Jazz

On my birthday Shane and I went to a restaurant in downtown Omaha called Jazz. We later learned that Jazz is actually a chain restaurant in multiple other cities. I was drawn to the restaurant from their colorful and "cute" menu. This restaurant looks like it would be a lot of fun on the weekends, when there is actually a jazz band playing. The only down side to eating here is that you have to park far away and may have to pay a meter if you don't come on a weekend or evening. 

It took us quite a bit of time to decide what to order, as everything on the menu sounds delicious. We asked the server what her favorite food was, and she suggested the Chicken A La Mar, which is actually the special on Tuesday evenings. We started out our meal with complimentary bread and an order of fried pickles.

 The bread was pretty basic and was served with plenty of butter. The fried pickles were lightly breaded and crispy, and were actually pickle spears, which is my favorite way to have fried pickles. I wish there would have been more of these, because I could have eaten them forever. They were especially delicious when dipped in a side of ranch dressing. 

Taking the servers suggestion, Shane ordered the Chicken A La Mar, which was absolutely delicious lightly breaded chicken with a crab and shrimp cream sauce served over a bed of rice with a side of zucchini. This meal was worth going back to Jazz alone. It was absolutely fantastic!

Shane also ordered a side of hush puppies, which he says were a light consistency, crispy on the outside and well seasoned. They were served with a southwest type dip that Shane also enjoyed quite a bit. I don't really like hush puppies, but these were actually pretty good.

We had watched a show on the Food network the day before going to Jazz and I had seen something about fried oysters. I have tried oysters in a half shell and I didn't like them one bit, but I thought that fried oysters may be different. This assumption lead me to order the fried shrimp and oysters, which would typically come with a side of Cajun coleslaw and hush puppies, but I swapped out those sides for fried okra and jambalaya. 

My jambalaya was good, but not really spicy enough for my liking. The breading on the oysters and shrimp was thick and crunchy. I personally prefer my breading to be a little bit lighter than what I received with this meal. The oysters were much better than oysters in a half shell, but they were still not something that I would choose to order again. They were much better with hot sauce, but tasted somewhat bland in flavor.  The fried okra was the typical frozen type, which was good, but nothing overly special. 

Overall, the fried pickles and Chicken A La Mar are worth a trip back to Jazz, and those two things alone enticed Shane and I to both purchase a Groupon from Jazz about a week ago. We will definitely return to try more Louisiana specials.