I was out in Omaha in the early fall calling on accounts and I had asked a couple people from one of my dealers to dinner that evening. One of them picked out a restaurant that I wasn't familiar with - Pacific Eating House. "My daughter has a friend who manages the place," I was told. We made reservations for 7 p.m. later that evening and I met them at the restaurant just off Pacific Street in west Omaha. (see map)
It turns out that the people behind Pacific Eating House are the husband and wife team of Darrell and Laura Auld. They run one of my favorite little bistros in Omaha - Twisted Cork Bistro. (Click here to see the Road Tips post on Twisted Cork.) The Auld's moved from Omaha nearly 15 years ago and opened Twisted Cork in March of 2008. The bistro features organically-raised foods that are locally sourced, as well as fresh seafood flown in from the Pacific Northwest. The Auld's also featured a number of Washington and Oregon-based wines as well as a handful of local and regional beers on tap.
The Auld's favorite place to vacation is Hawaii and they added a few Hawaiian-inspired dishes to the menu at Twisted Cork over the years. They wanted to expand the offerings of Pacific-based entrees, but they realized that they would probably have to do it at another restaurant. That's where the concept of Pacific Eating House came about.
After finding a spot in a new strip mall at 126th and W. Pacific, the Auld's began a build-out of the new spot. They got their crew in place and opened Pacific Eating House on March 3, 2020. Less than two weeks later they were forced to close due to the pandemic. They provided curbside pick-up for a couple months before Pacific Eating House reopened for restricted dining in May of last year.
(Also in 2020, the Auld's announced that Twisted Cork Bistro would be going through an expansion at their location just off I-680 at Pacific. I drove by the spot where the restaurant used to be and it appeared the whole strip mall the restaurant was located in had been torn down. However, I was told that they were planning on rebuilding a new building and hoped to have it open in by late 2021. No word as to where they're at with that.)
Walking into Pacific Eating House, the bar area was just inside the front door. It was a two-sided bar with tall high-back chairs. The decor had sort of a Pacific-rim motif with pendant lighting with light blue-fabric shades over the bar. Down a hallway from the bar with partitions for a dining area on one side was a spacious kitchen area with large windows where you could easily see the staff at work.
My guests were already seated in one of the areas of the dining room. There was a small dining area off to the left as you come into the restaurant, then a small dining area with banquet seating just beyond the bar. My guests were in the larger of the dining areas at a table with banquette seating. Thankfully, they took the banquette seats and I got a chair seat.
Charlene was our server and she had already dropped off menus for the table. Pacific Eating House had a segment of the menu for tiki-style drinks including a mai tai. One of my guests ordered up the "Puffer Punch". It consisted of Pau vodka which is made in the Upcountry on Maui, Cachaca which is a Brazilian rum, Aperol which is an Italian bitters, and finished with pineapple and mango juice. It was served in a pufferfish glass. My guest purposely sat the glass so that the pufferfish would be looking at me.
My other guest got an Alaskan Amber beer they had on tap and I noticed the distinctive tap handle for Kona Big Wave when I walked into the restaurant. I ordered up a pint of that.
The menu at Pacific Eating House was pretty interesting. The bulk of the foods on the menu were seafood-centric and after each menu item, a city was listed. I asked Charlene if the mahi mahi actually came from Kona, HI as it said on the menu. "No, probably not," she said. "Actually, the owners like to travel and they get ideas and inspiration from some of the meals they had in their travels. There was a banh mi sandwich that they got from a trip to Viet Nam, a Korean stew they probably had on a trip to South Korea at some point, and there was a flank steak entree with spicy rice and chargrilled Brussels sprouts that they picked up from a trip to Thailand. I'm sure the Auld's had some pretty good stories.
One of the items on the menu was a miso salmon served in blue hardshell tacos with pico de gallo and an avocado aioli. There was a seared wild sockeye salmon on the menu, as well as a 3-cheese grilled sandwich made with Tillamook cheese from Oregon. And they also had a handful of small plates for sharing or for lighter appetizers such as Pacific mussels, a sweet-glazed Huli-huli pork rib platter, and a pistachio-crusted ahi platter.
It came down to a couple things for me - the Big Eye Ahi that is flown in fresh from Honolulu, then lightly blackened and served rare; and something called the Wailea Stew. That caught my eye because it said "Kihei, HI" at the end of the listing. We stayed in the Kihei-Wailea area on our trips to Maui in the past and we just love the place. Not only did the name of the stew tug at my heartstrings, it sounded good.
The Wailea Stew consisted of stewed mahi mahi with wild-caught shrimp in a spicy Thai-curry broth. Chopped macadamia nuts, chopped asparagus and Furikake-seasoned rice were added to the stew. It was just outstanding. There were so many excellent flavors going on with each bite that it was one of those meals that I didn't want it to end.
One of my guests went with the cod and chips. The Alaskan codfish are battered in a Alaskan Amber tempura, rolled in panko breadcrumbs and flash-fried. The cod filets were sitting a bed of fresh-cut fries. An apple slaw came on the side with house-made ketchup and mayo. My guest said the Alaskan cod was outstanding.
My other guest was eating light and he got the Alaskan salmon salad - lightly-grilled salmon mixed in with artisan greens and chopped vegetables. He said it was also very good. He said he'd had a pretty big lunch and didn't think he could eat a full entree. But he was more than happy with what he got.
While we were having dinner, Brittany - the Pacific Eating House manager - came over to check on us. As I said, she was the friend of the daughter of one of my guests and she heard that we were going to be in that night. I asked about Twisted Cork Bistro and when they expected to be open. "Oh, it's been a nightmare," she told us. "They had expected to be open this spring, now they're hoping to be open by the end of the year."
Brittany excused herself and said she was heading out for the evening. However, a few moments after we had finished our dinners, Charlene came over with a plate of malasadas - a Hawaiian pastry that is filled with haupia, a coconut-infused pudding, then rolled in sugar. "Complements of Brittany," Charlene said as she laid them in front of us. It was a pleasant surprise and a nice sweet treat to end the evening.
My guests did a great job in recommending Pacific Eating House. The Wailea seafood stew that I had was delicious and I know my guests were more than happy with their food. The service was good and the atmosphere was laid-back. Pacific Eating House is one of those unique places where foods from different regions around the Pacific can be tried under one roof.
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