THE BETTER HALF NEBRASKA’S HIDDEN T REASURES
MATTHEW HANSEN & SARAH BAKER HANSEN
THE BETTER HALF NEBRASKA’S HIDDEN T REASURES MATTHEW HANSEN & SARAH BAKER HANSEN
Smith Falls, east of Valentine, is Nebraska’s highest waterfall. On the previous page, downtown Red Cloud.
BY MATTHEW HANSEN AND SARAH BAKER HANSEN EDITOR DAN SULLIVAN
DESIGNER CHRISTINE ZUECK-WATKINS
PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER TERRY KROEGER
VICE PRESIDENT FOR NEWS MIKE REILLY
Copyright 2017. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior consent of the publisher, the Omaha World-Herald. Omaha World-Herald, 1314 Douglas St., Omaha, NE 68102-1811 First Edition ISBN: 978-0-692-96277-0 Printed by Walsworth Publishing Co., Marceline, MO
EXPLORING NEBRASKA Food critic Sarah Baker Hansen is from Omaha. Columnist Matthew Hansen grew up in Red Cloud. As a married couple, they traveled Nebraska to share with each other little-known people, unexpected moments and memorable foods. At each stop, they discovered more of what the state has to offer.
NORDEN CHADRON FORT ROBINSON
NEAR VALENTINE
CRAWFORD
ATKINSON
BASSETT AINSWORTH
ROCK COUNTY
O’NEILL HOMER CHAMBERS
NELIGH
SCOTTSBLUFF GERING
BURWELL ELYRIA
DODGE
ORD LEWELLEN
NORTH LOUP
BROKEN BOW
POTTER
FORT CALHOUN FREMONT
COLUMBUS PALMER
BRAINARD
ELKHORN
OMAHA OLD MARKET
GRAND ISLAND
COZAD
LINCOLN
OVERTON
KEARNEY
NEBRASKA CITY
HASTINGS HOLDREGE
BROWNVILLE
SACRAMENTO
McCOOK ALMA
Western Nebraska 9 CRAWFORD 17 SCOTTSBLUFF 23 POTTER 29 LEWELLEN 35 NORDEN 41 NEAR VALENTINE 47 BASSETT 53 ROCK COUNTY
RED CLOUD
Central Nebraska 59 ATKINSON 65 O’NEILL 71 ORD 77 OVERTON 83 COZAD & KEARNEY 91 HASTINGS 97 MC COOK 103 SACRAMENTO 111 RED CLOUD
Eastern Nebraska 117 127 133 139 145 151 157
HOMER NELIGH DODGE COLUMBUS OLD MARKET OMAHA LINCOLN
NEBRASKA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION NURTURES BIG DREAMS IN SMALL PLACES Choose any exit off Interstate 80 in Nebraska, drive a few miles north or south, and you’re sure to find something unexpected – like an Indian restaurant hidden away in a truck stop or a 4,500-square-foot retail space that celebrates Christmas year-round. In 250 of those places, you will also find evidence of an ambitious statewide network of 1,500 committed volunteers. Working through Nebraska Community Foundation, they’re rewriting the future of their hometowns, off the beaten path, in Greater Nebraska.
Jeff Yost President and CEO Nebraska Community Foundation
Nebraska Community Foundation is proud to have provided support for this collection of stories celebrating the intriguing, fascinating and often surprising treasures that make Nebraska such a special place. We share with its authors the hope that readers will be encouraged to explore and experience more of what makes “the good life” so great. Some of the people you will meet in these stories are longtime friends and collaborators of ours. They are part of a growing network of inspired people who are unleashing resources within their own place, and putting philanthropy to work in their hometown. For more than 20 years, Nebraska Community Foundation has worked alongside hometown leaders to identify and invest in the distinct local assets that lead to strong, progressive and sustainable communities. We are firm in our belief that everything we need is right where we are.
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N E B R A S KA C O M M U N I T Y F O U N D AT I O N
Nebraska Community Foundation isn’t your typical community foundation. We aren’t a charity and we don’t make grants. Instead we are a community development organization, committed to redistributing authority to the people who live and work in the communities we serve. Often these priorities center on attracting young families, who in the 21st century can choose to live wherever they want, including right here in Nebraska.
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The McCook Community Foundation Fund, an affiliated fund of Nebraska Community Foundation, touches lives in southwest Nebraska through investments in health care, education, youth programs, leadership development, recreation and the arts and humanities.
About Nebraska Community Foundation Nebraska Community Foundation empowers community leaders, builds nonprofit capacity and links charitable giving to the creation of greater economic opportunity and prosperity.
