Road Tips

HF Crave - Lincoln, NE

A guy I know at a dealer in Lincoln was telling awhile back that there was this place that he really liked in the city that served a good burger.  It's evidently owned by a farm family who raises their own beef not only to serve at their restaurant, but at other restaurants around the Omaha and Lincoln area.  On a recent visit out to Lincoln, I decided to stop into HF Crave and have one of their burgers.  

In 1901, Isaac and Rachel Hollenbeck left St. Joseph, MO and homesteaded a farm on federal ground about 20 miles east of Lincoln.  They farmed the land and raised Hereford cattle.  Issac and Rachel passed the farm along to their son Don who, in turn, eventually passed the farm along to his son Myron.  

In 1992, Myron Hollenbeck and his son Myron, Jr. - known to all as J.R. - started to do an artificial breeding technique that would create a herd of genetically superior cattle known as Maine-Anjou.  Maine-Anjou cattle originated in France and was registered in the United States in 1969.   There are about 20,000 head of Maine-Anjou in the U.S. and most - if not all - are bred for beef consumption.  The Hollenbeck's cattle were range-free and grass-fed with no injected antibiotics, steroids or hormones.

Now the fourth generation Hollenbeck at Hollenbeck Farms, JR and his then-wife Marcy started marketing Hollenbeck Farms All Natural Beef in 2005 in frozen packs at farmers markets and local grocery stores around Nebraska, often grilling burgers on site at local events for people to try.  It wasn't long before restaurants took notice and a number of places started to use Hollenbeck beef on their menus.  When the Twisted Cork Bistro in Omaha was named as having the best burger in the state of Nebraska by the Food Network in 2009, they said that their main secret was using Hollenbeck Farms beef.  (Click here to read about the Road Tips visit to try a burger at the Twisted Cork.)  

By 2010, the Hollenbeck's began to look more in depth at the burgeoning gourmet burger market and came up with an idea called the Better Burger concept that they would use to highlight the beef they sold to stores in a restaurant setting.  They looked for a spot to open their restaurant and found an opening in a strip mall on Lincoln's far south side that used to house an Indian restaurant.  HF Crave opened in the summer of 2011.  Partners in the business at the beginning, J.R. and Marcy Hollenbeck eventually divorced in 2015.  

HF Crave is located along Pine Lake Road as it intersects with S. 27th St. across from the SouthPointe Pavilions shopping district.  (see map)   It's counter service at HF Crave with the menu hanging on the wall behind the front counter.   They had a dozen signature burgers to choose from including a smoked bacon, cheddar cheese and ancho chile barbecue sauce burger, a pepper-crusted patty topped with cheddar cheese, onion strings and steak sauce, and for the really hungry they had the Barnyard Massacre burger that featured three-8 ounce burger patties, topped with 3 eggs, ham, bacon and six slices of cheese.  And it also comes with a pound of fries.  It's also a "food challenge" burger as for those who finish the burger and fries in 25 minutes they'll get a gift certificate, a t-shirt and their picture up on a "wall of fame" at HF Crave.  

The dining area at HF Crave is what I would call contemporary industrial.  The space was narrow, but open.  The booths were basic wood benches while the chairs at the various tables were a heavy metal.  And they weren't very comfortable.  HF Crave definitely didn't want their patrons to linger after eating as the seats were pretty hard.

When I placed my order at the counter, I went with the "build-your-own burger".  When I stepped up to the register to order, I told the young lady that I wanted to build my own burger.  "You don't want one of our specialty burgers," she asked.  Uh, no.  Sorry.  She then proceeded to tell me that she was new and she really didn't know the procedure for the build-your-own burger.  I had to point out to her that it was a five-step process - 1) select the type of meat you want (HF burger, chicken breast, portobello mushroom or veggie burger), then 2) select what kind of bun you wanted.  Step 3 was to choose the type of cheese you wanted on the burger from a list of seven different types of cheese, then the fourth step was to choose the type of veggies or condiments you wanted on the burger.  (Interestingly, mustard and ketchup was not made available as a choice.)  The final step was the "extras" such as smoked bacon, a fried egg, guacamole, onion straws or an extra patty - all for a price.  

