A friend and I are going to Omaha next week to visit the Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. We are both complete animal nerds and this was a “wouldn’t it be fun …” conversation that just grew legs — I’m so excited about it! It’s 5 hr drive for her and 5 hrs of plane travel for me. We also want to eat fun new things, and Omaha looks to have a pretty good variety of restaurants. Does anyone know the city and have any recommendations?
(I haven’t lived there in 20 years but…)
Two places I remember are Gorat’s Steakhouse, Warren Buffet’s go-to. The place hasn’t changed in 70 years I’m sure. And Upstream Brewery is in the Old Market district downtown, it’s a fun area and closer to the zoo. Check out Lauritzen Gardens if you’re into plants and art.
@LH75 lives there now. @BippityBoppityBoo visits there semi-regularly. Those folks will certainly have some local knowledge.
It’s been ~20 years since I’ve been there with any regularity, but at that time the Old Market district was a fun trendy area of redone warehouses, etc. Lots to see, do, & eat without being excessively touristy. It may still be in good shape or COVID plus the ordinary passage of time may have killed it; I just don’t know.
Thanks @LSLGuy~the Old Market is indeed well and thriving. I just spent last weekend there presenting at a conference and can attest to a boggling array of restaurants, watering holes and shops. My favorite hotel downtown is the Magnolia-a genuine boutique hotel, small scale, historic comfort, excellent service approaching a European feel, all arranged around a courtyard. You definitely come out a stay there rested and renewed.
The great thing is that the Old Market abuts the emerging New Bo (new Bohemia) neighborhood district in South Omaha that surrounds the Doorly Zoo so it is all within a hop and a skip. @LH75 grew up there so he’d be able to recommend some restaurants off the cliched tourist path.
I lived in Omaha during college breaks having been adopted by an Omaha family and the year after graduation and married an Omaha boy. I moved back to Nebraska in 1985 (Lincoln) but my parents lived in Omaha and we spent a lot of time there because that’s where the grandparents and aunts and uncles were. Even now I’m often there monthly for various specialty medical appts.
My favorite restaurant in the Old Market is still, after nearly forty years, M’s Pub, one of the very first watering holes and restaurants.
There’s good pizza near the Zoo and the Old Market if you’d like casual yet reliably delicious NY style pizza with lots of variations:
And Gorat’s is indeed Warren Buffet’s favorite steakhouse. Venerable and time honored for steaks and Italian. They do lunches too and weekend brunch. They’d be a short car ride or Uber from the Market/Zoo but worth it.
Give yourselves two full days at the Doorly and plan to be there when it opens. It is amazing, truly world class. And the Lauritzen gardens are beloved by many but I have a black thumb so I’ve never personally visited there, but that would need a separate day from the two Zoo days.
Once the Zoo closes it is just a few blocks to the Old Market and all the jazzy new things along the Riverfront there, including a beautiful pedestrian bridge to Iowa across the Missouri, lit beautifully at night.
Well, @BippityBoppityBoo , I cannot speak for the OP, but I might have to head for Omaha some day, just to go to M’s Pub and Gorat’s. Gosh, they’re making me hungry!