I’ve been waiting more than a decade for Omaha to get soup dumplings. It has finally happened, and this week, the restaurant in question, Dumpling Empire, is the subject of my latest review.
Dumpling Empire doesn’t serve the exact soup dumpling in my memory, but it serves plenty of other good ones, ones that you should absolutely go try. The tri-colored soup dumplings, perhaps the star of the menu, are filled with hot, gingery broth and a small pork meatball inside a soft handmade wrapper. Eat them with patience, so as not to burn your mouth, and I promise you’ll be a happy diner.
Restaurants that push the Omaha dining scene in a different direction are always some of my favorites to write about, and I could barely wait the requisite four weeks to take my first bite of dumpling for this story.
It turns out that there’s several other dishes worth trying, not of the dumpling variety at Dumpling Empire, like hand cut noodles in chili oil, fun Japanese-inspired appetizers, huge bao buns and noodles mixed deliciously with scrambled egg and tomato, a classic Chinese dish more Americans should know.
See you in two weeks.
Sarah Baker Hansen is an award-winning writer who has covered Omaha’s food scene for more than a decade. She posts restaurant reviews and food news on her blog, sarahbakerhansen.com.
Jordan Larson has done it all and won it all in the world of volleyball.
An NCAA title with her home state Huskers. Five major club championships as a pro. Four Olympic medals with Team U.S.A. — a national record.
At 37, Larson’s illustrious playing career is winding down. But she’s using what life and volleyball have taught her to set up the next generation for a smashing success, freelancer Leo Adam Biga writes in our latest story.
The northeast Nebraska native is in her second season as an assistant coach for the Huskers. On the court, she’ll be the face of LOVB Omaha, a brand new pro team in a brand new league.
After an emotionally turbulent few years, Larson said she’s ready to “enjoy the ride.”
— Jeremy Turley, Flatwater Free Press
The Westside School Board approved the concept and schematic designs for Paddock Road and Rockbrook Elementary schools, both receiving $3.5 million from the district’s bond-funded initiatives. Erin Vik, director of nutrition services, reported steady participation in meal programs despite a return to pre-COVID regulations and shared goals for the coming year, including new contracts and boosting breakfast participation. The board also approved updates to conflict of interest and Title IX policies and heard public comment about processed foods. Read the full summary here, and the full meeting notes on the Documenters website.
Want to help inform your community and create better journalism while getting paid? Become a Documenter today.
— Leah Wambui Keinama, Nebraska Journalism Trust
Sara Gentzler here. Getting diagnosed with thyroid cancer meant spending a lot of time in the hospital and on the phone with pharmacies and physicians. And despite the lovely doctors and nurses, my environment in those weeks felt anything but hopeful. A dingy hospital room. A cold, sterile surgery clinic.
But walking into the cancer center at UNMC — with its airy spaces and beautiful artwork — almost immediately alleviated some of the anxiety that had accumulated in my subconscious. Meeting my thoughtful, competent oncologist did it again.
This facility just off Saddle Creek is “the largest public-private partnership in the history of Nebraska,” according to its website. You can almost feel the innovation buzzing when you walk in. Feeling relieved and at ease after my first official cancer doctor appointment? Not what I expected.
And so, entering that building felt like a metaphor for exiting the confusion and chaos that led to my diagnosis. The cancer is super treatable, and the prognosis is “excellent.”
I’ve only been to the Buffett Cancer Center once. But I’ll be in the vicinity next week to receive radioactive iodine treatment for thyroid cancer, and back for more follow-up appointments down the road.
I’m not looking forward to being radioactive or the isolation period that comes with it. But I’m sort of, strangely, looking forward to spending a little more time at the Cancer Center in the future.
Here’s to moving forward.
P.S. I’ll have a lot of time to myself next week. Send me your book, podcast, music, TV and movie recommendations: sgentzler@flatwaterfreepress.org
— Sara Gentzler, Flatwater Free Press
The Environmental Protection Agency established the Omaha Lead Superfund Site in 1999 after decades of emissions contaminated soil in east Omaha. The site became one of the biggest residential lead cleanup efforts in U.S. history, addressing soil contamination on more than 40,000 properties.
The Flatwater Free Press is testing the effectiveness of these cleanup efforts, and we need your help. If you live east of 52nd Street in Omaha and want to know where your lead levels stand, we’ve got a testing kit with your name on it. Pick one up from any of the following library branches: A.V. Sorensen, Washington, Downtown, Florence, South or Willa Cather.
Just fill the tube up with soil from your yard, complete a short form, return the kit the library and we’ll test the lead levels free of charge.
Check the status of your property by visiting the EPA’s Omaha Lead Superfund Site website.
If you have any questions, contact Leah Wambui Keinama at the Nebraska Journalism Trust.
Each year, Omaha Public Library encourages the community to vote for and read one book as a way to promote literacy and inspire discussion. Join OPL in reading the 2024 selection, “The War Begins in Paris” by local author Theodore Wheeler, and engage further by participating in a program and discussing the book with friends, family and neighbors.
https://omahalibrary.org/omaha-reads
The Omaha Police Department will stop serving “standard” no-knock search warrants as it reviews the procedure that led an officer to shoot dead an unarmed Black man last month. Activists have called for an end to no-knock warrants as well as a special counsel to look into charges against Officer Adam Vail. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine, who found Vail’s use of force to be legal, said he would not appoint a special prosecutor.
The 15-year-old shot at Northwest High School is in stable condition. The attorney for the suspected shooter told a judge Wednesday that the 14-year-old is the victim of “continued and excessive” bullying at the school, The World-Herald reported. He’s being charged as an adult with felony assault and gun charges. (You may need a subscription to read the second article.)
The Omaha City Council approved the city’s new budget, which includes reductions in property taxes. The council broke with the mayor’s recommendation by bookmarking $1.2 million to hire more firefighters in case a grant application the city made to the federal government falls through, Chris Burbach wrote in The World-Herald. (You may need a subscription to read this story.)
If you live east of 72nd Street, your water line may be made of lead. Over the next decade, the Metropolitan Utilities District will spend $157 million replacing them, The World-Herald’s Julie Anderson reported. The utility district will send you a letter when construction reaches your neighborhood. (You may need a subscription to read this article.)
In a letter to lawmakers, State Auditor Mike Foley questioned the increased use of tax-increment financing by Nebraska cities, KETV reported. Omaha has used the tool more than any other, including to finance the downtown-to-midtown streetcar. Flatwater’s Chris Bowling did a deep dive into Omaha’s use of TIF while he was a reporter at The Reader back in 2021.
The Flatwater Free Press is published by the Nebraska Journalism Trust, a 501(c)(3) public charity