I placed my order for my burger - a Swiss cheese burger on a brioche bun with bacon, sautéed mushrooms, red onion slices and dill pickles.  She was having trouble figuring out what to push on the point-of-sale register to get my burger made up.  I thought, "Oh, boy.  This could be interesting."  When I ordered up a bottle of the Omission pale ale, she excitedly remarked before she handed it to me, "This beer is gluten free?  Really?  I'm into gluten free foods.  I didn't know you could get beer that was gluten free!"  Geez, come on!  Just give me the beer and let me go sit down!

As I was sitting there, one of the guys came out of the kitchen and came to talk to me.  He asked me questions about my burger - what exactly did I order and did I not want fries with the burger.  I let him know what I had ordered and, no, I didn't want any fries.  But I became more and more concerned as it seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to get my single burger out to me.  After about 20 minutes after I ordered, another guy from the kitchen brought it out to me.

Well, someone screwed up.  It didn't have the bacon - for which I paid extra - or the Swiss cheese on the burger.  By this time, I was so disgusted by the experience that I just wanted to eat what I had and get out of there.  Once again, there was no ketchup or mustard on the table and there was only some ketchup in a dispenser in the corner for fries.  I got some ketchup out of that and put some on my burger since it didn't have the bacon or Swiss cheese on it.  

The chargrilled burger was thick and juicy, something that I've found is tough to do for some places who chargrill their burgers over direct flame.  It did have a good taste to the meat, but I was still somewhat discouraged by the lack of the cheese and bacon they forgot to put on the burger.  The brioche bun was lightly toasted and was spongy.  It held together very well with the juiciness of the burger.  The sautéed mushrooms were tasty, the red onion slices were very fresh and forward tasting, and the dill pickles had a great vinegary taste.  Yeah, it was a good burger, but they really screwed it up for me.  

Sometimes bad experiences in restaurants puts a sour taste in my mouth.  Psychologically, it doesn't make the food taste any better when they screw up my order.  And that's exactly what happened on my visit to HF Crave.  I can't give the new girl at the counter a pass, nor can I give a pass to the cook who came out to confirm the toppings on my burger.  They still left off the Swiss cheese and the bacon - and I paid extra for the bacon.  It was a good tasting burger, but it would have been better with the toppings I had ordered.  I wish my experience would have been better at HF Crave.  I really don't know if I would go back to see if they could get it right a second time.  

Phat Jack's - Lincoln, NE

I follow a handful of national and regional sportswriters on Twitter and on more than one occasion when one of them have ended up in Lincoln, NE, they've tweeted about going to a barbecue place by the name of Phat Jack's.  I tried to go to Phat Jack's on a visit to Lincoln last year, but I found that they close at 7 p.m.  After a meeting with a dealer in Lincoln recently, I made it a point to go in for a 5:30 dinner at Phat Jack's.  

If you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you've found that many of the barbecue places I've been to started after the owners had been on the competition trail for a few years.  That's exactly how Phat Jack's started out.  

Matt Burt was a Lincoln native who married his wife, Jackie, in 2004.  They soon moved to the Kansas City suburb of Olathe, KS to be closer to her parents.  Matt Burt was a plumber by trade, but his hobby and passion was barbecue.  In 2006, Matt Burt, along with his father-in-law, Tony Mateer, and a neighbor, Phil Allen, the trio started a competition barbecue team.  

The team needed a name and they came up with a number of ones that had a barbecue theme, but none of them stuck.  Finally, someone came up with "Fat Jack's" which was changed to "Phat Jack's" taking the urban slang acronym for "Pretty Hot and Tempting" and making it "Pretty Hot and Tasty".  There was no Jack in the bunch - the closest being Phil Allen's young son, Jack, who wasn't fat or phat - but the name just sort of stuck. 

They entered their first competition in Shawnee, KS and, according to Matt Burt, they didn't do too well.  However, they regrouped in time for the 2007 season and placed 4th overall in the World Brisket Open sponsored by the Kansas City Barbecue Society.     

While they didn't win any contests in 2007, they placed high enough in many of the events to garner the attention of many barbecue aficionados.  But the team didn't last much longer than that.  The team was just down to Phil Allen and Matt Burt when they were invited to compete in the prestigious American Royal Invitational in 2008.  

