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Breakfast among the Bald Eagles
The idea of a “Norwegian” breakfast adventure to see the eagles wintering at Harlan County Lake, first thing in the morning on New Year’s Eve day began to take shape...
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The Holdrege Country Club - Holdrege, NE
One of the Rural Foodies favorite spots for good steak or seafood, generous drinks, a friendly atmosphere and great ribs on Friday nights has no sign on the street, none in the parking lot and only a minimalist reference to its existence on the door.
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The Sandstone Grill - Burwell, NE
We’d heard from more than one person that the Sandstone Grill in Burwell was “our kind of place”; one that approaches its menu with care, thought and creativity.
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The Grey Plume Restaurant - Omaha, NE
We Rural Foodies are celebratory types and with a business meeting in Omaha plus an October birthday among us we happily planned a party at the Grey Plume in Omaha.
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Coppermill Restaurant - McCook, NE
This month the Rural Foodies embark on a gourmet getaway adventure that takes them to McCook and gives them everything they were longing for and more: steak comparable to America’s best, a canopy of stars and a symphony of cicadas.
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Unexpected pleasures of eating rural
Frankly, it annoys us when people presume the only food worth eating is in population centers of over a million. We have driven many miles in search of unique rural dining experiences, and darned if we haven’t found quite a few that stand up completely on their own merits.
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Swedish Days - Holdrege, NE
Although “cuisine” is a French word, it really just refers to a specific set of cooking traditions and practices, often associated with a specific culture. So if we have French, Greek, Italian and Thai cuisine, why not the unique cuisine of the county fair, festival or midway?
more about Swedish Days...
La Cocina - McCook, NE
This month the Foodies stumble into a small Mexican restaurant, La Cocina, which was whimsically colored and freshly painted with several cars out front. We decided to go in and have a drink and an appetizer to scope it out.
more about La Cocina...
Foodies seek a peak culinary experience close to home
We were thinking about how to achieve another peak Foodie experience in rural Nebraska. We have covered most of the noteworthy restaurants in a hundred-mile radius at least and none of us were feeling up for a three or four hour drive just to eat dinner.
more about the Foodies porch picnic...
Burchell's White Hill Farmhouse Inn - Minden, NE
The Rural Foodies have been around long enough and been to enough rural restaurants to appreciate when a restaurateur really “gets it” – the atmosphere is clean, comfortable and inviting, the service is friendly and competent, the food is well prepared and presented promptly.
more about Burchell's White Hill Farmhouse Inn...
Country Neighbor Restaurant
Marcia Vodehnal had dreamed of opening a tearoom and had her eye on a vacant schoolhouse built in the 1870s and used until it was decommissioned in 1957. Wondering how she could lend the building new life, her path one day crossed that of a Department of Economic Development official and she mentioned her dream.
more about Country Neighbor Restaurant...
Suwannee Thai Restaurant
The ideal Thai meal is a harmonious blend of the spicy, the subtle, the sweet and the sour, and is meant to be equally satisfying to eye, nose and palate. Having lived in urban climes, the Rural Foodies had encountered Thai cooking before, and had fond memories ...
more about Suwannee Thai Restaurant...
2010 Rural Foodies Review
We’ve been to some pretty interesting places in 2010. Join us for a look back at eating rural in 2010.
2010 Rural Foodies Review...
Bella Italia - Cozad, NE
For people like Shadi Aboushady, the owner and chef of the Bella Italia Restaurant in Cozad, food — really good food — is the order of business first, last and always.
more about Bella Italia...
Sehnert's Bakery
Sehnert’s Bakery and Bieroc Café in McCook is something of a landmark “on the bricks” on Norris Avenue; it’s a place everyone in town knows and loves.
more about Sehnert's Bakery...
Farmer's Markets
As regular readers know, the Rural Foodies usually visit a restaurant – some of them pretty off the wall and out of the way – in search of something to pique our culinary interest. But the essence of our mutual attraction is not restaurants, but food, and for people who like to eat, a farmer’s market in August is practically sensory overload.
more about Farmer's Markets...
Bonfire Grill - Broken Bow, NE
One of the least profound insights the Rural Foodies have gained from a year or two of seeking out the best dining experiences to be had in rural Nebraska is that who’s in charge in the kitchen makes a huge difference as to what ends up on your plate.
more about the Bonfire Grill...
Palace Steakhouse - Red Cloud, NE
We have come to poke around Red Cloud a bit before trying out dinner at the Palace Steakhouse, which we’ve been told is a venerable landmark in downtown. Venerable it certainly is, and so what if decorating isn’t their longest suit? We understand they make it a point to serve Nebraska beef, and that’s what we’ve come for...or at least what some of us have come for.
more about Palace Steakhouse...
Back Alley Bakery - Hastings, NE
Technologically speaking, retained-heat brick ovens are way dark ages, in use by ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans thousands of years B.C. So why, in an age of microwave Hot Pockets and dough-in-a-can, do people still make bread this way?
more about Back Alley Bakery...
