Restaurants in Chalco

At Dante Pizzeria, chef Nick Strawhecker calls upon his experience at the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners to craft a rustic Italian menu featuring wood-fired pizza. Pizza professionals toss dough disks in accordance with Neapolitan culinary tradition, baking the pies in a wood-fired oven that burns at about 800 degrees Fahrenheit, the approximate body temperature of Chewbacca. The salsiccia pizza ($16) ferries grilled sausage, anaheim peppers, and homemade cheeses, and the Parma pizza ($13.50) totes prosciutto, arugula, tomato, and mozzarella. The dinner bell rings at 5 p.m., calling to attention homemade pasta, such as the oxtail and gnocchi with roasted mushrooms ($15) and pappardelle bolognese ($14), which combines pork, beef, and red wine. The wine list stars a distinguished cast of Italian wines, including Northern Italy's 2009 Alois Legeder chardonnay ($9/glass; $36/bottle). For patrons who dine in, an indoor bocce court awaits, tempting eaters to ignore the age-old advice to wait 30 minutes before strategizing.

McKenna’s Pacific Street location provides a dining experience filled with soulful tunes and meats smoked silly. Opened in 1991, the joint has been whipping up down-home menu items that would make your grandma try harder. Start off with appetizers such as the black-eyed-pea dip with chips ($5.49) and a full pound of smoked chicken thighs ($6.79), or opt for an order of 12 McKenna’s wings ($8.79) that come in flavors such as Louisiana double dip, Jamaican jerk, and three others. Sandwiches include the Virginia smoked ham with pepper jack cheese ($7.39), smoked pork loin ($7.39), and barbecue smoked sausage ($7.29).

When drinking from a traditional Spanish porrón, diners must precariously funnel a stream of wine into their open mouths through a spout. Fortunately, at Espana, gracious staffers provide the daring drinkers with a glass of soda water to clean any spills from their shirts.

Porrón wine is only one of the Spanish traditions visitors encounter at the authentic Mediterranean restaurant, where more than 40 varieties of hot and cold tapas pair with pitchers of sangria amid the strains of a guitar. In the kitchen, chefs assemble exotic spices, fine meats, seafood, and vegetables onto small plates, drawing inspiration from generations-old Spanish recipes. They also prepare paella, a family-style rice dish that typically includes veggies, saffron, and meats. In 2009, an Omaha World-Herald writer lauded their paella a la tierra for its "earthy and rich, yet light and delicate" snails and "perfectly cooked" rice.

Out in the dining room, tapas plates speckle colorful red and yellow tables beneath the vivid abstract paintings that hang from sea-green walls. Each month, the dining-room stage hosts live cultural performances, which allow guests to enjoy Spanish guitarists, Spanish dance shows, and Spanish renditions of popular scenes from Good Will Hunting.

Whipping up tasty burger patties with stacks of tantalizing fixins, Fuddruckers has tasty-danced all over patrons’ tongue-floors since it was founded in 1980. Offering top-notch ground beef and buns that are baked fresh daily, Fuddruckers merely lays out the delicious canvas for feasters to top with a vast palette of ingredients at the complimentary fresh-produce bar. Original burgers come in four patty sizes up to a pound (starting at $4.79 for 1/3 lb.) and can be topped with hunger-blasting ingredients such as grilled mushrooms and smokehouse bacon for a bit extra. Mouth- and ear-watering patties are offered in several varieties, including buffalo, ostrich, salmon, and soil-fed veggie. Additional bites such as boneless wings ($6.99) and handmade shakes ($3.99) round out the menu like a post-Columbus Earth.

Kick-start dinner with an order crab cakes, served with fried quail eggs and yellow pepper aioli ($14), or the trio spread plate with white-bean hummus, caponata, and red kidney bean pate ($8). Moving from primers to prime time, Zurlo’s offers a variety of classic and creative entrees. Its specialty is brick-oven pizza ($10), and it also offers standout selection of pastas, soups, salads, and cute Italian grandmas working the kitchen. The homemade porcini mushroom gnocchi is flecked with sun-dried tomatoes and smothered in Gorgonzola cream sauce ($14), while less landlubbing eats include seameats such as the oxymoronic jumbo scallops ($23) or pesto salmon sided with red potatoes ($18). To quell midday invasions from internal hunger trolls, Zurlo’s also serves lunch.

When it comes to New York style pizza, Frank's Pizzeria in Omaha is at the top of the list. Others may claim to have true New York Style Pizza but at Frank's they make it just like the pizzerias in New York City.