Matt Burt's parents, Ron and Kris, convinced the young Burt's to move back to Lincoln and they would help them open a barbecue joint of their own.  This was a daunting task because Lincoln had a pretty lively barbecue scene at the time.  However, when they opened in 2008 in a spot that used to house a former barbecue joint at 40th and Cornhusker Highway, the original Phat Jack's was a hit.  

And almost immediately the place proved to be too small for the hordes that came in to try their barbecue.  That location didn't have much seating, it had no kitchen and it had a very small parking lot.  The Burt's made do with that place, getting their business built up and Matt going out to barbecue competitions in the summertime, until they moved to their present location in the Belmont Shopping Center, a strip mall in the bottoms of north Lincoln at 11th St. and Cornhusker Highway, just east of Interstate 180 that goes between downtown Lincoln and Interstate 80.  (see map) 

This place appeared to seat about 50 people and looked like it could have been a small burger joint in a previous life.  Trophies and awards from competitions that Phat Jack's have won over the years were on shelves on the wall.  I got in at the right time.  There was just two other tables that were filled and I had no problem getting up to the counter to order.

The menu at Phat Jack's is on the wall behind the counter with the sign above it that says "Order Here".  The barbecue at Phat Jack's is - of course - Kansas City style with Matt Burt coming up with the rub concoction for his brisket, ribs, pork shoulder and chicken.  The menu is pretty basic with sandwiches, racks of ribs, combo meals and meats by the pound.  They also feature burnt ends - when available - and loaded baked potatoes with either a choice of brisket or pulled pork.  Interestingly, they have a couple of menu items that are vegetarian friendly - the Debbie's Way that features coleslaw, tomato, shredded carrots, and a red onion slice that's drizzled with a Carolina-style vinegar BBQ sauce and served on a bun.  You can also get a Debbie's Way loaded baked potato, too.  

Well, I'm not a vegetarian and I was up for barbecue.  I was greeted by a lady behind the counter and I looked over the menu.  It was a little difficult to comprehend for a first timer at Phat Jack's.  At the top of the combo list was the Jack Jr. Combo - three ribs and your choice of a meat.  (If I'd paid attention and read down one more line, I would have seen the Jack Combo - three ribs and your choice of TWO meats.  Next time, I'll get that.)  I ordered the Jack Jr. Combo with brisket.  I also got a choice of two sides.  Baked beans was an easy choice, but I hesitated on the second one.  I asked her, "What would you get?"

"A lot of people like our cheesy hash browns," she quickly replied.  I signed up for that as a second side.

Phat Jack's doesn't have a liquor license, so I couldn't get a beer with my meal.  That was disheartening because I do like a cold beer or two with barbecue, but it certainly wasn't a deal breaker.  I got a bottle of water instead.  I got a number and she said she'd call it out when it was ready. 

Because there was no one else in line, I was barely settled into my seat at a two-seater table when a young lady brought my barbecue out to me.  It was served in a paper boat with the beans and cheesy potatoes in styrofoam cups.  A paper towel roll was on the table along with bottles of Phat Jack's homemade sweet barbecue sauce and spicy barbecue sauce.  

The ribs were meaty and had a nice rub spice on the bark.  The pink smoke ring was present and they pulled off the bone rather easily.  The ribs were outstanding.  I'm a sauce guy, but I was hesitant to put any sauce on the ribs because they tasted so good on their own.  

The brisket was served on a piece of white bread.  It, too, had a nice pink smoke ring and the meat was tender and had a great flavor.  I tried some of the sweet sauce on the brisket and it was good.  It was a little spicy on its own, but not bad.  I thought the same thing about the spicy sauce when I tried it - a little spicy at first.  But then about five seconds later, the heat very sneakily kicked in.  It wasn't overpowering, but it was enough to get your attention.  I really liked the spicy barbecue sauce at Phat Jack's.  

The baked beans, I have to say, were also outstanding.  I usually like to add barbecue sauce to baked beans at most barbecue joints to liven them up.  I didn't have to do that with the beans at Phat Jack's.  They featured chunks of brisket and pork in with the beans, and they were thick and flavorful.  I couldn't help, however, to put a little of the spicy sauce in with the beans.  To me, that made them even more outstanding.

The lady's recommendation of the cheesy hash browns was also spot on.  They, too, had a great flavor, but were very rich.  I concentrated more on the barbecue and the beans making sure that I wouldn't get filled up on the cheesy hash browns.  

