Amanda Rossmiller, Dan Ray, Dawn Frary, Frankie Schneckloth, Jane Nesmith, Jayce Nguyen, Kirsten Kraklio, Liv Carrow, Madelyn Orton, Mady Stano, Malcolm MacDougall, Sarah Elgatian, Seeta Lee, Sunil Malapati, Tiffani Green
PHOTO & DESIGN CONTRIBUTORS
Anthony Scanga, Avery Staker, Briana Thompson, Dawn Frary, Emily Rundell, Frankie Schneckloth, Karla Monroe, Kate Doolittle, Kirsten Kraklio, Liam Colby, Mady Stano, Seeta Lee
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Notable Newbies
From gold-leafed banana splits to cocktails served courtside, these local newcomers are out to impress.
Des Moines
Zavy Kitchen
111 E Grand Ave, Ste 101, Des Moines 515-515-9289, zavykitchendsm.com
Pho Real Kitchen’s sister eatery, Zavy Kitchen, opened this spring in Des Moines’ East Village. It’s a bright, airy space with warm lighting to match the building’s mass timber ceilings, with cute butterfly-shaped lights floating over its centerpiece bar. Their extensive beverage menus include smoothies, flavored lemonades, Vietnamese iced coffees and soju, as well as standard beer and wine. One cocktail, Baby Pink, turns soju into a sweet, creamy treat with yogurt and strawberry cream soda that screams bachelorette party drink. The family at Zavy knows many locals are new to Vietnamese cuisine, so items like the bánh xèo—a crepe-like dish with shrimp, bean sprouts and scallions—come with directions on how to eat it. As demonstrated by their massive vermicelli bowl, portions are generous, and the dishes are both visually and texturally charming. —Seeta Lee
Oak Park
3901 Ingersoll Ave, Des Moines 515-620-2185, oakparkdsm.com
Opened in late 2023, Oak Park is a traditional white-tablecloth fine dining restau-
led by Executive Chef Ian Robertson. The food is well made, but what you’re really paying for is the experience of being truly waited on. Expect exceptional service and a three-course meal brought to you at a pace curated for your relaxation. Their sommelier, Des Moines native Sam Tuttle, will guide you through what they call the best wine program in the state, designed to include “every great region and grape on earth.” The experienced staff also offer caviar cones, fresh oysters, ingredients picked directly from their garden and a $100 banana split (which includes foie gras ice cream, champagne mousse, armagnac caviar, gold leaf and a souvenir spoon) to top it all off. Make a reservation here for a special occasion to make the ultimate impression. —Dan Ray
For a couple years now, the former El Cactus space in Coralville has hosted a whole new fusion concept. Restaurant Gaï blends West African, Asian and European fare, including jollof rice, plantains, beignets, escargot, and beef or chicken smothered in d’arachide peanut butter sauce. Head chef and owner Félicité Kolie grew up in Guinea, learning to cook from her Guinean father and Vietnamese mother, who operated a restaurant together. She eventually opened her own, then brought this food and business prowess to her new home in Iowa, utilizing Iowa ingredients to craft international dishes. —Emma McClatchey
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rant
Zavy Kitchen’s bánh xèo. Anthony Scanga / Little Village
The opening of this combination bakery, deli, cafe and fine dining dinner spot in July 2023 fulfilled a lifelong dream of owner Cory Barrett, who has served as pastry chef and executive chef in some of the nation’s most renowned restaurants (not to mention won the fifth season of Food Network’s Spring Baking Championship). With its Dartmouth green sign, farmhouse/bistro theming and bountiful interior and patio space, Barrett’s is the kind of spot you take out-of-towners for an impressive breakfast or lunch. You can’t go wrong picking anything from the pastry case: their large, crispy croissants, rich chocolates, light-as-air custards and meringues, tarts with fresh, plump fruit. Barrett launched a full dinner service in April 2024, tempting parties to north Coralville for his prime rib, slow-cooked salmon, pork belly, rotisserie chicken and, of course, cutting-edge desserts. —Emma McClatchey
pickleball courts, “Palace” could just as easily refer to this food and entertainment complex’s generous footprint, huge windows and lofty ceilings. The three-story building features restaurants on its first and third floors, each with its own menu, dog-friendly patio and gorgeously appointed bar. You’ll find the titular pickleball on the main level and duckpin bowling, ping-pong and shuffleboard on the third level. Both restaurants offer Southern-tinged bar and grill fare— think cornmeal crusted fish and a remoulade you’ll want to put on everything—and beers on tap from Cedar Rapids’ own Clockhouse Brewing. —Tiffani Green
Quad Cities
D’Savor House 689 Avenue of the Cities, East Moline 309-553-1324, dsavorhouse.com
This West African restaurant housed in a former, but not quite renovated, Maid-Rite location serves regional staples including peanut stew, jollof rice, fried plantains, palm nut sauce, oxtail soup, Pinon (a savory cassava custard) and a variety of other dishes you’re unlikely to find elsewhere in town. Opening in March 2024, D’Savor strives to serve as a “hub for cultural exchange and community engagement, fostering connections that transcend borders through shared
Bottom left: Restaurant Gaï’s riz au gras/jollof rice with chicken. Above: Allocco/fried plantain. Candida Pagan / Little Village
experiences.” It’s a fine goal, and they’ve got the magnetic menu to make it happen.
Liv Carrow
Waterloo
Ten Wasp Brewing Company
112 W 1st St, Sumner 563-578-9015, facebook.com/tenwaspbrewing
Ten Wasp opened on a snowy February day in the small Bremer County town of Sumner. Along with introducing beers like the Rhuby May, a rhubarb wheat, and Electric Shonk, a mango-pineapple sour, the team of owners wasted no time integrating with the community. They facilitate a run/walk club, group hikes, game nights, painting classes, live music, holiday events and pop-up dinners with local eateries. Ten Wasp also raises money for a local food pantry with $5 tours of the brewery on the first and third day of every month. Their malty, zesty hazy IPA, The Merc, pays homage to the historic building they occupy called The Mercantile, which was once an ’80s mini-mall. With Peace Tree ending their brewing operations after 15 years of bottling Blonde Fatale, Red Rambler and other Iowa favorites, it’s comforting to know new microbreweries can find a foothold in 2024.
—Emma McClatchey
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Looking for something good to eat? Little Village has ideas. This year’s Bread & Butter focuses in on some of the most interesting and iconic neighborhood spots in Des Moines, Ames, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, the Quad Cities, Waterloo and Dubuque.
Who should we feature next? Send us your recommendations: editor@littlevillagemag.com.
Zavy Kitchen, Pho Real Kitchen’s sister eatery in Des Moines’ East Village, opened spring of 2024
Anthony Scanga / Little Village
Des Moines & Ames
Des Moines: Ingersoll
Chain and Spoke
515 28th St, Ste 102, Des Moines 515-444-9473, chainandspoke.com
In a renovated brick building between The Avenues—Grand and Ingersoll—Chain and Spoke is half coffee shop, half bike shop. Cycling gear fills in the industrial décor, and walls of windows give the space natural light. Chain and Spoke sells their own beans to brew at home or gift to a fellow coffee/ bike lover, including a cold brew (Cold Crew) and a dark roast (Chain Lube Coffee) blend. Their menu features straightforward lattes, several teas and seasonal specials like Flower Power, a lemonade featuring jasmine syrup and butterfly pea flower powder. Do note that if you’re arriving via car, limited street parking is your only option. The best way to arrive is, of course, on two wheels.
Lachele’s Fine Foods
2716 Ingersoll Ave, Des Moines 515-330-6876, lacheles.com
Boasting one of the best burgers in Des Moines, Lachele’s is a must-stop along Ingersoll. Quick visits are facilitated by a takeout window along the sidewalk; however, the bright, retro diner interior is not to be missed. Everything about Lachele’s is quirky, from the pillar of stickers by the door to the never-the-same-burger-twice daily specials. Tots, hush puppies and gorgeous fries fill in the sides. The secret to Lachele’s, though, is to trust whatever they put in front of you. You might just end up with a dish like The Dafty Dŭc, topped with strawberry-bacon jam and funnel cake fries.
Panka Peruvian Restaurant
2708 Ingersoll Ave, Des Moines 515-244-1430, pankaperuvianrestaurant.com
Panka adds fresh, classy variety to the pod of great restaurants near the corner of 28th and Ingersoll. A line of mirrors reflect the dangling golden and white lights and
occasional flashes of flames from the grill. Owner Mariela Maya has carved out an inviting space to enjoy ceviche and traditional Peruvian dishes with stylish touches. If you’re new to Peruvian cuisine, try the piqueo peruano, which gives you the chance to sample five dishes including ceviche and empanadas. Be sure to save enough room for dessert, such as Maya’s family recipes for apple flan and passion fruit cheesecake, or perhaps the Peruvian custard and meringue dish Suspiro a la Limeña. —Seeta Lee
Everyday French Cooking by
Baking Blue Ribbons by Key Fenton Smith and Carol McGarvey
—Julie Goodrich, Beaverdale Books, Des Moines
Des Moines: Drake
Gursha Ethiopian Grill
2316 University Ave, Des Moines 515-630-1077, gurshaiowa.com
If you’ve ever hoped for traditional Ethiopian dishes in a fast-casual setting, look no further than Gursha Ethiopian Grill. TV screen menus walk customers through the ordering process, with a variety of buildyour-own entree, combo, platter and rice bowl options. A two-person platter offers injera, rice and a choice to mix and match five meat and five vegetable entrees atop a beautiful shared plate. You can’t go wrong with the zigini (beef cooked with berbere, garlic and onions), kik alicha wot (yellow split peas, spicy turmeric, ginger and garlic) or sambusas.
Black Cat Ice Cream
2511 Cottage Grove Ave, Des Moines 515-689-7466, blackcaticecream.com
Black Cat Ice Cream—named for a street-
cat-turned-adopted-pet named Boo Bear—is known for its award-winning, small-batch artisanal ice cream, but also its decor. The quaint 100-year-old building (originally a neighborhood grocery store turned deli turned many other restaurants) is decked out with decorations and framed photos of beloved black cats. Seating inside is limited to a few counter stools, but continue through the building to its patio to find shaded seating. As a lifelong cookie dough ice cream lover, Black Cat’s brown butter cookie dough was a top pick and well worth the wait.
Mars Cafe
2318 University Ave, Des Moines 515-369-6277, mars.coffee
Set in Des Moines’ Dogtown district, Mars Cafe boasts “the galaxy’s best coffee” in a naturally lit, Red Planet-inspired space. The cafe offers plenty of seating, with bright red walls to welcome you in. On the grub menu, customers can find breakfast and
Ox Yoke Inn: Our Recipes, Our Story by Emily Hoppe
Wini Moranville
TASTY LOCAL BOOK RECS
Above: A platter from Gursha Ethiopian with zigini, kik alicha wot, chicken tibs, rice, salad and injera. Below: Black Cat Ice Cream’s brown butter cookie dough. Kirsten Kraklio / Little Village
RUBS FOR SUMMER GRILLING
lunch items, including the Rover Sandwich, a spinach, egg, pesto and provolone melt. The celestial-themed drink menu offers everything from Space Juice, Mars Blend and Dark Matter coffees to seasonal drinks like the Taurus, a matcha latte with lemongrass and Maghreb mint tea that’s out of this world.
—Kirsten Kraklio
Des Moines: Southside
Graziano Brothers
1601 S Union St, Des Moines 515-244-7103, grazianobrothers.com
Family lore has it that my great-grandfather used to drive hours to shop at Graziano Brothers, and it’s easy to see why. Grab a basket, smell the aroma of herbs in the air and peruse the aisles of this small specialty grocery store as you make your way to the deli counter. Order a custom cold or hot panini to go; I can speak from experience
that the Knuckle Sandwich (coppa, hot soppressata, pepperoni, hot pepper cheese, sliced pepperoncini, Italian dressing) holds up well if thrown in a pack for a picnic at Gray’s Lake, and the Muffuletta (coppa, salami, mortadella, provolone, olive spread) is a pillowy delight with a light crumb.
