On the birthday day itself, I got us a pizza from Whole Foods (the best pizza in town hands down! And we've tried a lot of pizza places) and I also snuck out and bought Mike's favorite ice cream (mint chocolate chip) and managed to hide in the freezer until the big reveal, which involved a Batman candle holder and an amazing interpretive dance to the Happy Birthday song.
The following weekend we went out to dinner with Mike's parents and brother and his family. I hope they won't mind me posting this photo of our nephew, who is turning one year old soon. How cute is he??
Dinner was at Julio's Tex Mex restaurant in downtown Omaha, a spot Mike chose for the giant sign out front advertising their margaritas. In order for him to fully partake of the margarita goodness, I volunteered to be the driver for the evening. The restaurant was probably more aptly described as a bar, at least in terms of ambiance - long and narrow with a large bar and a few tables. The food was your standard Tex Mex fare, with a fair number of vegetarian offerings included. I had a Portabella mushroom burrito, served with rice and refried beans. The flavor of the burrito was good, mostly due to the mushrooms being marinated in something tangy, but the burrito itself was quite small. Normally I don't mind a reasonably-sized restaurant meal, but I was actually still hungry by the time I had finished my meal, and had to 'help' Mike finish his shrimp fajitas. The rice was okay boxed rice, and the refried beans were completely flavorless. Overall, I'd say it was another Omaha dining experience that was fine at the time, but which I won't be eager to repeat.
After Mike's birthday festivities were over, there was this election thingy, not sure if you heard about that. My favorite wrapup of the election came from The Bloggess, who wrote: Also, I don’t keep up with the news but apparently Barack Obama is getting a puppy! And something about him winning something too. Some kind of raffle, I think.
This weekend we had coffee with friends at the Blue Line in their new downtown location - or NoDo (North Downtown), as I've heard it called. This is a happening little part of Omaha that's undergoing a revival with an artsy-collegey kind of feel. They've also opened up an Urban Outfitters and American Apparel on that street, where the all-ages music venue The Slowdown is also located, as well as the non-profit art house movie theater Filmstreams. They're showing Kubrick all month, so we concluded our evening by seeing Dr. Strangelove.
Last night we were invited out to dinner with a coworker of Mike's and some friends he was bringing along. The whole party aside from Mike and myself were Mexican, and they took us to a place in South Omaha that Mike's coworker loves, called Guaca Maya. We had high hopes and things started out well as we all ordered Mexican beers and snacked on some pretty tasty warm tortilla chips and hot salsa. Two different musical groups played songs by request at our table - the company was great, the conversation was fun, the atmosphere festive. Unfortunately the food did not exactly live up to the anticipation, to say the least. Mike and I both ordered shrimp dishes, as our non-meat options were limited to the seafood menu. I had "Tequila Shrimp" and he had the "Shrimp a la Diabla." Each were served with soup or salad (we had salads, which were typical restaurant garden salads), baked potato or french fries, and rice.
My "Tequila Shrimp" was literally, and this is not mere description but actual fact (according to my taste buds), shrimp covered in Campbell's Mushroom Soup. What exactly is "tequila" about this is a mystery I will ponder for the rest of my days. I'm not sure what else to say about it. Mike's dish was shrimp covered in a sauce he later described as "ketchup and chili powder." The rice was orange boxed rice. I had a small baked potato with a dollop of sour cream, he had french fries that looked pretty anemic and I imagine did not taste like much. What pains me the most is that each of these dishes cost about $13 and everything in them obviously came from a box or a can. I'm a pretty adventurous eater, but I also love to cook my own food, and the bare minimum that I ask of a restaurant is that the food is at least partly made from scratch. It should be something at least as good as what I could make at home - hopefully better - but if it's worse than my own cooking, well, disappointing is an understatement.
However... I still want to stress that we had a lot of fun. While we ate and talked, we were at times laughing so hard that we all were crying. And Mike's coworker's friends brought their six month old baby, who was super cute and well behaved. After we were done eating, Radio Lobo, the local Spanish radio station, set up a dance floor and played some of their hits. We all went out and danced to a few songs before we left.
So the search for a Mexican restaurant in Omaha continues, but happy birthdays abound.
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