pop-we Dinner Club Reviews Twisted Fork

Twisted Fork Grilled Chicken Plate.

This month population-we™ (pop-we) Dinner Club foodie Randy wanted something twisted as he chose the Twisted Fork located in the historic Old Market (1014 Howard St.) in Omaha, NE. They claim that their food is American comfort food with a Cowboy Twist. Blending Midwestern hospitality with cowboy bravado. The menu came about by a collaboration of chefs from restaurants located in Omaha, NE., Saint Paul, MN., and Frederick, MD.

When you walk into the Twisted Fork right away you notice the large bar along the left wall. The back of the bar is adorned with mirrors backing the selves, which are aligned with the assorted liquor bottles. On each side of the shelves there are televisions. As you pan your vision across the dining room, you will see chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and mirrors along the walls. On the left side of the room beyond the bar on the wall is couple wooden deer heads.

The menu is an interesting combination of sandwiches and entrees; from steaks, Cabernet Marinated Bleu Cheese Filet to Chili Relleno to Cowboy Breakfast Burger. I decided on the Grilled Chicken Plate which you have a choice of basil cream sauce, BBQ, or wild mushroom sauce served with vegetables and white truffle risotto. I ordered the dish with the wild mushroom sauce.

After compiling the surveys from the other pop-we Dinner Club foodies the club scores Twisted Fork a 3.7 star average on a scale of 1-5.

Atmosphere/Decor – 4 

Twisted Fork Apple Crisp Dessert.

Cleanliness – 3.75

Wait Staff – 4

Menu – 3.75

Food Presentation – 4

Food Portions – 4

Food Taste – 3.75

Cost (was the cost worth meal?) – 3.25

Noise Level – 2.75

Overall Experience – 3.75

For more information regarding directions, catering or Twisted Fork, visit their website at http://restaurantsinc.net/twistedfork/

Fellow population-we™ readers, if you've been to Twisted Fork leave us a comment and tell us what you thought?

Want to do this yourself? To review How To Start Your Own Dinner Club, visit our January post about doing just that. Remember it is a template; tweak it to fit you and your friends' tastes. pop-we Dinner Club: good food…good friends…good times.

-population-we™ blog post by Brian Brown
© 2014 population-we, LLC 
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pop-we Founder & Omaha Foodie Named to New Role at Dishcrawl

I am a foodie. But I'm not alone my wife is a foodie too. The Brown's could be considered an authority on food. Indeed, we are true foodies who love to make homemade meals and anyone who follows my wife on social media knows we eat out often.

Most already know about our population-we™ (pop-we) Dinner Club, which has been around for four years. Our club's taste, which is very similar to The Brown's, encompasses fine dining, chain restaurants as well as mom-and-pop cafés and dives in Nebraska. Past reviews can be found here.

Announcement sent out on social media.

That's why I'm reaching out to pop-we readers to share with you our next foodie adventure. Earlier this month, my wife signed on for a new role. Meet Dishcrawl Omaha's new Ambassador my wife and founder of population-we™, Becky Bohan Brown.

Those readers not familiar with Dishcrawl, the startup creates dining experiences and events to satisfy anyone’s craving. You can find your local Dishcrawl Ambassador, like Becky, leading you through progressive dinners, prix fixe dinners, and other fun food events! From culinary experiences in real life to great stories about local culture online, Dishcrawl spans 250 cities across the U.S., Canada, and soon the United Kingdom. To begin your food adventure, visit Dishcrawl.com.

"If you're interested in joining Dishcrawl Omaha on a foodie outing in the future -- you're always welcome to come Dishcrawling with us." Becky said. "Plans are to Dishcrawl at some past pop-we Dinner Club stops too. So, stay tuned and until then, Bon appétit!"

Visit www.Dishcrawl/Omaha for details. Also, a copy of her very first Dishcrawl Omaha event on April 9th is highlighted below:

DISHCRAWL OMAHA TOUR MAKES NEXT STOP AT MIDTOWN CROSSING

A delicious dining adventure through three culinary experiences this April

Omaha, NE – In 2013, Omaha’s very first Dishcrawl was held in historic Downtown Old Market. Next, Omaha foodies will travel up the road to Midtown. Midtown Crossing at Turner Park is urban living redefined, a 15-acre, urban development in the heart of Omaha’s historic Midtown neighborhood. Built around a revitalized Turner Park, the million-square-foot development includes condominium and apartment units as well as more than 220,000 square feet of restaurants, retailers and entertainment venues. Join Dishcrawl and other foodies just like you and dine at three very different restaurants in this trendy Midtown neighborhood. Your taste buds won’t be disappointed!