Recent headlines from Greater Nebraska suggest our strategy is working. In O’Neill, a record number of babies were born. Albion, Stuart and Pender have many more young families than they did 10 years ago. This isn’t the rural narrative we’ve grown accustomed to hearing – but that appears to be changing. According to U.S. census data, populations in many rural areas of Nebraska are stabilizing. Of the 6,000 rural Nebraska middle and high school students we surveyed, only 12 percent said their town was too small, and the majority could picture themselves living there in the future if career opportunities were available. Charitable giving is playing a critical role in these community success stories. Importantly, hometown leaders are having optimistic conversations about the future with youth and young adults. That’s a big departure for many small towns, where giving high school students luggage for graduation was the established practice. These days, the communities we work with are giving graduates personalized mailboxes, with an invitation to return home to plant their roots after pursuing an education. Community success isn’t preordained. It requires constant attention by people committed to relationships, well-being, opportunity and a hopeful narrative about our future. It requires people pursuing big dreams in small places – like many of the people you are about to meet through these captivating stories from “the better half” of Nebraska.
In the last five years, 39,142 contributions have been made to Nebraska Community Foundation and its affiliated funds. Since 1993, Nebraska Community Foundation has reinvested $291.6 million in Nebraska’s people and places.
N E B R A S KA C O M M U N I T Y F O U N D AT I O N
Today, the economic development question isn’t one of jobs. The better question is: Why here? Why do I want to live, work and raise my family in this community? People attraction is the new community economic development priority for building a prosperous future.
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A bequest of a quarter-section of farmland through the estate of a longtime resident allows an early start to construction of a new million-dollar community center in Byron, Nebraska (population 83). Pictured from left are Byron Community Foundation Fund advisory committee members Laura Tuma, Lane Hoops, Jaye Moeller and Melissa Kuhlmann. The Fund designated a portion of the gift to the community’s unrestricted endowment, which will provide an ongoing stream of revenue for generations.
Headquartered in Lincoln, the Foundation serves communities, donors and charitable organizations by providing financial management, strategic development, education and training to a statewide network of 1,500 volunteers.
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OUR LOVE LETTERS TO NEBRASKA “Jesus!” she heard me yell. “Jesus!” Sarah stared over at me from the driver’s seat. I was gesturing wildly from the passenger side, pointing maniacally out the window like a man who had been in the car too long. We were driving east down Highway 92 after a late lunch at the Branding Iron Cafe in Palmer. The cafe’s lone waitress had kept the place open late for the out-of-town strangers, and kindly offered complimentary french fries when she realized the corn had run out on the Wednesday fried chicken buffet. Now we were on the road again, returning home from one of the several dozen trips we took this year, when we crisscrossed the state searching for Nebraska’s best food, best places and best stories. We were just outside Brainard when I started yelling like I had seen the face of Christ. “Why are you screaming Jesus?” Sarah screamed back at me, possibly wondering why she married this man. “Not Jesus!” I hollered triumphantly, pointing and cackling. “Jisa’s!”
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INTRODUCTION
I had spotted a roadside sign advertising the headquarters for Jisa’s Farmstead Cheese, which happens to make the best Nebraska cheese nuggets you can find anywhere. We turned down a gravel road and soon stood inside Jisa’s aluminum-sided cheese empire, where a bemused employee agreed to sell two unreasonably excited customers as much cheddar out of their display case as we had cheddar in our wallets.
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That’s pretty much how it went this year, as we drove through nearly every county of Nebraska, on state highways and gravel roads and the occasional ranch driveway. We discovered, over and over, that the Cornhusker road less traveled can lead you to places that will lodge themselves into your long-term memory, if you let them. Listen, we know what people say. They say Nebraska is flat and boring. They say you should stick to I-80 and zoom on through. We are here to tell you: Don’t believe them. Why? Well, because there’s a place in Nebraska where you can eat authentic Indian food in a small-town truck stop, a place where you can squint and believe you are in a Parisian cafe, and also several places where
you can eat an organic free-range buffalo steak raised on a one-of-a-kind Sand Hills ranch. Because there’s a spot in this state where you can country dance inside a packed barn that time forgot, a spot where you can hike through giant rock formations that look like the surface of an undiscovered planet, and also plenty of breweries where you can sip a tasty local ale after a long day, look around and see the way forward for Nebraska’s most forward-thinking small towns. You will find all those stories in these pages, and many more tips on where to go, where to stay, and most importantly, what to eat. It didn’t surprise the two lifelong Nebraskans who wrote this book that the map dots and far reaches of the state have plenty to offer. Sarah is a suburban Omaha kid who grew up to become the Omaha World-Herald’s food critic. I’m a small-town farm boy from Red Cloud who was terrible at farming and became a World-Herald columnist. We have spent years traversing this state, preparing ourselves for this project without even realizing it. After surviving months and several thousands of miles together in a car, what did surprise this married couple were the unintended adventures. We kept bumping into little moments that we will remember long after the pages of this book have faded. The Better Half is the way the sun sets over the stunning Scottsbluff National Monument, and the way the stars twinkle outside Valentine, and the way you can unplug and breathe deeply while sitting on the porch of Red Cloud’s Kaley House. It’s the bad jokes told by Mike Kesselring over a hearty breakfast at Crawford’s High Plains Homestead, and the way Linda Kesselring shakes her head at each one. It’s the discovery of a Napa Valley-worthy restaurant in Dodge, and great Vietnamese food in central Lincoln, and the small-town waitress who keeps the cafe open late for you just because. It’s all the times we got lost. It’s all the times we found kindness, and laughter, and pie. What follows are our love letters to Nebraska. Praise Jisa’s for each one.
