‘Friendly Fine Dining’
Ryan Gish’s latest endeavor opens at new, buzzworthy Hotel Deco downtown
By Jim Delmont
Chef Ryan Gish has left Ryan’s Bistro in West Omaha (which remains open), his culinary home for nearly three years, for a new venture in the refurbished downtown Redick Hotel, an art deco building now renamed Hotel Deco. The Zin Room (think Zinfandel) was gutted and is now gleaming with a modern night club look – a place Tony Bennett would appreciate. Booths and custom-made black tables, modern light fixtures, comfortable black leather chairs, lots of decorative stone, a wall of wine bottles, a floor to ceiling fireplace and a mezzanine dining level for privacy make an attractive spot for pre-show diners.
Though the listed entrance is 1504 Harney, which leads into the newly decorated hotel lobby, the restaurant has its own canopied entrance mid-15th Street between Farnam and Harney. The location is about a block from the Orpheum and the beginning of the Old Market and half a block from Sullivan’s steak house and the Jazz Louisiana Kitchen restaurant. A kind of restaurant row is developing there, very near the big downtown public library.
The cuisine here is being defined as “Americana Fusion,” which is a fancy way of saying comfort food kicked up a notch. Gish calls it “friendly fine dining,” which is another good way to describe the menu. There is nothing snooty about menu or service, but it’s as good a place for dress-up as for casual. Ryan helped his father open Prestige, the huge eatery in West Omaha, then migrated to Ryan’s Bistro. Some culinary touches have followed him at all these stops, including one unforgettable appetizer: stuffed, baked dates (stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped in bacon) – amazingly rich and tasty ($8.99). The lemon caper sauce which I tried on salmon at Prestige is here somewhat transformed into a lemon-dill-caper cream cheese stuffing for elegant salmon puff pastries ($11.99). Gish has a deft hand with sauces – he melds his ingredients skillfully and comes up with subtle combinations – nothing is in your face, but everything is there for the taste buds. Cream sauces abound.
The artichoke dip appetizer made the journey, too, but lacks the kick and the steely artichoke taste of the version at the Bistro. Upscale in texture (no stringy artichoke pieces), and with no mayonnaise, the dip is smooth and rich, topped with Havarti cheese ($7.99). Also from Ryan’s Bistro are the wonderful “steak bites” ($9.99), a good-sized heap of baked steak nubs – cooked to order Cajun fashion – juicy, on a bed of sautéed spinach (nice touch) with a Worcestershire-sour cream dipping sauce. Other fun appetizers include house fries with truffle oil and béarnaise sauce; bacon-wrapped steak skewers; a $12.99 cheese tray; hummus (fresh and bright and a little different in taste and texture); chicken spring rolls, boneless chicken wings, and shrimp scampi. Cioppino, a San Francisco Italian seafood soup ($26.99), made the journey, too. The latter has clams, tilapia, and shrimp in a hearty, Japanese seasoned (miso) tomato broth – bright, with a salty seafloor flavor. There are lots of different recipes for this dish and this is a good one, if a tad pricey.
But what is a Nebraska restaurant without beef? The beef dishes here are superb – certified Angus prime beef beautifully prepared. You can get a filet, a pepper steak ($19.99), a 12 oz. New York cut, or tenderloin medallions ($19.99) – medium rare slices of beef swimming in a Tuscan mushroom sauce (made with white wine, mushrooms, and a touch of Dijon mustard and honey), delectable, and you can cut them with a table knife.
Lots of items are unique to the new menu, including three South of the Border possibilities: steak tacos, a beef enchilada, and a rich, filling chicken verde enchilada ($14.99), a meal in itself, made with chunks of chicken wrapped in an enchilada toasted at the edges, slathered with melted cheese and served with a salsa, sour cream and chives. Also new is a Bolognese sausage pasta (“simmered all day”), a clam appetizer with smoked gouda cream and sausage; red snapper; trout almandine; Chilean sea bass; Moroccan chicken (with a port wine and red onion reduction and Mediterranean seasoning).
If sauces are good, soups should be, too – and the soup of the day, Pablano chowder, was a knockout – a smooth rich concoction of cream, cheeses (Monterrey Jack and Cheddar), with bits of poblano pepper and potato.
A seafood entrée, bacon-wrapped stuffed shrimp ($24.99), were anointed with a barbecue sauce and wrapped in bacon neither limp nor overcooked. A Caesar salad was a little different in taste, but the smoked gouda “mac and cheese,” also migrated from the bistro, was mouth-wateringly delicious. You can also get it as an entrée with smoked chicken ($14.99). They also do a smoked baked potato as a side dish.
A word about sauces – there is wizardry in their preparation. With beef you can sample such sauces and toppings as “unami “(buttered Portobello mushrooms with goat cheese), “mpg” (mushroom, port wine, gorgonzola cheese) classic Oscar (crab, asparagus, béarnaise), havarti (mushrooms, havarti cheese and a balsamic drizzle) and a couple of others. With chicken entrees, five saucing styles are available, including pesto artichoke cream, picatta, mushroom Marsala and sundried tomato. About the latter, sundried tomato has an almost offensively aggressive flavor, but the Zin Room version is subtle, elegant, and a bit subdued – but full of flavor. This restaurant is worth a visit just for the sauces (and they are especially fond of smoked Gouda).
The wine list has about 50 reds (only 16 by the glass) and 17 whites (10 by the glass). Fancy ports and other after-dinner wines, plus elaborate cocktails and dessert drinks, are available. The beer list is short but includes 1554 New Belgium Black Ale on tap – a perfect brew for this rich cuisine – a real sipping beer, mellow like an amber, but thicker and darker. I also sampled a Castle Rock Pinot Noir ($6.99/glass) a smooth, light, fruity Pinot, not stringent, with a tart finish. This was “a house wine,” but was listed with the others (you have to ask which are house wines). Not deep-flavored, it was light enough to go with any dish. Fat Tire beer is also good with many of these dishes.
Migrating from the Bistro, among desserts, is Bananas Foster, the New Orleans favorite created at Brennan’s – here you can have flaming tableside service, with your server melding ice cream, flaming rum/banana liqueur and banana slices, with tossed cinnamon dancing in the flames. A bargain is that the Bananas Foster is about $10, for the customary two servings. Other desserts, made by pastry chefs here, are a cherry cheesecake, a carrot cake, a chocolate gateau (cake) with chocolate mousse, and fried ice cream with chocolate fudge.
Gish will be more hands-on later, but executive chef Peter Overmyer and sous chef Charles Jones are carrying the load now. Stephanie Hausherr is a pleasant, attentive house manager, Eric an excellent server, and live music (a strolling husband-wife team singing American classics the night of our visit) is routine. There are some beautiful party rooms here, too.
Don’t be put off by the elegance of some dishes (or some prices). You can order three kinds of hamburger for about $10 each, or a South of the Border favorite, or a pasta, and walk away, after dessert and a glass of wine or beer, without mortgaging your house. This is an enticing new restaurant, just opened, which is likely to get even better with time.