On Tuesday, April 9th at 7 p.m. Dishcrawl Across Omaha will tour Midtown Crossing. Chefs of three restaurants invite you to explore a dining adventure through their culinary delights in the heart of Midtown. Come eat with neighbors and friends--all while making Omaha foodie history. Don’t wait, reserve your ticket now! Reservations are limited, but still being accepted at here.

“Locals and visitors alike will appreciate this true culinary adventure, a mouthwatering multi-plate tour featuring three chefs in Midtown Omaha showing off their talents,” says Dishcrawl Founder, Tracy Lee. “Dishcrawling is a fantastic way to bring the community together with local chefs who are bringing exciting new things to our culinary scene.”

This adventurous dinner is only $45. Drinks may be purchased separately.

Foodies have the chance to win free tickets online by telling us which Omaha restaurant you love on Facebook (www.facebook.com/DishcrawlOmaha) or Twitter (@dischcrawloma). Must hashtag #dishcrawlomaha to be entered.

Contact Information: Becky Bohan Brown
beckyb [at] dishcrawl.com
Dishcrawl Omaha | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

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Register today, because seating is limited for Discrawl Omaha's April 9th Midtown Crossing event. Fellow foodies, in the future if you can't decide where to eat turn to pop-we Dinner Club or a Dishcrawl in your town for help. Bon appétit from The Brown's!

-population-we™ blog post by Brian Brown
© 2014 population-we, LLC 
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pop-we Dinner Club Reviews Wheatfields Eatery & Bakery

Ron's Honeyfried Chicken.

When it is cold outside there is nothing like good comfort food to warm you up. This month population-we™ (pop-we) Dinner Club foodie Conrad chose Wheatfields Eatery & Bakery. Wheatfields has three locations scattered throughout the Omaha metropolitan area: the Old Market (downtown), One Pacific Place and Shadow Lake in Papillion. With a slight European flare, they serve simple food that customers love. Serving breakfast all-day, Wheatfields has a large menu to satisfy any craving.

Our dinner club went to the One Pacific Place location near Regency (1224 S. 103rd St.). When you walk in you are greeted by a bakery counter:  filled with cookies, pastries, breads and other assorted bake goods, which are made on site. Since it was close to Christmas the dinning area had a large gingerbread house and a life size Santa Claus. We were seated in a section of the restaurant that is also a party room. The room was like a four-season room made out of all glass and a tall 4-foot fountain greets you as you enter the room.

After going through the menu, with much debate, I elected to try Ron's Honeyfried Chicken served with mashed potatoes, cole slaw and a butter bun. The chicken fried up to a golden brown, juicy and the honey made the skin sweet, it was different--but very tasty. The menu has a wide variety of dishes, from entrees, sandwiches, breakfast, and several potato casserole dishes that I have tried in the past and have enjoyed. They also offer seasonal dishes on their specials menu.

After compiling the surveys from the other foodies the pop-we Dinner Club gives Wheatfields a 3.8 star average on a scale of 1-5.

Atmosphere/Decor – 3.6

The 2013 GingerBread House Project at Wheatfields.

Cleanliness – 4

Wait Staff – 3.6

Menu – 4.1

Food Presentation – 4

Food Portions – 3.8

Food Taste – 4.1

Cost (was the cost worth meal?) – 3.1

Noise Level – 3.6

Overall Experience – 3.6

For more information regarding directions, catering or Wheatfields' menu, visit their website at http://www.wheatfieldscatering.com/#!entrees/c1s3r.

Fellow population-we™ readers, if you've been to Wheatfields leave us a comment and tell us what you thought?

Want to do this yourself? To review how to start your own dinner club, visit our January post about doing just that. Remember it is a template; tweak it to fit you and your friends' tastes. pop-we Dinner Club: good food…good friends…good times.


