LaCasa Pizza

[Omaha Cowboy]

I do think you had to grow up eating it. I've stopped trying to introduce it to people. It's certainly divisive. You either love the Romano Cheese and the unique sauce, or you don't.

This I agree with. I grew up eating La Casa pizza and it’s my favorite.. But I also like all kinds of different pizza styles.. La Casa will always remain in that special elevated status for me..

And it is divisive. Most people I’ve introduced La Casa pizza to usually like it though. I remember introducing it to a college professor who had just moved to Omaha from Chicago and he was complaining that he couldn’t find any good pizza in Omaha.. I told him about La Casa on a Friday- he ended up trying it over the weekend..and the following Monday in class, he raved for 20 minutes about how much he LOVED it and that La Casa was now his new favorite pizza.. Even over the Chicago Style he grew up eating..

Always loved that victory for La Casa ...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[nativeomahan]

I’m not a fan of Romano cheese, but I love LaCasa, and am happy to read of their newest location. Too many West Omahans haven’t been exposed to their pizza.

[omaha79]

the combination of mozzarella and romano is pretty much my sweet spot on their pizza. both cheeses, the traditional sauce, and maybe a little Canadian bacon. perfect.

[nativeomahan]

The one thing LaCasa doesn’t seem to have is pineapple as a topping option. You need it for Hawaiian style pizza.

[MadMartin8]

I do think you had to grow up eating it. I've stopped trying to introduce it to people. It's certainly divisive. You either love the Romano Cheese and the unique sauce, or you don't.

This I agree with. I grew up eating La Casa pizza and it’s my favorite.. But I also like all kinds of different pizza styles.. La Casa will always remain in that special elevated status for me..

And it is divisive. Most people I’ve introduced La Casa pizza to usually like it though. I remember introducing it to a college professor who had just moved to Omaha from Chicago and he was complaining that he couldn’t find any good pizza in Omaha.. I told him about La Casa on a Friday- he ended up trying it over the weekend..and the following Monday in class, he raved for 20 minutes about how much he LOVED it and that La Casa was now his new favorite pizza.. Even over the Chicago Style he grew up eating..

Always loved that victory for La Casa ...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

For me, I LOVE the Cheese, and the crust, but the sauce...I just find there isn't enough of it for me and that is a huge sticking point for me in regards to pizza.

Then again, this thread has me wanting to try it again. So maybe I shall (along with some toasted ravioli..)

[Omaha Cowboy]

Congrats La Casa for 65 years of serving great “Omaha Style” pizza ..

From the W-H:

“Ask an Omahan about pizza, and prepare for things to get impassioned.

Make the question about La Casa — the iconic Omaha pizza spot that’s celebrating 65 years in business this year — and prepare for the conversation to get seriously divisive.

“I love that pizza,” one person will tell you. “Been eating it for 40 years.”

“La Casa pizzeria was our first date,” another recalls. “Been married 22 years.”

“Our family’s mainstay,” says another.

“The best in town,” a fourth says.

And then.

“Tastes like stinky feet.”

“On par with pizza served in public schools.”

“Hard pass.”

And one reader, who decided not to mince words: “I hate everything about La Casa pizza.”

Nicole Jesse, whose grandfather Joe Patane opened La Casa on Leavenworth Street in 1953, has heard them all, both good and bad. And you know what? She’s OK with it.”..

The complete story link-

https://www.omaha.com/omahadines/plus/c ... 9960e.html

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[Omababe]

“I love that pizza,” one person will tell you. “Been eating it for 40 years.”
“La Casa pizzeria was our first date,” another recalls. “Been married 22 years.”

"Tastes like stinky feet.”
“On par with pizza served in public schools.”

LOL, pizza is sooooo subjective! (Assuming the poster knows what stinky feet taste like.) Some actually think that convenience shop take-out pizza is great.

[Linkin5]

IMO La Casa is by no means bad pizza it just is not worth the price, just seems overrated to me. With that said I can understand if you grew up on it you would be loyal to it, people love Valentino’s for the same reason and that is not great pizza.

[Omaha Cowboy]

You both make points I agree with.. I know people who tell me Casey’s (convenience store) Pizza is great. I’ve never had it, so I can’t make a judgement there..

And regarding La Casa, I grew up eating it so naturally, it’s my favorite.. That said, I’ll agree that it is a tad bit expensive for what you get..