Western Nebraska C R AW F O R D
dodge
howells
crawford
scottsblu
HIGH PLAINS DRIFTIN’ Matthew Hansen
DOWN A COUNTRY ROAD IN UNTAMED NORTHWEST NEBRASKA IS A PLACE WHERE VISITORS CAN FIND THE OPPOSITE OF CITY LIFE — A REMOTE, columbus
atkinson
o’neill 30 miles south of Valentine FAMILY-OPERATED OASIS THAT OFFERS
A CHANCE TO GET AWAY FROM IT ALL. Photos by Ryan Soderlin
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The High Plains Homestead is the only evidence of civilization in this spot 18 miles from Crawford, Nebraska.
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C R AW F O R D
On the previous page, Jacquie and Wyatt Schmidt of Omaha relax in the evening outside of the bunkhouse.
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There is a place in Nebraska that you reach by bumping west down a dusty one-lane road, inching to your destination as the sun sets so brilliantly purple-red over the green bluffs and sand-brown peaks and valleys that you want to bring every person who ever said the state is flat and boring to this exact spot and yell, “Look!” You cannot talk on your cellphone at this place. You cannot watch ESPN. You can’t even pick up much more than static on the FM dial. You are a good half-hour drive from the nearest town and nearly three hours from Interstate 80, where people whiz by unaware. This place will confuse your car’s GPS. It will confound your iPhone-addled mind. At this place in Nebraska, here is what you can do: You can wolf down biscuits
and gravy for breakfast along with a slice of strawberry-rhubarb pie that will make you weak-kneed. You can hike to a nearby national geologic park that looks like the surface of Mars. You can hike back, through rock formations and prairie and bluffs, and devour barbecue ribs cooked over a roaring fire pit for dinner. As the sunset lights the sky on fire, you can sit on the porch and make the acquaintance of fossil hunters and turkey
hunters and stargazers. By starlight you meet people, like yourself, who need to take a deep breath once in a while. Guests who have discovered that this spot — this place called the High Plains Homestead — is the perfect place to breathe deeply. The High Plains Homestead is not exactly a bed-and-breakfast, and not exactly a guest ranch, and not exactly a restaurant, either. It is all of those things, and many other things too.
It is an oasis in the middle of the untamed, undiscovered northwest corner of our state. It is the nearest thing I have found to heaven in Nebraska. “I always say that this place is beautiful, when it ain’t tryin’ to kill you,” says a grinning man wearing a black cowboy hat. The cowboy is named Mike Kesselring, and he and wife Linda Kesselring, along with Mike’s folks, had the idea to build this one-of-a-kind place two decades ago. If you are a charitable person, you might describe their idea as audacious. If you aren’t, you might call it totally insane. Consider: Mike and Linda decided to construct a series of six guest rooms, a two-bedroom cabin, a restaurant and a little imitation Old West village in a spot 18 miles from the nearest town, which is the metropolis of Crawford, population 969. Most of that 18-mile drive is country road that quickly turns to muck in the rain and drifts shut in the snow. Only an abandoned farmhouse stood on the spot, which meant they needed to build everything from the foundation.
Also the electricity went out almost daily. Also the telephone cut out when the wind blew. Also there was no guarantee of running water.
Western Nebraska Road Trip
So Mike and Linda got to work in a way that reminds you of their hardy pioneer ancestors, except with Chevy pickups and George Jones songs in the tape deck. They dug a well 550 feet deep, struck water and didn’t complain when that water smelled strongly of rotten eggs — it’s the sulfur in the soil. “In California and Arkansas they charge extra for that sulfur,” Mike says. “Here we give it to ya for free!” They had the county string the power lines as best they could, bought a lot of candles and didn’t bellyache when the power went out four times, then 40, then 400. They did indeed build this place, and lo and behold, a few people did start to come. They bumped down the country road that turns into a miles-long driveway, curious, wondering what they were getting themselves into as the radio station faded into static.