The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr
My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
Madame Fromage’s Adventures in Cheese by Tenaya Darlington
—Mariah McGuire and Bailey Sterk, Dog·Eared Books, Ames
Graziano Brothers’ Knuckle Sandwich. Kirsten Kraklio / Little Village
TASTY LOCAL BOOK RECS
Jolly Time
Popcorn was already popular when Cloid Smith started selling it out of his home in Sioux City 110 years ago. It was cheap; it was tasty. And it’s been eaten in the Americas for thousands of years in a variety of ways.
Archaeologists working in Peru found the remains of ears of popcorn dating back 6,700 years. The Wampanoag popped corn for the first Thanksgiving in 1621. Its kernels have hard, starchy shells containing moisture, which converts into steam when heated, causing the kernels to burst open.
Cloid Smith grew up around fields of popping corn in northwest Iowa, but had no real interest in it until he was in his 40s. Young Smith followed a different path, first studying to be a pharmacist, then finding success as a traveling salesman peddling veterinary supplies. In 1899, he and some business associates started a local phone company, which grew to cover parts of Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota, as well as much of western Iowa. In 1912, Bell Telephone bought the company, and Smith used some of his profits to buy farmland in Sac County, which he rented out to a tenant farmer who grew popcorn.
Unhappy about the low price his tenant farmer was getting for the corn, Smith took over the preparation and packaging in 1914, starting the American Pop Corn Company in the basement of his house. Within two years, he opened a factory for the company on the outskirts of Sioux City. Smith brought determination and ambition to his popcorn business and aimed to ensure his Jolly Time brand sold only quality kernels. But there was a problem: Popcorn didn’t travel well. The kernels dried out, becoming unpoppable duds. Cardboard boxes don’t help retain moisture; glass bottles are better but break in shipping. Plastic packaging was still in the future.
In 1925, Smith found a solution, sealing his kernels in metal containers that kept them fresh on store shelves. The innovation vastly improved the popped-todud kernel ratio, and Smith started advertising Jolly Time with the slogan, “It’s guaranteed to pop.”
Ninety-nine years after they were first introduced, the metal containers are now collectibles, replaced by plastic and other packaging material. But the American Pop Corn Company is still in the same location in Sioux City, still owned by members of the Smith family and still producing Jolly Time. —Paul Brennan
Centennial Iowa Snacks
Emily Rundell / Little Village
Jasper Winery
2400 George Flagg Pkwy, Des Moines 515-282-9463, jasperwinery.com
From bridal parties to “biker gangs” (a description one patron used for the large gatherings of cyclists that stop here), Jasper Winery is a summer hot spot. Grab a table on the covered outdoor patio, or bring a blanket for a picnic on the large lawn. Try the house wines (including 100 percent Iowa-grown red and white varietals) or a can of craft cider in the flavors passion fruit pineapple, green apple and honey, or blackberry peach with vanilla. It’s BYOF, except during the Summer Concert Series (Thursday evenings, May through August) when burgers,
Here by Sohla El-Waylly
The Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach —Storyhouse Bookpub, Des Moines
brats and food trucks are in abundance. There will also be cheese and desserts to sample at the Iowa Wine and Cider Festival, taking place Aug. 24, 2024 at the winery.
Sam’s Fine Food and Egg Rolls
3300 SW 9th St, Unit #4, Des Moines 515-288-5400, facebook.com/ SamsFineFoodEggRolls
Lime green walls beckon you through the open front door of this family-owned restaurant tucked between a hair salon and a jewelry store. Sam’s—led by chef Sam Vongsa—has served Chinese-American food for dine-in and takeout in this southside strip mall since 2000. The advertised egg rolls are peppery and flavorful, while the crab rangoons have plenty of filling. Vongsa recommends the Angry Chicken, which offers a good mix of chicken and vegetables. Portions are generous and entrees come with fried rice and a choice of one side.
—Kirsten Kraklio
Ames
Cafe Beaudelaire
2504 Lincoln Way, Ames 515-292-7429, cafebeaudelaire.com
The atmosphere at Cafe B, a Brazilian fusion hole in the wall, is like going to your favorite
dive bar at 3 a.m., but the food is like eating at a five-star restaurant. Entrees include a gyro, Cuban sandwich and several Brazilian sandwiches such as a bauru, Beirute and burger. My boyfriend was more vocal when eating his Brazilian burger (a patty stuffed with onions, red peppers and spices, topped with housemade chorizo, chimichurri, avocado, tomatoes, mayo and a fried egg) than he’s ever been in the bedroom. Come for the basement vibes, stay for the orgasmically juicy, well-spiced and flavorful meats. Gluten-free buns and vegetarian/vegan entrees available.
Lockwood Cafe
4625 Reliable St #3713, Ames facebook.com/lockwoodcafe
If there was one place to describe as “vibey” in Ames, it’s probably Lockwood Cafe. Known for its coffee and crepes, the breakfast spot is nestled into a corner on Reliable Street right in front of the train tracks. Their menu features sweet and savory crepes with vegan and gluten-free options, often made with local ingredients. There’s always a seasonal syrup to sample—maple pecan, cranberry crisp, peppermint, blueberry pancake and more—and a community fridge and pantry for those in need. Come for the crepes, stay for the hipster-plant-parent vibes.
Cornbred Barbecue
526 Main Street, Ames 515-715-1066, cornbredbbq.com
Texas might be known as the barbecue state, but Cornbred Barbecue serves up brisket, pork and other meats cooked as well as—if not better than—any Texas spread I’ve ever had. Along with a carnivorous menu of brunch and dinner entrees, Cornbred does the trimmings up right: Hallelujah Potatoes, apple pork and beans, creamy pineapple slaw, cornbread pudding, cornbread mini muffins, hush puppies, skillet mac and cheese and much more. The decor is surprisingly upscale and modern, and the restaurant also provides a working in-tune piano and free period products. Gluten-free options available. Not recommended for anyone avoiding sugar.
—Dan Ray
Cafe Beaudelaire’s Brazillian burger, Beirut and a mojito Jeremy Taylor / Little Village
Love is My Favorite Flavor and Little Women Cookbook by Wini Moranville
Fresh Midwest: Modern Recipes from the Heartland by Maren Ellingboe King
—Kathy Magruder, Pageturners Bookstore, Indianola
The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson
Cook Like Your Ancestors by Mariah-Rise Mare
Start
TASTY LOCAL BOOK RECS
Iowa City & Coralville
Hamburg Inn No. 2. Anthony Scanga / Little Village
Opposite: Hicham Chehouani prepares a lemony
La Belle crêpe, which will be adorned with blueberries and powdered sugar. Jordan Sellergren / Little Village
Iowa City: Downtown
Hamburg Inn No. 2
214 N Linn St, Iowa City 319-337-5512, hamburginn2.com
A popular breakfast eatery for nearly 90 years, Hamburg Inn No. 2 found new life in 2023 when new owners saved it from certain death. Nothing about Hamburg is fussy, not even their pride in being a stop for presidential candidates. What you do at Hamburg is exactly what the massive block letters on their back wall say to do: EAT. Blueberry pancakes or the straightforward Presidential Special prove filling. Hamburg Inn also gets retro with blue plate specials. If you have the room after breakfast, consider a pie shake.
Baroncini Ristorante Italiano
104 S Linn St, Iowa City 319-337-2048, baroncinirestaurant.com
Baroncini has spent 13 years downtown, a stone’s throw from the historic Englert Theatre and beloved, enduring shops like the Record Collector and Daydreams Comics. Glass art and wine bottles decorate the restaurant’s dark wood walls, and romantic lighting and rich hues set the tone for diners. Italian native Chef Gianluca Baroncini makes everything fresh, including the pasta. Traditionalists can enjoy a classic spaghetti and meatballs, while seafood lovers can pick from a bevy of choices. Pay close attention to the daily specials, especially if it’s gnocchi!
Crêpes De Luxe Café
309 E College St, Iowa City 319-887-2233, crepes-de-luxe.com
Crepes are art, and Crêpes De Luxe Café proves it. The colorful walls, playful chalk menu board and mosaic-inspired counter give the eatery inviting energy. Menu choices include savory breakfast and lunch crepes, but sweet crepes are plentiful and enticing. The classic De Luxe with Grand Marnier, butter and sugar as well as the trendy La Belle with blueberries and bright lemon will satisfy a sweet tooth, morning, noon or night.
Szechuan House
320 E Burlington St, Iowa City 319-338-6788, szechuanhouseia.com
A spacious dining area with wood accents, round tables and many mirrors, Szechuan House is easy on the eyes. The spice, however, is what diners will remember. The menu
Iowa City
Coralville
Kate Doolittle / Little Village
features a host of Szechuan cuisine including dandan noodles and hot pot—a great meal to test the cohesion of a group, since selecting the soup base, proteins, noodles, veggies and other flavors requires some creative collaboration. If your stomach prefers less intensity, they offer several mild staples like fried rice and chicken lo mein. —Seeta Lee
Iowa City: Southside
Plated Table
625 S Dubuque St, Iowa City
812-318-6793, platedtablecatering.com
Sitting at the intersection of a fine dining establishment, a wine bar and a communal dining room, Plated Table is a chic chimera. The airy space is full of light wood and ethereal light fixtures, and the long communal tables encourage you to get to know your neighbor. Chef/owner Alex Smith’s menu is focused on local ingredients, seasonality and putting thoughtful twists on the familiar; during a recent visit, the menu featured morels and asparagus, a greens-and-goat cheese salad adorned with locally grown violets and a beautifully spatchcocked Cornish hen.
Royceann’s Soul Food
South District Market, Iowa City royceannssoulfood.com
An anchor in the burgeoning South District Market, Royceann Porter’s soul food restaurant serves up classics like fried chicken, catfish, collards and yams. The interior is well-lit with a soul/jazz/R&B soundtrack and an installation of works from the Black artist J Berry on the walls. For $18 you get your choice of catfish nuggets, fried chicken or pork chops and two sides, with a piece
of cornbread to top it all off. The food is so hearty and familiar, it’s sure to spark some pleasant memories.
I Love Fufu
230 E Benton St, Iowa City
319-499-8189, ilovefufuiowacity.com
Housed in a cheery, brightly painted space decorated with African art and potted
plants, you’ll find African staples like, of course, fufu—a stretchy, chewy sauce delivery vehicle made of cassava—as well as spicy jollof rice with crisp plantains and your choice of protein and tilapia, fried and served whole. The menu also includes Caribbean dishes (oxtails, jerk chicken) and Mediterranean classics (gyros, lamb shawarma), showcasing the connective threads between seemingly different culinary traditions. There are halal dishes, vegan and vegetarian options and dishes to satisfy even the most conservative Midwest eaters (mac and cheese and egg rolls). —Tiffani Green
Coralville
Andale Andale
Coral Ridge Mall food court
319-625-2027, andaleia.com
I have a lifelong obsession with Mexican cuisine. Lucky for me, the talented and friendly crew behind the scenes of Andale Andale make flavor fantasies a taqueriality. Owners Emilio and Sari Estrada hail from Michoacán (specifically the northern city of La
Piedad
Above: It’s not all Sbarro and Chick-fil-A; the Coral Ridge Mall contains locally owned culinary splendors like Andale Andale and Mr. Shawerma. Anthony Scanga / Little Village Below: Andale Andale’s taco salad. Jordan Sellergren / Little Village
A Cook’s Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland by Kurt Michael Friese
Food Roots: A Local Foods Community Cookbook, photos by Laura Dowd
—Nialle Sylvan, The Haunted Bookshop, Iowa City
TASTY LOCAL BOOK RECS
de Cabadas), but their menu reflects a range of regional influences—and one the best damn taco salads I’ve ever eaten. Not in the mood to navigate a mall parking lot or delivery app? A second restaurant, Andale Cantina Bar and Grill, opened in North Liberty (780 Community Dr, Ste 1) in January 2023 with a full dining room, margaritas and daily food specials.
