Lincoln’s Railyard home to dining, entertainment

With the new Pinnacle Bank Arena in the background, Lincoln has created a new fun dining, entertainment and concert venue in the West Haymarket historical shopping area.

The Railyard on Canopy Street is home to restaurants, bars and a few shops.

It has an open courtyard area, where people can watch sporting events on a big screen TV. The Nebraska Huskers were playing a key Big Ten baseball game during our recent visit.

People can bring drinks and food outside from the area establishments for events. One family staked out a table for game watching while they enjoyed a pizza.

I could see watching a Husker football game there and being around a few thousand other fans.

We stopped at Licorice International in the original Haymarket area. It’s a store dedicated to licorice from around the world – candy and items such as soap and candles. We tried a few samples and walked out with a bag of green apple-flavored licorice.

Moving on to our main reason for the stop – The Railyard district – we encountered some neat places.

The Railyard’s Public Market – home to the courtyard – has several businesses inside. On the main floor were a few niche establishments – The Doughnut Hole, Maize Popcorn Company and Breezy Island Ice (a margarita bar).

Buffalo Wings and Rings (a favorite of mine in Omaha) opened there last fall.

Several other eateries and bars are also located in the new area.

We stopped at a fun store – Rocket Fizz. It’s home to unique soda flavors and nostalgic candy.

We checked out the various soda flavors – bacon, coffee, sweet tea. Sweet tea? Wouldn’t it be easier just to buy a bottle of actual sweet tea? Oh well.

Of course, the store had more common flavors, too – root beer, crème soda.

We checked out the candy aisles. Lots of choices. I bought a cherry Bing bar (cherry mash) in honor of my dad. He liked them.

There were some decorative pieces, as well – Marilyn Monroe and Bugs Bunny wall plaques.

We topped our visit to the Railyard with dinner at the Mello Mushroom pizza restaurant. Our daughters ate at one last year during their southern trip and recommended it. It’s been open in Lincoln since last fall.

We ordered a split pizza of red potato and Thai dye (Thai chicken). Both were delicious. We had plenty left over to take home.

On our walk back to our car, we came across Planter’s Nutmobile. A few months ago, we saw the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile in St. Louis. We had to get a pic.

Overall, we had an enjoyable time at The Railyard. We’ll visit again for dining, but will leave the bar partying for others.