Sarah says... People talk about Nebraska weather like it’s going out of style, and on this drive, we experienced it: It was sunny when we left Omaha. By the time we got to central Nebraska? You guessed it: full-on blizzard. We arrived at our destination, High Plains Homestead, just in time to watch the sun set.
Matthew says...
Reservations by email: drifter@highplains homestead.com
Hired hand Dylan Ranger cleans the windows of the Badlands Mercantile at the High Plains Homestead.
Season runs from mid-April through mid-November.
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263 Sandcreek Road Crawford, NE 69339 308-665-2592 www.highplainshomestead.com
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High Plains Homestead
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C R AW F O R D
Sarah thought this was cool. I didn’t because I was driving.
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C R AW F O R D
Linda Kesselring serves dinner to a customer. The eatery is a popular stop for people looking for family-style meals with fantastic pies.
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Outdoorsy types came because Toadstool Geologic Park is only 9 miles up the road. It’s called Toadstool because the rock formations look like giant toadstools. It offers a hike through the Mars-like environment of peaks and ravines that opens onto the Oglala National Grassland — nearly 100,000 acres of pristine high country prairie that reminds you this wilderness existed for millennia before we carved it into pastures and fields and cities. Toadstool is breathtaking. It is soul cleansing. It is maybe the most beautiful spot in the entire state of Nebraska. College professors and amateur fossil enthusiasts came because the Hudson-Meng Bison Kill site is only 3 miles down the road. It’s called the Bison Kill site because 10,000 or so years ago, hundreds of bison
met their maker either because Native
or ribs, or burgers, followed by a slice of
Americans drove them over a cliff or
Linda’s transcendent pie. Mike and Linda
because they perished due to natural,
keep the prices low, and people drive an
mysterious causes. Today the site is one
hour or two for what’s probably the best
of the largest archaeological digs of its
Saturday night dinner in a five-county
kind in the world, as well as an education
area.
center open to the public each summer.
“I don’t know if there’s a word for that
And history buffs came because Fort
business model,” Mike says. “The way
Robinson is only 20 miles from here.
families do dinner, I guess. That’s the
Fort Robinson is where the U.S. military
way we want to do it here.”
— including the Buffalo Soldiers — fought the Indian wars. It’s where, 140 years ago this year, the famed Lakota chief, Crazy Horse, got bayoneted in the back as he allegedly resisted arrest.
City folk came to stay in one of the Homestead’s eight rooms because it is exactly the opposite of city life. On a three-day trip we saw deer, antelope, wild turkeys, migrating ducks, longhorn cattle,
Locals came because Mike and Linda
a pair of donkeys and at least three wildly
started to cook what they refer to as
hospitable black farm cats. We saw a pos-
family meals: buffalo steaks on the grill,
sum waddling into the tall grass, a badger
sprinting out of sight, a hawk circling its prey and a male prairie chicken doing its funky mating dance, which looks like the “Wild Kingdom” version of any dance floor in a college town, except the prairie chicken wasn’t wearing Axe body spray. One day my wife, Sarah, glimpsed a meadowlark improbably perched on the entrance sign that says “High Plains Homestead” to sing its meadowlark song. At night, when we crawled into bed, we heard coyotes howling somewhere in the pitch-black darkness. “We think everybody deserves a place like this,” Mike says.
An old-time jail and a post office are among the buildings that create a little imitation Old West village.
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The “Saloon Girl” is one of six guest rooms at the High Plains Homestead. A cabin is also available for visitors, along with facilities for campers and recreational vehicles.
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C R AW F O R D
There are many reasons to come to High Plains Homestead, but none of those reasons fully explains why people return again and again.
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Mike Kesselring cooks up ribs over a wood fire for dinner at the Homestead.
C R AW F O R D
One couple, from Minnesota, have been back every summer for the past 19 years. Most of the homestead’s rooms are booked on summer weekends and crowds of people show up for steak or buffalo on most weekend nights.
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And dozens of Omahans drive the eight hours across the state to visit High Plains Homestead each year. Omaha-area residents like Brad Woodle, who lives in Papillion and owns Jim’s Moving and Delivery Co. in the city.
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The post office features vintage postcards and an antique typewriter.
Homestead each May. During the day they hiked the trails. At night they sat as a family on the porch with no TV, no iPhones, no distractions. “We sat on the deck and watched the sun go down,” says Woodle, whose children are grown now. “It’s just kind of … peaceful.”
