Friday Flakes: Bye Week – Two Restaurants We Loved

Umami Asian Cuisine – Bellevue

My wife and I ate at the following two restaurants this past week. We went to Umami Asian Cuisine based off the recommendation from Sarah Baker Hansen’s contribution to eater.com which is her 38 Essential Omaha Restaurants. This was our date night before my basketball season started.

To start, as a non-sushi-expert-but-a-guy-who-has eaten-hyvee-sushi-and-blue-sushi, this was an eye opening experience. The sushi chef and owner of this Bellevue restaurant learned from the best sushi restaurant in Manhattan, NY. Check out the website.

So for my experience I told my wife that I think I now know what “good” or “great” sushi tastes like. Also the crab rangoon is the best I’ve ever had. My wife also got sesame chicken and I got the pad thai and we both thought it was the best sesame chicken and best pad tai we have had.

6 out of 5 stars.

Good Lookin’ – Omaha/Dundee

Good Lookin’ is a great brunch restaurant in dundee. After eating there we took our kids to one of the best ice cream places in the region (they provided ice cream to Martha Stewart’s wedding) and that place is eCreamery. I did not get any ice cream because I was too full after eating at Good Lookin’ brunch.

You order your food at a counter, take a number and then find a seat. Every time I’ve been there I’ve always been a bit nervous about finding a seat for my family but it has never been an issue. They appear to turn over tables quick enough.

Good Lookin’ tries to elevate the normal brunch items. I got the Chicken Fried Steak which came with potatoes and two eggs. That plate was full of food. My wife thought the potatoes were the best she’s ever had.

She also got the biscuits and gravy which is two very large biscuits draped with a bunch of slightly spicy gravy. My 6 year old got the same thing and loved it.

My 8 year old got the breakfast burrito and couldn’t stop saying “this is so good!”

We are planning on taking my mom there for her birthday in a couple weeks.

5.5 out of five stars.

What Omaha or Lincoln restaurants that you have been to lately would you recommend we check out next?

SPORTS! SPORTS! SPORTS! SPORTS!

Oklahoma State – NCAA decision to deny appeal, uphold Cowboys’ postseason ban ‘unprecedented,’ system ‘broken’
Oklahoma State, which had been given a postseason ban in 2020 but played under appeal, is now banned from the 2022 postseason, a decision by the NCAA that coach Mike Boynton said he was “disgusted” about.

Oklahoma State banned from 2022 NCAA Tournament after losing appeal of case tied to FBI bribery investigation – CBSSports.com
The NCAA rejected Oklahoma State’s appeal of a postseason-ban ruling from 2021 and upheld the initial punishment, the NCAA announced Wednesday morning. The Cowboys men’s basketball program will not be eligible to compete in the 2022 postseason. An appeals process that lasted 17 months allowed Oklahoma State to be eligible for — and ultimately play in — the 2021 NCAA Tournament, but the 2021-22 Cowboys will not be afforded the same fate.

Michigan State Reacts: Is Kenneth Walker the greatest running back in program history? – The Only Colors
Michigan State fans, cast your votes on the week’s biggest questions surrounding the Spartans ahead of the Purdue game.

Column: If a position group could win the Heisman, who would it be? – Land-Grant Holy Land
Last year was a great year for the Heisman Trophy, because wide receiver DeVonta Smith — i.e., someone who doesn’t line up under center — took home college football’s most prestigious award.

Since 2010, only two non-quarterbacks have won the Heisman Trophy, with Smith taking it in 2020 and running back Derrick Henry bringing it home in 2015. Running backs Mark Ingram and Reggie Bush (if you count it, which I do) were the only other two non-quarterbacks to win a Heisman this century.

TCU’s Next Head Coach: The Short List – Frogs O’ War
The departure of Gary Patterson at the helm of TCU football has left us all feeling a lot of feelings. It’s going to take some time to process all of them, but the world continues to spin as we do.

Lexi Sun isn’t taking anything for granted in her extra season with Nebraska volleyball | Volleyball | omaha.com
Lexi Sun took on a new role as a supportive bench player early this season. But she never gave up and after solid performances in the gym, she’s back in

Nebraska’s four seasons of poor efficiency prove Scott Frost needs a true offensive coordinator | Football | omaha.com
In firing the bulk of his offensive staff, Frost is also in search of new ideas, and perhaps an offensive coordinator who can hire some of his own staff the way defensive coordinator Erik Chinander has done with the Husker defense.

Exercise in futility? Changing coordinators during season rarely succeeds, but simplifying is a good place to start – The Athletic
Ruffin McNeill, a coach who actually made his side of the ball better, offers this advice: “Clear mind, fast legs. Cloudy mind, slow legs.”

Odell Beckham Jr. signing final dagger for Super Bowl-favorite Rams – Turf Show Times
The Los Angeles Rams continue their aggressive push to hosting this season’s Super Bowl by signing free-agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. LA is simply stockpiling weapons by adding the three-time Pro Bowler in hopes that a deep playoff push will occur.

Kevin Garnett wanted to team up with Kobe Bryant on Lakers before trade to Celtics – Silver Screen and Roll
For most of their careers, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett were rivals. Rivals that respect each other, yes, but rivals nonetheless: first when Garnett was with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and then again when he was traded to the Boston Celtics and clashed with Bryant’s Lakers in the 2008 and 2010 NBA Finals.

College Football Playoff Top 25 Rankings, Analysis: Ohio State, Michigan State – Off Tackle Empire
Ohio State is in the College Football Playoff. Ho hum.

What the Bo Davis rant says about the current state of Texas football – Burnt Orange Nation
In what is looking more and more like a rebuild instead of a reload for Steve Sarkisian, the new head coach appears to have a long road ahead in building a winning culture.

Lexi Sun isn’t taking anything for granted in her extra season with Nebraska volleyball | Volleyball | omaha.com
Lexi Sun took on a new role as a supportive bench player early this season. But she never gave up and after solid performances in the gym, she’s back in

“STICK TO SPORTS!” Nah.

German Insurance Companies Demand Perilous Playgrounds So That Kids Can Learn About Risk – Reason.com
Germany is adding greater risk to its playgrounds. Some of its climbing structures are now three stories high. And who is requesting this?

Insurance companies. They want kids to grow up “risk competent.” Ironically, “safety” culture is stunting kids’ risk assessing abilities, in their estimation.

“This is fantastic progress in understanding childhood as the right time for children to learn to recognize and mitigate risk,” says Gever Tulley.

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