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The Cuban sandwich at Lincoln's Pub.
A chicken wedge salad at Lincoln's Pub.
The Cuban sandwich at the new Lincoln’s Pub was what you'd expect, with pulled pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and honey mustard.
What wasn’t expected was the bread encompassing the ingredients.
The DPG burger at Lincoln's Pub.
The kitchen piled the meats, cheese, pickles and mustard between two slices of the restaurant’s signature “wood-fired bread,” which resembled a thick naan and proved to be quite tasty and unique.
To say the new restaurant puts the wood-fire oven to good use may be an understatement. Six of the seven sandwiches are made with wood-fired bread, and wood-fired specialty and build-your-own pizzas make up a bulk of the pub’s menu.
The oven is visible from nearly every table in Lincoln’s Pub. Diners can watch kitchen staffers throw the dough and then spoon pizzas and breads in and out of the hot brick oven, adding a little flair to the dining experience.
Lincoln’s Pub opened in February at the newly developed Leighton District near 48th Street and Leighton Avenue. The restaurant is one of three to open in the development, along with Franco’s Fresh Mexican, a fast-casual eatery, and Daq Shack, an island-themed restaurant serving lobster rolls, fried chicken sandwiches and signature daiquiris.
The restaurants share a kitchen and also have a consolidated option for carryout orders called President’s Takeout.
City+Ventures developed the $50 million Leighton District, which includes a 234-unit apartment complex and commercial space. City+Ventures is an investor in Dead Presidents Group, which opened the three restaurants.
Ryan Mann and Jon Nelson own Dead Presidents Group. The company operates a Lincoln’s Pub in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and plans to open all three restaurant concepts later this year in a development in La Vista.
Lincoln’s Pub is not named for Lincoln the city, but rather the president. It hangs its hat on bar-and-grill fare, with an emphasis on wood-fire cooking.
The menu at Lincoln’s Pub features appetizers, wings, seven sandwiches, five burgers, four salads, four wraps, a 12-ounce sirloin and 13 specialty wood-fired pizzas. Diners also can build their own pizzas. Burgers are prepared with Wagyu beef; the pork dishes feature Heritage Duroc pork. The meats come from Nelson’s butcher shop, Jon’s Natural’s.
Burgers and sandwiches come with a choice of fries or house dill potato chips and cost $14 each. That’s a couple of dollars more than other bar and grills, but the burgers come with two patties and the sandwiches are portioned large as well.
The Baby Bella pizza at Lincoln's Pub.
My wife and I visited the restaurant with our friends, Andy and Jill. We started with drinks and an appetizer – it was an all-day Sunday happy hour with discounts on both. We enjoyed Onries ($10), a mix of steak fries and Vidalia onion rings served with a garlic mayo.
For entrees, I had the aforementioned Cuban ($14) and my wife ordered a 12-inch specialty pizza ($16), the Baby Bella with mushrooms, garlic, roasted peppers, blue cheese and mozzarella. Jill had the wedge salad with chicken ($17) and Andy went with the DPG (Dead Presidents Group) Burger that had caramelized onion, bacon, provolone, special sauce and pickles with the two patties.
The wood-fired crust on the pizza was, well, interesting. It was thin and a tad doughy in the middle, but thicker and crispy along the edges. The wood-fired bread for my Cuban had the same consistency throughout.
Andy enjoyed his burger, not realizing it had two patties until it arrived. He finished it, but was quite full afterward. My wife and I went home with leftovers from our entrees. Jill’s salad also featured a heaping amount of chicken chunks. Grade: B
The pub has a contemporary barn look and feel, with hardwood tables, including some that are carved, and large windows. The walls are chalkboard black, with a variety of words and pictures (lots of cows) in white. One wall is made up of garage doors that open up to the outdoor seating. Most of the seating caters to large groups, with no two-top tables. Couples can sit at the bar or at four-top tables. The draw, of course, is the wood-fire oven in the corner of the restaurant. Grade: B+
We dined on a semi-busy Sunday evening. Busy enough that the bartender had to take care of us instead of a regular server. He did a good job, offering his favorites from the menu and asking how he did on the drinks. His only slip-up was seating us without napkins and silverware, which I snagged from the tub behind the front desk after our appetizer arrived. Our drinks and food reached our table in a timely manner. Grade: B+
Options for vegetarians include appetizers (creamy artichoke dip, hot fried pickles, cheesy bread, onion rings, pretzel sticks and cheese curds), ranging from $8 to $12, salads ($12/each) and two specialty pizzas (Baby Bella and Margherita, $16 or $23). Diners also can build their own veggie pizzas using a variety of peppers, onions and mushrooms. Gluten-free diners can sub garden salads for buns and breads on burgers and sandwiches. Grade: C+
El Chaparro, 900 S. 13th St.
Monday-Thursday: 10 a.m.-2 a.m.
Friday: 10 a.m.-3 a.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m.-3 a.m.
Sunday: 9 a.m.-2 a.m.
Boss's Pizza and Chicken, 1000 Saunders Ave.
Sunday-Thursday: 3 p.m.-3 a.m.
Friday-Saturday: 3 p.m.-4 a.m.
Pickleman's Gourmet Cafe, 1442 O Street
Sunday-Thursday: 10 a.m.-11 p.m.
Friday-Saturday: 10 a.m.-3 a.m.
Ramos Pizza and Buster's BBQ, 48th and Normal
Monday-Thursday: 11 a.m.-2 a.m.
Friday-Saturday: 11 a.m.-3 a.m.
D'Leon's at 2140 W. O St.
Monday-Sunday: Drive through open 24 hours a day
Monday-Sunday: 10:30 a.m.-3 a.m.
Monday-Sunday: Open 24 hours a day
Monday-Sunday: 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Monday-Sunday: 6 a.m.-10 p.m.
Big Daddy's Pizza, 3720 N. 27th St., Suite 8
Monday: 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Jeff Korbelik is the winery manager at James Arthur Vineyards, former Journal Star features editor and author of “Lost Restaurants of Lincoln, Nebraska.” He’s written restaurant reviews for Ground Zero since 1998.
Payment: Cash, major credit cards
Cost: Specialty pizzas, $16 (12-inch) and $23 (16-inch); burgers, sandwiches and wraps, $14; salads, $12 to $19
Hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday
Notes: Parking, alcohol, outdoor seating, takeout, online ordering, happy hour specials (2:30-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, all day Sunday)
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The DPG burger at Lincoln's Pub.
The Cuban sandwich at Lincoln's Pub.
A chicken wedge salad at Lincoln's Pub.
The Baby Bella pizza at Lincoln's Pub.
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