New restaurant hopes to add life to Omaha’s Little Bohemia

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - A star city eatery plans to expand its business here in Omaha.

The restaurant plans to locate in the up-and-growing Little Bohemia area.

Some of the old favorites along South 13th Street are gone. The Donut Stop, the Bohemian Café are no longer with us. But Hemple Sheet Metal Works is still here. In business since 1903; they’ve been in this spot since 1947 Dave Hemple owns.

“It’s turned into a good blend of industrial and the smaller boutique commercial stuff and I think that people have worked together to make that happen, and I think it’s working out pretty well,” Dave Hemple said.

Nick Maestas and his wife, Jenny, want their restraint Muchachos to work out in Little Bohemia, they can feel the growth here.

“You see it coming, you see the great established business that have been here already, and then the ones that are up and coming you know,” said Nick Maestas. “We’ve had the keys for this place for almost nine months to a year now, and in that time an entire apartment complex has gone up.”

Creating a Blackstone or Capitol district feel here might be difficult because 13th Street is a major thorofare running to the Old Market and downtown.

“I think that it’s going to be really a challenge to try to develop things into what they have in those locations.”

But Little Bohemia has always been its own kind of place.

“We’re not quite Mexican, we’re not quite barbecue.”

“My grandparents grew up in Las Vegas, New Mexico, so I grew up eating hatch chillis with everything, with breakfast, lunch, dinner. As a way to honor them, I’ve included that in my menu.”

That’s Nick’s grandfather on the wall, there’s also a wall of speakers and a Richard Simons Chia Pet.

“As you can tell from our vibe we are differently funky and weird and a little eclectic, and you know a Richard Simons Chia Pet, it doesn’t get much more weird and eclectic than that.”

Nick is planning on the weird and eclectic and the good food to fit right in and draw more people to Little Bohemia.

After a soft opening, Nick hopes to add to the Little Bohemia vibe with an official opening in early May.

Copyright 2023 WOWT. All rights reserved.