First up – laaaaaadies night! A few months after moving here back in 2015, I was lucky enough to be adopted into a group of wine loving girls in my apartment complex. Since then, we have taken turns hosting each other for Monday night viewings of The Bachelor(ette) complete with wine, snacks, and venting about life.
The group has evolved over the years, with the most recent change being the departure of one of the real OG’s, Katherine. It is always bittersweet when friends move, but I am so excited for her new adventure back home in Minnesota!
To wish her farewell, we got the gang together and ventured down to the Blackstone Neighborhood. It had been a few months since I had been down that way, and hot dang…new stuff just keeps popping up! 
We started out at Blackstone Social with a round of PalOmaha’s (get it? Like a Paloma, but Omaha…haaaa). This spot can get pretty packed, but with a quick Facebook message the day prior, we were able to lock in a reservation for a table in the back. Service was attentive and the drinks were strong – definitely a solid start to the night!
Next up we snuck out the back and wandered around to a basement door with a light burning outside. We stood around thinking maybe we were in the wrong spot, but then a gentleman slid open a peephole and asked how many people we had. Sounds creepy, eh?
We were escorted into a cedar waiting room and after a few minutes, we were ushered into one of Omaha’s newest speakeasies, Osteria Segreto. It is a cozy bar with seating for about 20 and has that prohibition era vibe to it. The cocktails are crafty and original, and priced just right! This would be the perfect place to grab a pre or post dinner drink – it is not really intended to be the bar you spend your whole night at, so we did not…
It was time to liven things up! We crossed the street and stopped into Reno’s, which had just opened for the first time ever hours before. It is a brand new karaoke bar, but not the typical one stage with a mix of good and questionable performers. Rather, this is more in line with what you would imagine to see in Korea – private karaoke rooms to rent with your friends.
Unfortunately, all rooms were booked, but they did give each of us a coupon to come back for a free one-hour room rental – yes please! We poked around and noticed that the rooms varied in size and theme. Looking for a fun date night? Reserve the small room perfect for 2 people! Want to have your birthday there and sing Spice Girls with all your friends? Rent the large room for 20 people! It’s $5/person per hour – not a bad deal!
So that was my Friday night and it was a good one!
Saturday night was date night and the manfriend and I wanted tacos. Shocking. Earlier in the week I had spotted an article on Omaha.com about a new taco joint and get this…margarita garden!! It’s called Taco Co. and just opened in Benson.
Side note – as I am writing this, I am realizing how many new places I visited in less than 48 hours. I’m pretty impressed with myself for being so hip 😉
Anyways, back to the tacos. We put our name in at the hostess stand and were told it would be a 40-minute wait, but that patio seating was first come first serve. We gave it a shot and got lucky because a couple was just finishing their last drinks and told us we could sneak right into their table when they left. Thank you, kind couple!
The patio/margarita garden had a fun atmosphere with string lights, corn hole, wooden seating, and some greenery. It was so cute! Although, the most exciting discovery was that they serve their drinks in giant pouches aka adult Capri Sun! How cool is that! So of course, we had to try those while enjoying our puffy tacos. Yep, puffy…just how we like them! We tried the chicken, beef, and carnitas and had no complaints!
Date night win fo’ sho!
As if I hadn’t eaten out enough already this weekend, I had Sunday lunch plans with my “little sister”. She and I have been on a quest to find Omaha’s best fried chicken and this outing took us to Surfside Club in North Omaha. 
This is such a quintessential summer spot – situated right on the Missouri river, live music, palm trees, bright colored picnic tables, and an all-around fun atmosphere. The menu is small (choice of fried chicken, catfish, or pork tenderloin meals), but it is SO good. I can only speak to the fried chicken, but this quickly became one of our favorites. Super juicy and tender chicken accompanied by french fries and corn fritters. Those count as a vegetable, right?
This was the perfect place to end my weekend of food and drink adventures!
And because I know there are some eye rolls out there judging me for how much I dine out…relax! I got my 10k+ steps in each day and am on my way to meet with my personal trainer tonight! Hashtag balance.
-Leah
When your friend’s parents are visiting from Guatemala, why not take them out for an absurd amount of American Chinese food? Spending $450+ on dim sum is normal for a Wednesday night…right? 
I’m back – and I’m tan! After spending a week in the Jamaican sunshine indulging in too many buffets and too many drinks, I was ready to get home and get back to a healthy diet. 
On this particular trip, I fell victim to 6 enchiladas, 1 burrito, a half-pound of carnitas, fresh chips, and salsa. My bad. I didn’t eat it all that day though – pinky promise I had some self-control! My total was less than $20, which is such a deal for the quality of the food and I have made it into 4 meals so far. 
