LOCAL BEER, PATIO
AND KITCHEN
Hoppen Hierarchy:★
District: Millard; Village Pointe
Coal-Fired Pizza
Perfect For: Lunch; Casual Dining; Happy Hour
Standout Dishes: Hummus
Local makes a big deal about the effort it goes to feature and serve Nebraska beers. The owner personally visits local breweries, such as Kinkaider Brewing Company, Brickway Brewing, and Scriptown Brewing Company, to get to know the brewers and their processes on a personal level. This effort is appreciated, and it results in a rotating menu of awesome Nebraska brews.
If the restaurant approached its food with the same passion, there could be something special here.
Local has four locations between Omaha and Lincoln, so they’re clearly doing something right. The beer is very good, and Local offers a wide variety of IPAs, sours, pale ales, and more. The beers rotate, so there’s usually something new to try.
The brews make Local a great spot to go after work, have a beer or two with your buddies, and maybe catch a game on one of the many big-screen TVs.
It’s not the place to go for a great meal.
Local is not alone in this respect. Most breweries/gastropubs struggle to put out more than passable food. When one does—such as Barchen Beer Garden or Benson Brewery—it really stands out.
Local’s menu appears promising. It has a number of tempting appetizers, including fried bierocks (a smaller, crispy version of a Runza). The entrees include a few burgers, several different sandwiches, and plates such as chicken & waffles, flatbread pizza, and mac & cheese.
But the food doesn’t live up to the menu descriptions. The beef on the Local Burger is overcooked and undersalted, resulting in a dry, bland patty. Adding a fried egg helps add moisture, but don’t bother with the bacon jam, tempting as it sounds. It’s completely absent, a wasted $1 add-on.
Unfortunately, lack of flavor is a common theme on the menu. The Salmon BLT sounds awesome on paper, but Local doesn’t execute it well. The fish is overcooked and completely tasteless. Salmon is known as being a flaky fish that pulls apart with a slight touch from a fork. This patty is rubbery and hold none of the delicious oily flavor salmon typically provides. The bacon carries most of the flavor, though the menu promises candied bacon, and this has no sweetness.
The Open-Faced Meatloaf Sandwich is more successful, but it’s still a confusing, gloppy mess. You can’t really tell where any of the components—meatloaf, mashed potatoes, sourdough bread, fried egg, and gravy—begin or end. They just congeal into a wet pile that is mostly dominated by the salt of the gravy.
The bland theme carries over into the beer-battered Onion Rings, which are fried into oblivion. They just have little taste at all. The zing of the onion is completely lost, and the flavor of the beer is the only thing even remotely present. Dunking them in the provided beer cheese helps, but doesn’t save this poor version of a delicious dish.
There are a few positives on the menu. The tater tots are crispy and perfectly salty, and I really enjoyed the Mediterranean flavors of the Hummus, especially when paired with the pita bread. But if we’re including hummus among the best dishes at a pub, what are we doing here?
Local is by no means a lost cause. If you just want to relax and have some great local beers, this is a good place to check out. But it’s not worth visiting for a meal, which is a real shame. Local has great potential, but it just doesn’t realize it.