When celebrity chef Alton Brown declared Block 16’s Croque Garçon burger “the best burger I’ve ever had. Period.” on national television, the people of Omaha simply nodded — because they already knew.
Block 16 is the James Beard Award-nominated, nationally acclaimed, farm-to-table street food spot on Farnam Street where chef couple Paul and Jessica Urban have been turning locally sourced ingredients, family memories, and relentlessly creative daily specials into some of the most talked-about food in the entire country since 2010. 🍔
Named Best Burger in Nebraska, Best Restaurant in Nebraska, and featured on Food Network and USA Today — this is the downtown Omaha gem that put the whole city on the American food map.
How Block 16 Won Omaha’s Hearts
Paul and Jessica Urban never planned on opening a sandwich counter. The two met in Metropolitan Community College’s culinary program with dreams of fine dining — white tablecloths, tasting menus, the whole vision.
But when a scrappy little downtown spot called New York Chicken and Gyro became available in 2010, the couple jumped at the chance — and what followed was one of the most compelling pivot stories in American food. 🍳
They kept the existing gyro equipment, held onto the burger recipe that had been in the space before them, and began layering their formal culinary training and love of global travel onto a humble street food format that no one expected to become extraordinary.
Paul and Jessica worked the counter during the day, then both headed to night jobs — Jessica as a sous chef at a restaurant out west, Paul as a chef at the Omaha Country Club — working what Paul described as “eight days a week, almost literally.”
In 2015, Alton Brown stopped into Block 16 during his cross-country Best Thing I Ever Ate tour, ordered the Croque Garçon, and made the declaration that sent the national food media into a frenzy — “They’ve turned the hamburger into high art.”
The accolades that followed were staggering: James Beard Award Semifinalists in 2023, Best Burger in Every State by Eat This Not That, Best Locally Sourced Dining by Omaha Magazine, Best Restaurant in Nebraska by Reviews.org, and a spot on Eater’s 38 Essential Omaha Restaurants list. 🥇
That depth of intention, layered beneath genuinely brilliant flavor combinations, is exactly why the Omaha burger scene has rallied around Block 16 for over fifteen years — and shows no sign of stopping. 🌱
Food Highlights 🍔
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Croque Garçon Burger: The most famous burger in Nebraska — a 1/3 pound Jon’s Naturals beef patty, Swiss-American cheese, salty ham, a sunny-side-up Evetta Farms egg, green onion, mustard, and truffle mayo on a toasted ciabatta roll. 🥚🏆
- Sloppy Nick: A fan-favorite that draws its own devoted following — Jon’s Naturals ground beef mixed with Nick’s famous sloppy seasoning, layered with Swiss and Gouda cheese, and pickle on jalapeño cornbread slices. 🌶️
- Shroomy: A deeply earthy, pub-style masterpiece — house wagyu patty, Flavor Country Farm’s freshly sourced mushrooms, Havarti, Swiss, crispy fried shallots, porcini aioli, and ketchup on a toasted brioche bun. 🍄
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Block Burger: The original and foundational — a 1/3 pound Jon’s Naturals beef patty with Swiss-American cheese, mayo, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickle on a classic bun. 🍔
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Sailor Dip: A beef-lover’s indulgence — 24-hour English beer-braised shortrib, gruyère, English cheddar, caramelized onions, and roasted garlic mayo on a toasty roll, served with a side of jus for dunking. 🥩
- Bacon & Brie À La Emily: Thick-cut bacon, duck confit, creamy Brie, house apple butter, toasted rosemary, and peppery arugula served on Le Quartier artisan bread.
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3 Happiness Burger: This iconic specialty builds on a 1/3 pound beef patty loaded with crab rangoon cream cheese, stir-fry slaw, and sweet and spicy chili sauce on a sesame bun — bold, playful, and completely unlike anything else in the Omaha burger scene. 🦀🌶️
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Chicken Bacon Ranch: A Nashville hot crowd-pleaser built for serious flavor — PC Farm fried chicken, house-made ranch, candied tomato, shredded lettuce, crispy bacon, and chimichurri.
Atmosphere
Block 16 is the rare downtown lunch counter that feels both completely unpretentious and quietly extraordinary — a compact Farnam Street space where the walls are lined with local and national press clippings. 📰
You order at the counter, the food comes fast, and the energy is warm, casual, and buzzing — the kind of place where a weekday lunch can turn into an hour-long conversation over a truly remarkable burger.
The daily specials culture is an experience unto itself — regulars follow Block 16’s Facebook page obsessively for the day’s offering, and the community that has built around those specials gives the restaurant a living, evolving personality that no static menu could ever replicate. 🎨
Bottom Line
Reasons Block 16 belongs at the top of every Omaha food bucket list: the Croque Garçon — declared the best burger in America by Alton Brown and still every bit as extraordinary; over 4,000 unique daily specials with new creations every single day; locally sourced, humanely raised ingredients including produce from the Urbans’ own family farm; a James Beard-nominated chef couple pouring genuine passion into every plate; and the unanimous verdict of the national food media — this is the best restaurant in Nebraska. 🍔🏆
Address:
1611 Farnam St, Omaha, NE 68102
📞 (402) 408-0160
🕔 Open Mon–Tue, 11 AM–2 PM | Wed–Sat, 11 AM–2 PM & 5 PM–8 PM (closed Sunday)