Much has been written about a little restaurant in the Omaha area by the name of Dixie Quick's. For a long time, it has kind of been a small secret the locals who liked to keep to themselves. However, both national print and television media has blown the cover off the Dixie Quick's secret and it has become a destination for people who enjoy eclectic and interesting foods. I've had Dixie Quick's on my "Restaurants to Visit" list for quite sometime. When Cindy and I were out in Omaha for an extended weekend recently, we decided to go have breakfast at Dixie Quick's.
René Orduña started off working in the kitchen of his parents Mexican restaurant when he was growing up in Omaha. Orduña left Omaha and ended up cooking in a number of different places - New Orleans, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco and Kansas City - before ending up back in Omaha with his life partner, Rob Gilmer. In 1995, the two opened the original Dixie Quick's in downtown Omaha. After being open for seven years, the two were forced to move to a new location due to the pending construction of Union Pacific Center, the headquarters of the Union Pacific railroad that was moving just across the street.
It was at their new location at 20th and Leavenworth just south of downtown Omaha that Dixie Quick's became known for their eclectic comfort food. Dixie Quick's Magnolia Room featured a number of different items on their menu from Cajun to seafood to steaks with a Mexican twist to scrumptious breakfasts served on Saturday and Sunday mornings. And the menu was located on a chalk board on the wall of Dixie Quick's Magnolia Room. Patrons had to go to the chalk board and see what chef René was cooking up that evening. The menu changed from day to day due to Orduña's quest to source local and fresh food for the restaurant.
In 2011, Orduña and Gilmer had the chance to move Dixie Quick's into the renovated Hughes-Irons building in Council Bluffs just across the Missouri River from Omaha. On one side of the space they occupied would be Dixie Quick's, the other side would be RNG Gallery, an urban and contemparary art gallery that was designed to show cutting edge artwork from local, regional and national artists. The "RNG" in the gallery's name stands for Rob Gilmer's initials. Dixie Quick's moved to their new location in October of 2011 and had their grand opening on November 1, 2011.
We pulled up in front of Dixie Quick's on West Broadway in Council Bluffs around 9:15 on a Saturday morning. (see map) We were sort of stunned to see a large group of people milling about in front of the place and we wondered if there was already a wait to get in for breakfast. On Dixie Quick's web site they have general rules and brunch rules and it appears that someone by the name of Lydia has pissed off either Gilmer or Orduña so much that there are taglines after each rule that are directed at someone named Lydia. I was afraid that if we didn't have a reservation we may be waiting quite a long time to be seated. If that was the case, I told Cindy we'd go to Plan B, which would be somewhere else other than Dixie Quick's.
After parking the car in a lot on the east side of the Hughes-Irons building, we saw that the crowd out front had dispersed by the time we got in front of the restaurant. It turned out it was a large group that was just arriving at Dixie Quick's and they were just being seated when we walked in. We were greeted by a young lady at the hostess stand just as you get into Dixie Quick's and she sat us at table near the bar area.
The dining area at Dixie Quick's is an "L"-shaped room with the signature menu board on the long wall. The contemporary urban space features artwork on the walls and the restaurant is lighted by studio-style light fixtures.
On the wall behind the bar were a collection of trays with states on them (above right). I'd never seen anything like them before and they were sort of neat to look at.
The first order of business is to go over and take a look at the chalk board menu. Because of René Orduña's multi-faceted culinary background, the breakfast menu reflected his diverse tastes. There were breakfast dishes with a Mexican flair such as the Cactus Scramble - real bits of cactus scrambled with eggs and black beans and served with tortillas. Dixie Quick's also featured a red beans and rice omelet as well as down-home Southern-style breakfast plates as biscuits and gravy, and chicken-fried steak. I almost got the chicken fried steak, I could imagine how good it would be.
