Dario's Brasserie: My personal dining adventure.

Dario's Brasserie

4920 Underwood Avenue
Omaha, NE 68132
(402) 933-0799

www.dariosbrasserie.com

Eric and I had planned on doing dinner out on Saturday night, but really not sure where we wanted to go. I spent much of my day at work perusing local restaurant menu's and stumbled upon Dario's website. Dario's is a lovely little french restaurant in the heart of Dundee. Eric and I don't often do french cuisine... in fact, I can only recall eating at one french restaurant in the eight years we have been together, and that was when we were on vacation in St. Lucia. In the mood for something completely different, Eric and I decided to head there for dinner.

I had read on a review online that reservations on weekend nights were a good idea, so I did call ahead to reserve a table for us at 7:00. Dario's has a lovely little patio for out door dining, where Eric and I had preferred to sit, but it was full already by the time we got there. So we were ushered indoors and sat at a small table toward the back of the restaurant, where their bar and waiting area are. (view from my seat is above) 

We started by looking at their very impressive beer menu. With three full pages on their menu and another 2 pages of seasonal selections they have pretty much any international beer you can imagine. I went with one of their fruit beers (peach Lambic) and Eric tried one off their seasonal menu. The had special glasses for each beer to best bring out it's flavor.

Then onto our meal. Eric wanted to try the escargots. This is something he has tried before and really enjoyed. I have never tried it, and was honestly very scared of the whole idea of eating snails. However, I did manage to let him talk me into it. 

The escargots are served in a bleu cheese and garlic gratinee, which helped it to look less threatening. Eric dove right in, and went right to telling me how good they were. It took me a minute to get the first bite in. I picked up one of those little suckers and blew on it (it looked hot) and stared at it, and put some more of the cheese sauce on it. Then I did the thing where you almost put it in your mouth, but then pull it away, over and over again. Finally, I did it. I put it in my mouth and chewed. It did not taste bad, and I had to say that out loud and tell myself over and over that it did not taste bad. The idea of what was in my mouth was still was very hard for me to get over. I ate a second one, and it started to taste a little better. By the third and last one I ate, it tasted good and I didn't have to think about it so much as I chewed. The cheese sauce was delicious and definitely helped me out a lot, we sopped up all of what was left over with our baguette. The actual snails themselves where very tender and not chewy at all, which made eating them that much easier for me. All and all they really weren't bad at all, and I was pretty proud of myself for trying something so far out of my comfort zone. On to dinner...

I tried the Lamb Steak; grilled and served medium rare with fresh mint oil and rice pilaf. It also included a side of veggies. My first few bites of this dish were really good. The lamb was super tender and seasoned very well so that it had a lot of flavor. It really just melted in your mouth. The veggies and rice pilaf were good, but really nothing too special. I liked the mint oil... at first, but as I continued to eat I started to feel like there was just too much oil on my plate. By the time I was finished, I kind of felt like I had just drank a bottle of olive oil. Which is really too bad, because the first few bites were so delicious. 

Eric had one of their specials for the evening. It was a ground beef/ground lamb mixture stuffed with fetta and other cheeses, served on pita bread over a cucumber salad with yogurt dressing and a side of fries. He LOVED his meal. The meat again was seasoned very well with lots of flavor, and the melted cheese that it was stuffed with was to die for. The fries were fantastic, and I stole several of them from his plate (as a side note, you can get an order with two dipping sauces as an appetizer... and you should if your meal doesn't come with them!). Eric really loved everything about this dish. He felt all those different elements really came together to make one outstanding meal, and was very satisfied with the out come.

So, there you have it. All and all I felt it was a good experience, and I'm sure we will be revisiting the brasserie (Their brunch menu looks delectable!). I got the chance to try something that I would have never been brave enough to try on my own, and lived to tell the tale. Hopefully, this will encourage me to be even more daring in my eating adventures.