Woodle first stayed at the High Plains Homestead during a November deer hunt maybe 15 years ago. Then he stayed there to deer hunt the next year, and the next.
The return business has something to do with Mike and Linda, who run this place like the favorite country aunt and uncle you never knew you had. Mike grills the meat, shows you where to hike and hunt and tells the jokes at breakfast. Linda books the rooms, makes the pies from scratch and shakes her head in mock horror at Mike’s jokes.
Then he started bringing his wife and two teenage kids out to High Plains
On a recent trip we watched as a couple from Orlando, Florida, perused the
So it has something to do with the hospitality, and the other guests, and yes, the pie too. But, at least for me, the biggest draw is the nearly indescribable feeling you get here when you are awakened by the sunrise, go for a jog down Sand Creek Road and watch as the wildlife and the wilderness itself awaken before your very eyes. It’s the
I have been to Paris, and Tuscany, the Big Easy on a sweltering summer night and the Big Apple on a postcard-perfect fall Sunday. But when I think of my favorite places, a spot will also be reserved for a sort-of guest ranch and a not-quite bed-and-breakfast located 18 miles from the nearest town in extreme northwest Nebraska. I tell Mike this, and he ponders it for a moment. “Out here you need to be resilient, independent,” he says. “You need to understand and appreciate the help of others. “That’s kind of what made Nebraska what it is, isn’t it? The one-finger wave comes from somewhere, don’t it?”
Some people drive an hour or two on Saturday nights for what might be the best dinner in a five-county area.
Matthew says... Maybe my favorite drive in the state starts at High Plains Homestead, goes past a church and the Native American memorials, jogs west, comes back down through Sowbelly Canyon and ends at Fort Robinson. This three-hour tour will restore your faith in Nebraska’s beauty.
Fort Robinson No trip to northwest Nebraska is complete without a stop at Fort Robinson, a beautiful place from which to discover so much about the history of the American West. Crazy Horse died here in 1877 after being bayoneted by a U.S. soldier. You can go stand on the spot where the famed warrior fell. Fort Robinson was also home to the Buffalo Soldiers, the famed all-black Army unit, who were stationed here in the late 1880s. Today you can stay in the lodge, eat in the restaurant, bike, hike and explore the fort’s preserved buildings. It’s well worth a day trip.
C R AW F O R D
“They are going to be telling that story the rest of their lives!”
And it’s the feeling when you turn left into the entrance to High Plains Homestead and bump toward this singular spot as the sun sets purple-red over the spring snowcapped bluffs and the rocky ravines and the waving green grasslands.
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They might never use that blanket. It doesn’t much matter, Mike said.
Western Nebraska Road Trip
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Mike told me later that he and the couple ended up driving into town, laying the buffalo hide across the main street in Crawford, covering it in plastic and then roping it tight enough so they could fit it in the biggest box the owner of the hardware store could find.
feeling you get when you sit on the porch, a cheap light beer in hand, and stare up with your loved ones and your new friends at the glittering stars.
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Kesselrings’ selection of buffalo hides for sale, picked one out and then pulled Mike into the elaborate and highly entertaining process of attempting to ship a gargantuan beast’s hide from a place without a FedEx rep to a state not known for the sort of subzero temperatures requiring the world’s warmest blanket.
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Western Nebraska SCOTTSBLUFF
howells
crawford
scottsblu
potter
DRAWN BY LANDMARKS, THEY STAY FOR THE FOOD Sarah Baker Hansen
atkinson
o’neill
30 miles south of Valentine
bassett
VISITORS WHO COME FOR CHIMNEY ROCK, THE OREGON TRAIL AND THE SCOTTS BLUFF NATIONAL MONUMENT ADD A STOP AT A RESTAURANT THAT BEGAN AS A COFFEE SHOP AND EVOLVED WITH AN IMAGINATIVE MENU. Photos by Ryan Soderlin
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SCOT TSBLUFF
The Emporium’s dining room has hosted visitors from as far away as France and Australia.
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On the previous page, chefs Rob Backus (left) and James Montoya man the kitchen at the Emporium.
