Half-Cocked

We arrived in Kearney and hit the hotel pool almost immediately. It's kind of free-form shaped, like a lagoon, to fit in with the surroundings of the Tropical Fun Dome. Unfortunately, the water was also faux tropical, a tad too close to the temperature of urine to really enjoy.

We headed out on the town after having a drink in the Elephant's Eye, the big Ewok house looking structure in the background of the photo. The special on Friday was $3 Long Island Iced Teas. I had one then thought it might be a good idea to wait until we returned from dinner to indulge anymore.

Kearney, being the home to the University of Nebraska-Kearney has something of a culture and a few decent restaurants. We first went into a place camed Roman's which from the outside looked like something you might see in Tribeca. The inside was another story though, so after our server left us, we snuck across the street to Alley Rose.

Alley Rose appears to be the high-end dining destination in Kearney - nice dark wood, fancy restaurant style carpet. The menu was fairly typical. Lots of good steaks and pasta dishes and a few signature flourishes like the pork tenderloin cooked in port with tart cherries. The weird thing about Alley Rose was the juxtaposition of traditional Nebraska dining with haute cuisine Continental style.

When the server indicated we could hit the salad bar after our appetizers, I was a bit confused because usually in places like this the salad is brought to the table. I could imagine the owner telling the chef, "In Nebraska, people expect a salad bar, and that's what we're gonna give 'em." What was odd was that after finishing our salads, but before the entree, we were served a sorbet course, not something you expect after finishing off your trip to the salad bar.

I can understand it, though. The owner of a restaurant trying to be upscale in a central Nebraska town of about 35,000, does some things that seem super-fancy, but are fairly inexpensive, while doing other things that make the clientele feel comfortable.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and the Elephant's Eye, which was packed. We found a couple of seats at the bar and each had a mai-tai. One Tip: It pays to make friends with the bartenders early in anticipation of returning. When they made blended drinks and made too much for one glass, they gave us the leftovers.

We headed back to Lincoln the next day, after eating at my dad's old college hangout, Bico's (I was born in Kearney, by the way).