Mr. Shawerma
Coral Ridge Mall food court
319-333-6445, mr-shawerma.com
The chicken shawarma plate at this food court feast-maker is a lovely way to falafel. The hummus is creamy, the salad crisp and the hot sauce addictive. The delicate meat spinning on the rotisserie and pillowy soft pitas make this a lunch fit for sultans and famished food courtesans alike.
Marquee Pizzeria
920 E 2nd Ave #123, Coralville 319-333-1018, marqueepizzeria.com
If you’re looking to take in an off-off-off Broadway show starring stage legends like fresh pasta, local craft beer, cocktails and that siren of the pizza stone who has stolen our hearts in so many roles (oh, there’s never a dry eye in the house when she enters the scene), fresh mozzarella! The delightful crew at Marquee come together like a well-oiled, hand-tossed pie, rising to the occasion night or matinee. The big crimson pizza oven, industrial-chic interior and neon arrow sign, glowing red above the patio seating, all add to Marquee’s character.
Three Samurai
1801 2nd St #200, Coralville 319-337-3340, threesamuraijapanesecoralville.com
Would you like to eat good sushi on a patio with your BFFs, looking out on all
Left: A nice break from chain restaurants at the mall. Above: Chicken on the spit at Mr. Shawerma. Below: Tofu spring rolls at Iowa Pho on the Coralville strip. Jordan Sellergren / Little Village
Which cooking essentials have enamored Iowa City’s Prairie Kitchen Store and Independence’s Brick Kitchen? Here are four simple, functional products staff recommend most.
Forged Kitchen Knives
Look for: The Messermeister Oliva Elite olive-wood handled range; famed Japanese knifemaker Shun’s Premier collection
Why we like them: Forged knives are most often sought after by cooks for their ability to hold an edge sharper and longer than more cheaply manufactured knives, as well as their ease of sharpening and their superior balance and weight. Handles are crafted in Solingen, Germany, the knife capital of the western world, also known as the “City of Blades.”
Price: $90 to $200, depending on blade types —PKS
Made In Carbon Steel Skillets
Why we like them: Carbon steel is like cast iron, but better. It seasons faster, responds quicker, and is rugged enough for your grill or an open flame. Carbon steel is the secret weapon of many restaurant chefs—with a high heat-carrying thermal mass capacity, excellent durability and the nonstick qualities created with seasoning the pans over time, they are a true workhorse in the kitchen.
Price: $89 (8-inch), $109 (10-inch) or $129 (12-inch) —PKS
Baking Steel
Why we like it: Baking steel holds more heat than a traditional ceramic pizza stone and it is virtually indestructible; it can be used with home ovens, grills, induction heat, camp fires and more.
Price: $129 (14 x 16 x 1/4 inches) —PKS
Thaw That!
Why we like it: Thaw That! uses a proprietary thermal liquid encased in stainless steel that has a rapid-defrosting capability. Without using electricity, batteries or any pre-heating, Thaw That! will defrost beef, pork, chicken, seafood and more in just a fraction of the time it would take resting on a counter.
Price: $72.99 —BK
KIDS ARE hungry hungry
the Coralville strip commuters who aren’t munching on pineapple rangoons as they drive hither and thither? Then you should plan a long lunch at Three Samurai, land of ample parking, bountiful seating and tantalizing daily specials. Great for solo takeout, Three Sam is best enjoyed as a horde, sharing a dozen-or-so apps, a couple beautifully presented sushi boats and a few rounds of sake.
Just down the hill from Carver-Hawkeye Arena is a new kid on the Coralville strip. Iowa Pho opened October 2023, just in time for Caitlin Clark fever—if you wanted a dinner as hot as Clark’s scoring streaks (and wings can get a little old, right?), this was your spot. Hawkeye games are often on TV and “Chatahoochie” on the P.A. at this Vietnamese restaurant, which boasts great pho, báhn mì sandwiches, spring rolls and vermicelli, not to mention Vietnamese coffee, lemonade and smoothies. Don’t forget to plunge that báhn mi into your bone broth for an exotic pho-rench dip experience. Pho la la!
Pat and Fran’s Irish Pub
808 5th St Ste 8, Coralville 319-351-1459, patandfrans.com
Here’s to a long life and a merry one; a cold beer and another one! If you’re a lover of warm smiles, delicious Reubens and feelgood flights of potatoes and whisky, then make your way through P&F’s open door. Specialties include Blarney Stones (breaded balls of mashed potato and cheese, topped with corned beef gravy), the McKelvey Mac and Cheeseburger, beef shepherd’s pie with housemade garlic mashed potatoes, and a corned beef platter. If it’s cheesy or tater-y, Pat and Fran do it right. Bingo night is on Thursday! —Amanda Rossmiller
Jordan Sellergren / Little Village
Cedar Rapids & Marion
Cedar Rapids: Southeast Side
Siamville Thai Cuisine
3635 1st Ave SE, Cedar Rapids 319-364-1955, siamville.com
Nestled into the back corner of the Town & Country Shopping Center, Siamville is one of those spots that’s easy to miss but hard to forget. It’s the perfect place for a casual lunch date, with a pad thai that’s right at the ideal intersection of sweet and savory, and curries to suit every preference—mild and sweet to blow-your-top spicy. The space is never too busy, the service is friendly, and the whole restaurant has a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere that will keep you coming back over and over.
Fancy’s
3531 Mt Vernon Rd SE, Cedar Rapids 319-899-3112, instagram.com/fancysnewyork
They say that pizza’s hard to get wrong, and I’m inclined to agree, but while any old cook can slather some red sauce on a bread platter, there are few that reach the apex of high art you’ll get at Fancy’s. The chewy sourdough is encrusted with high-quality ingredients you’d almost want to eat on their own, if not for the fact that they work so well together. Locally sourced sausage, wild ramps, capicola and more await you on pizzas so generously sized you’ll be eating them the next morning, too.
Coyle’s Hibachi
3847 1st Ave SE, Cedar Rapids 319-249-1375, coyleshibachi.com
Charming ’70s vibes abound inside Coyle’s, though the tastes are fully up-to-date. Hang out at the bar and fill up on all your favorite rolls, or take a plate to go—they’re delectable either way. Personally, I recommend
the salmon hibachi: a generous helping of perfectly flaky salmon nestled on a bed of fried rice, drizzled with the precisely correct amount of teriyaki sauce. Stop by their brickand-mortar location on First Ave or keep your eyes peeled for their bright red food truck. No matter where you eat it, you can’t go wrong. —Malcolm MacDougall
Cedar Rapids: Northeast Side
Tomaso’s Pizza
2706 1st Ave NE, Cedar Rapids
1204 7th Ave #101, Marion 1061 N Center Point Rd NE, Hiawatha tomasos4me.com
Chicago, Detroit, New York—and the Cedar Rapids metro. Pizza destinations are made by restaurants like Tomaso’s. This hometown chain has been tossing fresh, saucy, hot and downright good pies for decades. Their Detroit-style Mombo Combo was even featured on Food Network’s The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Prefer the other cities’ styles? Tomaso’s has an impressive New York thin crust and Chicago deep dish, too.
Opposite: The Flying Weenie. Anthony Scanga / Little Village Left: Tomaso’s Detroit-style Mambo Combo. Mady Stano / Little Village
Cedar Rapids
Kate Doolittle / Little Village
Marion
Nara Thai
1725 Blairs Ferry Rd # 102, Marion 319-200-4004, narathai.net
Nara’s cozy atmosphere makes for a great place to soak up some warmth in the colder months, but the Thai food cravings will keep you coming back all summer. From drunken noodles (pad khee mao) and various pad thai options to curries and stir-fries, Nara has hit the mark across the bill. Order a dim sum platter or spring rolls for the table, sip on some Thai tea and try your best to pick only one noodle entree.
Willie Ray’s Q Shack
266 Blairs Ferry Rd NE, Cedar Rapids 319-206-3806, willieraysqshack.com
Willie Ray Fairley’s philanthropic efforts are legendary, drawing headlines and celebrity accolades since 2020 for rolling his mobile smoker into neighborhoods affected by derechos, tornados, floods and hurricanes, providing free meals to hundreds in need. Lucky for every type of customer, Fairley makes tender, mouth-watering, fall-off-thebone barbecue, along with tasty sides such
How to Taste: A Guide to Discovering Flavor and Savoring Life
as homemade potato salad and baked beans seasoned to perfection. Having outgrown its original 2019 shack, the Q now has a dining room of its own on Blairs Ferry Road.
Loosie’s
1611 32nd St NE, Cedar Rapids 319-200-1002, loosiescr.com
Move over Maid-Rite, there’s another loose meat sandwich spot in town! Opened in 2019 by former Ottumwa residents Norm and Sandy Wilkerson, Loosie’s strives to be as quintessentially Midwestern as the historic Canteen Lunch, Ottumwa’s loose-meat legend (their sandwiches are called Canteens). Loosie’s menu is made up of classics like potato salad, baked beans, mac and cheese, tenderloins and, of course, their namesake sandwich—all homemade! Enjoy within their TV-free, farmhouse-style dining space, or book their food truck for your event.
—Mady Stano
Cedar Rapids: Northwest Side
El Super Burrito & Lupita’s Bakery
3300 Johnson Ave NW, Cedar Rapids 319-366-1181, elsuperburritoandlupitas.com
Blink and you might miss this Cedar Rapidian staple, housed inside a quaint and unassuming building. This dual restaurant-bakery is known for its burrito ahogado, a “super” burrito stuffed with your choice of meat (the carne asada is one of their most popular), cheese, rice, beans and lettuce, and smothered in their famous green salsa. It’s large enough for two people, but can be purchased in a “mini” version if you’re feeling less ravenous. Their full bakery presents made-from-scratch Mexican desserts like fresh flan, churros and tres leches, perfect for any fiesta. —Madelyn Orton
Café Saint Pio in Czech Village. Frankie Schneckloth / Little Village
Iowa Supper Clubs by Megan Bannister
by Mandy Naglich
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J Ryan Stradal
Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol by Mallory O’Meara
—Terri M. LeBlanc, Swamp Fox Bookstore, Marion
TASTY LOCAL BOOK RECS
Anthony Scanga / Little Village
Cedar Rapids: Southwest Side
Café Saint Pio
99 16th Ave SW, Cedar Rapids 319-200-1000
This airy, sun-drenched cafe in Cedar Rapids’ Czech Village has a tightly edited coffee menu, ensuring a quality drink visit after visit—but with plenty of flavored syrups to suit your tastes. The breakfast and lunch options are, in my opinion, the real winners here. House favorites include the biscuits and gravy, the Goats + Bees Griller (a goat cheese and hot honey situation), and the egg salad sandwich, cut into triangles like any good sandwich should be, with potato chips and pickle on the side. The rotating quiche specials are always intriguing; I’m talking pickle-cauliflower-ham-dill-goat cheese and beet-cauliflower-carrot-feta quiche.
Mikhael’s
1426 6th St SW, Cedar Rapids 319-366-3644, mikhaelscr.com
Mikhael’s exists in my mind as the Cedar Rapids version of the Seinfeld diner Monk’s. I’m not sure exactly why, since they don’t bear much physical resemblance, but it’s a vibe. Just like Monk’s, Mikhael’s feels like a spot for “regulars,” though the warm and friendly staff make sure anyone enjoys their experience. Open seven days a week, this family-owned breakfast and lunch joint serves hungry patrons Shipwrecks, perfect pancakes, hamburgers and tenderloins
alongside other classic diner fare. There’s no Big Salad on the menu, but no matter what you order, you’ll leave full and more than satisfied.
