What if…the ultra cool, mid century bank above (currently for sale, located at 72nd and Maple) were transformed into a nearly 24 hour, better than greasy spoon diner spot? With brunch. Definitely with brunch. Kinda King’s Diner, Palm Springs-esque? Wouldn’t that be wonderful? I would totally eat there. Any takers?
Joey Lynch: WHAT VISION IS LEFT AND IS ANYONE ASKING?
pop image pastiche from the 80s, 90s and today
Sweatshop Gallery
2727 N 62nd St
May 3, 7pm
“The apocalypse is not something which is coming. The apocalypse has arrived in major portions of the planet and it’s only because we live within a bubble of incredible privilege and social insulation that we still have the luxury of anticipating the apocalypse.”
– Terrance McKenna
Drawing inspiration from Alan Watts, razzle-dazzle camouflage, anarchopunk, ancient and New Age mysticism, and teenage nostalgia, Joey Lynch has created images that explore our interconnectedness, our shared feelings of love, rage, devotion. The work raises questions about the cyclic nature of culture and reflects on the sense that, as time speeds up, we are both more fractionalized and more cosmically interwoven than ever.
Lynch’s approach to the creation of this work is a departure from his known layered style. Rather than creating a pastiche of images with different screen prints, Lynch collaged images prior to the development of his screens. The result is graphically driven work with more restrained intensity.
WHAT VISION IS LEFT AND IS ANYONE ASKING will be up at the Sweatshop Gallery, 2727 N 62nd St. from May 3 to May 31 with the opening reception May 3 beginning at 7 pm. Le-zikabob food cart will be outside serving and Nocturnal Rite will provide the audio ambiance.
So great to see so many submissions to the Food Cart Project! Thank you so much for your time and creativity! It was truly exciting to be reminded of what a vibrant and growing food community we have here in Omaha. It made making this decision delicious, but extremely difficult.
FOOD CART PROJECT
SPRING/SUMMER 2013
May
Angel Holland’s Le-zikabobs
featuring Middle Eastern inspired kabobs
June
Maggie Tunning’s Cartine
flavor filled tartines
July
Cody Ma’s Comradery
classic Chinese bao
August
Pam Font-Gabel and Lori Tatreau’s Meadowlark
seasonal gastronomy
September
Shannon Kyler’s Sammy’s
grilled sandwiches
FOOD CART PROJECT
Take the Jack Taco cart and make it your own! For Benson First Fridays from May to September, we’re selecting a local food entrepreneur to take over the cart each month and serve up their own tasty treats.
SUBMISSIONS DUE BY: APRIL 10
Send an email including a description of your concept, its name and a sample menu to freshjuiceprojects@gmail.com.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
What’s the catch? NO CATCH! We love food. And we want to see more great food ideas in Omaha. Starting a restaurant is crazy, stupid expensive so a lot of the best ideas never get to see the light of day. Maybe this way five of them will.
You guys are vegan, does the food need to be vegan? No. But it better taste good and be original. (Although it wouldn’t hurt if you did included a veg item on the menu. It’s a hungry, under served market.)
What is the cart equipped with? The cart is NSF certified. You can see photos of the cart on the Jack Taco Facebook page. It is equipped with a steam well, a cold well, a beverage cooler, hook ups for a fountain drink machine and two outlets. It also has storage at both ends. Visit the manufacturer’s link for more details.
What else is expected of us? We expect you to show up and serve great food. Beyond that, it’s all you. This is your chance to get your idea out there and you can be as loud about that as you want to be.
Many of you may have already heard about Jack Taco, a little food cart stand we are going to set up at the Sweatshop Gallery this month. On April 5th (weather permitting), we’ll be serving jackfruit tacos and selling jars of the mouth watering Daily Grub Ancho Cashew Cream. A portion of proceeds will be donated to Sweatshop Gallery.
Originally, our plan was to do Jack Taco each Benson First Friday this spring and summer, but some scheduling conflicts are going to make that difficult. SO, we’d like to see you put YOUR food cart dreams into action.
If you are familiar with the Daily Grub story, you know that it all began with CLEAN PLATE and the Empty Room. The Empty Room Project selected six business ideas and each were given a month, rent free, to execute the idea as a pop-up shop. CLEAN PLATE was my dream come true – a communal table, locally sourced, raw food restaurant. It got the ball rolling and ultimately led to Daily Grub.
Now, we’d like to offer that same opportunity to other local, entrepreneurial foodies. Donut cart, shave ice, dumplings, arepas, burritos – hook us up!
