Bob's Grill & Cafe

317 South 17th Street
402.922.2430
Open M-F 7am-2:30pm
bobsgrillandcafe.com 

Omaha Beef ($5.39):
Sliced roast beef, cheddar, grilled onion, and steak sauce, which tasted suspiciously of barbecue.

Urban Omaha

While gnawing on the Omaha Beef sandwich at Bob's Grill & Cafe, comparisons to Arby's will be unavoidable. You might imagine the phrase "glorified Arby's." You can hardly wait to share this meaningful opinion with your dining partner, so much that you nearly choke on a slice of roast beef. Easy there, boy. Take a sip of iced tea from the styrofoam cup. Your dining partner will point out that Arby's is also pretty glorious. You'll agree, and continue munching thoughtfully, making the promise to yourself to stop trying to cover up your decades-long endearing relationship with fast food.

Indeed, the hastily piled slices of roast beef and the globular spots of half-melted cheddar will remind you of the Arby's classic. The onion bun seals the deal. If you're one of the lucky ones who spend your days in one of downtown Omaha's high-profile offices, it's unlikely you'll send your secretary all the way to Arby's anyway. Go instead to Bob's. If a salad is what you crave, they've got that covered. I enjoyed patting myself on the back so much for ordering a salad, that I figured I might as well reward myself by topping it with a couple of Buffalo chicken fingers. Aaaand, they've even got creepy artwork (see below). I tried to be a good fake journalist and call the restaurant to get the artist's name, but I couldn't reach Mr. Bob for comment.

The Bob's crew is fast, which could be a bad thing if standing in line is your only relief from the stiffness of your cubicle chair. And if you don't work in the area, this is still a great place to spend a leisurely lunch hour gawking at weirdos people watching through the ample front windows.

Am I supposed to know this iconic old man in a tutu? 

Buffalo Chicken Salad with Ranch ($5.79):
The lighter choice.
It was freshly made as opposed to pulled out of a fridge,
but I'm still losing sleep at night over the waste of a giant plastic to go container. 

Chicken Tortilla soup neither chicken-y nor tortilla-y.
Oh well. 

The pastry case!

The Bohemian Cafe

1406 South 13th Street
Omaha, NE 68108
(402) 342-9838
Open Sun-Thurs 11am-9pm, Fri/Sat 11am-10pm
More economical lunch prices are offered until 3pm everyday except Sunday.
www.bohemiancafe.net

Czechvar Lager Beer--
Also known as Budweiser Budvar in Europe,
beer critics call this one of the world's great beers.
I have to agree. 

Positively bustling on a recent blustery Saturday afternoon, this classic Omaha favorite -- and by "classic" I mean open since the Roaring Twenties -- still had plenty of room for our four-top, past a maze of tables and side rooms, to an intimate table near the windows. Our server could have been from New Jersey's best diner, refilling our coffee diligently, and then later, our beers. The decor was less kitschy than expected, but the use of "Czech" was not. (On the wall: We accept Czechs, not checks. On the menu: Czech us out.)

Egg Noodle Soup

Liver Dumpling Soup

The food was straightforward, no-frills, meat-and-potatoes, stick-to-your-ribs. Hearty. Simple. Comfort food. Vegetarians can enjoy the vibe -- and the booze -- but not a whole lot else. I wished I could have a whole loaf of their soft seeded rye and a crock of butter all to myself. The Egg Noodle Soup was just that: Egg noodles, like the German spätzle, and salty broth. The Liver Dumpling Soup came with one slightly rubbery ball of liver, which was mild in taste. I'd call this Liver for Beginners for someone on the fence. It's one of the Cafe's signature items, and it's a goody you won't find on Panera's list of daily soups.

Czech Goulash

Svickova (Czech Sauerbraten)

Both the Sweet and Sour Cabbage and the Sauerkraut were almost soupy and gooey, and a vast improvement over the canned variety we are likely used to. The Czech Goulash was a ladleful of beefy stew flavored with paprika over a thick, dense slice of bread dumpling. The Svickova, or Czech-style Sauerbraten, wasn't very tender, but the slightly sour gravy would make any Czech grandma proud. As if all this wasn't enough for my stomach o' steel, I added a Kolacky with warm prune filling, though other flavors such as Bavarian creme were available. Save your jokes about prunes, kids. This was the best pastry I've had since leaving Euroland. (At a $1.25 apiece, they're almost too good to be true.)

Kolacky:
More caky than flaky, filled with a slightly sweet warm prune compote.  

To describe the food at the Bohemian Cafe as "traditional" would be redundant and obvious. I picture the cooks slopping the stuff on your plate with extra love and care -- but slopping nonetheless. I overheard a woman with a thick German accent bemoaning the lack of boiled beef on that particular day. I say boil your beef at home and go here for beers, liqueurs, pastries, dumplings and soups you can't get anywhere else.

Just set me up with a few loaves of this seeded rye for the winter and I'll be just fine.

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