Omaha Articles and Blogs

Restaurant Week: Fleming's Prime Steakhouse

My husband and I chose Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar for Omaha Restaurant Week, since we had never been there before. We made reservations painlessly online.

We received a warm welcome at the door into a rich, elegant environment. Each table was beautifully set up with the romantic ambiance of a flickering candle. They offered us the choice of black linens as we both had darker attire on instead of the basic white linen napkins. Then our server Katie asked if we prefer tap or bottled water.

OMAHA, Neb. -  How Midwestern is Omaha?

It’s so Midwestern that hotel rooms come with descriptions explaining the difference between tornado watches and tornado warnings. It’s so Midwestern that several important establishments are named Ak-Sar-Ben — that’s Nebraska spelled backward. It’s so Midwestern that a pedestrian bridge spanning the Missouri River is named Bob.

The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge in Omaha is a very impressive structure — in both its architecture and especially in its quirky new personality.

I stepped inside the chic Hotel Deco XV and was met with piano music. Then the music dissolved.

“Is the pianist returning?” I asked. Nope; he’d left after his volunteer shift.

I asked if there was a piano player on staff. A valet driver volunteered, “My coworker Brandon plays for his church, and he’s really good.” Was Brandon available? He would be after parking a car.

He emerged, hesitated, but made his way over to play. As a few guests came from right and left this mid-afternoon, I found a spot to enjoy the music. It was as if he was

The cliché is that Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium has everything from aardvarks to zebras. It does have zebras (of course), and it does have aardvarks, and if you’ve never seen an aardvark you really should because those things are totally bizarre.

In perhaps Nebraska’s most innovative and entrepreneurial city, the changes are balanced by the constants: music, art, cuisine — and, of course, Warren Buffett.

When Molly at Fontenelle Forest excitedly recommended we explore a forest hidden gem, we headed east.

On the other side of 19 miles of trails and 1,400 acres of land are the wetlands, where a triangle of trails takes visitors “in the know” on a unique journey.

A quarter-mile long boardwalk leads to a double-decker observation blind overlooking a sprawling marsh. We crossed a former dumping ground on a path ingrained with centuries-old brick and earthenware. We crossed a bridge ingeniously made of a downed cottonwood tree, completing our trek

While at The Durham Museum, a National Historic Landmark, I had a question.

“Where is Truman’s press car?” I asked Dick, a volunteer. His face lit up. The restored 1924 club car, used during President Harry Truman’s 1968 “whistlestop” campaign tour, is his favorite.

We crossed the forward compartment (pictured) to the back dining area, where he recollected waving with his wife from the back platform on a train ride out of Minneapolis in the 1960s. The car was donated to the museum in 1974.

Dick regaled me with more history until I regretfully

Nebraska isn’t just landlocked; it’s actually the only triple-landlocked state in the country. That means that you have to travel through at least three states (or two states and a Canadian province) to reach an ocean. Knowing this, it might seem a little unusual that there’s an impressive naval museum here, including a warship and a submarine.

Omaha, Neb., and Council Bluffs, Iowa, are far from twin cities, but their proximity to one another makes for a multifaceted destination equipped to serve a wide variety of meeting preferences. While Omaha percolates with urban excitement and Council Bluffs has a more laid-back vibe, both offer groups outstanding amenities, accessibility and services.