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Omaha Dessert Crawl: 10 of Omaha’s best – Omaha World
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• Map: Plan the route for your dessert crawl with our interactive map of all the restaurants featured here.
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A pub crawl can be a lot of fun, but when it’s confections rather than cocktails you crave, consider spending an evening or afternoon going on a dessert crawl. There’s perhaps no better time to stroll the streets and savor some sweets than during the holidays.
Pick up a copy of Sunday’s Christmas Day paper for:
Michael Kelly’s story of two men whose lives were forever changed 21 years ago by a broken mailbox.
Michael O’Connor’s account of how, for nearly 50 years, three sisters have kept alive the memory of a fourth during the holidays.
Plenty of advertisements for after-Christmas shopping deals.
From now through New Year’s Eve, many restaurants across the city are offering a variety of festive treats to celebrate the season. To help you plan your sugary dessert adventure, here’s a look at some of the sweet seasonal offerings.
For many regulars at Lo Sole Mio, 3001 S. 32nd Ave., it wouldn’t be the holidays without a generous helping of the Italian eatery’s bread pudding with bourbon sauce. Chef Dino Losole said his family’s restaurant goes through more than 40 pans of the popular dessert, served during the last two weeks of December.
It features house-made bread, dried fruits, nuts and a variety of spices. But what takes this dessert over the top, Losole said, is the sweet, decadent bourbon sauce (cream, brown sugar, bourbon).
“It’s one of those old-school, good-feeling dishes,” he said. “It’s warm and hearty.”
Losole said the dessert pairs wells with cappuccino, Tuaca or one of the restaurant’s special holiday drinks, including the Christmas Cookie Martini made with espresso, toffee liqueur and peppermint schnapps.
During the holiday season, pastry chef Heidi Schlicht puts in extra long hours at Delice European Bakery Cafe, 3201 Farnam St. One dessert alone — the bche de Nol — takes anywhere from three to four hours to make. It’s an item that many customers look forward to each year, Schlicht said.
Available by advance order, the hand-rolled, hand-decorated classic French cake is filled with hazelnut mousse and covered with chocolate ganache textured to resemble tree bark and decorated with meringue mushrooms and holly leaves.
The Midtown Crossing eatery also offers a wide range of readily available holiday treats in individual dessert servings. The seasonal selection includes: a Chocolate Mint Bomb cake with chocolate-mint mousse and chocolate ganache; gingerbread men; gingerbread cupcakes with eggnog buttercream and various cheesecakes in holiday flavors such as eggnog.
Black Forest cake is a holiday favorite dessert at Gerda’s German Restaurant Bakery, 5180 Leavenworth St. Owner Gerda Bailey’s version of the classic German dessert features three layers of dark chocolate cake, Kirsch cherry liqueur, whipped cream and cherries.
Other seasonal treats at Gerda’s include the classic German cookies Springerle and Pfeffernuesse and a sweet bread called Stollen, which is full of dark and golden raisins, citron, almonds and other ingredients.
Another restaurant offering old world holiday baked goods is Zum Biergarten, 513 Fort Crook Road North, Bellevue.
In addition to making Stollen, co-owner Lisa Wynn-Helbig bakes several kinds of cookies, including almond spritz cookies — an almond-flavored sugar cookie in the shape of snowflakes, stars or Christmas trees decorated with sparkling sugar or royal icing.
“They’re great dipped in a cup of tea or coffee,” said Wynn-Helbig, who also makes moist, cake-like Black Forest chocolate dessert cookies studded with white chocolate chips and cherries.
Follow the trail of gingerbread crumbs to WheatFields. The classic holiday confection (available in 5- and 16-inch sizes) is a big seller at all three of the restaurant’s locations — 103rd and Pacific Streets, 72nd Street and Highway 370 and 12th and Howard Streets.
“We’ve made 12 million, no 13 million, gingerbread boys and girls,” said co-owner Ron Popp.
The restaurant’s other seasonal sweets include a German chocolate dessert cake roll, maraschino cherry bar and peppermint stick cheesecake. New this year is gingerbread cheesecake featuring gingerbread pieces in the batter.
“You get that dark molasses and spice flavor,” Popp said. “It’s a good flavor marriage.”
In addition to wine, cheese, charcuterie and fresh-baked bread, cozy Old Market establishment La Buvette, 511 S. 11th St., offers several seasonal dessert items.
The selection changes each week, said employee Matt Harwell, but recent holiday offerings have included cherry almond chocolate bark, ginger ice cream and apricot walnut caramel tart. Served warm, the tart makes a perfect cold-weather treat and pairs particularly well with a single malt scotch or late-harvest Riesling, Harwell said.
Elegant and elaborate, the Waldorf Astoria red velvet cake is the holiday highlight at FarmHouse Cafe Bakery, 3461 S. 84th St.
Manager Christopher Miller said their version of the classic cake boasts “slight notes of cocoa” and is exceptionally moist. It’s iced with buttercream and topped with a mixture of maraschino cherries, chopped walnuts and chocolate ganache.
“It’s a very popular item,” Miller said.
Peppermint fans can enjoy a scoop of homemade peppermint ice cream at Petrow’s Restaurant, 5914 Center St. It starts with a vanilla base and includes lots of crushed peppermint candies. Petrow’s makes the ice cream with 14 percent milk fat, resulting in a richer taste and creamier texture, said general manager Brian Stavneak.
Jones Bros. Cupcakes, 2121 S. 67th St., has a trio of holiday-inspired treats. The festive flavors include a gingerbread cupcake with cream cheese frosting, a peppermint cupcake with peppermint buttercream topped with candy cane pieces and an eggnog cupcake with eggnog buttercream.
While many associate Upstream Brewing Company with its beer, the restaurant takes pride in its house-made desserts, all created by its Culinary Institute of America-trained head pastry chef, said Peter Kolb, director of operations.
Both locations at 17070 Wright Plaza and 514 S. 11th St., feature an array of calorie-rich, cold-weather comfort desserts, including chocolate bourbon pecan pie bread pudding, holiday-inspired cakes and crme brule.
“We have fairly big portions,” Kolb said, “yet it’s amazing how many people will force themselves to make room for dessert.”
View Holiday Dessert Crawl in a larger map
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Dessert Recipes with Bill & Sheila
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