While I was eating, I decided that I came at the right time as a long line formed from the door to the counter about 15 minutes after I arrived.  People were flocking in for Phat Jack's barbecue before they closed at 7 p.m. (They're open at 11 a.m., Monday thru Saturday.)  For my first visit to Phat Jack's, I was mightily impressed.  The ribs and brisket were very good, and the baked beans were outstanding.  I liked the cheesy potatoes, but I'll probably try the cole slaw next time - or get double baked beans.  Everything I expected from Phat Jack's came to fruition for me.  It's one of the better barbecue joints I've found in the Midwest.  Even if they don't serve beer.  

The Oven - Lincoln, NE

A friend of mine in the audio industry told me that he likes to drive from his home in Central Wisconsin out to Denver for the annual Rocky Mountain Audio Festival each fall.  His reasoning, he told me, was so he could spend the night in Lincoln, NE going to and from Denver and have dinner at his favorite Indian restaurant - The Oven.  With that kind of dedication and drive to center his travel plans around going to a restaurant, I wondered how good The Oven was.  On a recent overnight stay in Lincoln, I had the chance to give The Oven a try.  

Ngawang Rinchen is a native of Bhutan and he was the former chef for the 4th Bhutanese King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck.  Rinchen cooked meals for the King, his four wives (all sisters), and their children.  In 1978, he made his way to the United States cooking in Bhutanese and Indian restaurants.  He ended up in Omaha in 1984 as the head chef at The Indian Oven restaurant.  In 1988, he was recruited by Steve Gordon to help open and be the head chef at The Oven in Lincoln's Haymarket entertainment district.

Rinchen eventually bought out Gordon and became the sole owner of The Oven.  He opened a second location in east Lincoln in 2007 and in 2012, Rinchen took the empty space beneath his restaurant and turned it into a wine bar/cafe by the name of The Cellar.  The Cellar features self-serve wine dispensers and a wine list that features some of the best wine selections in the Midwest.  Wine Spectator magazine has awarded The Oven/Cellar with their Award of Excellence for their superior wine list for 11 years in a row.

I was staying at the new Hilton Garden Inn in the Haymarket district on a cold late fall night.  The Oven is on the corner of N. 8th St. and P St. in downtown Lincoln.  (see map)  To get there, I walked down two flights of stairs, out a back door to the hotel, across the street and down a block and a half.  It took me about three minutes to get to the front door of The Oven.

There, I was met by a hostess who sat me in a banquette seat in the back corner of the restaurant.  The place was fairly full of people around 7:30 with more coming in.  The decor was tasteful and didn't have the garishness that you find with some Indian restaurants.  

My hostess had left off a menu with me and my server for the evening, Audrey, came over to greet me.  She asked me if I wanted anything to drink and I asked her for a Kingfisher.  They had two sizes of Kingfisher at The Oven - I didn't know that until she brought back the larger of the two bottles.  If she would have asked me if I wanted the 22 oz. or the 12 oz. bottle, I would have gladly told her to bring me the 22 ouncer.  She must have read my mind.

The menu at The Oven is a combination of Northern Indian and Bhutanese dishes with Rinchen's twists added to some of the food.  They had Kheema Matar on the menu, but instead of ground lamb, they made it with ground beef at The Oven.  They had seafood entrees with an Indian flavor, as well as a lot of biryani dishes to choose from.  The Oven also has a large selection of vegetarian dishes on their menu, as well. 

I was just thinking about getting lamb vindaloo that evening - a hearty meal with a bit of a spicy bite to help warm me up on that cold evening.  That's what I ordered when Audrey came back to take my order.  I also ordered some garlic naan to go along with the vindaloo.  Audrey informed me that I also got a bowl of mulligatawny soup with the meal.  I usually don't order the mulligatawny, but I was happy it came with the meal that cold evening.

The mulligatawny had a pleasing flavor to it.  The pureed lentils were mixed with a multitude of spices to give it a good taste.  A dab of rice and some cilantro leaves were part of a garnish on top of the soup.  It was a great opener to the meal.  