Sara Schluter kept her first rule succinct: No iceberg lettuce. The first-time restaurateur’s second rule was a little tougher to pull off in Nebraska: No baked potatoes wrapped in foil. But her third rule of order at the Emporium, maybe Scottsbluff’s first and still among its best fine-dining spots, was unheard of. “No steaks,” Sara remembers, chuckling. The Sara Rule of Steak may have been the shortest-lived edict in Nebraska restaurant history. And, yes — years after Schluter and husband Ron transformed the place from coffee shop to lunch spot to, eventually, high-end restaurant — steak is on the menu at the Emporium. “That rule didn’t really go so well for me,” Sara says. The rest of her ideas to introduce this city
of about 15,000 to the finer things in life — including fried Brussels sprouts with prosciutto, a bottle of Sonoma County rosé and the joy of dining on a sunny, wraparound porch — have earned the restaurant a hard-core following. And it’s not just locals who are wild about the Emporium. It’s caught the eye of tourists from across the U.S. and from as far away as France and Australia who have come to western Nebraska to follow the
Oregon Trail or see Chimney Rock. And celebrities have taken note. The Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan — directors of such films as “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men” — stopped in one day.
Sara Schluter
Thanks in part to Google, visitors (whether Oscar winners or not) have the opportunity to leave the area with memories of more than just the landmarks.
‘Let’s go see it.’ ”
“People think it’s the end of the Earth out here,” Sara said. “It is a great place to be. But a food destination? That’s not at the top of anyone’s thoughts.”
made salads and roasted chicken at the
Sara certainly didn’t think she’d be the person to change that perception when she and Ron moved from St. Louis to Scottsbluff in 2000. The couple, both born and raised in Lincoln, returned to Nebraska after the U.S. Postal Service eliminated Ron’s job in Missouri. One night he ran the idea of Scottsbluff past his wife. She got on her computer and, as many of her guests do now, Googled the town. “There was a Target and a Starbucks and Clinique counter, three things critical to a girl’s survival,” she said. “So I said,
The couple lived in the Holiday Inn for
Western Nebraska Road Trip
two months. By their second week in town, Sara said, they were regularly buying pregrocery store. Aside from steakhouses and Mexican, they didn’t find much in the way of restaurants. So nine months after they arrived they went to look at a little coffee shop with a plan: open a juice bar. “Can you imagine that?” Sara asks, laughing. The couple bought the Emporium, and ran it not as a juice bar but instead as a coffee shop with three or four lunch items. Slowly, that lunch menu grew to include more food, such as fettuccine with three styles of pesto. The business grew enough that Sara left her other full-time job to run the place in 2002. “Then,” she says, “we dove into dinner.”
Sarah says... Though the accommodations are certainly comfortable at Barn Anew B&B, the real reason to go is the unobstructed view of the Scotts Bluff National Monument, stunning during a Nebraska sunset.
1818 First Ave. Scottsbluff, NE 69361 308-632-6222 emporiumrestaurant.com
The Emporium in Scottsbluff started as coffee shop with just three or four lunch items on the menu.
Monday-Saturday 6:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Closed Sundays
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The Emporium
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No offense to Chimney Rock, but Scotts Bluff National Monument is way more scenic and way more accessible. Drive by Chimney Rock but get out and hike the monument.
SCOT TSBLUFF
Matthew says...
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Lincoln’s Vietnamese restaurants are popular, in spite of their proximity to each other.
Places to find pho in Lincoln 940 N. 26th St. No. 201 (402) 261-4655 banhwichcafe.com
Pho Factory 940 N. 26th St. No. 206 (402) 261-3213 phofactorylincoln.com
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LINCOLN
Banhwich Cafe
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House of Hunan 2401 N. 48th St. (402) 467-2393
Vung Tau Pho Grill 2708 Y St. (402) 438-9959
Pho Nguyenn Restaurant 611 N. 27th St. (402) 477-2058
“A few years ago, a lot of locals didn’t know what pho even was,” she said. “The five years since we’ve been open, a lot has changed.” That’s clear, especially when Lincoln can support so many restaurants in such close proximity. Vinton agreed with that summation. “Even 15 years ago or so, there were just a handful of places to go eat Vietnamese,” she said. “The business ownership has exploded, and a lot of them are along 27th Street.” After I left Pho Factory, I went across to Vung Tau, which is literally one minute away, on the other side of 27th Street. The broth here is more gentle in flavor, meaty but mild, and the bowl has a different look: thinner, wider slices of
beef, lots of tripe tangled in with the noodles and super tender brisket, my favorite element of this bowl. I met Mickey the next day across town, at her favorite spot. I’m far from the first person she’s taken to House of Hunan, which I guarantee I’d not have discovered on my own. From the outside, it looks like the average strip mall Chinese spot, but it is much more than it seems. “Nothing beats homemade food,” Mickey said, as we settled into our corner booth. “But this is the closest to homemade.” Mickey doesn’t usually order pho when she eats at a Vietnamese restaurant. She instead got bun bo hue, a spicy soup with a bright red broth, thicker noodles and pork, among other ingredients, that she said comes from the middle region of Vietnam.
