al, moved to Bellevue to open a gas station. They lived in a small, three-room house not far from the station. In 1936, Stella wanted to open Bellevue's first tavern. It was basically one of their rooms in their home - a 12" X 15" foot room that was so small patrons often had to take their beers outside to drink. She called her little tavern "Francois and Sullivan" (Francois was her maiden name). But most of the locals referred to it as "Grandma's", as in "I'm going to Grandma's house tonight."
A couple years later, a second tavern opened up in Bellevue and the owners had a tough time making a go of it. It closed down in 1939 and the owner of the land which the tavern was on persuaded Stella to move her operation to the building. She changed the name of the place to simply "Stella's" and began to serve her famous cheeseburgers at that time.
Unfortunately, the same year Al Sullivan died and Stella was forced to run both the gas station and the tavern, all the while raising her four children by herself. But she persevered and hung in there. She eventually sold the gas station and with the money she got for the station she tried to buy the land on which the tavern set (she owned the building, but not the land). The landlord would not sell the land, so Stella eventually found a plot of land that was part of an old dairy farm. That plot of land is the site of Stella's today. Back then, it was located next to a race track and a drive-in movie theater. She had her building picked up and moved to the site and business began to boom.
Over the years, Stella remarried and she continued to run the business. A stroke in the mid-70's made Stella cut back on her workload at the tavern and the day-to-day operations were taken over by her son, Al, and his wife, Mary. Stella lived until 1985 and her son eventually retired in 2007. Al and Mary sold the business to his cousin - Stephanie Francois - who was also Stella's great, great niece.
With Offutt Air Force Base in close proximity to Stella's, hundreds of thousands airmen have eaten Stella's great burgers over the years. Stella's became famous around the world as airmen who transferred out of Offutt would rave to others at air bases in other countries about how great Stella's burgers were. There were a number of Air Force personnel who would make Stella's their first stop when they were transferred to Offutt.
I knew a guy back in the 80's - a former Air Force man who ran a small stereo shop in Omaha - who was in the Air Force Reserve. He used to fly as a passenger between Offutt and Nellis Air Force Base just north of Las Vegas from time to time. He had buddies who were out at Nellis who would ask him to stop by Stella's to grab a dozen burgers, put them in a baggie and then into a cooler and bring them out to them.
Stella's is one of those places where an Air Force colonel could be seated next to a construction worker at the bar, who is seated next to a banker, who is seated next to a farmer, who is seated next to an itinerant sales guy. I know that for a fact because I was the itinerant sales guy seated at the bar. Stella's brings all types of people to the place for their great burgers. It's one of those great places where all walks of life co-mingle over the common denominator of their burgers.
Stella's secret is in the juiciness of the burgers. No, let me rephrase that - the greasiness of the burgers. Stella's is not shy about calling their burgers greasy. They serve them on napkins with the grease fat dripping off the patty when it comes to your table. Stella's serves hundreds of burgers each day.
I got to Stella's off of Galvin Road (see map) around 1 p.m. one day when I was in Omaha recently. I was able to find a booth in the corner in the nearly packed place. Even though no one was seated at the bar, I wanted to sit in a booth so I could get a picture of the place. A few things have changed since I was last in - a couple flat panel televisions have been placed behind the bar replacing a couple tube televisions. It looks like the facade in front of the bar is different, and they've changed the lighting in the place. Other than that, the grill is located right next to the bar so the great smell of a Stella burger was prevalent as I opened the door to the tavern.
Stella's is also famous for their hand-cut French fries, but I just wanted a Stella burger. The waitress came over and I ordered a burger with pepper jack cheese, along with lettuce, tomato, onions and a raw onion slice. Ketchup and mustard were on the table. I also got a beer to go with my lunch.
It wasn't long before she brought over my burger, served, as always, on a napkin. Just as I remember, the grease was oozing out of the burger onto the napkin.
Now, I've found over the years that there's a signature taste to burgers out of Omaha. It has a very appealing ground pepper taste to the beef. I first noticed it when I used to have King's Food Host burgers years and years ago. I encountered it again when I first had a Runza burger back in the 80's. And I found that taste in a Don and Millie's burger when I first went there in the 90's. Stella's has that type of taste, as well. However, I honestly cannot recall that taste on a Stella's burger. But it definitely had that black pepper taste to the meat and I liked it.
However, the bun was rather dry and sort of detracted from the taste of the burger. I should have probably smashed down the burger to make the bun a little more wet with the juice - excuse me - the GREASE from the burger. The toppings were fresh, but the cheese was pretty weak where I couldn't really taste the pepper jack. But that was OK as the overall taste of the burger was just about as good as I remember.
I'm not certain that Stella's is as good today as it was when I first visited over 20 years ago. But the burger is still good enough to warrant an honorable mention in my Best Burgers list that I'm going to re-release shortly. Just the history alone of Stella's helps make the burgers taste good. And I'm hoping Stephanie carries on the tradition of great burgers that Stella began over 70 years ago.
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