Michael C.
Yelp
Back to a summer conference travel trail and found myself enroute to the middle of Nebraska, but decided to do a stop along the way in Lincoln. Lovely small town America, with lots of red stuff (Go Big Red?) decorating the community. Several folks said you have to try the Green Gateau, and I am glad that I did.
Situated on a main thoroughfare, this one time bakery and bar was a total surprise upon entering (if outside looks were predictor of either an interior or the food, I probably would not visit half of the wonderful establishments that I do)! A series of interconnecting modest sized rooms with a few tables in each, was adorned with beautiful wood walls (not paneling), a lovely old and large bar and pleasant memorabilia gave the place both an upscale feel while still being unpretentious. White table cloth service made the environment both comfortable and classy.
I could go on about the environment, but hey, its the food, right? Well there is an ample choice of starters, salads, entrees and specials. In fact their specials menu had options for those as well as drinks. In the mood for a Martini, I was impressed with the delivery; a large glass shaker with my glass gave me almost 2 drinks, but allowed me to keep the reserve on ice and chilled for my backup.
I had already experienced an overloaded lunch, so I thought I should be modest on my dinner from Gateau. There were (are) so many interesting choices on the menu, i regretted only being able to be limited in my selection. The Seafood Lavosh sounded so interesting, I had to begin there and decided to also dive into the Rainbow Trout.
The Lavosh (or in my case, the Cauliflower pie) was a thin crust, cracker style bread laden with small bits of seafood in a seafood sauce adorned with vegetables. It was served hot and was absolutely delicious. The Rainbow Trout (while they did have a Trout special, it unfortunately for me was stuffed and wrapped in a pork/Pancetta (a no-no for me) was absolutely delish. Served on a slate tray, an abundance of grilled Idaho Trout (2 fillets) were sitting on top of a medley of roasted vegetables, including brussel sprouts, spring squash, sweet potatoes and zucchini spears and sweet potatoes, served along side a line of sun-dried tomato pesto, and lightly covered with a lemon white wine sauce. The lovely fresh croissant that accompanied the Trout, while it looked so lovely it was not to be with the appetizer. OH MY GOODNESS; I would drive from DC for this again!
To say the portions of hearty is almost an understatement.
Of course a word about our server. A wonderfully attentive and very friendly Asa, an graphic design student (rising senior) at the aforementioned Big Red institution was equally part of the great experience we had. To the management if you're reading this; hang on to him as long as you can. He represents you extremely well.
The only nit pick I have is that the Trout arrived on the table less than 3 minutes after the appetizer, so I had barely had the first bite/piece before my entree arrived. Partly my fault for ordering both at the same time, but the kitchen should be alert enough as they weren't that busy to space things out a bit.
While visiting with Asa he shared a bit of the history of the place, how it earned its name, his respect for the owner-chef and of course, many insights into his faves on the menu.
PLEASE if you find yourself in Lincoln and you're looking for something special, and while I"m sure the Haymarket establishments are nice, you would be doing yourself a favor to skip those and head to the Green Gateau.
