"omaha" news and stories

Move over Portland, Seattle and Boston, you bastions of tree-hugging, earth-friendly eco-action. It's official. The greenest restaurant in America is in Omaha, Nebraska. That's right...Omaha.

The restaurant, The Grey Plume, was crowned by the Green Restaurant Association (GRA) after they broke two GRA records. It's the first restaurant in the country to meet the association's SustainaBuild standard, and has accumulated the most GRA points to-date of the nearly 315 restaurants participating in the certification program.

According to chef Clayton Chapman, those greening efforts included specifics like the installation of energy efficient lighting, construction of the bar, booths, doors, flooring and more from renewable or reclaimed wood; using compostable or recycled material in to-go packaging; integrating a full-scale recycling and composting program, and much more.

While some green-facility advocates say the greenest building is one that's already in existence, Chapman says the restaurant's initiatives were made possible because they're part of Omaha's new Midtown Crossing project.

"In order to do what we did, you have to start from scratch," says Chapman. "Our sustainability efforts were things we were going to do whether we were certified or not, but certification keeps everyone honest, and helped us implement all these green initiatives -- everything from sourcing things like soda to recycled drywall."

A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.

Smack dab in the middle of the country, nestled up against the Iowa border is the United States' 40th largest city, Omaha, Neb.

Back in the 19th century, Nebraska was home to a number of thriving breweries. But by the 20th century, Omaha's beer culture had stagnated. So in 1996, when Bill Baburek opened the Crescent Moon Ale House, he was a trendsetter.

"At the time, we were probably a little ahead of the curve," said Baburek, before adding, "for this town, not necessarily for the country. But for Omaha, to open up a beer bar without any mainstream domestic on draft was pretty much unheard of."

• After stints in San Francisco and Las Vegas, Omaha native Chef Travis Brink, returns to his old stomping grounds and takes over the kitchen at Omaha's French Café & Bistro.
• Mashed potatoes are meant to be made with cream and butter -- and no substitutes!
• Calls made to those turkey hotlines are just as strange as you might imagine.
• La Buvette Wine & Grocery has always been known as a place to drink, but now it's a place to eat (well) as well.
• A new 12,000-square-foot wine, beer, spirits and gourmet grocery store will open in Omaha right before Christmas.

A man in Lincoln, Nebraska has been accused of stealing over 27,000 pounds of rib-eye steaks from Universal Cold Storage, the place where he works. The man allegedly stole the beef over a four-week period while working on the loading docks, then turned around and sold the steaks to friends. I can't even imagine sticking a single steak in my purse, so 27,000 pounds is certainly, well, impressive, I guess.

According to the company, the stolen beef was worth $129,000. Those are some steaks, since that means they were $4.78 a pound!