 
The lamb vindaloo and the naan came out not long after I finished up with the mulligatawny.  Tender chunks of lamb were in a heavy tomato sauce that had just a hint of a bite of spicy curry.  I tasted hints of ginger, tamarind, and paprika in addition to the curry.  Along with a big bowl of steamed rice, it was a hearty comfort food meal.  After eating about half the vindaloo, I realized that it had more of a spicy kick than I originally thought.  I had to take my napkin and wipe my forehead a couple times as it was causing me to sweat a bit. 

The garlic naan came with a spicy mint chutney that had a nice little bite, as well.  The naan had a very forward garlic and cilantro flavoring to it.  It was light and chewy, and it went well with the vindaloo sauce when I would dip it in the serving bowl.  

The food at The Oven was exceptional.  I was thoroughly impressed with my meal and thoroughly full because I couldn't stop eating - it was that good.   Was it the best vindaloo I've ever had?  Tough to say.  It was some of the best I've had.  Audrey's service was very good, she was accommodating and on top of things.  I liked the atmosphere of the restaurant and I can see why it can get packed with a waiting list on the weekend.  I'll have to tell my buddy that I tried The Oven and can see why he would make the effort to stop there when he drives to and from Denver.

Strategic Air and Space Museum - Ashland, NE

I like to go to Omaha on days when the sky is clear and the air is crisp.  Mainly because I like to see the various military planes that populate the sky. That's because just south of Omaha is Offutt Air Force base, which was the home of the Strategic Air Command when it was in existence.

Halfway between Omaha and Lincoln just off of Interstate 80 at the Ashland/South Bend exit (Exit 426, Nebraska State Highway 66 - see map) is the Strategic Air and Space Museum, a wonderful place to visit if you're in to planes, aerospace and military history.  I've been to the place about 7 or 8 times. 

As you pull up to this enormous facility, you'll see an Atlas Intercontinental Ballistic Missile rocket out front, along with a Blue Scout rocket NASA uses for small payloads, and a Jupiter rocket, similar to the one used to send Explorer 1 into space to help discover the Van Allen Radiation belts. 

As you walk in the door, in the main lobby atrium they have an SR-71 Blackbird, a high-speed, high altitude surveillance plane used by the U.S. in the Cold War, suspended from the ceiling.  It's quite a stunning visual as you first come in.

There are three main areas of the museum.  On the main level, you can look into the Dunham Restoration hanger.  They happened to be working on a Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" when I was in there last.  It was pretty amazing to see.

Go down the escalators and hang a left at the bottom and you go into a huge hanger where you could easily have a football field inside.   This houses a number of planes including the largest military bomber ever made, the B-36.  It literally dwarfs the B-52 that sits next to it. 

That's right - the B-36 and the B-52 are sitting side by side.  That's how big this place is. 

There's also a B-47, the predecessor to the B-52; and a Convair/General Dynamics B-58 bomber in there, as well.  That's a pretty funky looking airplane.  It was the first supersonic bomber to be built in the U.S. 

One of the more cool things in this hanger is a Russian MIG-21 from the North Vietnamese Air Force that was flown to the south by a pilot who wanted to defect.  It still has the North Vietnam star on the side of the plane.

There's also a B-25, an F-111, and an F-101 in the hanger along with many other planes.  That's right.  All in one hanger.  I'm tellin' ya - it's a big joint!

There's a center area under the main lobby between the two main hangers that has changing exhibits.  What they had in there for my last visit was "The Lost Spacecraft" - an exhibit and showing of Liberty Bell 7, the Mercury program space capsule that was lost in the Atlantic on July 21, 1961 after Virgil (Gus) Grissom's 15 minute flight sub-orbital flight, and was raised 38 years later by a team of salvage workers funded and backed by the Discovery Channel. 

Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom

Being somewhat of a "space geek" growing up, I really wanted to see this exhibit.  To get to the capsule I had to go down and through a series of displays.  There was a lot of memorabilia throughout the entrance area leading up to the Liberty Bell 7 display.

Finally, the entrance opened up into a room that showed the space capsule (which was restored as best as it could be by a team of historians and engineers at the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS).  There were a number of items salvaged from the capsule including survival gear, knick-knacks and mementos Grissom took on the flight; and, surprisingly, hypodermic needles for medical injections in case something went wrong during the flight.  I've seen smaller injectors for putting marinade into beef or pork.