I do have friends that either love La Casa pizza or hate it.. Rarely is there a middle ground, lol.. I will say this, if you don’t like their pizza, La Casa’s fried Ravioli is fantastic and their pasta dishes are very solid..so there are La Casa alternatives...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[Coyote]

I am one of those who grew up with La Casa pizza, probably had my first one that I remember around 1967.
It was a family event with my father knowing the owner we would always dress up to go there.
I can't think of others to compare it to until Shakey's opened up at 90th & West Center and then Big Fred's.
Living in West O, we never tried Orsi's until much later.
But for those my age, how many pizza joints were there in Omaha in the 60's?
What was the first Pizza you ever had?
Do you compare all other Pizzas the your first treat?

[Busguy2010]

I've had one slice of LaCasa's pizza on my friends dollar last year, and based off that one slice, it was very good. I liked how done and crispy the crust was along with the cheese having a nice char to it. Haven't had it again ever since because of the price honestly. Can't bring myself to shell out that kind of dough for how light and airy that pizza is. Can't be too many calories per $. Lately I've been making my pizzas at home, mimicking that very thin crust and doneness,and I got that down, so I don't eat out for pizza much anymore.

I do like mama's quite a bit, though their crust is a little thicker and doughier than I like, along with the cheese being a little heavy for my taste. Been too long since I've had Orsis to really say. As far as local places go, that's all I've had.

I happen to favor Domino's for my corporation pizza, I like their thin garlic crust. Not a fan of Pizza Hut or Godfathers, too doughy.

[Brad]

Lately I've been making my pizzas at home, mimicking that very thin crust and doneness,and I got that down, so I don't eat out for pizza much anymore.

We have been doing that too. Trader Joe's has pizza dough made up and in bags. Take it home, roll it out, add whatever you want on top and in to the oven.

That said, we had LaCasa West on Tuesday night. It was as good as it always is. We kind of bounce back and fourth between Mama's and LaCasa.

[Busguy2010]

We have been doing that too. Trader Joe's has pizza dough made up and in bags. Take it home, roll it out, add whatever you want on top and in to the oven.

I do mine all from scratch. I have to watch my sodium intake, so I make the dough and sauce to spec, and it tastes great even without a huge amount of sodium. The pepperoni and cheese, I just have to accept, but I control the aspects of it that I can.

I'm so excited for my tomatoes ripen up and I'll make the sauce right out of my garden.

[Coyote]

I live near Rotella's which sells frozen pizza dough. Long ago I have abandoned tomato paste in home made pizza for pesto, and a Greek pizza with sautéed Portabella mushrooms, Feta cheese, Katamala olives, Leeks, and fresh Tomatoes...

[obvious2677]

Been to a lot of the local pizza places. Orsi's is the best. Hands down. Lighthouse is fantastic. Piezon's, Pitch, Mama's and Tasty Pizza are good - Tasty Pizza is like $4 for a personal pizza. Vituoso, Noli and Sgt. Peffers are ok - Noli's service was flat out horrible though. Davlo is forgettable. La Casa, Sam & Louie's and Zio's are trash (I ate Sam & Louie's in college because they had a fantastic deal for college students). Sortino's, Big Fred's and Don Carmelo's were the places we went when I was young.

For chains - Vartsity/Roman Coin is good. Valentino's and Marco's are ok. Casey's is good if you keep your standards low. Pizza Hut and Pizza Ranch are trash. Domino's is okay.

Also - the OWH food columnist has horrible taste.

[bbinks]

For chains - Vartsity/Roman Coin is good. Valentino's and Marco's are ok. Casey's is good if you keep your standards low. Pizza Hut and Pizza Ranch are trash. Domino's is okay.

Also - the OWH food columnist has horrible taste.

Id put Domino's pretty low. They were great in the mid to late 80's. The last one I had the grease was saturated through the bottom of the box. They, along with Pizza Hut and Racist Papa John's are sh** on a shingle. Toppers is not much better.

[bigredmed1]

Also - the OWH food columnist has horrible taste.

Testify!

My wife and I laugh and just check it up to her tastebuds don’t work the same as regular humans. What makes it worse is that she writes in such a judgmental and declarative style. Like Davlo’s is the best pizza in the city!!!!! We went there and like all Chicago deep dish pizza, it was too much and unlike real Chicago pizza, it was just regular crust wadded up in a deep dish pan.

She has done this with a lot of her food crawls where she goes somewhere once and writes it off because they didn’t serve the right kind of lettuce with her burger or some similar statement.

Omaha is cursed to never keep a good food critic.

[obvious2677]

Also - the OWH food columnist has horrible taste.

Testify!

My wife and I laugh and just check it up to her tastebuds don’t work the same as regular humans. What makes it worse is that she writes in such a judgmental and declarative style. Like Davlo’s is the best pizza in the city!!!!! We went there and like all Chicago deep dish pizza, it was too much and unlike real Chicago pizza, it was just regular crust wadded up in a deep dish pan.

