Leadbelly

Saturday, April 28, 2019

Leadbelly

3201 Farnam Street, Omaha, NE

Where we went:

Tonight we were heading into Midtown to play games at a local board game cafe, Spielbound. “Speil” German for “Game”. Spielbound not only has great drinks, they also serve a limited, but tasty menu, so we had planned on eating their while we played. Alas, we were not the only ones in Omaha to have this idea tonight. There was an extremely long wait for a table. So, we put our names down on the list, and decided to walk two blocks north to Midtown Crossing to find something to eat. We chose a place we had all been to before, and all love, Leadbelly. Leadbelly, with two locations, Omaha and Lincoln, markets themselves as having an “expansive, contemporary, American menu, with a little something for everyone.”

What We Ate:

Eric went with an old favorite and got the Voodoo Lady burger, but chose to try a new side this time and opted for the roasted corn and peppers. From the robust cocktail menu, he started with a Billy the Kid, followed by The Tempest. Wrapping up his meal was the Bourbon Peach Cobbler.

Kyle chose to have the Tuscan Panino, a grilled panini with provolone, parmesan and sundried tomatoes on a grilled baguette. He struggled to decide between the roasted corn and peppers or the fries. He decided to go with the fries. For dessert he had the vanilla bean ice cream and hazelnut, chocolate and caramel sauce.

The Food:

Eric’s first item to arrive was his Billy the Kid cocktail, starting the night off on a surprisingly strong boozy note. This strong, rich cocktail featuring dark rum, brandy, coffee bitters, root beer, and rumchata, was a bit on the heavier side, but the sweetness balanced it out and made for a delicious drink. It could best be described as an alcoholic root beer float. In retrospect it may have made for a better drink to accompany dessert, but he still thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Voodoo Lady burger was delicious. Leadbelly’s burger menu is so interesting because of all of the unique burger toppings it features, and the Voodoo Lady exemplifies this. In addition to “typical” toppings like pepper jack cheese, romaine lettuce (not iceburg! See? It’s fancy!) and red onion. The Voodoo Lady also comes with pineapple, roasted poblano peppers, and jerk-ginger peanut butter. The varied ingredients come together and complement each other surprisingly well, with the sweetness of the pineapple and peanut butter enhancing the juicy meatiness of the burger. This was a nigh perfect burger, and it’s always hard for Eric to tear himself away from it to try the other appetizing and unique offers that Leadbelly has on it’s menu.

The side of roasted corn and peppers that came with the burger was good. It was a nice change of pace from the usual side of fries, and the corn was very well prepared. The only complaint is that there were only a few flecks of red pepper to be found in the side dish. Perhaps the chef was going for a “less is more” approach, but Eric loves red peppers and would have enjoyed a closer ratio of corn to peppers.

The Tempest cocktail made with spiced rum, ginger liqueur, lime juice, and sierra mist, arrived part way through the meal and was another great cocktail for the evening. This one was quite a bit more lighter and refreshing than Billy the Kid, serving as a nice contrast. It was later pointed out to Eric that The Tempest is Leadbelly’s take on a Dark and Stormy, a revelation that Eric has been kicking himself for not noticing sooner, ever since.

Wrapping up Eric’s meal was the delicious Bourbon Peach Cobbler. The peaches were exquisite, but Eric was hoping for a bit more of the pecan crumble to provide a bit of crunchy texture to vary the dessert a bit, but overall it was still very good.

Kyle’s Tuscan Panino is his favorite thing on Leadbelly's menu. He is a fan of really good paninis anyway, but this one takes the top prize for him. He does, however, finds it a little hard to explain why the Tuscan Panino is so good. He isn’t sure if it's the portions of cheese, or the type of sun dried tomatoes, or even the quality of toasted bread, but, despite this being a creation anyone could have recreated, he hasn’t come across anything quite as good as Leadbelly’s. He has even tried to recreate it at home, with no avail.

Kyle always feels a little weird pairing something like this Panini, with its glorious combination of favors, with something is simple as fries, but none of the other side items really trip his trigger. He had considered getting the roasted corn and peppers, so he tried a bit of Eric’s. Though there wasn’t anything wrong it them, it didn’t really seem to fit the meal either. Though the fries don’t have the same great flavors as the Panini, they are still excellent fires.

The vanilla bean ice cream and hazelnut, chocolate and caramel sauce, though just a simple scoop of ice cream, and sauce, turned out to be the perfect way to end the meal. The ice cream was delicious, but the sauces on top were perfect!

The Atmosphere:

Leadbelly is located in Midtown Crossing, a high end, mid-rise, development located in Midtown Omaha. Despite being a very new building, the restaurant attempts to bring in an older style of decor, using exposed brick, rustic wood beams, and exposed light bulbs. Leadbelly isn’t that large of restaurant, but the half walls and wood beams break it up in a way to make it look bigger then it is. The stone bar, with its large collection of liquor and multiple TVs is also comparably small to other establishments, but it works well here. Despite being in Midtown, parking anywhere in Midtown Crossing is easy. Several large parking garages are attached, and each establishment, Leadbelly included, validates parking.

Service:

The service at Leadbelly was fine, the waiter was friendly and gave us some drink suggestions. The drinks came out fast and cold, the food came out soon after, nice and warm. Although there was nothing special about the service, there was nothing bad about it either; it was smooth and efficient.

In the End:

Leadbelly is a place we have been to many times, and will continue to be a staple in our Omaha dining experiences. Funnily enough, it wasn’t the only time we went to Leadbelly that weekend! On Sunday evening we found ourselves in Midtown with a large group of friends. We headed over to a different restaurant in Midtown Crossing, only to find it had already closed for the night, so, the group voted, and back to Leadbelly we went!