Omaha Restaurant Guide

I can't think of an Omaha eating place that's gone more "incognito" than The Attic. Omaha at large doesn't know exactly "where the place is" or "what it does." Tucked away at the corner of 33rd and Harney, in the towering shadow of the Mutual of Omaha Bank, the spacious establishment has been a lunch place for Mutual employees, a watering hole for the construction workers of the Midtown Crossing site, a dance hall for local fraternities, and a family restaurant for locals. It is a sports bar attached to an American food restaurant attached to a dark dance floor with a stage and towering speaker-stacks. There's even a widescreen projector on the ceiling for watching video. So, walk in and you may ask yourself the question: "What is this place?" A Bar? A restaurant? A club-style music venue?

This answer, according to new owner Richard Bruno, is: all of the above, everything you want it to be. Bruno recently transplanted himself here from Miami and just took over ownership of The Attic on the fifth of this month. He carries with him the business-mind, bigness, and swagger of the city, which he is quickly incorporating into his new "baby." "We'll be doing everything," Bruno says. "Something every night: karaoke, touring rock and punk bands, Latin/salsa dancing night, college night, live DJs, everything." The kitchen will be open later (until 10pm), they'll begin delivery food within a 10-block radius, and they're brainstorming a host of wicked drink specials to get people rolling in. All told, Bruno's ready to make The Attic the next big thing.

As I sit talking with him on a Thursday evening, groups of workers are leaving and two women in power suits sit eating salads under a LSD-Screen TV. The bartender, a young women, cleans up the bar in preparation for the night crowd. "We need more people in here," he says thoughtfully. "We're here to give you a place to wind down, a home away from home.