Marylebone Tavern

3710 Leavenworth Street
Omaha, NE 68105
(402) 341-3232
Open daily for lunch and dinner

...But it was Monday, not Tuesday. 

You've seen the giant shamrock painted across Leavenworth. Maybe you've even been drunk here before. I won't argue that this is a great place to get loaded, but there's considerable "best burger" buzz swirling around about the Marleybone too. As a pub food aficionado, a devoted lover of all things served in greasy baskets without silverware but with plenty of napkins, I had to investigate.

The menus were crusted with grimy fingerprints, the mark of patrons past throwing burgers down their gullets and washing them down with pitchers of piss beer. There were also some charming grammatical errors on the menu, but it's not about spellin', it's about cookin', right?

My appetizer Drummies were a chicken product that somewhat resembled hot wings. They were heavily breaded with something mildly spicy, and kind of uncomfortable to eat, as they were very well done and overly crispy, so much that my Rumple Minze aperitif couldn't dull the pain. Even more distressing was paying $7 for them. Fortunately, the Boner Dog provided much more cheerful amusement, mostly due to the novelty of ordering a bacon-wrapped deep fried hot dog with a goofy name. So what if our stomachs "felt weird" for the rest of the day; we ate a Boner Dog! The favorite was indeed the burger, a patty with so much girth it was almost a round ball of beef. It came cooked through, but still juicy, and with melted pepper jack that made its way into every molten crevice. The Marleybone burger can stand up to some of the city's professed tried and true favorites, and is totally worth a try. My friends were fans of the fries, but I found them a little soggy and saltless, which isn't a huge deal.

Some things were a hit, and some were a miss. Take comfort in the cheap drinks and the friendly faces and you'll forget your food wasn't that great. I do believe that's the beauty of pub food.

Drummies with Ranch--
Ow.

Marleybone Burger with Pepper Jack--
A hit

The Boner Dog:
Bacon-wrapped, deep-fried hot dog with lettuce and tomato on poppy seed bun.
I guess it was kind of sexy. 

"Grill Cheese"

Jimi D's

6303 Center Street
Omaha, NE 68106
(402) 391-2011
Open for lunch and dinner, daily happy hour (even weekends!) from 3-6pm
www.jimids.com

Beer-battered Calamari with Roasted Red Pepper and Lemon Aioli Sauce

Chicken Wings, Buffalo Style with Bleu Cheese, Pickled Cauliflower and Celery
(Ask for extra hot.)

Jimi D's. Sounds like a chain, don't it? Sounds like Applebee's spawn. Sounds like it's gonna suck. To put it simply, the interior does kinda suck, but the food is stellar pub fare with an interesting flair. The high walls are decorated with art on canvas that you might find at Target, or maybe IKEA. The soundtrack is forgettable and the sports screens dominate the vibe. In our high-backed booth, though, we were able to focus on the grub. We laid off the Bud Lite and made this an eating happy hour, which our server didn't seem to mind. He refilled our waters often, but didn't hover over us, and didn't exude that gushing casual dining cheese that can be so popular. Happy hour appetizers focus on quantity and not quality: The fried calamari was soggy, but at least the breading wasn't too thick. The wings had lots of inedible stringy bits, but we still powered through the pile of them. The nice surprise came with the "entree," the Italian Grilled Cheese with a side salad. The Fontina was present, but not overloaded, and the tomato marmalade cut the grease with an even sweetness, all sharing taste bud space with the crunch of crisp fresh greens. How often does one find food at a sports bar that isn't simply average, overindulgent, generic, unhealthy, and/or boring? I wouldn't hang out at Jimi D's really, but I will go back for a quick late lunch or early dinner. With a wine selection that's better than you'd expect, and dishes ranging from gnocchi to fish and chips to a black bean burger, I do hope this relatively new eatery can find their true niche sometime soon.

Italian Grilled Cheese:
Fontina, tomato marmalade, fresh greens, with prosciutto (optional), on grilled sourdough.
You can actually taste everything! (Tommy Colina's, take note.)

Side salad with leafy dark greens and cherry tomatoes, with house-made balsamic vinaigrette.
I was wrong to expect iceberg.