NG CITY CAFE
Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★
District: Newman Grove, Neb.
Old School Cafe with Burgers, Breakfast, and Pie
Perfect For: Breakfast/Brunch; Lunch; Casual Dining
Standout Dishes: Peach Crumb Pie; Grover; Tollhouse Pie
There’s this romantic notion that every small town has a homey diner that not only dishes out great food, but serves as a welcoming gathering place for locals and passer-throughs alike.
In reality, these gems are few and far between. But one exists in tiny Newman Grove (population: roughly 800). NG City Cafe‘s clever social media posts and gregarious owners will draw you in, and the food will have you coming back again and again.
Everything about NG City Cafe oozes rustic charm, from the bench outdoors dedicated to the restaurant’s original owner to the walls lined with memorabilia and bobbleheads to the open kitchen, where you can watch the staff (including owners Adam and Dawn Witchell) at their craft. It’s small (seating maybe 50 people at max) and humble in decor, but gives off the feeling you’re eating at Mom’s dinner table, not a restaurant.
The menus, too, are relatively simple. For breakfast you’ll find all the classics: pancakes, hashbrowns, French Toast, and the like; Eggs Benedict and avocado toast need not apply here. For lunch, you’ll find a variety of burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, and different preparations of fried potatoes.
The service is friendly and extremely attentive, and the servers are happy to explain any menu item. Sit near the kitchen, and you can enjoy friendly banter with the owners as they hand make everything on the menu.
You can also see that everything is hand made on-site. Those are real potatoes on the counter waiting to be cut and tossed into the fryer, not frozen store-bought spuds. Burger patties are formed by hand, and eggs cooked to order. Every part of the cooking process is transparent and fresh.
And that results in a great product. The burgers, cooked to a pleasant medium, are wonderfully flavorful, and NG City Cafe carefully places a few toppings on each rather than dump the kitchen sink on top. The restaurant wants its beef to sing, and sing it does—though adding crispy bacon, the runny yolk of an egg, and a bold “Dijonaise” sauce are welcome additions.
The Philly Cheesesteak has everything you’re looking for: tender, seasoned steak, sweet caramelized onions, roasted peppers, and a buttered, toasted hoagie bun. The bun at first appears a bit light on cheese, but the pleasant flavor of the mild, buttery Provolone cheese makes itself known.
If you’re able to catch NG City Cafe when the Grover is the special (stay up to date by checking its Twitter or Instagram account each morning), you’re in for a real treat. The Runza (a dough pocket stuffed with ground beef, cheese, onions, and cabbage) is a staple of Nebraska cuisine on its own, but NG City Cafe steps things up several notches. Not only is it about 40% larger than its fast-food equivalent, but it has deeper flavors developed from the dough, made fresh each morning the special runs.
Whichever entree you order, make sure you save room for dessert. NG City Cafe’s calling card are its delicious pies; so beloved are they, that even massive deliveries to Omaha sell out faster than one can be baked. You can find all varieties, from classic Apple, Coconut Creme, and Peach Crumb, to more decadent offerings like the Tollhouse (basically a warm chocolate chip cookie in a pie crust). The crust is flaky and buttery, the perfect base for the sweet filling on top.
And the Apple Pie is American as can be, especially when complimented with a scoop of classic vanilla ice cream.
The Apple Hand Pies are a bit different; they’re individually-sized, moon-shaped pastries covered in a sugary glaze. This amps up the sweetness quite a bit and shifts the focus more toward the dough than the filling, but it’s a welcome change of pace.
In 2014, lifelong Omaha residents Adam and Dawn Witchell bought NG City Cafe after seeing an ad for it on Craigslist. They were so taken by the restaurant’s quaint charm that they purchased it after just three visits.
NG City Cafe has a similar pull to everyone who visits. It’s a place you feel at home, and you won’t want to leave.