Javi's Cantina/El Milagro 8/28/26

 It was kind of crazy...we looked up how to get to El Milagro restaurant and when we arrived the sign on the building said Javi's Cantina. I knew we were in the correct place because we had actually been here once before with all our kids once, when we were visiting over the holidays.  Javi's Tacos is a well known restaurant chain in Omaha.  I think they own El Milagro and want to change their name to tie it all in with the Javi name of the family.  The menus and water glasses still had the El Milagro logo on them.

This place is different because it doesn't have the standard 100 things that a typical Mexican restaurant has.  No make your own plate decisions.

We liked their margaritas.  They taste homemade and not just out of a pre-mixed bottle.

I don't like their chips.  They are homemade and are too thick and a few were greasy.  Their chips come with salsa and refried beans (which is nice). 

I was going to have the camerones diavolo (spicy shrimp) which is what I ALWAYS get back at El Maguey in O'Fallon, MO.  But since I got that at the last Omaha Mexican restaurant that I went to and it wasn't great, I shyed away from that.

I ordered chicken enchiladas with mole sauce.  I think my enchiladas must have been ready immediately and they began making Mike's food, as it must have sat on the plate on a very hot surface.  My place was smoking hot and some of my food had literally cooked onto the plate!  They chicken inside the enchiladas was dry and the mole sauce was just a little too cloying to be great.  

On a side note, they had chicken enchiladas with mole, verde, and red enchilada sauces.  3 difference entrees.  Each entree was 3 enchiladas.  I asked if I could get one entree with one of each sauces.  No, that was not something they could do.  I don't understand how hard that could be.  I'm sure the chicken was totally made, I'm sure all 3 sauces were totally made, they would have to roll 3 enchiladas for any of the orders...just put a little of each sauce on one enchilada.  But they said no. 

Mike got birra tacos.  They had a Mexican au jus.  It was like regular au jus with Mexican seasoning.  He really liked them.  

There are a lot more Mexican restaurants to try.  If we come back to this one, I'll have to try something else. 

El Muchacho Alegre 8-11-26

My good friend Vicki Bohling was in town visiting and we decided to try a new Mexican restaurant.  We went to El Muchacho Alegre.  (The fast friend/guy??)

This was a very suburban Mexican restaurant attached to a strip mall in a residential area.  It was pretty big and it was busy.  I know Taco Tuesday is a thing, but this place was packed on a Tuesday night.  I took that as a good sign.  

Mike and Vicki started with drinks (marg and beer).  I had a bit of an upset tummy, so I had water.

Vicki and I both ordered el diablo camarones (spicy shrimp).  It is what I ALWAYS get at El Maguey in O'Fallon.  This version was different, not as spicy and I didn't love it.  

Mike got a couple beef enchiladas and a taco.  He said they were fine.  

This was an OK place.  Nothing great, nothing horrible except that they played background music that was the same maracas over and over and over.  My hearing is bad enough that I didn't really notice, but it was driving Vicki insane!!

Sorry, I forgot to take photos.  

Johnny's Cafe-Omaha

 We live in a new city, so the blog moved with us.

I was looking for "old classic" steakhouses and this one totally fit the bill.  It opened by the Omaha stockyards in 1922.  It is now in an older part of town and the builiding could definitely use some updates.  Some of the reviews mention the old "basementy" smell when you walk in.  I agree, the lobby needs a redo, but once you enter the actual dining area it smells like food.

The menu is classic steakhouse.  They had prime rib, which is Mike's favorite.  Because you aren't paying for ambiance, the prices are lower than a lot of steakhouses we've been in.  The dress code is business casual.  We saw a few people who were too casual, but mostly it was people who were 50+ and they wore collared shirts and slacks.  

We started with a drink.  Mike had a typical gin and tonic and I had a glass of wine.  Their wine list is up to date and not overly priced.  We've seen many of the same bottles of wine $10-20 more at other restaurants.  

                                            

We started with the French onion soup.  It was OK.  The broth didn't have much taste to it.

I ordered Johnny's fish and Mike had prime rib.  I had a side of hash browns.  Mike had baked potato.  My fish was breaded and fried very nicely, but the actual fish was very nondiscript and kind of mushy.  The outside was crispy but the inside was too soft.  The fish didn't hold together well.

Mike said his prime rib was good.  Not the best he's ever had, but it was good.

For dessert we split some warm apple cobbler with ice cream.  

Dishes came out quickly, so you don't really linger and spend the whole evening there.  I think we were in and out in under 90 minutes.  

Kind of old, decent prices, decent food.