-population-we™ blog post by Brian Brown

© 2014 population-we, LLC 
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pop-we Dinner Club Reviews Council Bluff's Pizza King

We crossed the bridge to royalty this month as foodie Scott claimed Pizza King in Council Bluffs, Iowa, as our population-we™ (pop-we) Dinner Club's next stop. Since it was established in 1965, the Poulos family have been running the Pizza King. Located at 1101 North Broadway, this place got its name by starting with its namesake, pizza. Over the years they have expanded into steaks and seafood, which has brought them many first place accolades such as: service, bartender, pizza, server and favorite overall restaurant. Today it is still open seven days a week.

When you walk through the front door, before arriving at the host stand, you will pass a banquet room and a door to the bar on the right hand side. They can seat 350 people in the dining room and offer a full service bar. For larger parties there are three large banquet rooms for any occasion. We dined in a banquet room this evening. Looking at the décor, I do not believe it has changed much over the years--with the brass fixtures and large mirrors along the walls.

Tonight I decide on their lasagna. When it came out I was surprised that it was a good thick square. The sauce was a little on the sweet side but I was happy with the overall taste. It also came with a salad and bread. Salad was a little plain, not much too it, also they drowned it in dressing, which I did not care for.

After compiling the surveys from the other foodies the pop-we Dinner Club gives Pizza King a 3.93 star average on a scale of 1-5.

Pizza King Lasagna.

Atmosphere/Decor – 3.5

Cleanliness – 3.87

Wait Staff – 4

Menu – 4.12

Food Presentation – 4

Food Portions – 4.25

Food Taste – 4.12

Cost (was the cost worth meal?) – 4

Noise Level – 3.5

Overall Experience – 4

For more information regarding directions or Pizza King’s menu, visit their website at http://pizzaking1101.com/.

Fellow population-we™ readers, if you've been to Pizza King leave us a comment and tell us what you thought?

Want to do this yourself? To review how to start your own dinner club, visit our January post about doing just that. Remember it is a template; tweak it to fit you and your friends’ tastes. pop-we Dinner Club: good food…good friends…good times.


-population-we™ blog post by Brian Brown

© 2013 population-we, LLC 
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to leave a comment, 'Pin' or 'Like' it.

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pop-we Dinner Club Reviews Charleston's

Charleston's oven-roasted chicken.

Not to be confused with Charleston, South Carolina, this month population-we™ (pop-we) foodie Randy decided on Charleston’s. Charleston’s is located in five states with 16 locations. There are two locations in Omaha, NE: 13851 First National Bank (FNB) Parkway (off of Dodge by Boystown) and 7540 Dodge St. We visited the location on 138th and FNB. It is a freestanding building near a business park. When you enter the restaurant the dining area is straight ahead and a bar right of the entrance. It is dimly light place giving it an ambiance of a date night or special occasion eatery. According to their website they describe themselves as a casual upbeat restaurant with modestly priced American classic food with a warm comfortable décor.

Tonight I decided to try the oven-roasted chicken. Their chicken is herb roasted served with garlic-mashed potatoes and smokehouse baked beans. I was able to substitute the baked beans for green beans. I thought my meal was very good. The chicken was juicy and full of flavor complimented with the garlic mash and green beans--it was very enjoyable. My wife ordered the turkey burger, as she enjoys them very much but is particular about the red meat alternative. Becky expected a gourmet turkey burger because of the upscale restaurant. In her book Charleston’s turkey burger came up a little short. The meat was a bit dry and the bun was soggy not toasted.

After compiling the surveys from the other foodies the pop-we Dinner Club gives Charleston’s a 3.96 star average on a scale of 1-5.

Charleston's key lime cheesecake and molten brownie sundae.

Atmosphere/Decor – 4

Cleanliness – 4

Wait Staff – 4.33

Menu – 4

Food Presentation – 4.33

Food Portions – 4

Food Taste – 3.66

Cost (was the cost worth meal?) – 3.66

Noise Level – 3.66

Overall Experience – 3.96

For more information regarding directions or Charleston’s menu, visit their website at http://charlestons.ehsrg.com/.

Fellow population-we™ readers, if you've been to Charleston’s leave us a comment and tell us what you thought?

Want to do this yourself? To review how to start your own dinner club, visit our January post about doing just that. Remember it is a template; tweak it to fit you and your friends’ tastes. pop-we Dinner Club: good food…good friends…good times.

-population-we™ blog post by Brian Brown

© 2013 population-we, LLC 
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to leave a comment, 'Pin' or 'Like' it.

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pop-we Dinner Club Joins Urbanspoon Spoonback Program

According to James Beard, “food is our common ground, a universal experience.” This being said--attention foodies--it’s official population-we™ is now on Urbanspoon!