To send in a submission, flesh out your concept with a brief description of its vibe and flavor, along with a name and a menu. Send it to freshjuiceprojects@gmail.com. The five favorites will sling their grub each First Friday from May through September at the Sweatshop Gallery.
Can’t wait to see your ideas! Our mouths are already watering!
XO
FJP
P.S. Shoot us an email if you’d like details about the specs of the cart.
The discovery of Indian food is kind of one of the biggest things to ever happen to my life. I had no idea I cared one iota about food until I had my first bowl of mulligatawny soup at Jaipur when I was 15. And Joey and I aren’t sure when it happened, but if there is something to celebrate – an anniversary, a holiday, a seeing each other for the first time after weeks of him on the road, a Monday night at home with nothing to do but cuddle with the animals – Indian is our food. It’s like our turkey dinner. I’m also certain. CERTAIN. That if I were ever stranded on a desert island and could only have one spice it would be a curry. (Ok, I know that’s really more than one spice.)
So when Kim Roberts took two of our favorite things – Indian food and that terrific brick building in Benson (You know the one.) – and smashed them together? Genius. Benson could become an island overnight and we would all gorge ourselves on baigan bharta and live blissfully forever and ever.
KIM:
I’ve had the desire to open an Indian restaurant for over a year now. When I saw this empty brick building and the arching brick around the windows reminiscent of the Indian architecture element chhatris, I immediately knew that this was the perfect home for Kingfisher, an Indian restaurant in Benson.
Inside, walls are orange and pink and green. Colorful lights and lanterns hang from the ceiling (See Panna II in NYC). Big community tables with naan at every seat and cups filled with chai tea. Malai kofta, tikki masala, and gobi manchurian served in big white bowls.
I love Mother India in Mid-Town and Kurry Xpress in South O, and Indian Oven downtown, but where is the Indian restaurant in Benson? It is the perfect neighborhood to add a restaurant full of the vibrancy and kitsch I have in mind! I’m not a chef, but I promise that when I open Kingfisher*, I will either have hired the best chef there is, or have learned how to cook the best Indian food you’ve ever tasted.
(*The original name I came up with was “Naan Stop.” I still love this name, but it didn’t seem to fit the vibe I was going for. I’ll save this for the food truck.)
Being a non-native Omahan, I was extremely happy to see the community rally around new businesses and start-ups. The energy is exciting and inspiring. Living in Omaha, I know that it’s within my capabilities and means to create something from nothing. There is an overwhelming amount of support in this city and I want to contribute to this city’s growing success.
Thank you for sharing my idea on your blog, Elle!
Project Idea: Kingfisher: Benson Indian restaurant. Small/changing menu. Open late afternoon to 1am
Location: Empty building across from Jake’s in Benson.
Inspiration: Nature/magic/travel/colors/fairytales/curry
Menu: Naan, malai kofta, tikka masala, mulligatawny soup, etc!!!
Vibe: Exotic Indian hotel meets East Village (right?)
Music: Elvis. Naturally.
Kim says of herself: I work in a cube but am constantly devising a plan to escape to Spain. I also take pictures sometimes: Kimbslimbs on instagram.
Radio silent for a long stretch. Joey and I are currently up in Norfolk, Nebraska working on the production of Alexander Payne’s new film, NEBRASKA. I’ve been up here since late September scouring area antique shops, thrift stores, skulking through mechanic’s garages, attics, barns, fields full of rusted cars and tractors. All part of my job as the movie’s Set Decorating Buyer. Kind of a dream come true. Joey joined me mid-October to take a job as a Set Dresser – not a far stretch from his much loved gig as a touring stage hand.
We’ve been enjoying life up here. Spectacular sunsets and a home away from home in what we now affectionately refer to as the Home-tel. But we’ve missed Omaha, our critter family, friend’s weddings, family gatherings. All the good stuff of life. And The Cottage. Man, Home-tel can’t hold a candle to The Cottage.
But the cottage ain’t ours for long neither. She’s been sold! To a lovely lady and her big ol’ animal family. We’re so excited to have them moving into a home we’ve enjoyed so much.
We’ll be back in mid-December to start new projects. (Hopefully a new house and studio! Fingers and toes crossed!) A Diamonds in the Rough, Florence edition is percolating itself into existence in my noggin. And in the interim, there is a guest blogger Diamond I am far, far over do in sharing with you. Kim Robert’s Indian cuisine dream for Benson will make its debut tomorrow.
Missin you somethin’ awful from our temporary home on The Range!
XO
e & j
Many of you may have already seen the Facebook post announcing that we are selling our cottage. We have had so much fun living here and working on this home! It’s bittersweet to leave, but we’re excited about new projects and even more excited to see what kind of new life a new owner with bring to this place.
