By Evan Kenkel, Food Editor – Omaha Food Magazine
It started with smoke.
Not the cloying kind puffed into cocktails or piped through scented vents at corporate steakhouses. No — this was real smoke. Wood-fed, primal, and slow. It wrapped the patio at The Farnam Hotel like an invitation written in cedar and heat. The kind of smoke that says: We’re doing something here. Come see.
And what they were doing was Fire to Table — a private preview of something Omaha hasn’t seen before. A meal not just cooked, but built — from flame and family, patience and precision.
Some meals are plated.
This one was forged.
A Chef Who Knows Fire — and Where He Comes From
At the heart of it all was Chef Eduardo Marquez Araya, a man whose résumé is almost as long as the table we ate at. Before arriving in Omaha, Marquez spent over 15 years with The Ritz-Carlton, helming kitchens from South Beach to Lake Tahoe, most recently as Executive Chef at Casa Don Alfonso in Clayton, Missouri.
But he wasn’t trained for this event in white tablecloths. He was born for it. Raised in Chile, he studied gastronomy in Santiago, rose through casino kitchens, and eventually brought his style — bold, fire-driven, generous — to the high-end world of luxury dining.
Now, he’s stoking flames on the patio of The Farnam, shirt-sleeved, calm, and smiling like someone exactly where they belong.
He told me, “I’ve cooked in castles, casinos, beach resorts — but this? This is how I grew up. We didn’t need menus, just family and firewood.”
Smoke, Heat, and Precision from a NASA Mind
The fire rigs were custom — designed by a former NASA engineer, because apparently that’s what it takes to cook meat like this.
By the time I arrived for cocktail hour at 5 p.m., the whole block smelled like anticipation. Chickens trussed tight with green chimichurri swayed above the embers. Tomahawk steaks hung heavy beside pineapples, their sugars dripping into the flames. On the lower racks: peaches, onions, cabbage, squash — each one coaxed into submission by wood and patience. And at the far end, salmon was slow-roasting on whiskey barrel staves, its skin taut and lacquered like cedar.
I asked Marquez if he’d be roasting the bone marrow from the tomahawks. He nodded, said he’d thought about it, but held off for the first night.
“Soon,” he said.
I believe him. You don’t forget marrow.
A Table Set for Strangers Who Weren’t Strangers for Long
This wasn’t a typical press event. It was part media preview, part event industry showcase — a soft open dressed as a dinner party. Among the guests: writers, photographers, hotel loyalists, event planners. The hotel’s event coordinator, Sarah Wynn, told me they’re even considering using these mobile rigs for weddings and private events. Fire, it seems, travels well.
The table itself was stunning — a long stretch of cream linen, woven chargers, glass tumblers, and raw wood rounds for risers. Red cloth ran serpentine through the centerpiece like a flicker of flame. There were no name cards, just empty seats and warm greetings. Within minutes, strangers were swapping names over sauvignon blanc and mezcal.
The vibe? Less hotel restaurant, more Sunday supper with your dream neighbors.
The Food: Fire, Flesh, and the Full Circle
Then came the food.
The first wave brought thick cut bread with roasted garlic butter, Caesar and charred cabbage salads, and street corn that had no business being that smoky and rich. But the real showstoppers came tucked in two unassuming platters:
- Roasted pork with flame-charred squash and pineapple — sweet, fatty, caramelized. It tasted like summer and memory at once.
- A smoky peach caprese — fresh mozzarella, arugula, and balsamic over fire-kissed fruit. If July had a flavor, this was it.
And that was just the warm-up.
The chimichurri chicken, the one I’d been staring at since arrival, was fork-tender, steaming, and gone in seconds. The tomahawks — cooked to a crowd-pleasing medium, with edge-charred crust — were sliced and passed like holy relics. Some of us gnawed the bones. No shame.
The whiskey-stave salmon was unforgettable. Crisped skin. Silken center. Oak and salt and time.
Between bites, Marquez moved among the guests. Not performing — just present. Calm, curious, generous with his time. We talked briefly about roasted pineapple, and we both lit up. “Simple,” he said, “but the flavor… it’s everything.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Dessert, and the Real Finish Line
Dessert was light — grilled pineapple and vanilla ice cream with toasted nuts. Nothing flashy. Just the right ending.
But nobody really left. We sat in the cooling air, sipping, laughing, trading names and Instagrams and half-drunk insights about food and fire and family. No one checked the time. That kind of silence doesn’t happen by accident. It’s earned.
Book Now — Before the Fire Cools
Fire to Table is no longer just a one-night affair. The Farnam Hotel is now offering it as a ticketed dining experience — available under the “Experiences” tab on OpenTable.
Expect limited seating. Expect word to spread. Expect it to sell out.
And when it does? Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
My Final Thought: The Smoke Sticks With You
I’ve eaten in a lot of places — street-side barbecue pits in Chengdu, cellar taverns in Shanghai, late-night sausage stands in Bavaria. I’ve burned my hands tearing pork shoulder off a spit at sunrise and sipped wine with chefs who barely spoke my language.
But this? This was Omaha, with the fire turned all the way up. And it was special.
When food is made with intention — not just skill, but soul — it lingers. In your mind. On your clothes. And if you’re lucky, in your city.
I’ll be back. Just try to beat me to the bone plate.
? Fire to Table
At Catalyst, inside The Farnam Hotel, Omaha
Now open to the public | Reserve under “Experiences” via OpenTable:
https://www.opentable.com/r/dynamite-woodfire-grill-omaha?corrid=789c986a-cb50-4a25-b5c9-4eb9465cf909&avt=eyJ2IjoyLCJtIjoxLCJwIjowLCJzIjowLCJuIjowfQ&p=2&sd=2025-08-06T19%3A00%3A00
