32 Nebraskaland • April 2022
along with motifs of Nebraska's state
tree, the cottonwood, prominently
featured. Visitors enter the lobby
traversing Blackstone original stone
tiling. Vintage details were restored
wherever possible and updates were
made to stay true to the former hotel's
heart and history. The property is listed
on the National Register of Historic
Places.
The Present
When Chef Jason Sirois joined
the Cottonwood's culinary staff in
November 2020, he quickly set his
sights on reviving the Blackstone's
wild game dinners. Sirois saw the
event as an exciting way to bring
back a piece of hotel history and also
encourage engagement among the
greater Nebraska community. In fall
2022, the Hunter's Harvest Dinner
came to fruition.
On an October night, hungry guests
sat elbow-to-elbow at a long community
table, decked with picture-perfect
autumn squash, fl ickering wax candles
and glimpses of iridescent pheasant
tail feathers and sun-bleached antlers.
A stunning seven-course meal of bison,
sturgeon, duck, venison and wild
boar delighted taste buds, as well as
more unusual indigenous ingredients,
such as eastern redcedar (juniper),
huckleberry, chanterelle mushrooms,
sunchoke, yucca and "husker banana,"
also known as pawpaw. And across the
centerpieces were not just infl uential
men staring back at one another, as it
was during the Blackstone days.
"I think it's fun to see a table like
that, with people like Betsie [Freeman
of the Omaha World-Herald], who
hadn't tasted many of those items,
or people like yourself or the hunters
you were sitting across from enjoying
foods they've hunted and cooked for
themselves, and maybe comparing
that to the dishes that they've created,"
Sirois said.
The menu also paid homage to
Venison Wellington with carrot, sorghum, huckleberry, golden chanterelle
mushrooms and truffl e demi glace.
Duck Cassoulet: roulade of duck breast and foie gras, duck jus, white beans and
duck skin tuille.