Mai Pho
2315 Edgewood Rd SW, Cedar Rapids 319-396-4337, maiphocr.com
Mai Pho is a little Vietnamese gem hiding in the strip mall maze of Cedar Rapids. Offering a range of plates from pho to bun, stir fries to rice dishes, the menu has plenty of options for all palates without feeling totally overwhelmed by choices. The food is well-executed, layered with fresh, herbaceous flavors and textures. Dining at the dark tables and booths provides a cozy, private space to enjoy your meal, and the service is prompt and friendly. Finish with a boba tea of your choosing and you’ll walk away happy and refreshed.
—Frankie Schneckloth
Above: Mikhael’s has been a breakfast and lunch standard since 1983. Right: Mai Pho’s bún thịt nướng, grilled pork on vermicelli noodles. Frankie Schneckloth / Little Village
The Farm Table by Julius Roberts
Big Heart Little Stove by Erin French
Rhett & Link Present: The Mythical Cookbook by Josh Scherer
—Bart Carithers, Next Page Books, Cedar Rapids
TASTY LOCAL BOOK RECS
The Flying Weenie
103 8th Ave SW, Cedar Rapids 319-861-3036, theflyingwienie.com
If you think you can only find tasty hot dogs at the ballpark, you’ve clearly never been to the Flying Weenie! The owners moved to Cedar Rapids from Chicagoland in 1989, and just one bite of their Chicago dog proves they know what they’re doing. They also serve up ribs, gyros, sandwiches (their Italian beef is the best!) and tasty fried appetizers like fries, onion rings and mushrooms—all inside an adorable red shack with a yellow airplane parked on the roof.
Marion
Crab Attack
796 11th St, Marion 319-363-1175, crabattack.com
Feeling crabby? Attack that mood in Uptown Marion, where Crab Attack hosts Cajun seafood boils to make the crawdads sing. Customize your boil to make it hot, mild, garlicky or barbecuey, and load it up with corn, potatoes, noodles, lobster tails and whatever else you want to feast upon. Their soulful menu also includes catfish and shrimp with grits, po’ boys, jambalaya, salmon alfredo pasta and crab legs for dayyyys.
Frydae
743 10th St, Marion 319-200-4550, finallyfrydae.com
This is ice cream worth screaming about on social media—if you can stop yourself from digging in long enough to take the picture. This sweet-and-salty snack spot is a favorite of locals and out-of-town visitors alike. Nom on their loaded fries or lunchtime chicken sandwich, and top it off with one of their milkshakes, malts or sundaes. Frydae’s ingredient options put even froyo joints to shame: almonds, pecans, cheesecake, cotton candy, frosted animal cookies, Fruity Pebbles, mini doughnuts, streusel, Nutella, sour gummies, toasted marshmallows and so much more.
—Mady Stano
Skye Warren
Poker Face by Maggie Gates
Disasters by Anita Kelly
The iconic Flying Weenie serves Chicago dogs in SW Cedar Rapids. Anthony Scanga / Little Village
Mantra Indian Cuisine & Spirits is a staple in Davenport. Opposite, top: NEST Cafe. Anthony Scanga / Little Village Right: Soi 2’s basil duck with a side of fresh rolls. Liam Colby / Little Village
Quad Cities: Davenport
Mantra Indian Cuisine & Spirits
220 N Harrison St, Davenport 563-424-5500, mantraqc.com
Mantra Indian Cuisine & Spirits is a classic Northern Indian restaurant that has been a staple of downtown Davenport cuisine for years. Best known for their lunch buffet, which returned in 2024 after a hiatus for COVID, they also have a full menu of traditional dishes. The incredible food is served by kind staff who will let you eat in peace and also notice when you need their attention. Recommended: malai kofta or biryani.
Eddy’s Snack Bar 1132 W Locust St, Davenport 563-888-1872, eddysnackbar.com
This Dragon Ball Z-themed Japanese restaurant is painted with murals of characters and scenes from the anime series. Many of Eddy’s menu items are featured in the show or named after characters, too, including the Gogeta and Super Saiyan sandwiches (with katsu chicken and mac and cheese), Frieza Waffle (order with green onion, red beans or taro) and Mr. Popo Roll (a sushi roll with spicy tuna, avocado and cream cheese topped with spicy crab). The food and service are great, and the atmosphere is a bright, nostalgic joy.
Quad Cities: Rock Island
Soi 2 Thai Street Food 1825 2nd Ave, Rock Island 309-206-4159, facebook.com/soi2Thaistreetfood
Soi 2’s high-quality Thai food is one of downtown Rock Island’s MVPs. A great restaurant for takeout and family meals, Soi 2 really excels in its one-on-one dining experience: Inside are two-person booths built into white cubbies with big circular cutouts above each seat, giving the space an oddly cozy, modern vibe perfect for date night. Highlights include the duck dishes, tasty mock meat for vegetarians, khao soi and other curry dishes. Take heed, hotshots—be conservative with your spice levels, or you could leave in tears.
NEST Cafe
1524 4th Ave, Rock Island 309-206-4012, nestcafeqc.org
This colorful and cozy pay-what-you-can cafe started with a mission to serve fresh, delicious and healthy meals to the community regardless of income. Their chefs create an endlessly diverse, ever-changing menu featuring seasonal and regional ingredients. (As I write this, the week’s menu includes tacos with street corn and mushroom carnitas, a chicken and pesto sandwich, chicken pot pie soup, shrimp and grits, and tofu tikka masala.). The mostly volunteer-run NEST—Nourish Everyone Sustainably Together—serves lunch five days a week. Diners can choose their portion size, then settle up according to a sliding scale model. An evening meal is served on Thursdays.
A dependable and stylish downtown Moline staple, LemonGrass serves Asian fusion cuisine with a focus on Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian dishes. They offer a great assortment of soups, small plates and street food offerings, perhaps best exemplified by the LemonGrass Bomb, a street-style mix of pork belly, chicken, tofu, shrimp and veggies in a spicy lemongrass-basil sauce, served with a fried egg and chili jam. An excellent restaurant for those with dietary restrictions, the kitchen carefully caters to vegan and allergy-free diets. Service is brisk and attentive, and the bar offers a variety of fresh tiki-inspired cocktails.
888 Bistro
633 Avenue of the Saints, East Moline 309-203-1986, 888bistroeastmoline.com
Who knew a strip mall could be so transporting? The Ridgewood Shopping Center is a real-time reflection of the variety of international communities taking root in the Quad Cities. One Ridgewood occupant is 888 Bistro. In addition to perfectly executed and generously portioned American Chinese food, the second menu of authentic dishes will drop your jaw: steamed buns, spicy noodle soups, duck, mutton, Chinese veggies,
Left: Lemongrass Cafe in Moline. Anthony Scanga / Little Village Above: 888 Bistro serves American Chinese food as well as a second menu packed with Szechuan specials. Liam Colby / Little Village
Centennial Iowa Snacks
Sterzing’s
Barney Sterzing never meant to get into the potato chip business. In 1933, when he started the Burlington company that produces the iconic chips that bear his family name, it was the Sterzing Candy Company. But summers in Burlington are hot, and keeping a company going in the midst of the Great Depression was hard enough without its products disintegrating during peak snacking season. So, Barney started selling potato chips in summer in addition to his candy. Potatoes, after all, don’t melt.
Sterzing made his chips fresh every day, and they proved so popular that when World War II rationing severely cut the sugar available to candy manufacturers, he knew what to do.
“Barney stayed with the principle of putting quality first,” Warren Duttweiler, Sterzing’s cousin, told the Des Moines Register in 1988, when Sterzing died at age 76. “That simple philosophy has held up well over the years.”
Duttweiler bought the company and took over as president when Sterzing retired in 1959.
“We’ve stayed small because Barney thought that growth meant sacrificing quality,” Duttweiler explained. “We’ve tried to stay with his concepts.”
They did more than try. It
wouldn’t be until the 1980s, when Sterzing’s introduced its ruffled chip, that the company made a potato chip that was different from the ones it had been making since the ’30s. It was also in the ’80s that the company began regularly distributing outside its traditional 50-mile area around Burlington. Sterzing’s Potato Chips didn’t land on grocery store shelves in Des Moines until the year 2000.
Sterzing’s followed a very different trajectory than a potato-chip-based business founded the year before Barney started his candy company. Herman Lay launched his company in 1932, selling someone else’s potato chips out of the back of his Model A. Herman’s focus was always on sales and scale, and after major corporate mergers in the 1960s, his company became Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, and Lay’s came to dominate the potato chip market in the U.S.
Sterzing’s, on the other hand, is still in Burlington. It’s no longer as small as it was—its chips can be found in stores around the state. It’s changed to a healthier, trans-fat-free oil for frying. And it’s no longer owned by Barney’s relatives, although the pair who bought the company in 2011 both started their working lives there. Like its founder, the company understands some things are more important than being big.
—Paul Brennan
Emily Rundell / Little Village
savory clay pot stews and whole fishes. This second menu was only recently translated into English and shared with the public, but has been known to lucky 888 insiders for some time.
Indian Cafe in World Food Market
669 Avenue of the Cities, East Moline 309-912-7604, worldfoodmarketqc.com/ menu
Another highlight of the Ridgewood Shopping Center is World Food Market, a 15,000-square-foot grocery store carrying pantry staples from every continent—spices, Turkish coffee, ajvar, Kewpie mayo, frozen soup hens and tons of other surprises. The best part? A bright cafe counter serving standard but consistently excellent Indian takeout. Don’t miss the bhel puri or momos for apps; load up your naan with chicken, lamb, goat and paneer in the usual curries and sauces; or explore one of the many vegetarian entrees utilizing Indian cottage cheese, fried okra, eggplant and more.
Among the hotly disputed champions of QC-style pizza, Frank’s wins extra points for atmosphere. Dine in for the full experience of a lively, sprawling, utilitarian pizzeria where entire sports teams, birthday parties, hot first dates and groggy barflies gather to eat unwieldy strips of taco and sausage pizza. Don’t sleep on the other menu offerings: generous Italian beef sandwiches, half chickens, stromboli and pasta dishes with garlic bread. (Gluten-free pizza is available, too!) There is a full bar, which will come in handy if you happen to be there when a whole little league comes giggling through the door.
—Liv Carrow
Liam Colby / Little Vilage
Hungry Charlie’s Lunch Box.
Opposite, left: Basal Pizza.
Opposite, right: Rodney Lewis inside his restaurant. Anthony Scanga / Little Village
Waterloo: Riverfront
Rodney’s Kitchen
624 Sycamore St, Waterloo 319-234-3663
The po’ boys are so fresh and expertly battered that you might think it’s time to be getting back home to batten down the hatches for hurricane season. It is downtown Waterloo, after all! If you are well prepared for a flavor storm, then come in and enjoy the provisions provided by one of the nicest restauranteurs I’ve ever met and all-around raddest Rodneys in town, Rodney Lewis. You won’t even need to sell your soul for the devilishly delightful catfish and chips.
Hungry Charlie’s Lunch Box
206 E 4th St, Waterloo 319-610-9355, facebook.com/hungrycharlieslunchbox Alf may have had a thing for cats, but Hungry Charlie is an all-beef hot dog man. Forgotten lunch boxes line the walls and retro tunes set the scene to live all your ’80s fantasies in this well-preserved time capsule. Their affordable menu includes gourmet dogs, paninis, flatbreads and homemade soups that will leave you pitying the fool who chose the gas station for lunch. To jumbo, or not to jumbo—that is the question.