Eastern Nebraska Road Trip
with a second generation Vietnamese-
House of Hunan had, by far, the most flavorful, meatiest, spiciest broth I tried at any place. Mickey said her family likes it because it’s a good value for the money, and
balance. I wasn’t left with a bowl of noodles and no meat when I was finished. So far, Mickey said she hasn’t learned her mom’s cooking secrets; her mom wants her to focus on her computer science studies. “Everyone knows my mom is an amazing cook, and I never really took it seriously,” Mickey said. “But I want to learn.” We slurp the last of our noodles, and head out to the parking lot. I felt really lucky that afternoon to have been hanging out Nebraskan willing to let me in on her family history — and help me find the best version of the soup she so clearly loves. If you’re smart, you’ll go find a bowl, too.
Hi, I am Machungssssssssh. I will now gladly take my timeless metal plate filled with a timeless slice of pizza and side of a timeless half-loaf of bread and skip back to the timeless front porch. Oh, Yia Yia’s, I love you so much that I want to draw several pink hearts in your yearbook. Never change XOXO.
LINCOLN
Mickey is the president of the Vietnamese Student Association at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she’s a sophomore. She didn’t lead me astray on my pho journey, that’s for sure.
and plenty of toppings, but still kept its
Yia Yia’s Pizza in Lincoln never changes, and thank the gods of pizza for that. The thin-crust pizza is crisp and cheesy, and often topped with just the right amount of chicken or bacon or both. The beer selection is gigantic and eclectic. The woman at the counter is just the right amount of unfriendly. When they yell your name through the tinny ancient mic to tell you your slices are ready, it sounds like, “Machungssssssssh.”
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indeed, it did have a ton of meat, noodles
E A S T E R N N E B R A S KA
Mickey’s parents met in Lincoln — her dad, Alex Tran, came here when he was 6, after the fall of Saigon, and her mother, Tuyet Nguyen, when she was in her early 20s. The two met at a Lincoln Vietnamese church, Immaculate Heart of Mary, where they were both in the choir. The family still goes to and volunteers at the church, which is known for serving pho on periodic Sundays and a buffet of takeaway Vietnamese street food and snacks on some Saturdays. (Mickey insisted we check it out, and I left with a savory meat pie and a sweet sesame bun for around two bucks.)
Matthew says...
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Goi Cuon spring rolls are a traditional Vietnamese offering.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The idea for this book took form thanks to two men: Jeff Yost and Mike Reilly. Jeff, the director of Nebraska Community Foundation, has been after us to do a Nebraska food guide for years. He jumped at the chance to co-sponsor this project, and both encouraged and reveled in the idea as it morphed into something that celebrates both small-town food and small towns themselves. Thank you, Jeff. This never would have happened without your unwavering support.
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A C K N OW L E D G M E N T S
It was Mike, The World-Herald’s vice president for news, who came up with the title of the book, “The Better Half.” He said yes to the book when it would have been far easier to say no. He and executive editor Melissa Matczak then gave us ample time to complete this project, embraced the unusual partnership between a newspaper and a nonprofit and never balked at a stream of expense receipts coming in from towns like Crawford, which is, at last check, 509 miles from The World-Herald newsroom.
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The idea for The Better Half never would have become reality without the constant and crucial work of two women: World-Herald editor Deb Shanahan and Reggi Carlson, the Community Foundation’s communications specialist. Deb, the editor of The Better Half newspaper series that preceded this book, shepherded the project for the better part of a year. She edited with a kind eye, remained patient as we added and discarded story ideas at rapid pace and never once accused us of going on a long, meandering paid vacation in search of this state’s best burger (Block 16, Omaha) and the state’s best BBQ (maybe Dairy Sweet in the aforementioned Crawford). Thank you for that, Deb.
