In 1912, a man named Antal Holczappal left Hungary for the United States, landed in Omaha, changed his name to Anton Holzapfel, and took a job at the Paxton Hotel. By 1925, he had opened his own bakery on Vinton Street and moved his wife, Mary, and their children into the upstairs apartment. A century later, his great-great-grandson’s generation is still frying the donuts.
Olsen Bake Shop sits on South 10th Street now, in the Forest Hill pocket of South Omaha between what were once Little Italy and Little Bohemia, and the line runs out the door. Anton died in 1967, at which point his son-in-law Louis Olsen took over and put his own name on the sign. Louis Jr. became the third generation to run it in 1973. Mike Olsen is the fourth.
Nothing on the menu is trendy, which is the whole point: glazed donuts, crullers, iced cakes, fried croissants, poppy seed kolaches, and strudels good enough that a national food writer called one of them among the greatest he had eaten. If you’re working through 50 shops worth the early alarm, this is the one where four generations have declined to modernize a single thing.
What to Expect When Visiting Olsen Bake Shop in Omaha, Nebraska
Order the glazed donut and the fried croissant. Those are the two signature items, and the glazed, in particular, is described the way people describe a good baguette: a crisp exterior over something tender, and not punishingly sweet. Crullers and iced cake donuts round out the donut side of the case.
Then go sideways into the Old World half of the counter, which is what separates this place from every other donut shop in the state. Kolaches come with classic fillings, including poppy seed, and are made with dough that reviewers describe as barely sweet and remarkably tender. The cherry strudel is the sleeper, weighty and flaky at once under a layer of sugary frosting.
There is an important timing quirk here. This is a late bakery by its own description, meaning some items are still too hot to cut shortly after eight in the morning. A customer once turned up for cherry strudel at that hour, was turned away, came back at midday, and reported that the wait had been entirely worth it…