During my quest to visit and review all of the restaurants along the streetcar route, I saw a post online from Noli’s restaurant in what I believe were the early days of September, where they expressed that they were going to temporarily shut down the restaurant due to a cooler breaking. The post also said that, due to the streetcar project severely reducing customer volume over the past few years, they have been unable to fix it. 

To say I was bummed was an understatement: it was one of the many restaurants along the route which was in my queue to visit. I knew the project was doing damage to business as I have spoken to restaurant owners and managers along said route, who are desperate for customers. It’s not that the food is bad or anything, either; Blackstone has some of my favorite restaurants in Omaha. 

Then, even as fast as Omaha is growing, it’s still a small world in some parts: I was in a conversation with a relative who asked me how writing was going. We spoke about my current project, and I lamented that I would never get to cover Noli’s and help them, when they then told me that they had spoken to the owners personally: after Noli’s posted they were going to close, people donated enough money to the restaurant to replace the cooler and to cover employee wages for a while longer. 

If there ever was some mystical sign that said I should bump up Noli’s place on my list of restaurants to visit, it was that. 

Like some rom-com in the eighties when the guy finally gets his head on straight, throws on his jean jacket and runs out of his house to his ‘68 Nova while Jefferson Starship plays, all the while there is a montage of the girl just trying to get on with her life with her broken heart – I did the same, of course. The restaurants along the streetcar route deserved it! 

Well, alright. To my everlasting shame, I do not own a ‘68 Nova or a jean jacket. 

But I did head to Blackstone. 

Parking around Nolis is awful, but not unworkable: there are some slots along the street, and opposite of Noli’s eastwards there is a paid parking lot. Of late I have been parking in the neighborhood south of the district, though there is now a parking garage two blocks east where the first two hours of parking are free! 

But this is an ’80s montage! 

I swung my Jetta into a parking spot right out front (no, really, I did!). The only thing missing from the camera shot was a group of teens in those bad watercolor/pastel running jackets, leaning against a brick wall with a cassette boombox at their feet. Noli’s Pizzeria does however, have an iconic cornerstone entrance with an old brickface for a wall. Inside, an old, well-worn wooden floor with brightly dyed wooden tables only added to the image of a simple and cozy Pizzeria. 

There too were windows overlooking Farnam Street, with a glass-garage door open to let in the perfect 70-degree weather of that evening. As always, I ordered the appetizer that the person taking my order recommended: ‘The Garlic Twists’, and then a slice of pizza with sausage, pepperoni, and capocollo. The twists came out first, and while bread is often nothing to look at, when I broke one in half to dip in the tomato-type sauce, steam came out of the inside of the breaded twists. They were so simple, yet biting into one of the halves brought with it a question of ‘just what sort of analogy would do it justice?’ 

The softness of the twist, that is. 

Perhaps if a child were to wonder what a cloud would feel like if they ate it - that is it. There were no burnt parts or crunchy parts to the bread. Maybe too…there was a hint of sweetness to it? 

Usually I avoid pizza joints; as an American male I’ve eaten a lot of pizza, especially in my youth. Most of the time I have become ever more agitated and disappointed, as surely there will be something wrong with it. Likely, whatever pizza joint someone orders from, there will be too much cheese and hardly any toppings. Or the bread will be too thick or hard, or there will be too much parmesan. Honestly, the more I review food, the more I am convinced that each dish should be a harmony of ingredients, of which their ratio is king. 

Noli’s slice of pizza? 

Before biting, I recognized that the sausage on top took me back to my childhood; the smell was genuine, and the breading on the bottom of the pizza was as aromatic as it was when I took it into my mouth. The cheese-to-topping ratio was perfect; the cheese and even the pepperoni were not greasy. The sausage here was the star and came with an even and tempered spice. 

Initially, I was cautious to not order a whole pizza, as I wasn’t sure I would especially like it. However, the slice was honestly so good that I went up to the counter and ordered a full box to take home and share with my family. Noli’s truthfully surpassed my expectations to the fullest with its pizza. It would be a horrible shame to have Blackstone lose such a good restaurant. 

It was fantastic to sit at a thin bar-top table that ran the length of the open garage door while enjoying the perfect evening air, while watching the light Blackstone foot traffic go by as I ate the best slice of pizza that I’ve had in a long while. 

Austin Petak is an aspiring novelist and freelance journalist who loves seeking stories and the quiet passions of the soul. If you are interested in reaching out to him to cover a story, you may find him at austinpetak@gmail.com.