Basal Pizza
225 W 4th St, Waterloo 319-333-0180, basalpizza.com
I trust a pizza made by a chef named Tony, always. Basal Pizza owner Tony Eischeid
Waterloo
Cedar Falls
Kate
Doolittle / Little Village
2024-25 SEASON
is fire roasting his way through the pizza encyclopedia, currently crafting Neapolitan pies perfect for a person or two (and, as this reporter discovered, with enough left over to sate a crafty campsite raccoon! I don’t blame him at all). He also dishes up Detroit-style delights fit for a small group, and is currently working on adapting the cult classic Quad Cities-style pizza (a strip-cut pizza with a malty crust and spicy sauce), so stay tuned! Beautifully balanced cocktails and craft beers are available for pairing with your choice of pizza pie.
Sub City II
118 E 4th St
319-236-2300, subcitywest.com
This is the place to go if you’re hungry and want freshly sliced meats and freshly sliced non-meats all lovingly wrapped in a submarine sandwich. There are few things in life more wonderful than a well-oiled piece of deliciousness ergonomically designed for mouth-stuffing. You can enjoy your slice o’ paradise in the beautiful, historically preserved restaurant or, if dining al fresco, at the charming biergarten right across the street.
has been serving breakfast at its current location for over 60 years.
Morg’s Diner
520 Mulberry St, Waterloo 319-234-2416
When you come to Morg’s Diner, be prepared to claim the nearest bar stool or booth and don’t be timid. The meek might inherit the Earth but the mighty need a stack of pancakes and a hearty pile of breakfast meats. Morg’s is an actual blast from the past, with tabletop jukeboxes and all! You can come in 21st century hungry and leave as satisfied as a 1950s teenybopper ready to rock ‘n’ roll. If you like breakfast and good service and time-traveling then this is your joint, daddy-Os.
Morg’s
Liam Colby / Little Village
Dubuque: Lower Main
Monk’s Kaffee Pub
373 Bluff St, Dubuque
563-585-0919, facebook.com/ MonksKaffeePub
A great hangout in the charming Cable Car Square (which boasts the world’s shortest, steepest funicular railway!) with coffee and tea drinks and curated beers. Hang out on the deck with a boutique IPA or cozy up on the sofa with a chai latte and just chill. Ask for their hilarious Wi-Fi password and feel at home, as many of the locals obviously do. There is always new artwork on the walls and board games aplenty. If the word “Kaffee” feels right to you, this is your place!
Paul’s Tavern
176 Locust St, Dubuque
563-556-9944
A large sign announcing customers can “See Paul’s Big Game Trophies” adorns the side of the petite brick building housing this quintessential Dubuque dive bar. (Even Alton Brown included Paul’s in his Feasting on Asphalt series.) The menu is startlingly small: burger, cheeseburger, tuna salad, hot ham and cheese, side of chips. Want fries? Go elsewhere! The no-frills food is as good as it gets, especially washed down with cold beer and warm, friendly banter. And there are those taxidermied animals mounted around the bar that add, ahem, character
Dubuque: Millwork District
Charlotte’s Coffee House
1104 White St, Dubuque 563-231-3716, charlottescoffeehouse.com
Bridging the old downtown and fancy Millwork District is this lovely breakfast and brunch place with plenty of seating, whether you want a quick meeting table or a hangout nook. The owners take their coffee seriously, from the house drip to the specialty lattes such as Turtle, Almond Joy, Tuxedo and Sunflower. The pastries are to die for, especially the scones, while the acai bowls add delightful freshness (try the PB+B!). The place survived a major fire, and nods to it abound in features like copper panels and carved pillars.
Brazen Open Kitchen/Bar
955 Washington St
The only chef from Iowa to be on Top Chef (season 16, set in Kentucky), Kevin Scharpf’s signature restaurant gives you exceptional American modern cuisine in a stylish setting, right in the middle of the Millwork District. Chef Kevin loves pasta well enough to invest in a brass pastamaker for extruded noodles; you can also see the kitchen staff make fresh pappardelle from scratch. You know the fried chicken will be great because Chef also has a popular food truck called Birds. The seasonal menu sources both local ingredients as well as specialty items like fresh fish flown from the coasts.
Dubuque
Above left: Paul’s Tavern is a Dubuque institution. Anthony Scanga / Little Village Above: Paul’s legendary burger. Briana Thompson / Little Village
Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry by Austin Frerick
Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal —Angela Kircher, River Lights Bookstore, Dubuque FOOD-RELATED BOOK RECS
Kate Doolittle / Little Village
Dubuque: Historic Old Main
Oolong Asian Cuisine
145 W 11th St, Dubuque 563-239-1019, loveoolong.com
If you think the interior of Oolong feels sleek and modern with just the right mix of Southeast Asian influences, wait until you try their pan-Asian cuisine. The varied dumplings are great for starters, while the pho and ramen float in a rich, long-simmering bone broth. If you can handle the heat, ask for the hot chili oil that will add further oomph to the already zesty dishes. If it gets too hot, you can step next door to cool off with multiple beers at the great microbrewery Jubeck’s!
Mario’s Italian Restaurant 1298 Main St, Dubuque 563-556-9424, mariosdbq.com
This place feels like a hug from an old Italian grandma! Close tables, checkered cloth, people who all seem to know each other and make strangers feel welcome—Mario and Angelina’s love story roots the place. The menu is large and has all the usual suspects; the baked pasta dishes are highly recommended. Pizza with a side of pizza bread with cheese would make for an indulgent takeout.
—Sunil Malapati
Classic and ultra-cozy: Mario’s Italian Restaurant in Dubuque won’t let you down. Anthony Scanga / Little Village
Palmer Candy Company
The Twin Bing is an Iowa icon, handmade in Sioux City for more than a century. What it isn’t, really, is a candy bar, even though the packaging says “candy bar” and it’s made by the Palmer Candy Company. Palmer was trying to break into America’s booming candy bar market when it introduced the first Bings in 1923.
By the time Milton Hershey started producing chocolate bars in 1900, the Palmers were already in the candy business. E.C. Palmer purchased a wholesale grocery business when he moved his family to Sioux City in 1878. In 1892, Palmer and his sons, Charles and William, added a wholesale fruit company. By 1898, the Palmers had expanded into candy manufacturing as well.
At the turn of the 20th century, candy was still being primarily sold by the box in drug stores or by the bag in candy stores. Hershey’s success showed there was a market for individually wrapped bars.
It was America’s entry into World War I in 1917 that really established Hershey’s innovation as a new norm, because the War Department included small chocolate bars as a part of a soldier’s rations.
In the early 1920s, a surge of new candy bars reached markets around the country and sales soared. The Palmers decided to
join the sugar rush with their own round confection, which makers nicknamed “bumps.”
There’s no record of who invented the Bing, or who named it. According to Marty Palmer, the fifth generation of his family to run the Palmer Candy Company, no one even knows what the name means. But while its origins are a mystery, the Bing itself is pretty straightforward: A chewy, flavored nougat center is covered with a thick chocolate coating that has chopped roasted peanuts mixed into it.
Bings originally came in four flavors: pineapple, maple, vanilla and cherry. While the others fell by the wayside, cherry, with its cartoonishly vivid pink nougat center, remains the mainstay of the Bing world. Palmer’s does make other Bings—S’mores and Caramel Crunch—but it’s cherry people think of when they hear Twin Bing.
Bings became twinned in the 1960s. The price of candy was increasing as the cost of ingredients rose, and most manufacturers were reducing the sizes as they were raising prices. Palmer’s wanted to offer more Bing for the buck when it upped the price, but a bigger Bing would be a difficult fit for vending machines. So, two bumps were packaged together as twins. After “king-size” candy bars became a thing, Palmer’s introduced the King Bing, with three bumps instead of two.
The candy world changes, sometimes drastically. But in interviews last year for the 100th anniversary of the Bing, Marty Palmer said the cherry-flavored Bing isn’t changing as long as his family owns the company.
—Paul Brennan
Centennial Iowa Snacks
Emily Rundell / Little Village
BadaBing
These culinary cousins know some of the best food experiences are served streetside.
BY JAYCE NGUYEN
Starting a new restaurant can feel like surfing a tsunami. Luckily, the cousin-cousin culinary team behind Snacky Mini Mart has a great sense of balance.
Sandy and Vivian Pei launched their panAsian food stall at the Iowa City Farmers Market in spring 2023, cooking under a red
canopy and hand-painted signs made by Sandy, one in the shape of a surfboard, another spray-painted onto a tapestry of The Great Wave off Kanagawa, that iconic Japanese art print.
Their menu introduced locals to the jian bing, a crepe-like breakfast wrap and a staple Chinese street food. The Peis fill theirs with five-spice pork, bologna and chive, or veggies and mushrooms, and they often top Snacky Mini Mart’s menu as Tasty Bing Wraps.
“The bing is an homage to being in the streets of Beijing,” Sandy said. “Something like that brings a story and we get to share that—people get the meaning and story behind our food.”
Sandy and Vivian do it all at Snacky, from the marketing and artwork to testing and cooking items to serve at both the market and pop-up dinner events at local restaurants like Marco’s Island and Plated Table.
“The farmers market is something very new to us,” Vivian said. “We’re from restaurant families and we’re going the opposite way.”
Vivian Pei grew up in St. Louis, where her parents owned a restaurant called Yen Ching. Later, they opened a location in Iowa City off Highway 6, and Vivian would visit Iowa often. Before settling down in the Hawkeye State permanently a couple years ago, she had spent much of her career abroad, starting from the age of 19. She earned her professional cooking chops in France before moving to Singapore to run a culinary school and consult for restaurants and bars.
Vivian is a former chair of the World’s 50 Best Bars Academy, which publishes an annual list of the best of the best around the world, and continues to serve as vice president of the Singapore Cocktail Bar Association, which was founded in May 2020 to support the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“About 10 to 12 years ago I got very involved with cocktails, cocktail bars, craft cocktails specifically,” she said. “I think craft cocktails and cooking are very similar. There’s a lot of ingredient-focus and technique, so I got really
and Vivian Pei, cousins and co-owners of
up in March 2023 before becoming farmers market
Sandy
Snacky Mini Mart, held their first Iowa City pop-
mainstays. Above: Brekkie Market Fried Rice, Japchae, Snacky Bing Wrap, Snacky Dumplings. Karla Monroe / Little Village
nerdy about that… I like to say for myself that I just like all things delicious. It doesn’t matter whether it’s food or drinks or whatever. All things delicious.”
Sandy Pei was born in Korea, where she spent part of her childhood. She’s lived much of her life in Iowa City, enjoying visits from her cousin Vivian. Sandy graduated from City High School before embarking on her own culinary career. In 2002, she opened a restaurant named Snacky in Brooklyn, which she owned and ran for 18 years before deciding
“The bing is an homage to being in the streets of Beijing. Something like that brings a story and we get to share that—people get the meaning and story behind our food.”
—Sandy Pei
to move back to Iowa City. Sandy closed the restaurant, left New York behind and returned to Iowa during the height of the pandemic in June 2020.
Snacky fan Bill Pearis wrote a eulogy for the restaurant on the blog Brooklyn Vegan: “Snacky stood out thanks to owner Sandy Pei‘s sense of style and humor, with its shelves of robots, monsters, toys and other cool trinkets; dragon head on its back wall, art that included a much-loved octopus-vs-shark painting, and a TV that showed obscure anime, Asian cinema and kitschy TV series. Snacky’s menu was equally funky, combining Chinese, Japanese and Korean with spins on American classics like pizza, burgers and hot dogs. There was no place quite like it.”
After deciding to partner up with her cousin Vivian on a new food project in Iowa, Sandy wanted to build on the Snacky legacy, as the name Snacky Mini Mart suggests. You can see many of her eclectic trinkets in the menus and marketing materials for Snacky Mini Mart, in particular on their Instagram page, @snacky_ mini_mart. You might see a few toys on the table at their stall, too.
