BLOCK 16'S HOLIDAY PARTY SHOWS WHY IT'S ONE OF OMAHA'S BEST RESTAURANTS
Block 16 is a beloved institution, one of the bedrocks of Omaha’s restaurant scene. It’s treasured for its nationally-recognized burgers, off-the-wall specials, and epic fry baskets.
And yet, as great as this place is at crafting phenomenal sandwiches and colossal burritos, this restaurant has more up its sleeve. There is elite culinary talent in this kitchen, and Block 16’s Ugly Christmas Sweater Tasting Menu showcased that upper-echelon cooking ability.
Tasting menus are typically deployed by fine dining restaurants as tiered, hours-long meals that serve diners course after course in a progressive and well-thought out fashion. Restaurants like Au Courant, V. Mertz, and The Boiler Room thrive at crafting perfectly executed plates with advanced techniques and top-of-the-line ingredients.
It’s not exactly what you expect to find at a restaurant that describes its style as “Farm to Table Street Food.”
And yet, on Dec. 19, 2021, Block 16 proved it could put out a tasting menu to rival any in Omaha in terms of preparation, execution, and creativity.
But this menu didn’t look like any you’d find elsewhere in Omaha (or maybe America). It had that oddball playful flair that’s caused us to all fall in love with this place.
This meal was a brilliant mix of high/low end ingredients and presentation that nearly made one laugh out loud when each dish arrived. The menu featured exquisite techniques like galantines and cooking with bone marrow while also serving a miniature Filet O’ Fish so delicious it would make Ronald McDonald weep and a perfectly cooked sardine served in a tin sardine can with a pull-top.
Almost all of the eight courses combined high-level cooking skills and ingredients with a playful, approachable spin. Alongside a perfectly cooked wagyu filet was a pot of Greyere whiz fondue. A slice of Totinos pizza was served under a blizzard of shaved truffle. A beautiful filet of branzino was braised in Franzia, the cheap boxed wine best known for its presence in college drinking games.
Perhaps no dish better personified Block 16’s wink-wink sophistication better than the Bacon Wrapped Scallop/Scallop Wrapped Bacon course. The first half of that description can be found at thousands of restaurants across the nation. But how many are pairing that bacon-wrapped scallop with a hollowed-out scallop stuffed with pork belly?
And don’t even get me started on the maple bourbon sauce, which I would slurp up through a straw.
It’s crazy.
It’s ridiculous.
It’s delcious.
It’s Block 16.
In my eyes, what makes Block 16 great is it knows what it is and fully embraces it. It’s a clever restaurant that has fun with food, at the same time celebrating classic cooking techniques while also thumbing its nose at them.
What other restaurant has the audacity to serve escargot on the same menu as a fried chicken oyster (for those unaware, the “oyster” is the chicken’s man parts)? Or a cornish game hen galantine, complete with champignon poivrade and cherry agrodolce, alongside potato chips and cheese whiz?
Block 16 is truly one of a kind.
But here are a few things people might not recognize about this special institution: owners Jessica Joyce Urban and Paul Urban are fine dining chefs who have the cooking chops to open an elegant, high-end restaurant if they chose too. And the staff, including Brooke Nicole Williams and Adolfo Gutierrez, is as brilliant in conceptualizing and cooking elegant plates as it is wacky specials.
Also, Block 16 threw this Christmas party with no expectation of making money. Given the amount of expensive items on the menu, its profits from this event were minimal. But Paul and Jess put it on anyway because it was a fun way to engage the community and offered a different experience for the kitchen staff to grow and learn new techniques.
Block 16 just gets it. Food is fun. Don’t take it too seriously. Make something delicious, and don’t be afraid to paint outside the lines. If it sounds weird, just try it! I honestly loved every second of this meal and was genuinely sad when it was over.
But I’m also excited, because Block 16 always has something new and exciting up its sleeve. I just can’t wait to see what comes next.