Tub's Pub - Sumner, NE
Rocky Mountain oysters are what is left over when you turn a young bull into a steer. Also known as calf fries, prairie oysters, cowboy caviar, or Montana tendergroin, they are usually peeled, breaded, pounded flat and grilled or deep fried. Although they undoubtedly evoke the “eeeeww” factor in some, they are considered a great delicacy by many, and are undeniably a huge draw on Mountain Oyster Night at Tub's Pub.
more about Tub's Pub...
El Rinconcito - Lexington, NE
We had come to El Rinconcito – the “little corner” of El Salvador in Lexington. Recommended by one of our readers, we were warned it wouldn’t be fancy, but we were promised a food experience that would be interesting, unique and delicious.
more about El Rinconcito...
China Hy Express - Lexington, NE
We may not be expert in Chinese cuisine, but in our travels we have learned that most of what passes for Chinese food in America wouldn’t actually be served in China....
more about China Hy Express...
Down Home Café - Franklin, NE
If you’ve ever pulled a sublime dish out of the oven — done to perfection, the air filling with the rich redolence of Good Food — and said to yourself, “What’s Wolfgang Puck got that I haven’t got?” you have to appreciate what Alicia and Michael Williams have done...
more about the Down Home Café...
Minden Coffee House - Minden, NE
When you get right down to it, a great coffeehouse is as much about the ambiance and atmosphere as it is about the coffee. It has to feel right. There needs to be some big easy chairs and a couch, a few high stools, and at least one geeky guy with a laptop, and a lady of a certain age with a romance novel and a mocha latte...
more about Minden Coffee House...
Cunningham's Feed - Arapahoe, NE
Sometimes, flipping though one of those glossy City magazines you find in hotel rooms, you come upon an ad for some rustic-themed restaurant that gushes about their antique pinewood floor or international beer selection or how Chef Antoine (or Philippe or Maurice) garnishes dishes with heirloom tomatoes and fresh herbs to create the “gourmet experience of a lifetime.” Oh, please...
more about Cunningham's Feed...
Mac's Creek Vinyards - Lexington, NE
For many of us who, in our salad days, may have preferred Boone’s Farm, Annie Green Springs or Blue Nun to, say, a saucy little French Pinot Noir, enjoying wine requires a certain maturity...
more about Mac's Creek Vinyards...
Lucky Chuck’s Pool Hall BBQ and Steak Outfit - Eustis, NE
The thing that makes a restaurant special is the passion of the people who own and run it. Take, for example, Lucky Chuck’s in Eustis. Chuck Laier is a man who knows his meat...and his smoke...and how the two combine to create a taste that transcends them both.
more about Lucky Chuck's...
Gourmet House Japanese Restaurant - Kearney, NE
Of all those cuisines and cultures, one of, if not our very favorite is Japanese. A Japanese dining experience is a symphony for the senses. The atmosphere is cool and relaxing, the service quiet and decorous, the food arranged like tiny works of art.
more about Gourmet House...
Rural Foodies at home: Our wurst idea turns out to be our best.
The thing that motivates the Rural Foodies — well, foodies in general, I suppose — is a love of food in all its astonishing variety. We’re always up for new things, for interesting tastes, for cuisines we haven’t tried as well as for excellent preparations of foods we know by heart. more about our Wurst Idea...
The Speak-Easy - Holdrege, NE
Did you ever go to a “country” steakhouse in the city? Often as not, they’re in a shopping mall, going by names like “Sodbuster” or “Country Cousin” and distinguished by their weathered barn wood paneling and props like galvanized washtubs and pitchforks...
more about The Speak-Easy...
Bella Italia - Cozad, NE
December inspires us Rural Foodies to gather with our friends and eat fabulous food. And for a meal that tickles our imagination and delights our palate, we are willing to travel. On a blustery December day, my friends and I drive more than an hour to eat at Bella Italia, a little-known treasure in Cozad, Nebraska.
more about Bella Italia...
Town Talk Restaurant - Cambridge, NE
My friend and I have dinner reservations at the Town Talk Restaurant in Cambridge, and our scenic drive takes us over central Nebraska farmland and into western Nebraska ranchland. When we arrive in Cambridge, the Town Talk is easy to spot on Cambridge‘s main business street. It‘s a Cambridge tradition, and although the ‘new’ owner, Richard Barnes more than doubled its size, hungry customers first fill the booths in the old section.
more about the Town Talk Restaurant and Bar...
LakeShore Marina Restaurant and Lounge - Johnson Lake, NE
A sun room with what seemed to be a 240 degree view looking out over the lake was the perfect place to sit and visit with a glass of wine, but as the sun started to sink beneath the treetops, those old familiar hunger pangs began to gnaw, and the discussion turns, as it often does, to "where shall we eat?"
more about LakeShore Marina Restaurant and Lounge...
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