GET REAL SANDWICHES
Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★⭑
Districts: Blackstone
Elevated Deli Sandwiches & Cocktails
Perfect For: Casual Dining; Lunch; Takeout; Vegan Options
Standout Dishes: Pork Belly Cubano; Corn Fritters; Roast Beef Sandwich
There have always been a lot of great sandwiches sprinkled throughout Omaha. From The Jeffrey at Block 16 to the Pastrami Sandwich at Piezon’s Pizzeria to the famed Italian Beef Sandwich at Virtuoso Pizzeria (to name but a few), the city’s restaurants have proven they know how to make some epic creations between bread.
But for all those great sandwiches, Omaha lacked a great restaurant devoted solely to sandwiches, one that based its entire success or failure on its ability to make a sandwich.
That is, until Get Real Sandwiches entered the picture.
A newcomer to the Blackstone district in early 2022, Get Real immediately introduced itself near the top of Omaha’s sandwich hierarchy by offering chef-inspired creations that were familiar to diners, but with one or two minor twists that made a huge flavor difference. The Grilled Cheese is amped up with three cheeses (white cheddar, provolone, and Swiss) and whole grain honey mustard, while the traditional Fried Chicken Sandwich gets a facelift by being smoked and paired with a spicy aioli.
The best example of this elevation may be the Pork Belly Cubano. One of the world’s most beloved sandwiches, a traditional Cubano typically employs ham, pulled pork, pickles, Swiss cheese, and mustard. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the classic version.
But Get Real takes things to the next level with a couple seemingly minor tweaks that add welcome flavor punches. The pulled pork is replaced by pork belly, allowing the sandwich to maintain its swine-y essence while adding additional unctuous fat. Get Real adds aioli for extra richness and employs dijon mustard for a tangy twist. These elements, along with ham and house made pickles, are squished between two crusty slices of Cuban bread on a press, which not only gives the sandwich a nice crisp, but also causes the Swiss to melt and add a gooey element to every bite.
If it’s not abundantly clear, this is not a diet sandwich. But it is absolutely a delicious one.
The transformation Get Real Sandwiches achieves with its Roast Turkey is just as, if not more so, impressive. For the most part, turkey is a dry, bland meat that adds little to a sandwich. But Get Real’s turkey is roasted, giving it a caramelized crust and allowing the sweet, rich flavors to further penetrate the meat. It’s also as juicy and moist turkey meat as you’ll find in Omaha. Combine that delicious meat with rustic ciabatta bread, a creamy, acidic aioli, and thin slices of tart green apples and you have a home run of a sandwich.
Everyone’s had a roast beef sandwich, right? Nothing too special there… that is, until you add a melted white cheddar, sweet caramelized onions, and the strong, spicy pops from horseradish aioli as Get Real does to its Roast Beef. And the beef itself is perfect: tender and with a nice balance of zest and tang. This ain’t the sandwich your mom packed in your grade school lunchbox.
This restaurant displays such mastery it doesn’t even need meat to craft a killer sandwich, as evidenced by the Butternut Squash Sandwich. The sweetness of the squash (which represents the sandwich’s “meat”) and caramelized onions are balance by the flavors of earthy oyster mushrooms, fresh greens, oozing provolone, and a zesty aioli.
Get Real’s sandwich making prowess extends into the AM as well, as the breakfast sandwiches it serves on weekends are among Omaha’s best. The Fluffhead is a beautiful ode to scrambled eggs, as these eggs are so luxuriously luscious and creamy that they practically melt in your mouth. Paired with salty ham, crispy buttered and griddled toast, sharp white cheddar, and both sweet and spicy aiolis, this sandwich is a breakfast masterpiece in balancing texture and flavor.
The Jaco Pesto-Rius gets its dominant flavor from its peppery sausage patties, which are balanced by an herbaceous nutty pesto. A spicy aioli adds creaminess and a touch of heat. There’s also a brilliant fried egg that, once provoked, spills its glorious, creamy yolk all over the sandwich, and the sourdough inhales it to ensure not one drop of egg-y goodness escapes.
Then there’s the Lost Lox, a perfectly balanced take on bagels and lox. The salmon is velvety and buttery, with just the right amount of salt. Chive cream cheese adds a smooth consistency and tang, pickled onions bring acidity, and capers add welcome pops of salt. It’s all shoved between an excellent everything bagel, soft and chewy on the inside but with a good crusty exterior.
Every great sandwich needs a similarly strong side dish, and Get Real has several choices. Among them:
- French Fries, crispy and well salted, are perfectly fine on their own. But they can also be amped up with gravy and cheese curds into Poutine.
- Corn Fritters: these deep-fried balls have a crisp exterior, yet somehow remain somehow airy and light on the inside, and the corn kernels add bolts of sweetness. They’re excellent on their own, but they ascend to a higher plane dunked into the delectable buttermilk ranch.
- Brussels Sprouts: lightly fried to give a touch of crisp, and the bright citrus flavor of lemon ties the tender sprouts with pecorino cheese, pickled onion, and pistachios.
- Fried Artichokes: the artichoke itself is tender and creamy, but the dredge and deep fry adds a nice crusty exterior. Combined with the milky, buttery whipped burrata and a drizzle of balsamic, this is a heck of a side dish.
Get Real has so mastered sandwiches, it doesn’t need meat, cheese, or even bread to make an amazing sandwich. Once you’ve downed you entree, finish off your meal with the rich majesty that is the Chocolate Brownie Sandwich. Two fudgey, circular brownies act as buns; they’re are dense enough to hold the sandwich together, yet still moist when bitten into, at which point a rich chocolate flavor bursts forth. But just when it seems like too much chocolate (if there is such a thing), the peanut buttercream in the center arrives to add a creamy, nutty balance.
Imagine a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, only in sandwich form and with rich brownies as buns.
On the less chocolate-y side of dessert is the Banana Pudding, which is sweet and creamy in all the ways one expects the delicacy to be. But Get Real adds an ample amount of slices of banana for natural sugar, and animal crackers provide texture.
Wherever your meal takes you, it may well include a drink, whether that’s one of the local brews Get Real has on tap, a glass of wine, or a craft cocktail. The Whiskey Business is an excellent take on an Old Fashioned, the Mulers Day Off presents a classic Moscow Mule, and the In Your Head uses pear, lemon, and elderflower to bring a freshness to vodka.
Those watching their carbs might not steer toward a sandwich shop, but Get Real offers excellent salads as well. The greens are crisp and peppery, and Get Real (as it does in its sandwiches) proves it knows how to turn up the flavor.
The turkey in the Turkey Salad contains a good deal of smoky turkey. That salty protein is combined with crisp apple, crunchy croutons, acidic pickled onions, and subtle white cheddar. It would be a solid salad with any dressing, but the aforementioned buttermilk ranch (which Get Real could sell for $10 a bottle) sends it over the top.
All of Get Real’s entrees are large enough to satiate on their own, so by the time you add a side, shareable snack, and drink… let’s just say you’re not leaving this restaurant hungry.
The staff is friendly and happy to walk you through the menu or provide suggestions, and we were visited table-side by chef/owner Aden on both our visits. On our initial visit, one of the bartenders noticed my wife struggling to read the menu on the wall due to the crowd, so he ran from his post to deliver a physical menu over to her. Little stuff like that matters.
Omaha has long deserved an elite sandwich shop. With Get Real Sandwiches, I think that dream has been realized.