DULCE VIDA: The Rules of Blair’s Breakfast Game Just Changed

BLAIR, NEBRASKA (APRIL 29, 2024) Dulce Vida is a new breakfast and lunch restaurant in Blair. They are owned and managed by the same people behind the now-longtime El Vallarta in town. For better – or worse – the association with El Vallarta creates an expectation for the new spot on Washington Street.

The lead up to today’s open seemed to take a long time to some observors. “Long” is a relative term, though. And, we are suprised to see some people on social media who left negative, impatient, and ill-informed comments about the time it took to open Dulce Vida.

To open a new restaurant, renovate the inside of a well-worn building, meet all code requirements, hire the right staff, create a new menu, source your foods, acquire the furniture, and, other things that you can research for yourself about opening a restaurant – to do all that takes time. Anyone impatient enough for Dulce Vida to open must not understand what it takes to open a QUALITY restaurant.

And, if “quality” is to a new restaurant on Washington Street in Blair, as a cover is to a book about eating out, Blair may be in for something special to read, or in this case eat.

What the owners did to the inside of 1621 Washington is spectacular. In a small town what I write may be scrutinized more than if this was Omaha, but it is what it is: Dulce Vida is the nicest looking, most elegantly-appointed, and unique dining choices in Blair. The owners took their time because they wanted to get it right from the day the doors opened. If you doubt my comment as hyperbole, walk in any day and look at what’s on the walls, and the quality of the seats, booths, table, and floors. There is not question they put in the work to make Dulce Vida shine like a star from day one.

I visited at 3PM today to find a staff of friendly, well-dressed (as at El Vallarta) staff eager to take my order. I was handed a menu, offered choices for my first time meal, placed an order and was served in 10 minutes or less.

My goal was to try something new that might be considered a “signature” dish. There are already a number of places in Blair to get “eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee,” so to write about another plate like that would be both uninspired to write and for you to read.

The waitress suggested Cati’s Tamale Cakes, and Cassie’s Burritos.

I know the names “Cati’s” and “Cassies” in front of anything on a menu tell you exactly nothing about what you’re about to eat, so I’ll explain what they were like. (Not that anyone asked me for my opinion, but I would get new menus made that removed any personal or “cute” names for things a customer may want to order.)

Cati’s Tamale Cakes were like sweet, soft cornbread, with over-easy eggs, bacon, and a generous topping of what seemed to be sour cream and an aioli sauce. The bacon and eggs were perfect. And, if you like your eggs and bacon with a soft, sweet-and-slighty-spice cornbread (emphasis on soft), Cati’s Tamale Cakes will work for you. It is a dish that is so new and unique to me – and, I suspect to anyone reading this – that it’s hard to know what you’d think. It is – and this is not sarcasm – it is good for what it is, if what it is is what you want. Absolutely, without question, the most unique breakfast item I’ve ever had in Blair.

Cassie’s Burritos were more standard “breakfast burritos.” The insides with meat, the outside with cheese, covered with tomatoes and onions, with a side of cubed, fried, seasoned potatoes. Along with the burritos was a serving of salsa verde – that, if you are familiar with El Vallarta, will be something you’ve probably tried and enjoyed.

I plan to return again to try more from their extensive an interesting menu. They chose to go a route in Blair that’s a bold move. They are serving things which will either hit or miss, and I like that. I love it, actually. Blair needs more of this kind of visionary restaurant experience.

El Vallarta put Fernando’s out of business. The food, the decor, wait staff, the passion, all these things make El Vallarta the only place in town for “mexican” fare. If I owned a breakfast and lunch spot that served similar food to Dulce Vida, I would make a point to step up my game.