She has done this with a lot of her food crawls where she goes somewhere once and writes it off because they didn’t serve the right kind of lettuce with her burger or some similar statement.

Omaha is cursed to never keep a good food critic.

Agreed on Davlo's - and I went with my best friend, a Chicago native (and lived there for 25 years).

I have a theory that she likes new/trendy places and that's it. I don't read her articles anymore because her opinion is garbage.

[obvious2677]

For chains - Vartsity/Roman Coin is good. Valentino's and Marco's are ok. Casey's is good if you keep your standards low. Pizza Hut and Pizza Ranch are trash. Domino's is okay.

Also - the OWH food columnist has horrible taste.

Id put Domino's pretty low. They were great in the mid to late 80's. The last one I had the grease was saturated through the bottom of the box. They, along with Pizza Hut and Racist Papa John's are sh** on a shingle. Toppers is not much better.

You're probably right. I honestly haven't had Domino's in 2-3 years. Never had Papa John's or Toppers. Upon googling - Papa John's looks like old-style Pizza Hut (which was garbage) and Toppers looks like Totino's Party Pizza's (when it's $1, can you really complain?).

[WBR_Tom]

Also - the OWH food columnist has horrible taste.

Testify!

My wife and I laugh and just check it up to her tastebuds don’t work the same as regular humans. What makes it worse is that she writes in such a judgmental and declarative style. Like Davlo’s is the best pizza in the city!!!!! We went there and like all Chicago deep dish pizza, it was too much and unlike real Chicago pizza, it was just regular crust wadded up in a deep dish pan.

She has done this with a lot of her food crawls where she goes somewhere once and writes it off because they didn’t serve the right kind of lettuce with her burger or some similar statement.

Omaha is cursed to never keep a good food critic.

(Deleted)

[Omaha Cowboy]

Also - the OWH food columnist has horrible taste.

Testify!

My wife and I laugh and just check it up to her tastebuds don’t work the same as regular humans. What makes it worse is that she writes in such a judgmental and declarative style. Like Davlo’s is the best pizza in the city!!!!! We went there and like all Chicago deep dish pizza, it was too much and unlike real Chicago pizza, it was just regular crust wadded up in a deep dish pan.

She has done this with a lot of her food crawls where she goes somewhere once and writes it off because they didn’t serve the right kind of lettuce with her burger or some similar statement.

Omaha is cursed to never keep a good food critic.

Yeah, hate-reading her reviews has become one of my favorite pastimes, because she's so declarative in her opinions that it makes me laugh. I'm not sure that it's possible for someone's taste to be so diametrically opposed to mine -- my wife and I laugh that if SBH hates a place, we'll probably like it (and vice versa). A negative review from her has almost become a seal of approval for us

I think she’s the same person who years before her current W-H gig, practically lived on Yelp and did “foodie” reviews there for the Yelp Omaha page. I can take or leave her reviews.. But nothing irritated me more, than the years the W-H employed the incompetent, sophomoric and immature Rainbow Rowell as a columnist. The day she left the W-H, the paper instantly got 100% better from an editorial content perspective. I honestly found it hard to believe she never got fired..

But I digress..

Pizza tastes are so personal and subjective. I grew up eating La Casa pizza and still love it to this day.. Another poster here called it “trash”, lol..

To each their own...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[Padre]

I think a lot of it depends on what you grew up with. If you grew up with Chicago style pizza, that's what you're going to compare it to. Same thing with La Casa. Where I grew up, the only pizza we had was the delivery chains, so it's hard for me to thing of pizza as anything more than fast food.

[bigredmed1]

Omaha Cowboy: Rainbow Rowell was hired by the same newspaper that hired Peter Citron to go hang out at high school proms and underage dances. They don't really seem to have any senior editorial staff that has a sense about these things. Considering where they were, Rowell is a pretty serious step up, but on the whole, I agree with you. Her pieces were usually not worth much.

The OWH has a organizational fear of offending big shots so their cultural criticism has been pretty weak. We now look at their coverage of the opera or the symphony as if it publishes a review, then the show is at least competent. If they don't, then it is usually a sign that it is a dog. Not sure why it seems that they are afraid to hire someone knowledgeable about the arts and food scenes. You would think that for every bad review, they would get at least a couple of good ones and these might stimulate more interest in the performing arts. Same with food. If every restaurant is great or only the trendy cool kid hang outs are great, then the critic becomes the bad joke instead of the crappy act or bad restaurant.

