Gourmet & Healthy in Omaha

Whipping up palatable pub grub and inducing cravings for the past 28 years, Danny’s offers a wide range of hunger-quashing fare and refreshing drinks that satisfy customers and calm stampeding rhinoceroses. Upon entering the welcoming confines, visitors can befriend the corner or sample flavorful specialties such as The Husker double cheeseburger ($8.75), Danny’s Famous Philly sandwich with beef, chicken, turkey, or veggies ($8.95), or a 9-ounce New York strip steak ($10.95). Drinks proven to cure cold both common and uncommon include domestic bottled beer ($3.20), tap microbrews such as Boulevard Wheat ($3.10 a pint), and a full liquor bar. Additionally, returning patrons and TV-owning nobility can leave their gold bullion at home and receive an extra $1 off per menu item when paying with cash.

The first time Dan Pool bit into the freshly baked bread of a Gandolfo's New York Delicatessen sandwich, he loved it. In fact, he loved it so much that he bought the small New York City eatery and immediately began expanding it into a string of shops across the country. Today, these locations stay true to Gandolfo's original spirit with a menu of Big Apple classics, including Reuben sandwiches, Nathan's Famous all-beef hot dogs, and the dense, chewy bagels New Yorkers traditionally lob at passing cabs. The staff also stacks chicken-breast sandwiches on hero rolls and assembles nine different types of roast-beef sandwiches.

The Tea Smith owner Tim Smith searches out loose-leaf teas from all over the world—and he says he has to consciously limit himself as he fills the shops' stock of about 150 teas. But it wasn't long ago that Tim didn't even like tea. "I thought tea was brown water and a bag," he confesses.

It took a gift for his wife to change that. "I was traveling for business, it was around Valentine's day, and I was married long enough to know that you don't come home empty-handed," he says. So he bought her some loose-leaf tea and the right accessories to brew it. "She made me try it, and it was surprising," he says. "It was not that stuff in a bag. It had some character and some taste to it."

He began researching, and realized that tea—already the world’s most widely consumed beverage after water—was experiencing a resurgence in the United States. While many tea spots have British or Japanese themes, Tim decided to open a tea shops with a "comfortable contemporary" vibe, where people could enjoy hot, iced, and bubble teas with friends. For at-home brewing, visitors can shop for classic teas such as Earl Grey, sample more unusual flavors such as the “Iron Goddess of Mercy” (an oolong), or browse seasonal blends such as pumpkin spice, cranberry cream, and fireside chat. The shops also stocks travel tea mugs, teapots equipped with infuser baskets, and unglazed Chinese YiXing clay pots that enhance the tea’s flavor.

Tim knows that many people who walk into the shop are unfamiliar with loose-leaf tea and may not be sure what they'll like—which is why he only hires tea enthusiasts. "Part of their training is to come in and drink each of the teas, and make notes on the flavor profiles," he says. That way, the staff can recommend blends suited to each customer's palate, rather than having to analyze a Rorschach tea-blot test. In addition to events including an annual blending contest, they also run periodic Tea 101 sessions that introduce attendees to the "history, the myths, the legends, and the lore of tea," says Tim.

As little as 12 hours after fishermen pull in their lines, their catch arrives on the iced shelves of Surf and Turf Food Company. The diminutive marketplace conserves its shelf space for gourmet seafood, with a rotating inventory that may include lobster, Alaskan halibut, and New Zealand mussels one day, and Copper River salmon and yellowfin tuna the next. Near the cases of tempting aquatic fare, fine Nebraskan beef and rare meats such as elk brats beg to be tossed onto a grill. Much of the food is available at an online shop, which ships out edibles packed in dry ice, the cousin of also confusingly named wet fire.