Back in Lincoln (Nebraska) and headed to Yia Yia

May 29, 2012

We're back in Lincoln, NE.  Last time we were in Lincoln, about a year ago, the big news was the killing of Osama Bin Laden.  See blog posting (Ding dong the witch is dead, 7/12/11)....

 Back in Lincoln, and over the last year, other than the ongoing mis-adventures we continue to be getting ourselves into in the Middle East in the ongoing self immolating activities  of a nation flailing blindly in the dark, vainly trying to avenge the 9/11 wrongs inflicted on us, nothing much is new, news wise, if you don't count all of those thoroughly American mass murders that seem to be all the rage these days.  So common, in fact, that if you don't kill enough people in a novel and newsworthy enough manner, you won't even make the first page, so indeed, psycho-killers have been working overtime to come up with a new twist on an old story, like killing and wounding a massive number of people in a movie theater watching a batman movie, or peaceful worshipers at a Sikh temple, to get the attention of the media.   Rant...rant...rant...

So anyway, the big news this time around was the coming of a Whole Foods supermarket to Lincoln,

which, next to acquiring an NBA team or having a newsworthy catastrophe of your own, is the next best thing to acknowledging that you are a town worthy of note.  It was some good news, for a change, and  a good segue into  the point of this posting, a short food review about some good eatin' in Lincoln.

I'm talking about Yia Yia pizza on O Street, next door to the Bourbon Theater, which makes O Street a very good place to be.  Coming from New York,  I'm pretty particular about my pizza, and I am very easily disappointed.  Even in NYC, it is getting harder and harder to find a good slice, with fewer and fewer pizza places being owned by people ethnically or temperamentally qualified to make real Italian food at the street level.  Imagine my surprise to find one of the world's perfect slices in Lincoln, of all places.  They prepare the uncooked, thin, crust dough in advance, slice it into 8 wedges, and when you arrive and place your order, your slice is custom designed and prepared according to your specifications regarding sauce, cheese type, and toppings, and is then baked from scratch as you like it and served hot and fresh.  As you can tell, these things are quite important to me and something I take very seriously.

 Oh, there are other great places to eat in Lincoln, Billy's on H street, where we had that interesting meal with Willa Cather's great nephew, George;  Lazlo's down by the train station, with their great burgers and very memorable onion rings that I thought about for months after our last visit, and a few other places, but that isn't the point here.  It was the anomaly of finding such pizza perfection in such an unlikely place.  OK, maybe I'm a bit of an east coast snob, but if great pizza is important to you, if you should find yourself in Lincoln, catch the music and scene at the Bourbon, and go to Yia Yia.

Was down by the railroad station and got talking to some rail workers there about something, I think it had to do with my being from New York.

Mentioned I has headed to Yia for lunch, and they said they didn't care that much for it, the crust was too thin!!!   Didn't want me to take their picture.  Said I should take a picture of the trains instead, so I did.  Then headed to Yia for a slice with artichokes and anchovies.  Thought I would stick with toppings beginning with A.  It was great, as always.

                                                                   Pablo