Brace yourselves for the awesomeness that is Omaha.
You may have preconceived notions about the midwest (as I did) however, my husband and I were in shock and awe of what the city of Omaha had to offer in terms of food, entertainment, hospitality and cleanliness. And, of course, there was steak.
From the moment we arrived at the airport, I felt welcomed into the midwestern city of Omaha. I have traveled all over the world competing in races and I have never seen such hospitality toward athletes as I did in Nebraska.
Think about it, we come into your city with all of our gear and elitist attitudes, are up at ungodly hours demanding to be fed and caffeinated, we close off your streets so we can bike and run on them, litter the roads with discarded GU packets, water bottles and snot rockets and, most likely destroy part of a park with the collective footprint from our event. I mean, who wants guests like that? Apparently, Omaha does.
These screens were all over the airport and the information booth. I could have felt more welcomed.
FOOD
This topic is my obvious starting point since food is always at the top of my priority list. Prior to leaving I Googled “best restaurants in Omaha” and found two that looked reasonable. I knew I wanted an Omaha steak after my race but was up for anything the night before.
The Grey Plume
What a find! If you are into the trend of farm to table, you should fly to Omaha right now and eat here. It was one of the best meals I have had, the presentation was lovely and the service was outstanding. I only wish I could have sampled the wine but I don’t drink the night before a big race. #Nerd
The one thing I ate in all of Omaha that I wish I could have one more time, came from this restaurant. Do you see “Duck Fat Fries” on the menu? They were to die for! I didn’t take any more photos of my food, lest my husband kill me with his eyes, but just know that if you ever see “duck fat” anything, you should eat it!
After dinner, we wandered into the small bar area so my husband could finish his wine, while I just stared at it longingly, and we got quite a show from the exposed kitchen.
Those guys were working harder and faster than some of the athletes I saw at the race the next day. No joke.
If I could only eat at one restaurant while in Omaha, this would be it. The concept of The Grey Plume is simple. All of the food they serve comes from within a certain radius from the property, except for some of the fish selections, for obvious reasons.
The waitress also rattled off something that sounded super impressive and superior about them being the first Green Restaurant Association 4-Star Sustainabuild. Basically everything they do and are is sustainable, recyclable and green. Even the furniture in the place was made from an old barn. Seriously.
801 Chophouse at The Paxton
When people on the east coast think of Omaha, they either think of Peyton Manning screaming it out just before a hike or, they think of Omaha Steaks. I think of both. Unfortunately, I would only have the pleasure of one of these during my stay.
I selected the 801 Chophouse at The Paxton hotel purely from a Google search. I figured we could not really go wrong and, I was so right.
I started my post-race food fest with the burrata and yellow tomato salad with a balsamic vinaigrette. It was divine. I was also sipping on a lovely pinot noir and was in heaven.
When my 8 ounces of pure Omaha grass fed cow presented itself in filet form on my plate, my mouth instantly watered. Besides Jean Gorges at Aria in Las Vegas, this was the best filet I have ever had. We also ordered side dishes of mashed potatoes and mushrooms, that we desperately wanted to finish but, literally could not take one more bite. Perfection.
Other great local food and beer were found at Upstream Brewing Company, Le Bouillon (where I had a great lemon tart dessert) and The Twisted Fork where I highly recommend the Cucumber Mules and chicken with parmesan risotto. There was also a market called Cubby’s where I found most of my breakfast food for race morning. Sadly but not surprisingly, they were cleaned out of bananas.
Old Market District
The market district is made up a series of cobblestone streets lined with restaurants, bars and local businesses. It was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel, which was the perfect distance for an after dinner (or cocktails or both) digestion jaunt.
Being able to walk to anywhere besides a farm is a big deal for me and my husband. We absolutely loved the ease of walking out of the hotel, feeling safe and surrounded by a clean and beautiful city of friendly people and families. Of course we were leery of everyone’s friendliness until it dawned on us that, outside of the northeast, people are genuinely nice and don’t even want anything from you. There was an adjustment period.
The view on our daily walks.
Imagine my surprise when, on our very first trip to the market district, I found my people…
My dad would have been in absolute heaven in this Cuban cigar bar! My husband and I checked it out for the live music and atmosphere and loved it for as long as we could tolerate the cigar smoke. This is one spot I would love to revisit with my Dad!
I was also happy to see that KUHL Clothing is being well represented in Omaha, with lots of great pieces on display at the local Overland store.
My husband picked out this shirt saying “Hey, don’t you have some sort of deal with these guys?” Yes I do so put it down and I’ll order it when I get home. This is my reminder…
HOSPITALITY
I really cannot say enough about how welcoming to the athletes the city of Omaha was. From the staff at our hotel to the local businesses and even the Uber drivers. You would think a city that just hosted the Olympic swim trials would be tired of an athlete invasion but it was quite the opposite.
We stayed at the host hotel which was the Hilton on Cass and 10th Street. This is what greeted us at the main entrance:
When I came down into the lobby at 5:15am on race day there was complimentary coffee and bagels for the athletes. This is practically unheard of, and I did not experience this even when running the Boston or New York City marathons.
Omaha, you are a class act and I thank you for putting up with all of us as we descended onto your lovely space in the country. I sincerely cannot wait to come back next year. Please have my duck fries waiting…
[Tweet “Shock and awe of visiting #Omaha! Where to go and what to #eat! @visitomaha @usatriathlon”]
Have you ever been to Omaha?
Have you ever been pleasantly surprised with a destination?
Kewl!!! Ok I’m the cheese ball that will put Omaha right on my travel list. I’m such a sucker for hospitality, cobblestone streets, and walkable places. Oh yeah and steak and duck fat anything!! It’s so awesome that on top of having a great race, you also discovered a great city. Yes, I love life’s pleasant surprises. Especially in the form of local food 🙂
I’ve been pleasantly surprised at a number of cities, most of all was Lubbock, Texas. Yes Lubbock. I live in Texas and had no idea where it was or what happens there until I went for the buffalo spring lake half iron man back in 2013, right after I did my first IMTX. My coach suggested this race simply for the beauty of the race and area, and being a totally dork I signed up. Seriously though, it was awesome!!! I didn’t care about my times and just went for pure fun. Yes I called that fun at the time. lol but the city and people were soooooooo nice. Like the friendliest people I’ve met. I guess I just had no execrations and the fact that everyone was super nice and welcoming shocked the hell outta me. I loved it. Plus the actual buffalo spring lake was gorgeous. When I’m in the pain cave, having natural beauty around me is enough to get me through with a smile.
Thanks for another AMAY-ZING post!!!
Who knew?!?! I love finding little gems like that. Maybe you should sign up to be on the Omaha tourist board because I think you just sold a lot of people on a trip to Omaha! 🙂
I know, right? I should have at least worked out a deal first!
Oh wow, I would have never thought Omaha to have such unique and fun restaurants. Everything looks so good and an “Omaha Steak” is on my bucket list of things to try. I should vacation with you…minus the whole triathalon part. 😉
We could do a relay. You swim and run and I’ll bike 🙂
I follow your blog and love it. I live near Columbia, Md and watched you race when you were here. You are amazing. I happen to be from Nebraska and passed through Omaha on my way home last week. I wished I would have planned better and would have been able to stop and watch you race. Thank you for the shout out to Omaha. I love going back “home” after being on the east coast. Nebraska people as a whole from one end of the state to the other are good, kind hearted people with some of the best food around Congratulations on a great race.
OMG that is so cool!! Thank you so much for saying that and yes, I wish we could have met up in Omaha! I’m always so pleasantly surprised of the kindness of midwesterners. It’s just so cozy and fun. Thanks again!!
I’m reading this on an empty stomach, and now I am famished!! I have never been anywhere in the Midwest, but it sounds like I’m missing out.
A pub near me serves duck fat fries, and I can confirm your claim that they are delish!
You should absolutely plan a trip and make Omaha a part of it. And, I had no clue about this duck fry amazingness and wish we had lunch at that place when I was visiting you. Next time…
Well, who knew? Glad to know that Omaha is on its game! A lot of kids from the area go to college at Nebraska, so it makes sense that Omaha would have a cosmopolitan feel.
Do you really think that bypassing alcohol the night before a race makes a difference?
I used to always have a glass or two of wine the night before a race and not think twice. To answer your question, no, I don’t think it makes that much of a difference, and for “smaller” or less important-to-me races I will indulge. I just felt better focusing on hydrating the night before this particular race!!
