The minute you walk inside Red Door Woodfire Grill in Aksarben Village, you notice that distinct wood-fire aroma. It’s the kind of smokiness that makes your mouth water with the promise of grilled steaks and burgers. That tantalizing smell has you imagining the menu as you’re escorted to your seat by a friendly host.
Red Door Woodfire Grill opened in Aksarben Village on June 2 and has already gathered a bit of local buzz. It’s the seventh location for this small Midwestern concept, which started in the Kansas City area in 2013. The company expanded across Kansas and Missouri when it made sense to do so. Now, it’s here in Omaha.
Red Door Woodfired Grill bar and dining area
Photo by Jennifer Corey
Angela Mitchell is a partner in the business. She also serves as director of training and development and has taken on the role of managing partner for the Nebraska market. Before joining Red Door, she spent 14 years with another concept until she met Gary Zancanelli Jr., Red Door’s founder. Mitchell said she knew within 10 minutes she wanted to work with him.
“His passion for hospitality, quality of food and guest experience in general led me to move back to Kansas City to join him,” Mitchell said. “What spoke to me was the passion to create great dishes, to create things, to collaborate.”
Red Door Woodfired Grill exterior
Photo by Jennifer Corey
Part of the motivation behind Red Door was freedom. Zancanelli wanted to create a restaurant where he had a say in all of it, from culinary direction and cocktails to the team.
Red Door has evolved over the years. Its early days included weekly menu changes and different burger specials. Today, the company rolls out menu changes three to four times a year, with ingredients that make sense for the season.
The menu’s foundation is in its wood-fired offerings, from steaks to burgers, but it also has a Southwestern influence. Tacos and enchiladas bring a flavor profile that broadens the American grill format.
Of note are the pretzel bites, familiar but tantalizingly good. More on those later.
Mitchell develops most of Red Door’s cocktail program, pulling from her early hospitality experience as a bartender. Her approach is guest-driven, observing what people order, what sells well and what flavors appeal to guests. She also takes input from vendors, team members and guests. The result is some pretty damned tasty drinks.
Passport Required
Photo by Jennifer Corey
The Passport Required cocktail is made with Malibu Rum, Reàl Guava, orange juice and pineapple juice. It’s delightfully tropical, with toasted sugar notes from the rum playing well against the guava, pineapple and orange. You don’t actually need a passport to order this, which is a good thing because it’s worth a return trip.
Jalapeño watermelon margarita
Photo by Jennifer Corey
The jalapeño watermelon is on the small-batch margaritas menu. This play on the classic margarita brings prominent watermelon notes, giving it a sweet, refreshing quality that makes it fun to drink. The jalapeño lends gentle heat, adding complexity without taking over. It’s a delicious alternative to the classic.
Coconut lavender margarita
Photo by Jennifer Corey
The coconut lavender is also on the small batch margaritas menu. It’s a sweet margarita, sweeter than I usually prefer. The coconut puree is prominent, but to me, it seemed the lavender was lost in the sweetness. Jennifer felt otherwise, noting a measured presence of lavender. Having a salted rim cuts the sweetness back quite a bit. It’s a playful margarita, and if I could have caught the lavender, it would have been completely up my alley.
Red Door Old Fashioned
Photo by Jennifer Corey
The old fashioned is made with KC Rieger Whiskey, sugar, bitters, cherry and orange. Right off the bat, there’s a wonderful wisp of orange, giving way to gently sweetened whiskey. It finds the right line between bitter and sweet. Cherry notes blend with the bitters on the finish.
Red Door Bloody Mary
Photo by Jennifer Corey
The Bloody Mary, not listed on the menu, is made with a mix developed in-house. It’s heavy on mesquite smoke, with a healthy dose of spicy heat. The smoke pulls some attention away from the tomato, becoming more pronounced with each sip. It’s also just a touch salty. If you love this flavor, you’ll enjoy this Bloody Mary. For us, a couple of sips in, the smoke became a little too dominant.
Pretzel bites
Photo by Jennifer Corey
The pretzel bites are said to be one of the restaurant’s most popular appetizers and come with smoked green chile queso. The pretzels have a crispy edge to them, with a soft pillowy dough in the center. They’re sprinkled with salt and seasoning, giving each bite plenty of flavor. The green chile queso is creamy and cheesy and gently spicy. Paired together, especially with a cold beer, they are undeniably tasty.
Prime rib eggrolls
Photo by Jennifer Corey
The prime rib egg rolls caught my eye right away. They come filled with shaved prime rib, Swiss cheese, peppers and onions. They’re served with Comeback Sauce, a mix of mayo, ketchup and spices. The filling works beautifully. The Swiss cheese, peppers and onions round out the beef without burying it. The Comeback Sauce is creamy, with notes of tomato and a spicy kick at the end. My only nitpick is that the bottoms of the shells lose some crispness as they sit in the sauce. Still, I’d absolutely order these again in a heartbeat.
Miso salmon
Photo by Jennifer Corey
The miso salmon is glazed and wood-fired with Korean sauce, sautéed vegetables, Asian salad with wasabi-soy vinaigrette, wonton strips and sesame. The salmon arrived perfectly cooked – flaky and tender. The vegetable medley retained just enough crispness. The sweet, savory and tangy Korean sauce brought the salmon and vegetables together. The Asian salad carried a lovely wasabi note, while the wonton strips added welcome crunch.
KC strip
Photo by Jennifer Corey
The KC strip and fries is a 12-ounce wood-fired strip of dry-aged Angus beef, which I ordered medium-rare, served with garlic butter, fries and an herbed garlic butter baguette. The steak arrived just a smidge past medium rare but was still tender and juicy with some pink in the middle. The garlic butter brought out the beef’s richness. The fries were crisp outside, soft in the center and seasoned well. The garlic butter baguette is a nice companion to the steak, with a crisp, buttery, garlicky bite.
Bourbon pecan pie
Photo by Jennifer Corey
The bourbon pecan pie is served with vanilla bean ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce. The filling has toasted pecans and a boozy-sweet bourbon flavor. The edges are crisp and crunchy, giving the filling some needed texture. The bottom crust softened into the filling, making it difficult to know where one ended and the other began. The flavors were there, but the pie could use a little more precision. The vanilla ice cream was creamy with an excellent prominence of vanilla. It’s a tasty concept that might need a touch of refinement, especially this early in the restaurant’s Omaha run.
Red Door is already planning its next Nebraska location, with a restaurant under construction in Gretna near 192nd & Highway 370, near the super-sized Hy-Vee. They’re targeting an opening in February 2027.
Mitchell said the company is also exploring another Omaha-area location.
Red Door Woodfired Grill bar
Photo by Jennifer Corey
While Red Door aims to expand, the company wants to do so intentionally, preserving the feel of a neighborhood restaurant built around hospitality and a scratch kitchen. It’s regional, operator-driven and still manages to keep the family feel that first drew Mitchell to the concept.
Red Door sits next to several impressive culinary options in the heart of Aksarben. It’s clear the restaurant has hit the ground running, bringing its own wood-fired flavor to town.
As for me? I can’t stop thinking about those prime rib egg rolls and delectable pretzel bites. And you can bet your wood-fired taste buds I’ll be back for tacos and enchiladas in the very near future.
Round the Bend Steakhouse’s annual Testicle Festival is Saturday, June 20, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the restaurant outside Ashland. The festival features live music, beer gardens, collector T-shirts and more than 2,000 pounds of Rocky Mountain oysters, with more details available on Round the Bend’s festival page.