I lingered a little longer and looked around the capsule a couple times.  Wow.  Considering how small the capsule was, it's amazing to think how a man could fit inside that thing.   

Past the Freedom 7 exhibit and into the second large hanger (although smaller than the first one), they have a B-1A bomber on display - only one of 4 that were produced before they went with the B-1B bomber. 

Around the B1-A bomber was a display called "Power by Design", which displayed a number of sports cars to show the correlation of power and speed in design.  I'm guessing the sports cars belonged to Chip Davis, the creative force behind Mannheim Steamroller.  Davis has lent some of his sports cars to the museum in the past, and the 15 or so cars on display were similar to the ones that I'd seen in there in the past.  Since the display started at the end of October and would go through to the end of March, I figured that Davis probably found some place to garage his cars for the winter. 

There's also a British Hawker Vulcan on display in this room, as well as a C-119 "Flying Boxcar".  There's also a couple of transports helicopters suspended from the ceiling.  Plus they had replicas of a couple of the Apollo command modules on display.   

Some days there are former pilots from Offutt Air Force Base at the museum who will answer questions about various planes and procedures.  I talked to a guy one time about three years ago who used to be a pilot for the "Looking Glass" aircraft - a Boeing C-135 that was used as the flying command post for communications and forward control in the case of a nuclear attack. 

I remember seeing a C-135 with only an American flag on its tail doing a "touch and go" at the Des Moines airport a number of years ago.  I had always wondered if that was the "Looking Glass" and I asked him if it were possible that I did see one do a touch and go.

He told me, "Yeah, we used to do 'touch and go's' all the time to break up the boredom."  He said there were "Looking Glass" planes at three separate air bases - including Offutt AFB - and when one would finish an 8 hour shift, before it would land another "Looking Glass" plane would be taking off to take its place in the sky.  The missions ended in 1990.  

At the museum, there's also a gift shop that's kind of cool, a snack bar and some other periodic displays on hand.  I hardly ever get out of there in less than 90 minutes, and like I say, I've been there 7 or 8 times.  It never bores me. 

Even if you're not into planes, the Strategic Air and Space Museum is quite a place to visit.  The size of the place, alone, is worth the price of admission ($12.00 for adults).  But the historical value of the place is priceless.  It's definitely worth the visit.

Brewskys - Omaha/Lincoln, NE

Brewsky's is a small chain of pretty nice sports bars in Lincoln, NE.  I happened to meet a buddy at the Omaha location (of which I didn't know existed) for a few beers and some appetizers one evening. 

Brewsky's started in 1990 in Lincoln when two brothers, Jim and Jon Mumgaard, and a buddy, Brian Kitten, opened the first location in the downtown area near the University of Nebraska campus.  The concept of Brewsky's as a sports bar with good food caught on right away. 

In 1992, the owners hired a chef, Ed Janousek, to upgrade their already good food offerings.  Janousek, who was named a Nationally Certified Executive chef in 1997, oversees a wide and varied menu that includes both standard sports bar food as well as aged steaks, pork chops, gourment burgers and my favorite, an albacore tuna salad sandwich with melted cheese. 

In 1994, Brewsky's opened a second location on the north side of Lincoln.  They expanded to SE Lincoln in 1999, Omaha in 2001, and opened a fifth location in the Haymarket Square area of Lincoln in 2005.   

I've now been to three of the Brewsky's locations and each offer pretty much the same thing - a lot of televisions, good food, a great selection of beers and a very nice selection of single malt Scotch whisky.  Each Brewsky's has advanced satellite packages and offer nearly every sports channel available.  I understand the Brewsky's locations are packed for NFL games on Sunday. 

On a recent visit to the Brewsky's in Southeast Lincoln (see map), I had lunch there.  I didn't really know what I wanted that particular day.  I was sort of burned out on burgers, a reuben didn't sound all that good to me.  I was having a lot of problems trying to figure out what to have when the waitress came over and asked me if I was ready to order.  I sort of hemmed and hawed for a moment and I finally asked her, "What do you like?"

She said, "You like tuna?"  I said I did.  "Our tuna melt is pretty tough to beat."  I ordered the tuna melt with fries.

And she wasn't kidding.  The tuna melt was full of very good tuna salad.  It had an ample amount of American cheese melted on top.  And the slices of the whole wheat bread were thick and had a nice grilled taste.  It was simply one of the better tuna melts I've ever had.  And it's usually tough to find an outstanding tuna melt sandwich anywhere.

