Omaha's Great Grub: Check out where to find tasty dishes in the metro area

Whoever coined the cliche “as easy as pie” obviously never made one.

Perfect crust — flaky yet sturdy — eludes even gourmet cooks. Too much mixing or molding, and it’s like cardboard. Too little — or a water deficit — and it’s impossible to roll out so it will fit the pan.

In the end, our latest search for Omaha’s Great Grub was as much about the trimmings as it was about the entrees.

The origin of a savory entrée — Helen’s Caesar Salad at Railcar Modern American Kitchen — has all the ingredients of a sweet story: Familial love, a debilitating disease and a creative chef who was poised to make his mark on the Omaha food scene.

Chef Jared Clarke, who opened Railcar in 2012, created the salad for his aunt, Helen Kehret. She had Parkinson’s disease and needed a special diet.

Every Saturday, John Reuhter and his family meet at 11:30 a.m. for lunch at Nettie’s Fine Mexican Food.

And each time, he orders Nettie’s chili, which has a heat level somewhere between a bonfire and nuclear apocalypse, depending on the day and the diner’s taste buds.

This month, our search for Omaha’s Great Grub was easy for wait staff at six restaurants across the city. At Jams, in fact, a veteran server scoffed that our order wasn’t hard enough for her new trainee.

When someone first mentioned margaritas for our next Omaha’s Great Grub, I was all in.

And I remained so even after I found out they were talking about Margherita pizza. (Cue rim shot and laugh track.)

Over the last month, three colleagues and I have eaten several pounds of bread pudding, preparing for today’s entry in the Omaha’s Great Grub series. (Sorry, Doc, it’s my job. I tried to eat lots of veggies to compensate.)

We chose the rustic and classic dessert in honor of this week’s Mardi Gras celebration. Its origins can be traced to an 18th century British cookbook, but it is now a beloved staple in Louisiana, home of the country’s largest Fat Tuesday celebration.

The “modern” breakfast burrito, according to the ever-reliable internet, was invented in 1975 at Tia Sophia, a diner in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

And people probably were putting eggs, cheese and potatoes in tortillas way before that.

Whoever coined the cliche “as easy as pie” obviously never made one.

Perfect crust — flaky yet sturdy — eludes even gourmet cooks. Too much mixing or molding, and it’s like cardboard. Too little — or a water deficit — and it’s impossible to roll out so it will fit the pan.

The origin of a savory entrée — Helen’s Caesar Salad at Railcar Modern American Kitchen — has all the ingredients of a sweet story: Familial love, a debilitating disease and a creative chef who was poised to make his mark on the Omaha food scene.

Chef Jared Clarke, who opened Railcar in 2012, created the salad for his aunt, Helen Kehret. She had Parkinson’s disease and needed a special diet.