Gourmet Pizza in Omaha Nebraska

When we were in Omaha visiting our son and his family around Thanksgiving, I offered to take everyone out for lunch at a local pizza restaurant that Laurie and I had dined at once before.  This is not a pizza joint…nor is it a pizza restaurant for those who are ‘faint of wallet’!  The family agreed to my offer with considerable alacrity…

This is Dante Pizzeria Napoletana.  This is Omaha’s first restaurant that specializes in authentic, wood-fired Neapolitan pizza, as well as other rustic Italian offerings.  The owner/chef sources his fresh ingredients with 25 farm partners throughout the Midwest.  The restaurant is located in a mixed use development with restaurants, retailers, offices and residential offerings.  

The dining area at Dante is quite industrial…with polished concrete floors, lots of metal, minimal wall decor and a muted color palate combined with the brick oven and smokestack. 

Our server thoughtfully offered to take a photo of our hungry little group.  From the left are David III, Amy, Emmett Lee, David II, Laurie and yours truly…

The last time we visited Dante, we stuck to the pizza only.  This time, we decided to try out a couple of the lunch-time appetizers before scarfing down our pizzas.  This is the Zucchini Fritti, vegan flash fried sliced zucchini with sea salt. ($5.00) They were excellent!  I would order them over homemade potato chips or French fries anytime I had the opportunity.  Unfortunately, this was the first time we’d come across this tasty treat!

The next appetizer is the Polpette Al Forno” and Polenta…good sized wood-roasted pork meatballs with tomato sauce. ($12.00) They were very nice with the meatballs, polenta and tomato sauce complementing each other very effectively.  They were a bit pricy at $4.00 each…

Our third appetizer were these Wood-Roasted Brussels Sprouts ‘guanciale’ and citrus. ($10.00) While they were very good indeed and very ‘rich’ flavor-wise, I actually like Laurie’s home version a bit better.  Nevertheless, these were among the best roasted Brussels sprouts I’ve had in a commercial establishment.

FYI… I had to look up ‘guanciale’.  Guanciale is an Italian cured meat product prepared from pork jowl or cheeks.  Its name comes from the Italian work ‘guancia’ for cheek.

This tomato sauce based ‘pie’ is Dante’s Margherita Pizza with mozzarella, basil and olive oil. ($12.00) As expected it was excellent!

By way of definition, ‘Neapolitan’ refers to anything done the way it would be done in the Italian port city of Naples.  The tradition of Neapolitan pizza is preserved by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana.  This Naples based organization certifies that pizzerias world-wide uphold the traditions of Neapolitan pizza making.  The owner/chef of Dante trained in Italy…

We ordered two (2) olive oil based white pizzas or Bianco pizzas.  They came with Papa’s sausage, olives, chili, garlic, basil and mozzarella. ($12.00) Two more very happy diners!

To be authentic, the dough for a Neapolitan pizza must be made with type 00 flour, the sauce must be made with San Marzano tomatoes and the cheese must be fresh buffalo or cow milk mozzarella.

This ‘red’/tomato based pizza was my choice.  It’s the Diavolo with link sausage, soppressata, Calabrian chili, garlic and mozzarella. ($12.00) It’s not named Diavolo for nothing… While it’s not ‘knock you down’ spicy, it does bring some heat and a ton of flavor.  I’d ordered the same pizza during our first visit!

The dough for a Neapolitan Pizza is kneaded with a low-speed mixer then the crust is stretched by hand.  The pizzas are cooked in a wood-burning oven at around 800 degrees.  They’re cooked in only 90 seconds!

This was fourth type of pizza on our luncheon table.  Emmett Lee is a picky eater but he loves cheese.  We had to dip into the dinner menu for this red/tomato sauce based pizza.  It’s the Quattro Formaggi…a 4 cheese pizza. ($18.00) The cheeses used include the house ricotta, gorgonzola dolce, grana Padano and mozzarella.  Emmett and Amy were quite happy with this great pizza.  FYI, we didn’t take any leftovers home!

Dante serves great pizza and now we’ve tested 3 of their very good to excellent appetizers as well.  I’d still like to try the Wood-Roasted Pork Belly and Wood Oven Quick Bread… From the main dinner menu, I was interested in the Wood Oven Braised Duck with Gnocchi, the Rigatoni Bolognese and the Shrimp Taglierini.  Perhaps on our next trip…

FYI, the Pizza Industry’s leading publication, appropriately named “Pizza Today”, named Dante as their 2019 Independent Pizzeria of the Year.  To learn more about this restaurant, you can view the article at https://www.pizzatoday.com/departments/features/2019-independent-pizzeria-of-the-year-dante-omaha-ne/#slider-3. 

Dante Pizzeria Napoletana is located at 16901 Wright Plaza in Omaha Nebraska.  Phone: 402-932-3078.  This restaurant’s website is at: http://www.dantepizzeria.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to share lunch with the family!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave