MERCREDI MARKET

Hoppen Hierarchy: ★★★★

Small market with fresh-baked bread and sandwiches

Perfect For: Breakfast/brunch; Lunch; Casual Dining; Takeout

Standout Dishes: Roast Beef Sandwich; Confit Chicken Sandwich; Mortadella Sandwich

“Mercredi” may mean “Wednesday” in French, but there’s no there’s no wrong day to visit Mercredi Market in Omaha’s Old Market.

OK, they’re closed on Mondays, so maybe that day isn’t ideal. But as long as you’re in the mood for a delicious sandwich, any other day of the week will do.

Everything about the restaurant, from the space itself to the menu, is compact and refined. Mercredi is long and thin, with only a couple of two and four-top tables, so a majority of meals are taken to go. Orders are taken at the counter and fulfilled about 20 feet away in the open kitchen, where customers can watch every step of the sandwich creation process. Mercredi bakes all of its bread, which you can either buy or savor in a sandwich, fresh daily.

As the name suggests, thought, this is more than a restaurant. Mercredi also has a small market with various kitchen goods like dried pasta, condiments, and seasonings. There’s a refrigerator with various cheeses and drinks and a display case by the counter with deli sides such as salads and potato dishes.

But Mercredi’s calling card is its sandwiches, for which it chooses quality over quantity. The sandwich roster is only six deep, but each has a very distinct personality and is constructed thoughtfully.

They’re also all housed inside Mercredi’s wonderful focaccia, a bubbly, oily bread with a pleasant chew. It has a bouncy consistency and is finished with giant flecks of sea salt to finish each bite with a savory love tap.

The best of the bunch is the Roast Beef Sandwich, which starts with a hefty stack of thinly-sliced, fork-tender roast beef. It’s succulent and has a robust meaty flavor, which is balanced wonderfully by the sweetness in the caramelized onions.

It’s the horseradish mayo that takes the sandwich up a few notches, as the tangy, sharp sauces rounds out the flavor profile brilliantly. You’ll notice that nearly all of Mercredi’s sandwiches include arugula, which finishes them with a nice peppery bitterness.

One of the few that doesn’t include the greens is the Confit Chicken Sandwich, Mercredi’s cheeky play on a Cubano. The concept of trading out roasted pork for chicken may seem like folly, but this is no ordinary poultry. This chicken has been slow-cooked in its own fat, resulting in a juicy, luscious meat that plays well with the brightness of the mustard and acidic pops from pickles. The bread is pressed well, giving it a crispy, buttery exterior.

The Mortadella Sandwich is delicious, though possibly misnamed. While the mortadella and its silky, buttery mouthfeel are delicious, there’s very little of it compared to arugula, bread, and burrata. It’s the latter that’s the true hero of the sandwich, as each bite brings a wave of the rich, milky burrata (think mozzarella’s fancier cousin), and pesto adds an herbaceous nuttiness on the back end.

While there are no misses on the menu, the Turkey Sandwich might be the least interesting. The turkey has a nice underlying sweetness, but its flavor don’t stand out as much as some of the other meats. Its not even the best protein on the sandwich; that distinction falls on the thick cut, salty bacon, and this sandwich would jump several levels if it had more pork.

The only sandwich at Mercredi that doesn’t start with focaccia is the Breakfast Milk Bun, one of the more unique breakfast sandwiches in Omaha. This beauty starts with a slightly sweet, tender bun slathered with a dash of aioli. Inside is a perfectly rich, custard-like soufflé egg, enrobed in melted cheese. Adding the wonderfully crispy bacon is worth the extra $2.

Before you checkout, make sure you peep in the display case to the right of the register. That’s where all Mercredi’s taste sides reside, and the Beet Salad is a wonderful example of why this part of the restaurant cannot be skipped.

The beets are roasted to a wonderfully tender consistency, and the cooking process also brings out their natural sweetness. They’re lightly dressing and served with chunks of grapefruit and sprigs of dill.

Mercredi also offers a few desserts, including cookies and a vegan cinnamon roll, along with a daily soup.

Mercredi is the embodiment of “small but mighty.” Everything about the restaurant may feel compact, but there’s a deepness to it that goes far beyond its physical size. The sandwiches coming from this downtown Omaha restaurant are almost all standouts in their own right.