Reggi, meanwhile, did the heavy lifting at Nebraska Community Foundation, producing a series of stories that are themselves valuable, providing contact info for people we needed to meet and getting only slightly nervous when we disappeared into the state for weeks on end. We also must thank World-Herald photographer Ryan Soderlin, who went above and beyond to capture many of the stunning photos in this book. He got up way earlier than we did to take photos of stunning western Nebraska sunrises, and went to bed way later than we did as he chased the perfect photo at the Norden Barn Dance and the Nebraska Star Party. Your hard work is much appreciated, Ryan. Finally, we couldn’t have done this without the state of Nebraska itself. There are many things that divide us in 2017, urban and rural, cars vs. pickup trucks, left and right, fancy heels vs. cowboy boots. And yet, almost every one of the people we encountered throughout the state treated us with kindness that it’s easy to believe no longer exists. They saw that we were genuinely interested in what Nebraska has to offer, and they repaid that genuine interest many times over. Kyle Arganbright, Clete Baker, Harry and Shelly Chaudhary, Kirk Enevoldsen, Vince Furlong, Darech Gaskill, Michael Glissman, Levern Hauptmann, Jean Jacobson, Linda Kesselring, Mike Kesselring, Jarrod McCartney, Marcos Mora, Ashley Olson, Darby Paxton, Becky Perrett, Joe Starita and Mickey Tran – the stories in this book do not happen without each of you. Thank you.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS Sarah Baker Hansen Sarah Baker Hansen is the food critic for the Omaha World-Herald. She writes restaurant reviews, and started the periodic Food Prowl series, wherein she creates teams of tasters and goes around Omaha to find favorite foods in a number of categories. The series has resulted in close to 40 “best of” winners in categories including Reuben, fried chicken, ice cream, barbecue, pizza and pie, among many others. They can be found online at Omaha. com/foodprowl. She also is a regular guest on The Bottom Line, an Omaha-based radio show. “The Better Half” is her second book. She also wrote "The Insider's Guide to Omaha and Lincoln," part of a series of internationally focused travel books. She won a 2015 Great Plains Journalism Award for best review. Baker Hansen was born and raised in Omaha. She graduated from the University of NebraskaLincoln with a bachelor's degree in News Editorial Journalism. She loves eating, cooking, travel and fashion.
Matthew Hansen
He has won several national journalism awards, including a Society of Professional Journalists Award in 2009, honors from the National Headliner Contest in 2013 and 2014 and a 2017 Inland Press Journalism Award in profile writing for his story on Richard Hart, which can be found in this book. He was named the 2015 Great Plains Writer of the Year.
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Hansen, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate, has worked in newspapers for more than a decade, starting at the Lincoln Journal Star and moving to The World-Herald in 2006. Previously he covered the military, writing extensively about Nebraska veterans living with PTSD. He traveled to Afghanistan to report on the war. He has also covered higher education, where his stories helped lead to the impeachment of a University of Nebraska regent and the resignation of a UNO chancellor.
A B O U T T H E AU T H O R S
In his five years as metro columnist for the Omaha World-Herald, Matthew Hansen has written about presidents, senators and governors, cops, gangsters and drug snitches, Cuba, Afghanistan, love, death and an 85-yearold man who almost went to federal prison because he refused to stop growing bandit asparagus.
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EDITOR Dan Sullivan
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PHOTO CREDITS
DESIGNER Christine Zueck-Watkins
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CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Deb Shanahan Pam Richter Pam Thomas INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGER Michelle Gullett PRINT AND PRODUCTION COORDINATORS Pat “Murphy” Benoit Bryan Kroenke
WORLD-HERALD PHOTOGRAPHERS Ryan Soderlin Kent Sievers Rebecca S. Gratz Megan Farmer Matt Dixon Sarah Hoffman Matt Miller OTHER PHOTOGRAPHY Nebraska Community Foundation Matthew and Sarah Baker Hansen Kathy Thayer Heine Shane Booth “Two Gun Hart” and the Hart family
PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER Terry Kroeger VICE PRESIDENT FOR NEWS Mike Reilly EXECUTIVE EDITOR Melissa Matczak DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Jeff Bundy DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Rich Warren REPRINT INFORMATION Omaha World-Herald photos are available from the OWHstore. Call 402-444-1014 to place an order or go to OWHstore.com.
THE BETTER HALF NEBRASKA’S HIDDEN T REASURES OMAHA WORLD-HERALD FOOD CRITIC SARAH BAKER HANSEN GREW UP IN SUBURBAN OMAHA. HUSBAND MATTHEW, WORLD-HERALD COLUMNIST, CAME FROM RED CLOUD, POPULATION 1,000. THEY’VE EXPLORED THE STATE FROM BORDER TO BORDER, AND EACH HAS LEARNED TO LOVE THE PART OF THE STATE THEY DIDN’T KNOW: THE BETTER HALF.
CRAWFORD H SCOTTSBLUFF H POTTER H LEWELLEN H NORDEN H NEAR VALENTINE BASSETT COZAD HOMER
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ROCK COUNTY KEARNEY
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NELIGH
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ATKINSON
HASTINGS
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DODGE
H H
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MC COOK
O’NEILL H
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SACRAMENTO
COLUMBUS
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OMAHA
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OVERTON RED CLOUD
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LINCOLN
About the Hansens Sarah Baker Hansen reviews restaurants and originated the Food Prowl series that finds favorites in a number of food categories. Matthew Hansen’s column has explored a wide range of topics, including politicians, crime, war, love, death and two brothers who invented an electric tool for cleaning fish.
$29.95
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