Taste of Omaha

This weekend was the 13th annual Taste of Omaha. Dozens of booths serving samples of Omaha's best! How could I miss that? I choose to visit on the last day of the festival, this is always my favorite day to spend at these kind of events. Yes, you run the risk of vendors shutting down early or 86ing certain items but you also miss the drama and excitement of the first few days. I know what your thinking, who would want to miss the fun and fan fair of a festival? Why go at the end as things wind down? Food is a comfort to me, I like to enjoy it in a relaxed atmosphere. And your guaranteed that the vendors will have worked out all the kinks of cooking on location. Sunday afternoon was a slow, gray day. The over looming clouds threatened us with rain but never broke. I love days like this, the dreary weather reminds me of my time in England, that nostalgic feeling is always welcome. It also seems to keep people calm and subdued. Perfect. The last 'Taste' I went to was in Chicago and although the food was phenomenal it was unbelievably crowded and ended up being a series of the same booths repeated throughout the park. So this go around I decided to peruse the line up first to make sure I wasn't wasting my afternoon on chain restaurants or a series of street vendors. Of coarse this trip wasn't all business, I took my mom with me for a day of catching up and people watching, as well as great food. My one complaint about the taste was that not many vendors understood the concept of 'a taste'. The dishes were large and expensive. Some of them costing more than a full sheet of tickets (equaling ten dollars or more). This little surprise made it hard to sample as many places as I would have liked. My mom and I started with a Mexican restaurant, and sadly we were very disappointed. I'm choosing to not mention the name of the establishment in hopes that a visit to there restaurant would be much different that a 'taste' at their stand. However its not high on my list to give them a second chance.
Not to worry, they were the only disappointment of the day. Our next stand was by far my favorite, although I had no doubt that I would absolutely love them. ESPANA. It was over a year ago that I first dined at this truly wonderful establishment. Three friends and I sat in their dining room for hours, partly because of the raging storm outside but mostly because of the charming waiter, the overflowing glasses of sangria and the constant little plates of deliciousness that continued to be delivered to our table. True to the their mission for a few hours we felt as if we were no longer in Omaha. ESPANA's tasting booth was also the most professional booth I saw all afternoon. It took longer than any other booth to get our food because it was prepared to order. We watched as the men behind the scenes fried our chicken empanda, grilled the beef for our marinated slider and assembled our dishes. They even took the time to garnish before serving. The steak slider was melt in your mouth tender and bursting with flavors of garlic, butter and roasted peppers. And the Aoloi served along side the emapanda was the perfect accompaniment to the slightly spicy, juicy chicken. Let just say it will not be another year before you find me ordering off the menu. Sadly our next five tickets were spent on bottled lemonade but it was a much needed refreshment after walking around for a few hours. We then decided we should end our day with something sweet. I remembered as we first walked in we passed a ice cream shop so started to retrace our steps. The ice cream stand was run by eCreamery a dundee ice cream parlor that serves several unique flavors as well as offering you the option to create your own flavor. Of coarse they didn't have the equipment available to create your flavor on the spot so we picked from one of their three options. I picked the most 'out there' flavor sea salt caramel. Yum! it reminded me of a sea salt chocolate tart I made in culinary school. I'm not sure my mom really liked it, she said it reminded her of coffee which I know she isn't a fan of. Either way, the ladies running the booth were sweet and so was the ice cream. I have a feeling this creamery would be an adorable little date spot. Our last choice of festival food was a funnel cake, however the only stand we found that sold them were charging ten tickets! (7 dollars!) Not only did we not have enough tickets left for that, we both agreed no fried treat covered in powdered sugar was worth seven dollars. I actually think this overpriced treat ended up being a miracle in disguise. Right next to the funnel cake stand was a Chicago style hot dog stand! Now I don't regret for a second leaving Chicago but I do seriously miss the hot dogs. And luck have it, it was six tickets for one, exactly what we had left. The Chicago Dawg House almost got it right. A t all the hot dog stands I visited in Chicago I never once saw the 'bright green' relish that was served on our dog at the fair and the dog itself was a little on the small side but other wise the flavor was right on. The stop at the Dawg House was well worth eating another savory dish after dessert.
If you missed The Taste of Omaha you made a big mistake. Make sure to add it to your calendar for next summer. And make sure to check out ESPANA!

p.s. sorry for the sub-par photos, Miss Theary was not with me on this trip.