That’s pretty cool. You’re such a positive person though that I’m pretty sure you’d find something good about a garbage dump. XO Omaha looks fun and I’m glad you guys had such a good time!
LOL my husband would not agree with that one!! I can definitely find fault with the best of ’em but this was truly a great destination – surprisingly so!!
Who knew that the Midwest was so darn amazing?! This reminds me to finally finish my Indianapolis post from Fitbloggin. I was overwhelmed by how nice folks were!! The food was on point too!! Now I know why Peyton yells Omaha for sure
Totally!! Looking forward to that recap!!
I TOLD YOU Omaha is amazing! I really loved it when I visited. Even better – there are a TON of cycling and running paths and it is a really active and vibrant city. It is absolutely fantastic and I’m so glad you had a wonderful experience!
Yes you did and, of course you were RIGHT!! And yes, the community is very active. I saw lots of non-competitors out running, cycling, walking and just OUT. It was really just such a lovely place.
I loved every moment of this post. And now I’m hungry. Lol. I’ve only ever foregone alcohol before a race once (well, probably more than once but I mean I’ve turned down an offer of alcohol once). Even the night before my best race performance I had a glass of wine. That said, if I had crashed and burned I could definitely see myself blaming the wine so I get why you’d skip it. I love how welcoming Omaha was to the athletes!! The closest I think I’ve seen is NYC for the marathon and its nowhere near that excited and open armed about the influx of runners.
That is exactly it!! I have definitely indulged the night before many races but this one was just too important. Plus, I knew how hot it was going to be and wanted to focus solely on hydrating!!
And woman, let me tell you – Omaha put NYC to shame as far as welcoming athletes! After having just run the NYC marathon, although there is a certain excitement to the city, there is just so much going on all.the.time in NYC for them to be as excited as the people of Omaha. Ya know? Plus New Yorkers are more like “big deal…26.2 pfffff.”
Amazing shout out! Nothing makes us happier than when people discover how enjoyable and fun Omaha is – AND share their experiences. Great photos, too. And did you know The Grey Plume has a duck fat donut and ice cream for dessert?!
Duck fat donut ice cream? That may just kill me!!
Such a great city and such a warm welcome. Cannot wait to go back in 2017. Thank you!
Sold! I’ve never been there and had no idea there was so much to offer… what a fun surprise for you! And yes, duck fat fries sound to die for!
It was such a nice surprise and we really had a great time! And those fires? Just oh.my.God good!!!
I have never been to Nebraska, but I’ve only heard great things about it!! Your dining choices looked like perfection. And duck fat fries? While I have to say I’m not intrigued by the name, I’ll take your word for it 🙂 Glad you guys got out and got to see the town!
It’s such a gross name and, if the waitress had not been so enthusiastic about them, I would have never selected them off the menu! So glad I did. And Nebraska! Who knew?? Crazy.
That’s awesome the way they treated you! I felt like that when I went to Cincinnati to run Flying Pig. So welcoming! My in-laws live in Omaha. It’s so beautiful there. I’ll definitely be checking out those restaurants the next time we visit!
I bet! That is such a big race and sounds like it’s very well done and enjoyed by spectators and participants. It’s so great when a city really embraces an event like that!
I love that you have in laws in Omaha!! Definitely check out some of those spots!!
This is amazing! I have to say that as a northeasterner, I definitely have preconceived notions of places but I find that there are some amazing smaller cities throughout the US. I remember going to Portland several years ago for a blog conference and was blown away by all the great food and how clean it was. I wouldn’t necessarily want to live there but there are so many great places in the US to explore!
Portland, Maine or Portland, Oregon? I’m guessing Maine and yes, I’ve been there several times and it’s lovely.
It’s funny you said that about living there because my husband was saying, if we HAD to move to Omaha, it wouldn’t be “that bad!” LOL 🙂
Ok. If you are willing to put that steak up against a Vegas steak, I think I need to try it. That is impressive!!! Even more impressive is your self control not to have even a sip of win before the race. That deserves a medal! 😉
It was THAT good! So impressed!!
And yes, I totally deserved something for abstaining. I made up for it on Saturday night…:-)
A couple years ago I met a friend in Omaha and my family was so impressed with the Omaha Zoo
If we take the boys next time we will have to visit the zoo! Thanks for the tip 🙂