Prices: $10 to $35 per person
Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; 5 p.m. to at least 10 p.m. daily.
Information: 391-7440 or droverrestaurant.com
Some things truly get better with age: Wine, of course. Steaks, to a degree. And — if two recent visits are any indication — the Omaha institution that is the Drover.
Launched as a Cork ‘N Cleaver franchise in 1969 and rechristened the Drover in 1979, the squat, weathered-wood steakhouse behind the Travel and Transport Building seems to have weathered its four decades well.
The smell of whiskey and wood smoke still greet you outside its heavy wooden doors.
Old wagon wheels, stucco and brick walls, lantern-lit oak tables and adobe-style fireplaces give it a cozy, cowboy bunkhouse feel.
And the squinting, slit-mouthed drover - a fellow who drives animals to slaughter and has the wrinkles to prove it - is still etched in the mirror behind the bar.
His is the only unhappy face you’re likely to see at the Drover.
On our visits, the service was as smooth and familiar as a well-worn, well-oiled saddle. The food was hearty, fresh, well-seasoned and solidly prepared.
No wonder the tucked-away restaurant still seems to draw as many diners in jeans as in business suits. For steak and service with great local flavor, the Drover’s just the thing.
The restaurant offers a few chicken and seafood options, but it’s a sin not to try its signature whiskey steaks. The 13-ounce Certified Angus strip we had was juicy and craveable, with a beautifully charred outer crust and a perfectly hot red middle. A restrained 15-to-20-minute marinade in whiskey before grilling lent it some lovely caramel notes and just a little twang.
Two thick, bone-in Berkshire pork chops - prepared over the same flame broiler in the semi-open kitchen - were simply seasoned, perfectly grill-hashed and equally mmmmm-inducing. One was slightly thinner and slightly more cooked than the other, but the flavor was still quite good.
I loved the candied apple and kale on the plates - a traditional garnish so rarely seen that it seemed new again.
Sides showed care: well-seasoned fries, super-hot, foil-wrapped baked potatoes loaded with butter, sour cream, bacon and chives; steamed sugarsnap peas that retained their green and a little of their snap.
Complimentary bread - a small warm loaf stabbed with a knife, served on a breadboard with good cold butter - tasted nutty, oaty and fresh.
That hallmark of old Omaha steakhouses, a well-edited salad bar, offered crisp iceberg lettuce, a handful of fresh and hearty toppings and a few dressings that somehow added up to more than the sum of their parts. Iceberg seems almost exotic when topped with pickled beets, hard-boiled eggs, fresh croutons, sunflower seeds, cracked black pepper and lemon poppyseed dressing. And the chilled oval aluminum alloy salad plates - like broiler plates my parents used in the 1970s - kept everything icy cold at table.
Soups were spot-on delicious and hot to the last drop. A house-made ham hock and bean had a nicely balanced broth with an unexpected hint of cilantro. The house chili - a thick, meaty, moderately spiced version with beans and big chunks of tomato and bell pepper - was topped with melting cheddar and just enough minced red onion to give it zing and crunch. Even the chicken noodle soup had a buttery golden broth and thick, toothsome noodles.
Bacon-wrapped shrimp were the best I’ve had. The tailless jumbo shrimp were large enough to avoid overcooking while their smoky bacon coats got crisp. They came with a wonderfully zippy citrus-horseradish sauce, a tiny fork for dipping, and a mess of flavorful sautéed mushrooms.
A Reuben with shaved prime rib in place of the corned beef was terrific, and a thick, lightly breaded pork tenderloin sandwich also delivered.
If you save room for something sweet, the Drover’s few-but-solid options include fluffy, fresh-tasting Cheesecake Factory cheesecake and a decidedly retro dessert drink - the Brandy Alexander.
Portions were large and, given the quality and service, reasonably priced. Most lunch items stay between $8 and $12, most dinner entrees (which include soup or salad bar, bread and a side) between $20 and $32.
Hosts swept us in warmly, with or without reservations. Servers in plain clothes were friendly, attentive and efficient. I appreciated their low-key conviviality and ability to read the dining room - removing spent plates promptly, refilling drinks with purpose, offering specials and to-go boxes and never interrupting a good bite with a silly question.
At 40, the Drover proves that old-school steakhouses don’t have to be old-hat.
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