Nos Gusta la Comida Mexicana

    Mexican food is a tricky thing.  We have definitely had our fair share of bad experiences, though we won‘t post those here.  It seems that our tastes are not necessarily for traditional Mexican food, but often Tex-Mex.
    If a Mexican restaurant can pull off amazing food and good service we will be back again and again.  There are several great Mexican restaurants we frequent that did not make the lists.  This could have easily been a top 10.
  Please let us know which Mexican restaurants you enjoy.  We are always up for trying a new one.

Top 5 Nebraska Mexican Restaurants:

Dustin’s List:

1. Rivera’s, Omaha
2. Mazatlan, Lincoln
3. La Paloma, Lincoln*
4. Las Margaritas, Lincoln
5. El Toro, Lincoln

Autumn’s List:

1. Rivera’s, Omaha
2. El Toro, Lincoln
3. Mamasitas, Bennet
4. San Pedro, Kearney
5. La Paz, Lincoln

We also recommend Little Mexico in Kearney and El Tapatio in Grand Island.

* La Paloma is moving to 84th and Holdrege!

Lincoln's Finest

We love to go out to eat and love it even more when the restaurant is local.  We hope to do several Top 5 Local Restaurant lists in the future.  Today, we’ll start with the capital city. 
Yes, we know we left Lazlo’s and Fireworks are not on the list!  These both were featured on the Brewpubs list, so to mix it up a bit, we disqualified them this time around.  Also, we know there are several House of Hunans around, but none compares to Vincent’s on 56th and Hwy 2.  If  you go, make sure you get a chance to meet Vincent. 
Several of these places have made other lists for certain dishes.  We recommend you try those dishes, ‘cause they must be good to make a Top 5!

Top 5 Nebraska Local Restaurants -  Lincoln

Autumn’s List

1. Brix and Stone Gastropub
2. Vincent’s House of Hunan
3. 9 South Chargrill
4. jtk
5. Misty’s

Dustin’s List

1. Blue Mountain Smokehouse Pizza
2. Spikes Beach Bar and Grille
3. Brewsky’s (27th and Cornhusker)
4. Isles Pub and Pizza
5. Dino's Eastside Grill 

Can you beer me now?

We are heading to Omaha tomorrow to check out a new brewpub, Gold Medal Tap.  This is part of the Rock Bottom Brewery out of Colorado, so it can’t make the list, but Nebraska does have a great bunch of local brewpubs.  Criteria for this list is the establishment has to serve food and original microbrew.

Top 5 Nebraska Brewpubs

Dustin’s List:

1. Platte Valley Brewery, Kearney*
2. Thunderhead, Kearney
3. Fireworks, Lincoln
4. Upstream Brewery, Omaha
5. Misty’s, Lincoln

Autumn’s List:

1. Thunderhead, Kearney
2. Nebraska Brewing Company, Papillion
3. Lazlo's, Lincoln
4. Upstream Brewery, Omaha
5. Platte Valley Brewery, Kearney*

*This brewery cannot currently serve its own brew because the Feds have shut down production due to some improper licensing.  However, they still serve great pizza and a wide variety of microbrews.  We do hope that Adam gets to serve his beer again soon though.

 Dustin at the Nebraska Brewing Company in Papillion

Mmmmmm. . .Steak.

We grilled steaks last night.  Although they were good, there are some that make it better ‘round here.  Autumn’s list is simply prime ribs, while Dustin included a wide variety of steaks.  All steaks were ordered medium rare and we won’t guarantee the steak if you order it any other way.

Top 5 Nebraska Steaks

Dustin’s List:

1. Steak for Two Sirloin - The Bar, Unadilla
2. T-Bone - The Steakhouse, Lincoln
3. Prime Rib - Misty’s, Lincoln
4. House Sirloin - The Fox, Lincoln
5. 9 oz Sirloin (still mooing) - Brewsky’s, Lincoln

Autumn’s List: Prime Rib

1. Misty’s, Lincoln
2. The Steakhouse, Lincoln
3. Chances R, York
4. The Bar, Unadilla
5. Tub’s Pub, Sumner

The Great Pizza Debate!

This has been a highly debated list.  There were so many great places to choose from; this could have easily been a Top 10.  There was also a recent Jeff’s Top Five in the Lincoln Journal Star devoted to pizza.

Top 5 Nebraska Pizza

Dustin’s List:

1. Supreme - Danish Bakery, Dannenbrog
2. Pesto - Mangia Italiana, Omaha
3. Philly Cheesesteak - Cappy’s, Lincoln
4. Buffalo Chicken - Spikes, Lincoln
5. Vegetarian with Sausage - Isles Pub and Pizza, Lincoln

Autumn’s List:

1. Philly Cheesesteak - Cappy’s, Lincoln
2. The Leaning Tower of Pizza - Isles Pub and Pizza, Lincoln
3. Thunder Pie - Thunderhead Brewing Company, Kearney
4. White Pizza - Blue Mountain Smokehouse Pizza, Lincoln (The garlic bread is AMAZING)
5. Anything! - Yia Yia’s, Lincoln

Note:  Dustin's List was changed when he discovered that Grisanti's has a store in Denver.  Though we still recommend trying the Top 10 pizza..