Along with bings, Snacky Mini Mart dishes up juicy dumplings with pork or tofu, drawing on a family recipe. You can also pick up Korean japchae, a dish with stir-fried glass noodles and veggies; rotating desserts, such as sesame Rice Krispy treats and butter mochi cakes; iced tea; and occasional weekly specials you should absolutely keep an eye out for.
“It’s not just who we are, it’s also where we come from,” Sandy said of their dishes.
tried true AND DUBUQU E, IOWA
With cozy century-old diners and restaurants home to a ‘Top Chef,’ Dubuque’s culinary scene is made to stand the test of time. See for yourself with a getaway to #WhereIowaStarted
Most likely to
have top chef experiences
“Each
time we were at the market we asked, what else can we do? So we made the dumplings and started jarring chili crisp. The community has been amazing.”
—Vivian Pei
BRAZEN OPEN KITCHEN TOP CHEF SEASON 16
CHEF KEVIN SCHARPF
I.C.E. C.R.E.A.M. comics and zine fair during Mission Creek Festival, where their brand’s DIY, artistic flair felt especially fitting. They’ve also held a dinner or two in collaboration with Plated Table, chef/owner Alex Meyer’s combination event space, catering business, wine shop and meal-kit service that opened in the former Her Soup Kitchen space on S Dubuque Street in December 2023.
Sandy and Vivian both agreed that the time spent with their customers is their favorite part of this business model, from cooking orders just feet away from market shoppers to providing intimate hospitality during a popup event. Getting a little moment with each customer, seeing their immediate reaction to the food—these are perks they worry would be diminished if they had a traditional brickand-mortar location. Not having a lease also provides independence and flexibility they’re not eager to give up.
Still, this approach requires a lot of planning to ensure things run smoothly, not to mention elbow grease—they must essentially build up and tear down their kitchen each time they set up their stall, and it’s easy to get envious of the food trucks who can simply drive away. Thankfully, other food vendors have been generous with advice over the past year, Vivian and Sandy said.
Encouraged by the reactions in Iowa City, the Peis are considering adding a stall at the Des Moines and Coralville farmers markets, or at least popping up at the occasional event out of town. As to whether brick and mortar are in their future, Vivian and Sandy are patiently waiting for an opportunity to “create something” that may not take a conventional form.
“We want a space that’s small, we don’t want to be open every single day. It’s time for a new idea, something different. We really like the Plated Table model,” Vivian said. “But it’s not that easy to change how people think of restaurants.”
The Peis said they would love to be in a space similar to NewBo City Market in Cedar Rapids, where small businesses can thrive as part of an indoor, year-round marketplace. Their spot might be more shop than restaurant, carrying cookbooks, products and artwork (some created by their friends), reminiscent of a Japanese convenience store.
For now, they’re happy just being snacky. Next time you’re at the Iowa City Farmers Market, stop by for a bing, a jar of chili crisp and a chat with these well-traveled women. It’ll brighten their day and yours.
“Iowa City has been going through so many changes, restaurants coming in and out. But you always need an injection of something that could represent more variety,” Vivian said. “That’s what we can do from our side.”
Welcome!
Iowa City offers big-city amenities with small-town hospitality, and is a focal point for arts and culture, education, and fun.
Our community enjoys an extensive parks and recreation system that includes miles of trails, nearly 1,000 acres of prairie, wetlands and forested areas, with almost every resident living within half-a-mile of public open space. Iowa City features a vibrant, walkable downtown, and in 2008, was designated the first UNESCO City of Literature in the United States. Numerous professional publications consistently rank Iowa City as a highly favorable place to do business, receive an education, enjoy arts and culture, and is a perfect place to retire.
Iowa City is committed to Climate Action.
We have our eyes set on the future. Our city is committed to being a leader in climate action to ensure that we have a livable community now and in the future. Among the first cities in Iowa to adopt a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, the City has embraced ambitious goals to foster resilience and reduce our carbon footprint, lowering greenhouse gas emissions more than 45% since 2010!
The City of Iowa City and the 74,000 residents who live here have already made great strides toward our climate action goals. There are many ways to get involved:
● Hop on an electric bus and take advantage of our fare-free pilot program
● Charge your EV at a station in any of the public ramps
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● Learn about energy efficiency and solar panels at City facilities
● Visit the Farmers Market or sign up for a community garden plot
● Sign up for our monthly newsletter and join us for Climate Fest in September!
Working together, we can reach NET ZERO EMMISSIONS by 2050.
Learn more about our plan and how you can help, at icgov.org/ClimateAction. SUBSCRIBE
Good Taste
Skyler Myers isn’t a chef, but food she’s cooked and plated have graced cookbooks, magazines and ads all over the country.
BY TIFFANI GREEN
Cellphone cameras and social media have made amateur food photographers of us all. In any highend restaurant on any given night, you’ll see diners snapping pics of their plates.
Of course, the quality of those images varies. Try as we might, most of us don’t have the skills or know-how to capture photos as drool-worthy as a spread in Bon Appetit. Many professional photographers don’t, either, and rely on food stylists like Skyler Myers.
A freelance food stylist based out of Des Moines, Myers is quick to clarify that she is not a photographer. Rather, a food stylist is an artist hired to make edible products look their very best for ads, magazines and cookbooks.
“I have a background in fine art. I studied it in college, and I work in a lot of mediums: textiles, resin, fiber. With food styling, the food is the medium,” she said.
Myers works out of Primary Image, a local studio that specializes in food photography. Though they offer a helpful in-studio kitchen, many of Myers’ jobs take her on location.
“I have a kit that I take to every shoot; every food stylist has one,” she explained. “Mine has
tweezers, Q-tips, toothpicks, skewers, pins, Windex, paint brushes and cooking spray. That’s a stylist trick—you can spray Pam on anything to make it shiny. And if I’m going to a shoot onsite, I’ll bring an induction burner, all the pans and knives I’ll need, and maybe chafing dishes.”
Her clientele is about 75 percent commercial: businesses like grocery stores and restaurants. Kum & Go and Pancheros, for example, are two of her highest-profile commercial clients. The remaining 25 percent is editorial work for cookbooks or magazines such as Fine Cooking Magazine and Better Homes & Gardens
Every project generally starts the same. “I’m given recipes, I buy the ingredients and I actually cook every dish that is going to be photographed. And afterward, we get to eat it all,” Myers said.
“It’s all real food that can be eaten. It has to be or it’s false advertising. And we don’t use chemicals to make it last for a long time or add anything that would make the food inedible. When the shoots are done, we all get to take home leftover food and groceries.”
These shoots can often push 12 hours, most every minute coordinated by the food stylist.
“When I’m styling a commercial shoot, it’s more structured because you’re selling a specific product or meal and you want to make sure that’s the star of the shot,” she said. “If the product is ranch dressing, for example, you would see a lot of that dressing very prominently dripping off a salad or a burger so it’s the main focus. But in an editorial shoot, we take a looser, more natural approach to the styling. We want you to be able to imagine making those recipes yourself. In that scenario, the ranch would be mixed into the salad because that’s how people actually use it.”
Typically, she is given six to 10 recipes to work with. Shoot preparation includes shopping for ingredients and figuring out the order in which the food should be cooked.
“Deciding the recipe order is really important because obviously some things can sit longer than others. So I might make a casserole early in the day that won’t be photographed for a few hours, but something like ice cream has to be photographed immediately.”
Speaking of ice cream—“It’s so hard to work with,” Myers said. “You can’t shoot it in heat or humidity. If we’re doing ice cream, sometimes
Photography tips from Skyler Myers, food styler
Natural light always makes food look good. Try to place your food near a window or even take it outside.
Check the angle of the photo. Most people photograph food from above, but you lose a lot of height and depth that way. Try getting lower—it makes food look taller and gives it more dimension. Don’t underestimate the impact of garnish. A sprinkle of herbs or fresh-ground pepper can really make an image pop. Don’t over-style the shot or try to make it too perfect.
“When I’m styling a commercial shoot, it’s more structured because you’re selling a specific product or meal and you want to make sure that’s the star of the shot. But in an editorial shoot, we take a looser, more natural approach to the styling. We want you to be able to imagine making those recipes yourself.”
the studio will be so cold that people are wrapped up in blankets.”
Cheese is another challenging subject.
“I hate cheese pulls. They’re so time sensitive. You know that classic image of a slice of pizza with the melty cheese dripping off? That is so difficult to get right. Sometimes you just have to make a bunch of pizzas and do it over and over until you get the right shot. Cheese pulls are so hard that there are stylists who specialize in only that.”
Conversely, desserts, while also difficult, are Myers’ favorite subject. “They’re so pretty; a pie is always beautiful, you know? And they’re durable, they hold up well. It’s also a fun challenge for me, because I don’t have as much experience with desserts.”
Her art chops come in handy. “I’m a weaver and I also do embroidery; I have a very detail-oriented approach, so I love fiddly
Skyler Myers, food styler.
Avery Staker / Little Village
tasks like hand-decorating cookies.”
A Dallas Center native, Myers studied art and literature at Kirkwood Community College and the University of Iowa. She spent seven years living in Portland, Oregon, before returning to Iowa and finishing her education at Grandview University in Des Moines. After college, she faced that great dilemma many creative people do: choosing a career that would utilize her skills.
During school, she’d planned
“I’m a weaver and I also do embroidery; I have a very detailoriented approach, so I love fiddly tasks like handdecorating cookies.”
on becoming a teacher, but later realized that wasn’t the right fit. She found her current career by happenstance.
“I didn’t take a direct route into food styling. I love to cook, but I didn’t go to culinary school or work in kitchens,” she said. “I found out about food styling through my best friend Annie. Her father is a photographer, and she was working with him as a food stylist. She started styling shoots for other photographers and eventually became a food stylist for [what was then called] Meredith. Then she hired me to be her assistant, and that’s how I started learning.”
Myers spent five years working as an assistant and then became a food stylist at a commercial
Skyler Myers sets the scene at Primary Image Ltd., a Des Moines photography studio that offers an in-studio kitchen.
Avery Staker / Little Village
studio. “That job really allowed me to grow and see how much more I had to learn. I had mentorship, I was able to experiment and fail and it helped me find my voice as a food stylist.”
In 2020, after five years at the studio, Skyler made another transition—this time to working for herself. “The pandemic was such an upheaval, and I was ready for a change.
“When I decided to go freelance, my best friend and my husband were so supportive. They both told me I was ready and I could do it. But even with so much experience under my belt, I had an attack of impostor syndrome when I booked my first freelance job. They sent over the recipes and they were all unfamiliar to me. I called my best friend crying, convinced I couldn’t do it. She came over and helped me test the recipes and prepare for the shoot, and I nailed it.”
Myers and this friend, Annie Peterson, have gone on to develop a food blog called Forks in Orbit.
“She has an urban farm here in Des Moines,” Myers said. “We take things from the farm and develop recipes and cook them.”
Myers loves cooking in her free time, especially with her husband, though their approach is slightly different: “I don’t really use recipes at home.”
She also enjoys sewing her own clothes, as she has since high school, and crafting earrings out of resin. Honestly, it all begs the question of what exactly she doesn’t do.
If you ask her, Myers would say she doesn’t do anything alone.
“I’m always working with a photographer, of course, but there’s also often a prop stylist choosing the dishes that food will be plated on and any other items that will be in the photos. There might be an art director who’s setting up the shot and making sure the lighting is right and that the images match the tone of the story. And I work with two assistants who do everything from washing dishes and making sure we have all the utensils we’ll need for plating to helping to cook all the food,” she explained. “Every shoot is a team effort.”