[GrandpaaSmucker]

Reading Rainbow and Pete Citron sure was more interesting then reading the Scott Frost comic book ad for the 128th time. My god our paper is dead can you believe it? I think Rainbow has made more money then the rest of us in this forum all put together. I think someone was telling me a year or so back that her and her husband were worth millions. I guess hes made a fortune too.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Omaha Cowboy: Rainbow Rowell was hired by the same newspaper that hired Peter Citron to go hang out at high school proms and underage dances. They don't really seem to have any senior editorial staff that has a sense about these things. Considering where they were, Rowell is a pretty serious step up, but on the whole, I agree with you. Her pieces were usually not worth much.

The OWH has a organizational fear of offending big shots so their cultural criticism has been pretty weak. We now look at their coverage of the opera or the symphony as if it publishes a review, then the show is at least competent. If they don't, then it is usually a sign that it is a dog. Not sure why it seems that they are afraid to hire someone knowledgeable about the arts and food scenes. You would think that for every bad review, they would get at least a couple of good ones and these might stimulate more interest in the performing arts. Same with food. If every restaurant is great or only the trendy cool kid hang outs are great, then the critic becomes the bad joke instead of the crappy act or bad restaurant.

Back in the early-mid 80’s I remember, distinctly, seeing Pete Citron walking around the Old Market, most times with what appeared to be a 13 year old boy by his side.. It was obvious to me back then, in my early 20’s at the time, what was going on with that..

One last comment about Rainbow- I met her once. I will not confirm or deny she did or didn’t know who I was, and that on this and the old Omaha Chamber forum site, I was one of her biggest critics.. But she was as boorish in person as her columns always reflected to me (pretty much anytime I chose to waste my time and read one )..

Regarding the W-H- as it relates to the arts, theatre/movies/music and food.. We haven’t seen anyone who reviews with a “cutting edge”. I agree with your take there.. But I will give them credit. They are better now, than they were 10/15/20 plus years ago.. We’ll take our improvement in modest increments, lol..

And the W-H did create a nice and balanced piece acknowledging La Casa”s 65th year..and I’ll give then additional credit for that as well ...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[bigredmed1]

Reading Rainbow and Pete Citron sure was more interesting then reading the Scott Frost comic book ad for the 128th time. My god our paper is dead can you believe it? I think Rainbow has made more money then the rest of us in this forum all put together. I think someone was telling me a year or so back that her and her husband were worth millions. I guess hes made a fortune too.

Money is definitely in good, but not political childrens books. Rare as hens teeth. Good for her. OWH still cant hire a critic to save their souls.

[Linkin5]

The OWH food critic is Sarah Baker Hansen and she is pretty fair and smart from everything I have read. Not sure why the hate here.

[guy4omaha]

The OWH food critic is Sarah Baker Hansen and she is pretty fair and smart from everything I have read. Not sure why the hate here.

I haven't noticed any hate here as in I don't recall anyone wishing harm upon her. But as far as whether she is a fair and smart food reviewer, I guess it all depends on whether or not you like the same foods as her. If she raves about the food or place, chances are very good my wife and I will not. When we first started reading her reviews and went to places on her recommendation, we did hate the taste in our mouths. So she is just a bad food reviewer in our food book. We don't hate her.

Not picking on you Linkin, it's just that you've reminded me of a pet peeve I am afflicted with. The word hate is a much overused and I would argue misapplied term in our culture these days. I would imagine if a food reviewer can garner 50% agreement with their opinion on such a subjective topic, they are probably worthy of being considered wildly successful. And if nothing else, Sarah is consistent. If she likes it, I know I won't. So overall she is probably a pretty good food reviewer.

[zippy]

I (used to) read the reviews to get a sense for the place, particularly if I'd never been there. If it sounded like a shabby place, or if service was bad, or the menu was too big to manage (or too short to be appealing), then I'd skip that place.

I know that having an OWH review for a restaurant come out on Thursday used to drive traffic through the roof for the whole weekend. Now that all of the reviews are behind the paywall (even weeks after they're published), I wonder if the traffic bump has dropped?

[obvious2677]

The OWH food critic is Sarah Baker Hansen and she is pretty fair and smart from everything I have read. Not sure why the hate here.

I haven't noticed any hate here as in I don't recall anyone wishing harm upon her. But as far as whether she is a fair and smart food reviewer, I guess it all depends on whether or not you like the same foods as her. If she raves about the food or place, chances are very good my wife and I will not. When we first started reading her reviews and went to places on her recommendation, we did hate the taste in our mouths. So she is just a bad food reviewer in our food book. We don't hate her.