There's something about the sports bars in Omaha and Lincoln - they're all very good.  There's a lot of competition in the market and they all have to keep up with one another.  I think the food at Brewsky's is probably the best compared to the other sports bars in the area.  If you're a sports junkie and need some good food to go along with your sports, Brewsky's is the place. 

Backyard Burgers - Lincoln, NE

A shout out to my friend, Tim Lake, who recently moved to Alabama and suggested I try Backyard Burgers if I could find one in my travels. 

Actually, I wouldn't call Backyard Burgers a burger joint any more than I'd call it a fast food place.  Supposedly, all burgers are cooked to order after you order them at the counter, then they have a staff member bring the burger out to you in the dining area. 

Backyard Burgers started in 1987 in Cleveland, MS.  Local grocer Lattimore Michael (right) was making burgers on his grill at his store when he decided to open a drive-thru location because his burgers were so popular.  The original idea of Backyard Burgers was to be primarily a drive-thru concept, but as they've grown over the years they've added restaurants that offer inside seating.  There are now nearly 180 Backyard Burgers in 20 states - primarily in the southern part of the U.S.

I was in Lincoln, NE recently and found that there was a new Backyard Burgers restaurant there (see map).  It was lunchtime, I was hungry, so I went in.

Actually, the dining area of the Backyard Burgers in Lincoln is very nice.  It kind of has the feeling like you're actually eating inside an old outdoor brick grill. 

Backyard Burgers char-grill their burgers over an open flame.  The burgers are billed as 100% Black Angus burgers and are garnished with lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, ketchup, mustard and pickles.  You can add any type of four different cheeses to the burger as well.

They also have a number of "specialty" burgers - Mushroom Swiss, Bacon Cheddar, and something called the Miz Grazi.  It's a basic cheeseburger topped with a spicy pepper sauce that is supposed to open up your sinuses pretty quickly.  It sounded tempting.

They also have grilled chicken selections, BLT's, hot dogs, salads, and other foods.  Check out the menu here.

However, just like any first visit to a burger joint, I went with the basic cheeseburger - only I did have them put pepper-jack cheese on it.  I usually don't order french fries, but their waffle fries looked pretty good.  So I got an order of those, as well.

As I said, you order at the counter, they give you a number, you sit down and they bring your food to you.  It wasn't much more than 4 minutes after I ordered and an employee brought out my burger and fries in a little basket.    

The burger was - well, it was a little dry and overcooked for my tastes.  Actually, it sort of reminded me of the Bubba Burger patties that I got recently.  The Backyard Burgers patty had kind of a weird shape to them - same as the Bubba Burgers.   I had a little trouble tasting the meat with all the toppings on the burger.  I should have just ordered a plain cheeseburger and gone from there. 

The waffle fries were good, though.  Big and fluffy, they definitely tasted like potatoes and not the oil that they're cooked in. 

Along about 3:30 p.m. later in the day, though, I began to feel a little sick to my stomach.  I don't know if it was the Backyard Burger or the fact that I've been on the road so much lately and my body was telling me to quick eating crap.  A couple bottles of water settled my stomach down.

I may try Backyard Burgers again if I run across one.  They're OK, but the one I had in Lincoln didn't have me yearning for another one. 

(Update - I had another Backyard Burger at a Louisville location.  Once again, it was just OK.  They really put too much smoke in the burger during the cooking process.)

Lazlo's Brewery and Grill - Lincoln, NE

Lazlo's Brewery and Grill in Lincoln, NE has been a pleasant surprise twice for me.  I first went to Lazlo's downtown Lincoln location in the historic Haymarket area (see map) about six years ago upon the recommendation of a buddy who had eaten there a couple times before.  The food was good as their meat entrees were cooked over wood fires, and the beer was actually pretty good, as well.  The beer is brewed by the Empyrean Brewing Company which is located just behind Lazlo's. 

The second surprise was when one of my more favorite restaurants in Lincoln - Stackwoods - turned into Lazlo's second location on Lincoln's south side (see map).   Stackwoods also cooked their food in a wood fired oven and grills their meats over a wood fired pit, only Lazlo's used hickory wood and Stackwoods used apple wood. 