If you want to keep up with what Skyler Myers is doing and making, you can find her food styling at skylermyersfoodstyling.com and @skyler_myers_foodstyling on Instagram. She posts her jewelry and weaving work on another account, @sky_made_that, and her food writing and recipes on forksinorbit.com.
Until we see you again in print next month, subscribe to LV newsletters to stay up to date: LittleVillageMag.com/newsletters
Live, Laugh, Livestock
Big Ag’s side effects fall hard on the little guy, whether he’s two or 2,000 pounds. At Iowa Farm Sanctuary, he gets a second shot.
BY JANE NESMITH
Henry the one-eyed turkey stands just inside the pasture gate, proud and handsome with his white feathers fanned in display. He may look regal, but he also appreciates a rub of his gnarly red head.
At three years old, Henry is a senior citizen: most turkeys raised in Iowa and elsewhere spend the first 20 weeks of their lives crowded together in confinement buildings, then are packed onto trucks to be sent to slaughterhouses. You’ve seen those trucks barreling down I-80, glimpses of white feathers inside.
Extreme weather altered Henry’s life path: A tornado hit the building where he and 30,000 other turkeys were housed, destroying the building. The owner of the building
After surviving a tornado that caused the loss of one eye, Henry the turkey relocated to the Iowa Farm Sanctuary, where he spends his day at pasture with his pal Flynn. Dawn Frary / Little Village
called Shawn and Jered Camp of the Iowa Farm Sanctuary to see if they wanted to rescue any of the birds out of the wreckage. Henry was one of those birds who was rescued and given medical treatment with the removal of a diseased eye. Now Henry lives in a pasture at Iowa Farm Sanctuary, greeting visitors who venture into the pasture with him.
Henry is just one example of the animals who’ve been rescued and now live peaceful lives on 40 acres in rural Oxford. The Iowa Farm Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization,
Camp gave me a tour of what she lovingly calls “the misfits pasture,” a lush, green pasture filled with animals of different species and different abilities.
How can I eat more ethically— especially if I’m not quite ready to go vegan?
Above: Sheldon was considered too small to become veal as a calf, so ended up at the Sanctuary. Bottom right: Parker the pig sniffs wildflowers at pasture. Dawn Frary / Little Village
provides a safe haven for rescued farm animals and a place for humans to get to know these animals and appreciate the sentience of the livestock that share our state with us.
Henry the turkey serves as a species ambassador at IFS, along with around 150 other animals—chickens, ducks, turkeys, pigs, sheep, goats and cows. I got to meet some of those animals on a visit to the farm in late spring when Shawn Camp gave me a tour of what she lovingly calls “the misfits pasture,” a lush, green pasture filled with animals of different species and different abilities.
As soon as we entered the pasture, Herbie the Holstein came up to greet us. Born with a cleft palate, Herbie needs supplemental bottle feedings to provide him the nutrition he
Rather than trying to navigate the confusing and sometimes misleading barrage of labels (“humane-certified,” “pasture-raised,” “free-range”), Camp recommends a simpler approach: start by simply reducing the amount of meat you eat.
“If you usually eat meat every day, try meatless Mondays,” she says. “Dabble in vegan options: if you’re going to have a cheeseburger, try an Impossible Burger with vegan cheese. See how you like it. And go from there.”
The Iowa Farm Sanctuary website has a page dedicated to great vegan recipes. Check it out for your next Meatless Monday: iowafarmsanctuary.org/vegancooking
can’t get from grazing, and which Camp is happy to provide. Herbie is always accompanied by Sheldon, who was determined to be too small to slaughter for veal when he was a little brown calf, and who is now Herbie’s loyal companion. Both of them enjoyed the pets and scratches we gave out and gave us sloppy cow kisses.
Three goats hobbled up cheerfully, also looking for attention. Ollie, Cookie and Kaleb arrived at the farm after suffering extreme frostbite that caused all three to lose portions of their ears, tails and hind legs. Despite missing hooves and, in one case, a leg, the three goats move about the pasture and play with one another without much trouble.
“We had prosthetics made for them, but we’ve observed that they prefer to get along without them,” pointed out Camp.
Animals come to the Iowa Farm Sanctuary in several different ways. “About 50 percent of
the animals here we get through donor surrender,” Camp explained. Sometimes farmers call IFS to ask if they’ll take in animals that are injured, sick or born with abnormalities like Herbie and blind-from-birth cow Flower. The organization works to build relationships with these farmers, many of whom give financial support and in-kind donations in gratitude. The farmer who brought Flower to IFS donates funds to cover her care.
The other 50 percent of the animals arrive because of some kind of emergency situation. Those emergencies vary: An animal might have a medical issue that its owner cannot afford—or doesn’t want—to treat. Pigs or other animals fall off of semis in the process of being transported. Sometimes an entire semi hauling animals will overturn. And there are, unfortunately, cases of neglect and abuse.
In many cases, rescued animals may need medical treatment. IFS staff are frequently on
Rather than being out in pastures to forage for food, most turkeys and pigs today are kept by the thousands in large, densely packed confinement buildings where their food is brought to them. They’re denied opportunities to interact with their environment and each other as they would in a pasture.
Above: Herbie with Iowa Farm Sanctuary cofounder and executive director Shawn Camp.
Below: Ollie the goat arrived at the farm after suffering extreme frostbite. Dawn Frary / Little Village
the road to take animals to get expert veterinarian care. Whether it’s surgery for a pig with twisted intestines, plasma transfusions for a sick goat, or parasite treatment for a pair of sheep, medical care can be expensive—but the staff want the best for the animals they rescue.
Once they arrive at the farm, the animals, many of whom have special needs, find a safe haven where they are fed and given care. Staff refer to them as “residents”—“like people who live in a care facility,” says Camp. “We don’t own them, they don’t own us. They live here.”
Although Iowa is considered a farming state—there are 3.5 Iowa turkeys and 16 Iowa
pigs for every Iowa human—many Iowans have never seen a domestic turkey or pig faceto-face. That’s because of the way farmed animals are raised today. Rather than being out in pastures to forage for food, most turkeys and pigs today are kept by the thousands in large, densely packed confinement buildings where their food is brought to them. But they’re denied opportunities to interact with their environment and each other as they would in a pasture.
The animals are bred to grow quickly so they can be quickly brought to slaughter, even if that means physical problems like sores on turkeys’ legs from being unable to carry their
Goats and ponies; Larry the sheep smiles for the photographer; Herbie is treated to a watermelon. Dawn Frary / Little Village
increasing weight, or broken hooves on pigs for the same reason, not to mention the need for more antibiotics to slow the spread of disease in such close quarters.
The farm industry argues that this approach to raising livestock saves money and makes food more plentiful. IFS and other organizations see results of industrial farming every time they rescue animals with disfigurement, disease or a fear of humans due to their previous situations. And all Iowans have heard
Volunteer at Iowa Farm Sanctuary
Volunteers are always needed at the Iowa Farm Sanctuary. Most start by getting to know the animals and mucking out barns. “Lots of animals means lots of manure,” says Camp. From there, volunteers can sign up to work at events, tend the garden or join the fundraising team.
Find out more or sign up at iowafarmsanctuary.org/volunteer
of the threat to waterways caused by concentrated animal manure produced on industrial farms.
Still, the staff at IFS don’t scold people who run industrial farms. “Wagging a finger at a farmer isn’t going to get us anywhere,” Camp said. But signs are posted around the Iowa Farm Sanctuary with lists of facts that contrast the care animals get on an industrial farm with the care they get at the Farm Sanctuary.
On one sign: “A pregnant sow is housed in a gestation crate for the duration of her four month pregnancy, an enclosure so small she cannot even turn around.” On an adjacent sign: “Pigs build nests. They prefer to sleep in cozy locations and will collect nesting items like straw and cloth.”
Rescue and care for the animal residents is only part of the mission of IFS. Offering people the opportunity to visit the farm and get to know the animals is just as important.
“When they visit, people get to see survivors of the farming system and make connections with these animals,” Camp said.
Every Sunday afternoon through the summer months, the Iowa Farm Sanctuary is open to the public for “Sanctuary Strolls” when visitors can meander along the unpaved walking trail that circles the 40-acre farm and meet animal residents living in the various pastures. Picnics—vegan, of course!—are encouraged. Entrance fees, which go toward the care of the animal residents, are $10 for adults and $6 for children.
For people who can’t visit, the stories of each animal resident, along with photo portraits, can be found on social media and on the IFS website. You can find out about Henry, Herbie, Flower and other animal residents there—and, if you’re moved by their stories, you can help support the farm by making a donation, pledging yearly support or signing up to sponsor your favorite animal resident with a monthly gift.
This last option has proven particularly popular. “Monthly sponsorship is a very personal way to connect with an animal,” said Katie Valentine, assistant director of operations. “The donor will get a certificate, updates about the animal they are sponsoring and will be recognized on the website.”
The dream of the Iowa Farm Sanctuary is to inspire humans to develop compassion for these sentient beings, and to do what they can to promote better lives for all farmed animals. Farm visits and stories are a powerful way to do that.
“If we just rescued animals and didn’t tell their stories, we’d just be saving the ones here,” points out Camp.
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PROGRAMS & SERVICES
Wholesale Local
Food (for institutions)
We partner with local farmers to ensure a variety of locally-grown foods are more widely available and expand access to fresh food in our community. Field to Family manages the purchase, aggregation, storage, marketing, and delivery of high-quality, fairly priced food to wholesale customers and institutions.
Online Market
(for households)
Every week from Earth Day through Winter Solstice, Field to Family offers convenient online ordering and contact-free pickup for seasonal produce, meat, dairy, plant starts, and other food and farm products. Ordering opens Sundays at 5 PM and closes at noon on Tuesdays for pick up on Thursdays. Payments accepted include: credit/ debit cards, SNAP & Double Up Food Bucks
Farm to School & Food System Education
Even the youngest eaters play a role in transforming our community food system. Field to Family procures local food for school lunches and brings the ‘farm to the school’ to educate youth on where their food comes from and helps them develop healthy eating habits. We procure and deliver local food for sampling and learning boxes for preschool and elementary classrooms.
For Growers and Consumers, For a More Sustainable and Resilient Food System
Field to Family is an Iowa City, Iowa-based nonprofit that increases access to and education around healthy and local food. We operate a comprehensive regional food hub and online market, powered by growers and consumers who share a purpose to create a diverse, abundant, sustainable food system.
Field to Family procures local foods, including vegetables, fruits, herbs, dairy, meats, eggs, honey and grains, as well as food products made with Iowa-grown crops.
Our mission is to ensure everyone across Johnson County and Eastern Iowa can eat fresh food with the seasons.
As a food hub, Field to Family has built the infrastructure for institutions and households to easily order and receive quality local food. We source from over a hundred local growers within a 100-mile radius of Johnson and Linn counties and leverage our connections and partnerships so local food can make the journey from the fields to your kitchen.
A Focus on Underrepresented Farmers and Underserved Community Members
All farmers and growers should receive equitable and fair compensation for their food and farm products. As Field to Family works to increase access to locally sourced foods, we strive for food justice by procuring from underserved and underrepresented growers.Field to Family also partners with community food distributions, including food banks, food pantries, and other similar entities to expand access to more individuals.
Connecting Those Who Grow Fresh, Healthy Food with Those Who Consume It
Our connections are plentiful. We partner with local producers, regional school districts, the University of Iowa, restaurants, food access agencies, local governments, and community leaders who are all committed to sustainable, local food systems.
SUPPORT THIS WORK—Visit FieldtoFamily.org/donate to give today
Field to Family is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Donations to Field to Family support food systems education and increased access to healthy and local foods - work that ultimately enhances the health of our environment, economy and community well-being
Feast on This
Dubuque’s Convivium Urban Farmstead grows a lot with a little—and they’re happy to share.
BY EMMA MCCLATCHEY
Contributing a casserole to the potluck is basic Midwest manners.