A number of you have asked for a look see at the “before” photos. So here they are! Along with some in-progress photos. To see the “after.” Visit…http://omahacottage.wordpress.com/ or The Cottage and the Grub Garage link in the Portfolio section of this blog.
I haven’t done a Diamonds post of my own since June. There’s no better spot to restart than with the old Schneider Hardware building on Vinton.
Joey and I have some history with this space. It was originally going to be the Daily Grub space. In 2009 we rented it with the intention of turning it into the restaurant, but when we discovered some prohibitive obstacles, we found a new location for DG and instead turned the hardware store into our home. We tore down walls and put in a small kitchen and bathroom, then built new walls for Joey to have space for a studio and gallery. (Here’s a link to a few pictures from the old Clean Plate blog of that elbow grease in action.) It was fun living there. A lot like loft living. One huge, open space.
In 2010 we moved out and Jay Rybin took over what used to be our living space. He launched the Hardware Gallery and started curating monthly shows. Now, Jay is looking for someone to move into the space and open a coffee shop! I wanted to take on the project myself this winter and worked up a complete business plan with financials, branding, budget, interiors, menu…Someone wanna grab the reins and make it happen?
To sweeten the pot I will tell you this, for a small business, you could not hope for a better, more supportive landlord than Jay Rybin or a more enthusiastic neighbor than Anne Trumble of Emerging Terrain.
Project Idea: Hardware Coffee
Location: 1801 Vinton St., Omaha, NE 68107
Inspiration: Days just like today – cloudy and cool. Perfect for sipping espresso, eating croissants, chatting with friends, reading the paper, taking care of emails and watching the foot traffic up and down Vinton.
Menu: Rich, excellent coffee (Dogwood Coffee, a roaster in Minneapolis, would be the ideal bean supplier.) and simple delicious food.
Karen Pietsch’s Pie Time, our very first guest post for the Diamond’s series, couldn’t be more mouth watering. In imagining the neighborhood pie shop Karen’s created, I’m having olfactory hallucinations of the wafting smells of warm, buttery, flakey pie crusts filled with melting, juicy, tart cherries and cinnamon coated apples and roasted pot pie vegetables swimming in a roux of flavor. Ugh. Too good an idea not to get made for real. Karen came up with the concept, logo and put together this post and all of the images for the slide show. If you’re someone interested in this idea, I suggest you hit her up! kpietsch8@gmail.com
Hello! My name is Karen and I work as a paraprofessional librarian at the Abrahams Branch of the Omaha Public Library coordinating adult programs. I’m a newly emancipated former graduate student who, only eight weeks ago, emerged from the dark, screen-lit recesses of my house into the glorious Omaha humidity. Right now I’m working on some Omaha Reads events to go with our 2012 Omaha Reads selection, The Age of Innocence (we’re making personalized wooden wax seal stamps for envelopes, having a lawn party at the Joslyn Castle…it’s going to be great). When I’m not with my books I read blogs to an unhealthy degree, which is how I came upon Elle’s “Diamonds in the Rough” project. I was a big fan of Daily Grub, and when I saw her project on Fresh Juice I freaked. Real Estate + Community + Food! I, too, love to mull over these things while I drive through the old business districts in Omaha. Elle has curated these buildings and business ideas in a truly inspiring way.
I’ve been envisioning this empty corner retail space as a pie shop and café for a few years now. My project idea is mostly inspired by Mission Pie, the San Francisco pie shop on Mission St. featuring sweet and savory pie selections made from locally-harvested ingredients bought directly from farmers. Their emphasis is on community, and the result is a warm, friendly space to enjoy delicious seasonal pies that everyone in the neighborhood can be proud of. Community is a big deal in my line of work–the public library is all about connecting people to resources, ideas, and other people and organizations. I see this pie shop as a cozy and comfortable gathering place for the people in the surrounding neighborhoods, hospitals and businesses.
Project Idea: Pie Time
Location: 4203 Leavenworth St., Omaha, NE 68105
Inspiration: Mission Pie and The Pie Shop
Menu: A seasonally rotating cast of sweet and savory pies. Sweets: Spicy pear cranberry, vegan chocolate hazelnut, triple berry, pumpkin cream dream and anything else you can think of. Savories: Yellow curry vegetable pie, shepherd’s pie, pot pie, quiche Lorraine, potato-pear galette with thyme and anything else you can think of. Coffee and tea, too.
Vibe: Rustic, bustling, lots of light and chatter, people lingering long past their last plates.
Music: Bluegrass to wake you up in the morning and early afternoon, eclectic 70s and 80s rock and punk in the evenings.