Urbanspoon Spoonback icon.

In January of 2011 population-we™ started a dinner club in which each month a member picks a restaurant to dine at with the club. Our club's taste encompasses fine dining, chain restaurants as well as mom-and-pop cafés and dives. At the end of each outing member's fill out a survey, which is compiled and reported on monthly by our food bloggers to our readers. You’ve asked and we’ve listened. Readers have commented that it is hard to find our pop-we Dinner Club reviews. So, if you've visited population-we™ recently readers may have noticed a new widget tab (shown at right), which directs you to a stand alone page featuring our pop-we Dinner Club Reviews. For your convenience, a compilation of pop-we Dinner Club's annual year in review posts are linked there as well.You're welcome! A link to Urbanspoon is now also on each pop-we Dinner Club post, too.

Those readers not familiar with Urbanspoon, the online foodie community allows you to keep track of favorite restaurants and share them with your friends. population-we™ is participating in Urbanspoon’s Spoonback program. A Spoonback is an automatic link from an Urbanspoon restaurant page to a blog post. Our pop-we Dinner Club reviews the restaurant on our blog and the link appears in a special Blogs section on each Urbanspoon’s restaurant page. So, from here on out look for our reviews under the “Blogger Review” on Urbanspoon.

Urbanspoon also offers an App that works really well for local eateries or when you’re in a town you’re not familiar with, too. Shake your smartphone and the Urbanspoon slot machine will suggest a restaurant. It's very cool!

In the future if you can't decide where to eat, turn to pop-we Dinner Club and Urbanspoon for help. We'll always leave a chair for you at the dinner table for pop-we Dinner Club: good food…good friends…good times.

-population-we™ blog post by Becky Bohan Brown

© 2013 population-we, LLC 

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pop-we Dinner Club Reviews Firewater Grille

Firewater Grille in Omaha.

This month population-we™ (pop-we) foodie Sue thought we should go for some island flair. So, our dinner club went to the Firewater Grille, located inside the Comfort Inn at 7007 Grover St., in Omaha, NE. When you arrive you immediately notice the outside patio, which has some nice propane fire tables. To get to the main entrance of the restaurant you need to walk through the lobby of the hotel. As you walk in you notice to the left there is a funky tiki hut style bar, there is also a stage for bands, along the back wall. Several flat screen televisions appear around the bar and restaurant areas. The bar area seems way bigger than the dining area.

Our party of 12 was sat in a back corner by the kitchen. It was a mix of a booth, a corner seating section and chairs with cheap plastic tables. The corner booth seat had a boot print on the vinyl from where someone was standing, probably adjusting the television above the bench.

I decided to try the Jamaican Jerked Short Rib. The short rib was big like something from the Flintstones. Unfortunately, that was the best part, as for being a Jamaican Jerk--it really did not have any flavor to it, also it was dry and fatty. I was really disappointed, as I am fan of Jamaican Jerk; too bad it was more like beef jerky. The dish was served with rice and vegetables, which were good. Another foodie ordered the Mango Cheese Cake, not sure how they made it, as it was rubbery to where you could bounce a spoon off it.

I believe the Firewater Grille is somewhere you could hang out for cocktails; as they did have good $3 Mai Tai’s and a relaxing outdoor seating area. Overall, I just would not recommend the food.

After compiling the surveys from the other foodies the pop-we Dinner Club gives Firewater Grille 3 star average on a scale of 1-5.

Atmosphere/Decor – 3

Jamaican Jerked Short Rib.

Cleanliness – 2.5

Wait Staff – 3.5

Menu – 3.25

Food Presentation – 3.5

Food Portions – 3.25

Food Taste – 2.75

Cost (was the cost worth meal?) – 2.75

Noise Level – 3

Overall Experience – 2.75

For more information regarding directions or Firewater Grille menu, visit their website at http://www.firewatergrille.com/.

Fellow population-we™ readers, if you've been to the Firewater Grille leave us a comment and tell us what you thought?

Want to do this yourself? To review how to start your own dinner club, visit our January post about doing just that. Remember it is a template; tweak it to fit you and your friends’ tastes. pop-we Dinner Club: good food…good friends…good times.

-population-we™ blog post by Brian Brown

© 2013 population-we, LLC 
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to leave a comment, 'Pin' or 'Like' it.

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