Cindy and I stared at the board for about five minutes before we finally decided on what we wanted to order. We went back to the table and we were greeted by a tall man who appeared to be a manager. He said, "Douglas is going to be your server, folks. But he's busy with other customers right now. Can I get you something to drink or are you ready to order?"
Cindy said, "Well, yeah, sure! We can order!"
She got the eggs benedict with grilled salmon. As I said, I almost ordered the chicken fried steak, but I ended up getting the French toast with mixed fruit toppings and a side of bacon. Douglas finally made it over to greet us with some coffee for Cindy. "Sorry folks," he explained. "I guess you got your order in already. It's like I got three tables all at once. Thanks for your patience."
We were fine and dandy with the service between the manager and Douglas up to that point. It was no problem whatsoever.
A third server brought out our breakfasts. And I was amazed what to find on my plate. The French toast was made out of thick homemade French bread slices piled in a pyramid topped with raspberries, strawberries and blueberries with a large dollop of whipped cream at the apex. I thought, "There's gonna be no WAY I can eat all this!"
Cindy's eggs Benedict with the grilled salmon featured two rather large poached eggs sitting on a homemade fluffy English muffin. She said the salmon was a little overcooked for her, but it wasn't fishy tasty at all. I could smell the salmon and it did smell good.
I started to dig into my French toast and found that the bread was light and fluffy. It was almost like angel food cake, there was so much airy-ness to it. I let Cindy have my strawberries (I have an aversion to strawberries thanks to a childhood allergy to them), but I enjoyed the fresh blueberries and raspberries with the French Toast. After finishing two of the slices, it became apparent that I would have no trouble finishing the rest. The combination of lightness and great taste made sure for that.
When we finished, Douglas brought over our check and even though our service was good I was hesitant to leave a significant tip for him because it was much more of a team effort by the staff at Dixie Quick's who took care of us that morning. He had two tables - one of six people, the other with four - that he was running hard for. Even with that, we didn't feel we'd been neglected in the least.
As we were leaving Dixie Quick's, I wanted to wash some of the stickiness off my hands. I asked the hostess where the restroom was and she said it was through the gallery to the left of Dixie Quick's and then take a right and go all the way back. The bathroom was in the RNG Gallery and it featured a communal wash facility. In the wash area were also a number of interesting photographs on display. It was sort of interesting that the men's and women's restrooms were off to their respective sides of the sink area and women and men would be side by side washing up afterward.
The RNG Gallery was featuring artwork by a number of artists depicting the Museum of Alternative History. Actually, some of the stuff was quite believable including wall charts and interesting photographs that had been altered toward the bizarre. Cindy was especially transfixed on the series of what appeared to be misshapen human skulls that supposedly were from bizarre people.
I loved a series of little vignettes by Jamie Burmeister of figurines that involved small sculptures intermixed with real objects. Below left is called "Trap" and it depicts a man caught in a mouse trap with a women grieving nearby. It was pretty twisted.
I finally got the joke of the exhibit when I found a poster just inside the entry way of the RNG Gallery that explained the basis for the Museum of Alternative History. Curator Tim Guthrie, an Omaha visual artist, had asked a number of artists to come up with their ideas of what they believed history would be in an alternative plane. It had this long preamble and was actually a pretty cogent interpretation of what the displays are about. Then at the bottom, it basically said the whole idea of the exhibit was for the artists to "just make shit up."
We lingered in the RNG Gallery to fully take in the Museum of Alternative History probably longer than we wanted, but it was so interesting and so trippy that we didn't mind missing a glorious Saturday morning outside. My descriptions don't do the exhibit justice. And, unfortunately, the exhibit closed in early June. But I'm sure the RNG Gallery will have other interesting exhibits that you can take in before or after you dine at Dixie Quick's.
It turns out that I have a new pro music dealer just across the street from Dixie Quick's and I'm looking forward to going back to try one of the eclectic dinner entrees that they're known for. Dixie Quick's would be what I would call a "must eat" when you're in the Omaha area. Just don't piss them off like Lydia did.
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