Omaha Restaurant Week 2014 Listing

I started out just copying and pasting the restaurants listed on the Omaha Restaurant Week website to better be able to sort myself.

And since it's me, I obviously used Excel for this exercise.

But an interesting trend emerged... it appears that participating restaurants were allowed to enter their own descriptions, and since self-identification is always such an interesting exercise, I promptly sorted the list by cuisine type.

The real question now... which to visit next.

Restaurant	Cuisine Type
Tussey's Casual Grill	American
Twisted Fork Grill & Saloon	American Comfort Food
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery	American Pub Fare
Wave Bistro	Asian Fusion
Bourbon's BBQ & Steaks	BBQ & Steakhouse
Brix	Bistro and Wine Bar
Piccolo's Steaks & Cocktails	Classic Italian Steakhouse
Plank Seafood Provisions	Coastally-inspired Seafood and Oyster Bar
7M Grill	Comfort Fusion
Boiler Room Restaurant	Contemporary American
Lazlo's Brewery & Grill	Creative Comfort Food
Blatt Beer & Table	Curated Pub Food
Dante Ristorante Pizzeria	Farm-to-Table Italian & Wood-Fired Pizza
Le Voltaire	French
Dario's Brasserie	French/Belgian Comfort Food
CRAVE	Fresh - Vibrant - American
Pig & Finch	Gastropub
Cantina Laredo	Gourmet Mexican Food
Shucks Fish House and Oyster Bar	Gulf Coast Seafood
Zurlo's Bistro Italiano	Italian Bistro
Pasta Amore	Italian Ristorante Cafe & Bar
Kona Grill	Kitchen, Sushi & Cocktails
Twisted Cork Bistro	Local, Natural Food
Dolce	Modern American
Nosh Restaurant & Wine Lounge	Modern American
Railcar Modern American Kitchen	Modern American
Salt 88	Modern American/Mediterranean
Le Bouillon	Modern French & Raw Bar
Jackson Street Tavern	New American
Flatiron Cafe	New American Fine Dining
Louie's Wine Dive	New American Restaurant and Wine Bar
J. Coco	New American/French
Lot 2 Restaurant & Wine Bar	New American/French
Avoli Osteria	Northern Italian Cuisine
Spencer's for Steaks and Chops	Prime Beef Pure and Simple
Benson Brewery	Pub Style
Taita	Seafood
The Grey Plume	Seasonally-Driven, Farm-to-Table
Stokes Grill & Bar	Southwestern Cuisine
Espana	Spanish Tapas Bar, Paella & Sangria
360 Steakhouse	Steakhouse
801 Chophouse	Steakhouse
Gorat's Steak House	Steakhouse
Johnny's Italian Steakhouse	Steakhouse
Sullivan's Steakhouse	Steakhouse
Blue Sushi Sake Grill	Sushi
Modern Love Restaurant	Swanky Vegan Comfort Food
Thai Pepper	Thai Cuisine
Black Oak Grill	Traditional American
Jack Binion's Steak House	Upscale Steakhouse

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Voodoo Taco (Update)

It took some gentle encouragement on part of the owner, but I [finally] revisited Voodoo Taco a little over a year after my initial review. Since that time I've also recently had food from the newly christened Voodoo Taco truck, which visited my place of employment midweek. I will say I was a bit wary to eat from the truck after some stories I've heard, but happy to report I did not suffer any ill effects (unless you count eating too much). 

Our return to the restaurant was spurred on with a meal on the house (full disclosure). Though as I assured the owner, I wouldn't let something like that affect my review. 

This time, the menu board TV was fully functional. But I wish I'd had my glasses as I found myself squinting. And we still had to get out the paper menu to figure out side-sauces. (That would be a good thing to get printed out and have on a poster-board or something for ordering). 

We ended up with many of the same varietals we sampled last time... Smoked Brisket, Barbacoa Beef, Alligator. And a couple of new ones. "Taco of the Month" was the Arabes (cotija cheese, Mediterranean pork,  4 chili sauce, cilantro lime tzatziki, lettuce, cotija cheese and pico de gallo) so strange sounding I had to try it - and a Fried Chicken. 

Starter was a basket of chips... some of which were HEAVILY seasoned (to the point of avoidance) and some delicious queso dip. The kind that you really can't stop eating, but there's so much of it you know you shouldn't dare finish it all. 

chips and queso

just look out for the overly-seasoned chips

Dessert, eaten later at home, was the 'Voodoo Brownie' from somewhere the manager couldn't recall. "Chocolate... something". The description sold me easily: Double-Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Chipotle, Bacon Brownie. This seems to be the theme at Voodoo, many crazy combinations of flavors, which are obviously not intended as generic crowd-pleasers. This one was right in my wheelhouse, and the best thing I've eaten from Voodoo. 

The tacos came out in two baskets, but honestly I had trouble identifying which was the Alligator and which was the Arabes even after a couple bites. This is probably because I didn't read the description for the Alligator, but both had decent flavor. I [think] I preferred the Alligator though since the Arabes had too many crazy contrasting flavors going on. 

taco of the month flier

Alligator (left) and Arabes (right)

Ironically last time we also had trouble figuring out which taco was which. I would say perhaps this is a personal flaw, but Bill can back me up on this... we could tell what the meat types were (generally) and after biting into them it was more obvious still. The Alligator I finally identified when I realized the Arabes didn't have corn in it. 

Also looks like I didn't read the descriptions - again - just like last time. You know what else I obviously didn't read before ordering? 

My previous review. 

Carnitas (bottom) and Barbacoa Beef

Smoked Brisket (Fried Chicken behind)

I sampled bites of all the tacos (note, it was obvious that shells were at least thrown on the grill at some point before serving) and they were all a-okay. Nothing I would fight anyone for, but decent and filling... or was that the cheese dip? 

The biggest difference this time was that the meal was definitely edible, which I have to say is a big step forward. My favorite were probably the Alligator and the Barbacoa Beef. The Carnitas was probably the least appealing, on account of the dryness of the meat. 

Would I drive out of my way to get here? Unlikely. But many people would... and do. Enough so that Voodoo has expanded to Nebraska Crossing, the aforementioned truck, and soon Aksarben Village (where it is entirely likely I will try for a fourth time. Or fourth-meal). Not a restaurant I'll probably factor into my regular rotations, but it will be a welcome addition to the neighborhood, I'm sure.

Voodoo Taco on Yelp

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