Not picking on you Linkin, it's just that you've reminded me of a pet peeve I am afflicted with. The word hate is a much overused and I would argue misapplied term in our culture these days. I would imagine if a food reviewer can garner 50% agreement with their opinion on such a subjective topic, they are probably worthy of being considered wildly successful. And if nothing else, Sarah is consistent. If she likes it, I know I won't. So overall she is probably a pretty good food reviewer.

As one of the originals that trashed her opinion - I do not hate her. I hate her opinion on what is good. Like guy4omaha, it is simply that she picks 'trendy' places and calls their food good.

Omaha's best pizzas: Lighthouse, Virtuoso, Noli, Via Farina, Davlo, Franks, Dante. Hmmm... common thread? All are trendy places (maybe aside from Frank's)
Tripadvisor rankings: Orsi's, Pitch, Dante, Oscar's, La Casa, Enzo's, Zio's, Mangia Italiana, Pitch West Omaha, Lighthouse, Spin!, Mama's, Dudley's... ongoing.
Yelp: Mangia Italiana, My Pie Pizza, Noli, Orsi's, Piezon's, Tasty Pizza, Brick Oven, Dante, Davlo, Frank's, Lighthouse, Mama's, Picasso's, Pitch... ongoing.

Places to drink while in town for Berkshire: Herbe Sainte, Trio, Inkwell, The Tavern, Berry and Rye, Burdock and Bitters, Boiler Room, Nite Owl, Mercury (nearly all - and some of these are not great places to drink?)

Places to eat while in town for Berkshire: Yoshitomo, Farine + Four, Chocolat Abeille, Monarch Prime, Vis Major, Saddle Creek Breakfast Club, Dante, Coneflower, Boiler Room, M's Pub, Johnny's, Drover, Brother Sebastians, Cascio's, 801 Chophouse, Mahogany. This list is decent... but the tail end is basically what Warren recommends anyways.

16 Bars and restaurants for baseball fans: The Session Room, Burdock and Bitters, Cunningham's, Oscar's, Wilson and Washburn, Blatt, The Trap Room, Barrett's, Mercury, Nite Owl (again?), Monarch Prime, Block 16, Au Courant, Boiler Room, Yoshitomo, La Bouvette....
....Not that these aren't good places to eat or drink, but why would these appeal to baseball fans? Blatt, Cunningham's, Oscar's... sure. Boiler Room, Yoshitomo, La Bouvette, Nite Owl... probably not.

Favorite Cheap Eats: Nite Owl (okay, seriously, I've been here, multiple times - it's not worthy of being on every list), Olsen Bake Shop, Block 16, La Choza, Blue & Fly Asian Kitchen.

Admin - any idea why Y-O-S-H-I-T-O-M-O is coming up as an expletive word?

[Original]

I feel that it's important to point out that the a significant idea of reviewers is to understand if the reviewer's taste aligns with yours. For example, a movies reviewer may state that they find Christopher Nolan's movies to be needlessly confusing, pointlessly loud spectacles, and can't imagine why anyone would want to watch Dunkirk or Interstellar. In that case, I'll know that in general, I'm going to disagree with that person's reviews.

Food is a little more subjective, but it's the same idea. Reviews are inherently subjective, grounded in a certain point in time, and reflective of a person's taste. Just generally glance through a reviewer's work to see if they are consistent, and then you know whether or not to pay attention to their reviews.

[Coyote]

A new La Casa West. 5k sq ft building on 1.3 acres just south of Pacific Spring's 1st hole green:

Shooting for an opening at the end of February.

[Omaha Cowboy]

I’ll definitely be making a trek there as soon as the new location opens ...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[MadMartin8]

A new La Casa West. 5k sq ft building on 1.3 acres just south of Pacific Spring's 1st hole green:

Shooting for an opening at the end of February.

I was thinking about this the other day, wondering when it was set to open. Glad to hear that it'll be so soon (you do mean THIS Feb right?). I'll be picking up some toasted ravioli on the way home from work plenty.

[Brad]

Sign is up and everything

Image from the LaCasa West Facebook Page:

[Omaha Cowboy]

Sign is up and everything

Image from the LaCasa West Facebook Page:

A thing of beauty ...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

[guy4omaha]

^^ It truly is!

[nativeomahan]

I live almost precisely halfway between the original location and this new west location. It will be interesting to see if I shift my loyalties out west after it opens. I’m sure I will check it out after it has had a couple of months to shake down.
The menu will be patterned on the Westgate location, as the owners of that spot are opening this one.

[Coyote]

They just got their liquor license.

[Omaha Cowboy]

They just got their liquor license.

It would be nice to see some craft beer taps there.. Kros Strain, Pint 9, Nebraska Brewing etc.. Pizza and local craft beer would be an extra winning combination...

Ciao..LiO...Peace