Stackwoods filed for bankruptcy protection about three years ago and Lazlo's came in and bought the property.   It's right next to the Hampton Inn Heritage Park in Lincoln, a very easy walk from the room to the restaurant.

I was in Lincoln recently and met a client for dinner at the Lazlo's on the south side.   Lazlo's has kind of a "northwoods" motif to the place, heavy on the wood throughout the building. 

I started out with the Luna Sea pale ale, a good hoppy beer that has a good bite and smooth aftertaste.  It's my favorite of the beers they serve. 

We ordered food - I had the slow wood smoked prime rib, my client had the wood grilled rib-eye.  We both opted for the mashed potatoes and salad.  They make all their salad dressings in house and their blue cheese dressing is very good. 

I grabbed one of their Burning Skye Scotch Ales with my dinner, but I wasn't all that impressed with it.  It almost tasted flat.  Our waiter suggested I try the Third Stone brown ale.  It was smooth, but once again it didn't have the full body that I was looking for.  It did complement my prime rib, however.  I went back to the Luna Sea for my last beer of the night.

I've yet to have a bad meal at Lazlo's.  Heck, I didn't have a bad meal when it was Stackwoods.  And this meal was no exception.  My prime rib wasn't as rare as I'd like it to be, but the taste of prime rib cooked slow over hickory is tough to beat.

Overall, the food is pretty good, the beer is just as good.  I can't say that Lazlo's is the best I've had, but their food and beer are consistent.  Consistently good. 

Valentino's

One of the better pizzas found in the Midwest is Valentino's based out of Lincoln, NE.  They have a number of dine-in and carry-out locations all around Lincoln, Omaha and across the state of Nebraska.  There are also one or two locations each in South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Kansas.

Valentino's (or affectionately known as "Val's" to the locals) started back in the early 50's by Val and Zena Weiler.  The Weiler's owned Campus Fruit Market, a small grocery store at 35th and Holdrege (see map) across from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln East Campus.  Knowing that growing supermarkets would enventually stamp out their "mom and pop" operation, the Weilers decided to start selling pizzas made from an old family recipe from Zena's side.  They soon had people lined up to get their pizzas, even drawing crowds of people who would stand on the sidewalk and watch their pizza makers make the pizzas in a big window. 

The Weiler's sold Valentino's in 1968 and the new owner's decided to try for a second location in south Lincoln at 70th and Van Dorn (see map).  Those two locations are still in existence today. 

I was first exposed to Val's when my cousin, Sarah, was going to school at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln in the mid to late 70's.  She would even bring home some half-baked pizzas to me when she would come back for visits.  I still love her for it to this day. 

The Val's pizzas are not too doughy, but they aren't thick, either.  The toppings are fresh and the sauce is light with a little bit of zip.  Their sausage is the big chunks that I like so well. 

Val's also makes pastas that are edible, but not much better than most fast food pasta places.  One thing they do make that I crave from time to time is a cold Spinach noodle pasta salad with chunks of ham, parmesan and olive oil.  I've tried to duplicate it at home, but there's something they're sticking in there that I can't figure out what it is. 

Debates rage among Nebraska natives about Valentino's Pizza and whether the original location at 35th and Holdrege makes a better tasting pizza than the other Valentino's locations.   Personally, I think they do.  There were rumors for years that the owners of Valentino's, and who have franchised out the restaurant to others across Nebraska and the Midwest, have held back some part of the original recipe so their pizzas at the 35th and Holdrege location will taste the best of all of them. 

There was a newspaper article in the Lincoln Journal-Star a few years ago that basically debunked those rumors.  The newspaper article said the reason the pizzas tasted different at the original location was to do with the old ovens they were using in the place - the same ones they've been using since the 60's.  I have to agree with that.  I know that the older the oven and the more they're used they develop an aroma that permeates the pizzas that are made in there.  Considering hundreds of thousands of pizzas have been made in those ovens over the years, it's no wonder they taste as good as they do.

Some of the Val's have buffets (including the original).  I still go in and ask for my own pizza to be made, but go through the salad bar just to get the Spinach noodle pasta salad. 

Val's isn't the best pizza I've ever tried, but it is certainly far from the worst.  It's worth a stop if you ever get to Lincoln.