Lincoln

Issara has no business having a wine list this considered — and we mean that as the highest compliment. If you care about drinking well with your food, this is the most interesting wine list in Lincoln and it's not particularly close.

The Green Gateau is a lovely room with a kitchen worth visiting, but the wine list is a 200-bottle monument to playing it safe and charging extra for the privilege. Send your friend here for the food; tell them to watch their wallet on the wine.

The Watering Hole is a great spot for wings and a cold beer — the wine list is an afterthought and the pricing makes sure you know it. If you're here for a game and need wine, grab the Riesling or the Prosecco and call it a night.

Lazlo's South Lincoln is a reliable neighborhood brewpub that happens to stock a respectable short wine list — don't expect discovery, but you won't feel stranded if you're skipping the beer. Send a friend here for dinner knowing the wine won't embarrass anyone.

The Green Gateau is doing something genuinely uncommon: running a deep, fairly priced, award-recognized wine program in a mid-sized Midwest city without making a big show of it. Yes, send your friends here — just tell them to show up before 6 p.m.

DISH is doing something genuinely impressive for a mid-sized Midwestern city — a thoughtful, sommelier-curated list with real depth and serious producers. The markups keep it from being a true Rager, but as a Wild Card, it earns every bit of that badge: you simply don't expect this wine list in Lincoln, Nebraska, and that surprise is worth the trip downtown.

Carmela's is the best wine list in Southeast Lincoln, which is a low bar, but the Barolos, the Brunello, and the Chateauneuf-du-Pape prove there's real intent here. Markups on the prestige bottles are hard to swallow, but for a neighborhood bistro date night, this list delivers more than it had to.

Piedmont Bistro isn't a destination for wine lovers, but it's a perfectly decent neighborhood spot where Wednesday turns a so-so list into a legitimately good deal. Come for the food, time your visit right, and don't overthink it.

The Oven Cellar is the kind of wine program that makes you feel slightly embarrassed about every assumption you walked in with — a 2,200-bottle cellar built with genuine knowledge and curiosity, attached to an Indian restaurant in Lincoln, Nebraska. Yes, you should go out of your way for this.

Venue is doing something genuinely impressive for Nebraska: a real wine program with depth, proper storage, and a Best of Award of Excellence to back it up. The list plays it safe and the markups sting, but if you want a serious California Cab with a serious steak in Lincoln, this is your place.

Casa Bovina is the best Italian wine list in Nebraska and would hold its own in any major city — the Piedmont depth alone justifies the drive. If you're anywhere near Lincoln and serious about Barolo, this is not optional.

The Oven is the most surprising wine list in Nebraska and would be a legitimate destination in any city — a kitchen cooking bold, spice-driven food with a sommelier-driven cellar to back it up. Send your friends here and tell them to skip the Caymus.

High Steaks earns its Wine Spectator badge — the California Cab depth is real and the Wednesday half-price night is a genuine reason to plan around it. Just don't come expecting surprises; this list is built to please, not to challenge.