Nightlife in South Omaha

Uninitiated Dinker's diners can peruse the entirety of the eatery's menu if they wish, but it's widely accepted that the star of sustenance at Dinker's is its Haystack Burger ($5.95)—a sizzling quarter-pound patty topped with American cheese, honey smoked ham, and a free-range fried egg. Other burgers include the tasty trifecta that is the Ultimate Triple Decker Dinker Burger ($7.95) and the bacon-and-bleu-cheese-dressing-bedecked Bluejay Burger ($5.25). Add fries or homemade onion rings ($1.50) to keep burgers company during their long day's journey into the stomach. Other meaty meals include a smothered grilled chicken sandwich ($6.50) and a 6-ounce sirloin steak ($8.25), served with garlic cheese bread, a side salad, and french fries, while the breaded pork fritter sandwich ($5.75) warms the cockles of the face. Wash down chow with your choice from Dinker's drinkers' menu, including beer, wine, and martinis.

Though it's usually closed to the public during December, the Renaissance Mansion will be throwing open its French doors and this Groupon is good on certain days throughout December and January, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a festive holiday-themed buffet (see the fine print for blackout dates). The menu changes each day, but a spread of five salads, four entrees, two potato dishes, and a dessert will fuel any impromptu eating contests with overly boastful Supreme Court justices. Once you've washed it all down with water, or hot cider (soft , the sprawling estate is yours to explore. As you wander beneath the beamed ceilings, waltz across the formal dining room, and melodramatically throw snifters of brandy into any of the various fireplaces, you'll pass 13 magnificently decorated Christmas trees whose colorful lights glint off the surrounding mahogany wood, Tiffany glass, and silver chandeliers. Renaissance Mansion can also set up parties of 14 or more in a private dining area so that no one on your Viking longboat feels left out.

Founded in 2003 by Derek and Rachelle Pasqualetto, Simply Ballroom gives students over 3,000 square feet of sprung wood floor space in which to learn practical dance skills that can be used to sweep job interviewers and Supreme Court justices off their feet. During two 40-minute private lessons (new clients get one complimentary lesson, $65 value for each additional), a professional dance instructor will introduce each customer to a wide range of dance styles—including the waltz, tango, cha cha, rumba, salsa, mambo, and end zone shuffle. By dancing with a knowledgeable human being rather than a complicated PowerPoint presentation, students are guaranteed to receive helpful pointers and attentive, one-on-one care. Once students settle on a style or two they like, they'll have a full month of unlimited group classes ($60 value) to fine-tune them with fellow dancers at their skill level—in the process receiving a core-strengthening workout, improving coordination, and developing a tolerance for centrifugal G-force that comes in handy during space travel. Finally, students will get to socialize and show off their fancified footwork during a two-hour practice party ($10 value) in a nightclub environment, where they can build confidence for real-life social dances, as well as enjoy an excuse to wear sequined cape skirts and ruffled pirate shirts outside of their shift at the DMV.

DJs spin and weekend crowds clamor within the Hive lounge’s walls, which are festooned with murals by local artist Maggie Webber and décor inspired by owner Jack Gardner’s road trips. A sprawling outdoor patio hosts alfresco sippers, and glass-tile panels admit streetlights’ golden shimmer indoors, where large-screen TVs glow with sports broadcasts alongside live games of darts and shuffleboard. At the bar, drink slingers pour frothy pints from a rotating selection of craft and organic beers and set specialty cocktails on turntables to be mixed as a DJ scratches over obscure Raffi LPs. The Hive Lounge hosts regular events such as Saturday and Sunday "Hangover Recovery Parties," during which patrons sip more than 20 mimosa flavors and shout “bloody mary” three times in front of a cocktail shaker to summon custom libations from a build-your-own bloody mary bar.

Since 1925, the Dundee Theatre’s gold curtains have been parting for generations of rapt audiences. Originally a vaudeville theater, the venue was transformed into a movie house during the Great Depression as a cost-cutting measure. For the next half century it traded hands, sometimes screening art films, sometimes featuring family fare, and once showing a 118-week run of The Sound of Music, which was eventually halted by a town statute banning raindrops on roses.

In 1980, current owner Denny Moran stepped in and renovated the theater to recapture some of the splendor of its early days. The old vaudevillian stage and dressing rooms still lurk behind the silver screen, counterbalanced by a state-of-the-art Dolby Digital EX sound system and Cyrano de Bergerac smell system. Under Moran's watch, the Dundee Theatre now screens an eclectic mix of art and independent films, cinema classics, and cult favorites.

When the Joslyn Art Museum opened in 1931, more than 25,000 people lined up to see the exhibits. It had taken three years of construction and $3 million to create the splendid art-deco building, which was inlaid with more than 38 types of marble imported from around the world. The force behind this enormous effort was philanthropist Sarah Joslyn, who had the building built in honor of her late husband. But instead of standing front and center, Sarah quietly mixed in with the crowd. "I am just one of the public," she said to people who recognized her.

Sarah truly viewed the museum as a gift to the people of Omaha. And for more than 80 years, they've cared for it like one. With the 58,000-square-foot addition addition of the Walter & Suzanne Scott Pavilion, a sculpture garden, and other enhancements, the museum has grown with time. Visitors today find more than 11,000 works of art inside, with collections and exhibitions that include pieces of ancient Greek pottery, Renaissance and Baroque paintings by Titian and El Greco, and Impressionist works by Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Claude Monet.

After admiring the peasant portraiture of 19th-century French realist Jules Breton, guests can cartwheel over to a collection of 18th- and 19th-century American artwork, which includes portraits by James Peale and landscape images by Thomas Cole. Pieces from the 20th century from artists such as Grant Wood transition visitors into viewings of more contemporary works or attempts to find a 3-D Magic Eye picture in Jackson Pollock's Galaxy.