DISH
Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★★
District: Lincoln
Seasonally-Driven Fine Dining
Perfect For: Date Night; Upscale Dining
Standout Dishes: Smoked Honey Glazed Duck Breast; Parker House Rolls; Carrots Carrots Carrots; Smoked Apple + Butternut Squash Shakshuka
When most chefs put a dish together, the protein is the starting point, the sun around which the other elements orbit. The meat is the focus, and the sauces, vegetables, and other components are the back-up singers.
Rachel McGill takes the opposite approach: it’s all about the vegetables at DISH, her restaurant in Lincoln. To be clear, there are plenty of plates with meat, but veggies are the main act.
This is perfectly exemplified by one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes: Carrots Carrots Carrots. The dish presents carrots in four different ways—smoked, pickled, and turned into a jerky and a carrot top pesto. The dish is entirely made up of carrots, but each form is so different that they taste like different foods that work together to create a brilliantly cohesive plate.
There’s the acidic bite from the pickled carrots. The vibrant, herbaceous smoothness of the pesto. The chewy texture of the “jerky.” It’s so playful and creative that you can’t help but smile, both at the taste and the whimsy of the dish.
“I like to work with my local farmers and I write food that is vegetable-forward,” McGill said on the Restaurant Hoppen podcast. “We kind of just pick a vegetable and go with it. We figure out what’s going to be playing the most fun with that vegetable at that time.”
That’s why when you visit DISH, you likely won’t see many of exact plates you’ll read about in this review. The menu consistently changes to match what vegetables are in season and Rachel’s garden (she grows a majority of her vegetables in her backyard), but the dishes I’m telling you about represent what you can expect at this Lincoln restaurant.
Speaking of which, DISH may be a short drive from Omaha, but don’t give let that give you any hesitation to visit. If it were here, DISH would be a top 10 Omaha restaurant.
Many of DISH’s best plates eschew proteins altogether, but you don’t miss the meat. That’s certainly the case with the Smoked Apple + Butternut Squash Shakshuka, which transforms the Middle Eastern dish with the sweetness of apples and squash and the heat of multiple chiles. The baked egg is creamy and oozes its gooey yolk, and the oily, toasted slice of focaccia is perfect for sopping up every last ounce of the stew.
The spuds are the stars of the Crispy Potatoes + Pickles, as these cubes are fried to elicit a pleasant crunch while maintaining their creamy insides. But the other elements aren’t afterthoughts, as the pickles add pops of acid and the miso plum aioli brings a creamy, tart balance.
Rachel loves veggie-forward risottos, and the Sweet Corn Risotto is some of her finest work. Creamy and flowing with kernels of sweet corn, this dish has the potential to be very sweet. But DISH isn’t afraid of salt, and the salinity balances the sugar of the corn brilliantly.
The Acorn Squash Barley Risotto is similarly creamy and rich, but the barley adds a completely different element. You still experience the texture and bite of each individual grain, and parmesan rounds out the dish with a pleasant nuttiness. It’s masterfully cooked risotto.
This isn’t to say that Rachel and her team can’t cook proteins well. The Smoked Honey Glazed Duck Breast (pictured in the header photo) is an example of masterful protein cookery, as the skin is rendered to a crispy texture while the interior meat has a wonderfully juicy bite. The sweetness of the honey glaze balances the richness of the duck’s flesh, while crispy flecks of smoky mole seco add spice and crunch.
The menu often includes steaks, pork chops, and salmon, but produce is still the centerpiece of the plate. Take, for instance, the Grilled Peaches + Burrata shared plate. The peaches retain their natural sweetness while also taking on a smoky note, which works so well with the milky, luscious burrata. Crispy fried prosciutto adds necessary texture and salt.
Ironically enough, one of the best dishes on the menu contains neither meat nor vegetables: the Parker House Rolls. You simply cannot start a meal at DISH without these two perfect, carb-y orbs. The bread is soft, rich, and practically oozes butter, and the top is adorned with crunchy flecks of finishing salt. The luscious hot honey butter adds a rich sweetness. It’s one of the best bread starters in the state.
Rachel also has a passion for cocktail mixology and owns a downtown Lincoln bar called The Sitch. That explains why the drink program at DISH is so strong. The Marigold Old Fashioned employs two whiskeys—bourbon and rye—along with honey and orange to craft a smoky, citrusy concoction that delivers everything great about an Old Fashioned, but with a nice twist.
And if you want something to sip on but are avoiding alcohol, DISH’s mocktail program delivers as well. The Mongo, a delicious combination of ginger shrub, lime, and soda, is a citrus-forward, fresh-tasting delight.
The service is impeccably friendly and knowledgable, and it’s clear they’re as invested in the success of the restaurant as Rachel is. From the hostess to the waitresses and the individuals that bus the tables, everyone is genuinely kind and appreciative of the fact you spent an evening in their restaurant.
My only complain with DISH is its location; I wish a 45-minute drive didn’t separate Omaha from the delicious brilliance of this restaurant. But considering how wonderful all our experiences at DISH have been, that’s a drive I’m happy to make any time.