Paul & Jessica

We're people who care about food

We’ve been cooking together long enough that we know how to balance each other–comfort meets freshness.

One of us says, “Juicy burger?” The other responds, “Yeah! And some roasted beets and goat cheese!”

We met in Metropolitan Community College’s Culinary program, which was a great place to earn our credentials and broaden our network of friends, chefs, and fellow foodies. But we both agree our ongoing education has been and will always be through travel. We travel whenever we have the chance, and sometimes we’ll plan a trip around reservations at a specific restaurant. We’ve had some amazing meals and some great adventures, and it all shows up in the food we serve.

We serve food based on our best memories.

Our families were our original culinary inspiration, and everything we serve honors them and their memories. Canadian family who hosted family gatherings filled with laughter, joy, food and spirits. An Italian-Canadian Great-Aunt who served up food that evoked warm emotions as well as satisfied appetites. A Belgian-American grandma from South Omaha who dished out delicious kneeples, head cheese, and plum dumplings. We owe our success in large part to their support. When we're in the kitchen, we're always cooking for them.

We offer combinations that are a little risky, a lot of fun, and as fresh as possible. We source our food from companies that share our philosophy. We buy local, humanely raised, and preservative-free ingredients.

In 2020 we moved to a farmstead in the Loess Hills to continue our dream of gardening and sustainably. On property we have apple, cherry, peach, plum, and pear trees, as well as highbush cranberry, Aronia, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, and gooseberry bushes.

Our summer garden provides a bumper crop of fresh seasonal vegetables such as corn, beans, peppers, tomatoes, herbs, edible flowers, radish, rhubarb, cucumber, onion, scallion, chives, and more. While growing wild we have an assortment of prairie grasses, pollinators, and a plethora of flowering plants for all seasons such as coneflower, bergamot, ramps, peonies, hibiscus, and sage.

In 2022 we started construction of our geothermal greenhouse based on Russ Finch's Greenhouse in the Snow kit from Alliance, Nebraska. Our first year-round planting included a lemon tree, two orange varieties, banana, figs, and olives. Those are permanently placed in the ground. The raised beds are filled with vegetables and edibles to extend our summer garden. On the farmstead we also raise bees for pollination and honey, egg-laying hens, farm-raised pork, alpacas for fleece, and goats for weed control and companions.

Our families were our original culinary inspiration, and everything we serve honors them and their memories. Canadian family who hosted family gatherings filled with laughter, joy, food and spirits. An Italian-Canadian Great-Aunt who served up food that evoked warm emotions as well as satisfied appetites. A Belgian-American grandma from South Omaha who dished out delicious kneeples, head cheese, and plum dumplings. We owe our success in large part to their support. When we’re in the kitchen, we’re always cooking for them.

Block_16_garden-151Block_16_garden-216

We offer combinations that are a little risky, a lot of fun, and as fresh as possible. We source our food from companies that share our philosophy. We buy local, humanely raised, and preservative-free ingredients. Our family farm is one of our main sources for produce–it’s been in the Urban family for 100 years, so we know it’s high-quality and grown with love.

We never take ourselves too seriously.

The best part about owning a restaurant is that we have a creative outlet for our ideas. In the past four years, we’ve offered more than 1,400 specials with only a few repeats.

Sometimes ideas come about while we're sipping on coffee watching our dogs play,

other times an idea comes from a memorable meal.

We love the creative experimentation that comes from mixing “high” and “low” food concepts. Recently we offered the “Ethan Special” based on Paul’s 10-year-old nephew’s lunch–white bread, bologna, mayo, cheese, with smashed Doritos.We offered a slightly scaled up version that included Grey Plume’s mortadella served with slaw on an onion roll and – for those who wanted it “Ethan Style” – Doritos on the side.”

Maybe we’ll introduce a customer to a new food preparation they wouldn’t have tried before. Maybe we’ll remove some of the pretension associated with fine dining. Or maybe we’ll just leave you with a full belly and a great memory.

Get Down Here!

Block16 uses the freshest local ingredients. Paul and Jessica cooking at Block16.
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