“Art flows in everything I do,” said the self-taught Kenny. The laid-back, curated ambience extends from the art on the walls to the music overhead to the soul satisfying, un-rushed food coming out of the kitchen. The result is a cozy spot with a not too heavy black and white tiled motif. The restaurant soon outgrew its snug confines and seven years ago the couple expanded into the adjacent bay – doing a total makeover. “They are kind of foodies for the most part out this way. They found kindred spirits among the local gourmands, small growers and urban farmers, thus making her farm-to-table practice a welcome fit.

Then she and husband Brian Kenny, who manages and tends the bar and repairs anything that breaks, opened in one small bay of their present 9520 Calhoun Road location. The first version of Finicky Frank’s – named for a persnickety Ponca Hills neighbor – folded at the Forgotten Store. It was a hit but when she couldn’t swing buying the building to renovate, she looked elsewhere. I guess I always had been, but didn’t realize how good it could be,” she said.Īfter moving to Omaha in the late 1990s, she worked factory line shifts and flipped houses, saving enough to open her first eatery, the soup-salad-sandwich Center Street Cafe. She stretched herself in the kitchen to the point she made her own cheese, butter, bread, noodles. Then, almost on a dare, she poured her creativity and love of good food into cooking. As a stay-at-home wife and mother, she raised the kids, maintained a home and made art (dried gourds became a medium). The Salina, Kansas native worked the family farm growing up, gaining an appreciation for fresh-natural-local even though things often got overcooked by her elders.

Chef-owner Kesa Kenny sticks with quality ingredients and keep things simple to create five-star comfort food. Originally appeared in April 2018 issue of The Reader (Finicky Frank’s stands apart from North Omaha restaurants with its farm-to-table commitment and casual-meets-fine dining balance.

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