Casseroles are simple to heat, freeze, share and fill up on, not to mention a great vehicle for both healthy and tasty ingredients. Finding a neighbor at the door holding their famous tater-tot casserole can provide much-needed comfort during a time of grief or struggle.
“Just from a practical perspective, they’re pretty easy to make,” said Leslie Shalabi, co-founder of Convivium Urban Farmstead in Dubuque. “We make and bake and give away 250 free casseroles every week, every week of the year.”
Convivium is a restaurant, coffee house, catering company, event space, urban farm and educational nonprofit. It’s also a well-oiled casserole-making machine. Since they started
their free casserole program in September 2020, Shalabi’s team has given away some 35,000 to locals in need.
“We don’t define what ‘in need’ means,” she explained. “So if you feel that you need a casserole, you can have a casserole. We know through collecting demographic information that most of the people getting these casseroles are very low income: 70 percent report a household income of less than $25,000 a year.”
There’s no registration necessary to claim a casserole—just show up at a pick-up location (Convivium from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., or Resources Unite from 2-4 p.m.) any Thursday and grab a pan while supplies last. Free casseroles are delivered around Dubuque each week as well, though Convivium has had to close their list until they have the resources to make more deliveries, or until demand settles down.
Unfortunately, the latter is not likely anytime soon: Food pantries in Iowa have faced unprecedented strain as pandemic-era aid programs dry up, state lawmakers roll back food assistance and inflation and corporate price-gouging drive up costs.
When Shalabi and her husband Mike Muench opened Convivium (the name means “feast” in Latin) in 2017, they knew they were bringing something positive to the North Jackson Street neighborhood, which sits in a low-income, limited-food-access area of
“We don’t define what ‘in need’ means. So if you feel that you need a casserole, you can have a casserole.” —Leslie Shalabi
Leslie Shalabi opened Convivium with her husband in 2017. Briana Thompson / Little Village
Dubuque. ”If we were going to make a big investment, why not make it in the area that we can really make a big difference?” Shalabi said of their location choice. But they had no idea how fruitful their small farm could truly be, nor how much it would be needed.
“The thing about growing food—actual stuff you can eat right off the vine, which is not what corn and soybeans are—is it doesn’t take
“The thing about growing food—actual stuff you can eat right off the vine, which is not what corn and soybeans are—is it doesn’t take very much space at all.”
very much space at all,” Shalabi said. “I mean, we have 13,000 square feet of growing space, and we grow between four- to five-thousand pounds of vegetables each year. So I think people are really amazed at what we can accomplish in a small space.”
Before Convivium, the land it’s located on was home to an old greenhouse complex that was in disrepair after being unused for more than decade. Shalabi and Muench bought the property in 2013 and began construction on their farmstead in 2015. One greenhouse
Opposite: In addition to being a beloved dining establishment, Convivium provides cooking and gardening classes, camps, interactive tours and their casserole program, which provides 250 free casseroles to the Dubuque community every week. Briana Thompson / Little Village Above: How the casseroles are made. Lauren Muench / Convivium
stayed a greenhouse, while the other was renovated into a restaurant, coffee shop, commercial kitchen, training kitchen and learning center. The restaurant and catering service operate symbiotically with Convivium’s gardens and its outreach efforts, which include low-cost cooking and gardening classes, a kid’s camp, interactive tours and, of course, the casserole program.
“In addition to being a restaurant, we are a nonprofit, which I think is kind of unusual, so all of the profits from the restaurant go back to help people in the community,” Shalabi explained.
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“Every time you eat with us, you’re helping to feed families in need in the community.”
There are three types of garden at Convivium. First are the demonstration gardens, used for classes and finicky plant projects like herb spirals, potato towers and straw bale gardens. Next are the production gardens, which supply the restaurant.
“In the production gardens, we grow a lot of things that can be preserved and used later, in addition to the stuff that we’re using right away,” Shalabi said. “So we do garlic, a lot of garlic; various types of tomatoes that we process into Bloody Mary mix, tomato jam and pizza sauce; and then lots of basil. We make a lot and sell a lot of pesto.”
Last are the common beds, raised yellow garden beds growing some 80 or 90 different varieties of food, all available for public picking: big, juicy tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, peppers, kale, collard greens and more. Folks can make requests for certain fruits, vegetables and herbs to be added.
Common beds weren’t originally part of the plan, but then 2020 arrived and service screeched to a halt.
“We got to harvest season, August, September, and the restaurant wasn’t open. And so we have all this produce and no outlet for it,” Shalabi said. “This was also a time when food insecurity was becoming much, much more prevalent, especially in our neighborhood.”
They shared their bounty with the hungry public, and cooked what they could into casseroles to give away—a practice they’ve continued. What’s more, Convivium’s neighbors were willing to donate their backyards for use as additional garden space.
“We never saw ourselves as providing direct services,” Shalabi said. “We wanted to be more of an educational-based nonprofit and teach people about food. But this was just a situation where people needed food.”
Along with their full-time farm manager AJ Shultz, Convivium has employees to lead programs, run their restaurant and cater events. But their mission relies on volunteers— Shalabi said about 300 individuals donated 5,000 hours of their time to Convivium in 2023, either preparing casseroles, maintaining the gardens or processing harvests.
Folks can contribute to the feast in other ways. In early spring, for example, Convivium puts out a call for maple sap—either bring some in, or invite them over to tap your tree.
Cherry jam, granola and dog treats, all made in house at Convivium. Briana Thompson / Little Village
“We collect it, put that all together, boil it down, make it into syrup and then have this pancake breakfast that’s pay-what-you-want,” Shalabi said.
The co-founder said it’s not uncommon to spot visitors wiping away tears while touring the farmstead. She thinks she understands why.
“Things are so fractured and I think you can really sense animosity, maybe, just bubbling under the surface in a lot of different areas of our life. And so, to come across a situation where people are just simply being generous for the sake of being generous, I think, is very heartwarming, and people are really drawn to it.”
Whatever the reason, Convivium admirers were quick to act when the organization asked for support last December. Their heating system needed repair, but business had been slow lately and funds were tight.
“I made a personal appeal on our Facebook page,” Shalabi recalled. “I just said, ‘Hey, our heat went out. It’s going to cost $5,500 to fix. Please, you know, please come back.’ And not only did we have some of the biggest days that we’ve had, people donated $30,000 in three days—in three days. It was really quite something.”
Despite the chaos of managing a restaurant, farmstead and nonprofit simultaneously, Convivium’s first seven years have provided plenty of validation for Shalabi and Muench, who left lucrative careers in Madison, Wisconsin to pursue this project. Shalabi was a partner in a public relations agency, but hit a wall: “I was just very empty inside,” she said. Her husband, who owned an insurance agency, was experiencing something similar.
“So we decided, OK, well, we’re gonna get together and do something to stop this feeling,” she said. “We started really asking ourselves ‘what did we want our legacy to be?’ That led to, ‘what problem do we want to solve?’”
They settled on food, hoping to facilitate connections among people—one reason their restaurant has communal dining tables. In the decade since they made Dubuque home, every seed planted, fruit harvested, pesto panini served, Bloody Mary stirred, wedding catered and casserole delivered have reinforced this bold, admittedly uninformed decision.
“I have no background in food or gardening, and that’s why I thought I could do this,” Shalabi said with a laugh. “Sometimes your ignorance is what lets you take a chance on things.”
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A-LIST: EVENTS
FARMERS MARKETS
Iowa City
Saturdays, May–October, 7:30
a.m.–12 p.m. Iowa City Farmers Market, Chauncey Swan Parking Ramp
October, Sat 7:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Sun 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Freight
House Farmers Market, 421 W River Dr, Davenport
Fridays, May–September, 5–10
p.m. Mercado on Fifth, 423 12st St, Moline
April: Iowa Eats Food & Drink Festival Waterloo
May: Houby Days, Cedar Rapids
June: Strawberry Days
Festival Strawberry Point
July: Blues & BBQ North
Liberty
August: World Food and Music Fest Des Moines
September: Mac and Cheese Fest Dubuque
October: QC Flavor Fest
Davenport
November: Whiskey Fest
Des Moines
December: Amana
Colonies Cocoa & Hot Beverage Crawl
Upcoming food-related events & other festivals around Iowa
Planning an event? Add it to littlevillagemag.com/calendar! Please include event name, date, time, venue name/address, admission price (or range) and a brief description (no allcaps, exclamation points or advertising verbiage, please). Contact calendar@littlevillagemag.com with any questions.
Other great food & drink fests
Iowa City area
Wurst Fest June
Taste of Iowa City August
Latino Fest August
Northside Oktoberfest Nov
Cedar Rapids
Freedom FEASTival May
C.R. Brewing Society
BenzFest May
St. Ludmila Kolach Festival June
BrewNost Sept
Des Moines
CelebrAsian May
Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival May
Greek Food Fair Festival June
Cajun Fest Boil & Brew June
Latino Heritage Festival Sept
Waterloo
Waterloo’s Food Truck Festival, August
Quad Cities
Food Truck Fight Moline, July
Our Big Fat Greek Festival
Rock Island, Sept
German Fest Davenport, Oct
Dubuque
Cascade Annual Wingfest, May
Taste of Summer, June
Corkless in Galena Wine Festival June
Galena Brew Fest July
Key City Beer & Seltzer Festival August
New to the area?
Be sure to check out these notable, non-food-related events throughout the year.
Music
Hinterland St. Charles
Infinite Dream Festival Iowa City
80/35 Music Fest Des Moines
Alternating Currents Davenport
Iowa City Jazz Festival Iowa City
Lit
DSM Book Festival Des Moines
Iowa City Book Festival Iowa City
Iowa Summer Writing Festival
Iowa City
The David R. Collins Writers’ Conference Quad Cities
Film
Alternating Currents Quad Cities
Des Moines 48 Hour Film Project
Julien Dubuque International Film Festival Dubuque
Des Moines Latino Film Festival
The Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival
Arts
Riverssance Festival of Fine Art
Davenport
Chalk Art Fest Rock Island
Des Moines Arts Festival
Iowa Arts Festival Iowa City
Open Air Media Festival Iowa City Dubuquefest Dubuque
Want to stay in the know?
Have some events you want to share with our community?
Check out the always up-todate calendar of events at littlevillagemag.com/calendar
Refocus Film Festival Iowa City
Courtney Guein / Little Village
Jason Smith / LV
DISTRIBUTION LOCATIONS
ALTOONA
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ANKENY
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DAVENPORT
11th Street Precinct
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Cru
Davenport Public Lib.
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Figge Art Museum
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Raw
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Center
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300 Craft & Rooftop
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Creme
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Iowa Taproom/Ken’s
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Miyabi 9
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Nobody’s Smoke Shop
Noce
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NOSH
Olympic Flame
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RAYGUN (Outdoor)
Residence Inn
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Renaissance Des Moines Savery Hotel
Residence Inn
Ritual Cafe
Rogue Planet Music
Rolling Wok Cafe
Sacred Diamond
Tattoo
Sakari Sushi Lounge
Science Center of Iowa
Scornovacca’s Bakery
Skip’s
Smokey Row Coffee Co.
South Side Library
Staybridge Suites
Storyhouse Book Pub
Tasty Tacos Northeast
Techne Salon
Ted’s Coney Island
Tee Hee’s Comedy Club the LiFT
The Slow Down Coffee Co.
The Station on Ingersoll
Truman’s KC Pizza
Twisted Vine Brewing
University Library
Cafe
Unkl Ruckus’s
Smoking
Emporium & Skate Shop
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Waveland Cafe
Whispers
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DUBUQUE
1st & Main
Foodie Garage Eatery
Kakow Kanteen
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Donuts
L May Eatery
7 Hills Brewing
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Jubeck New World
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BUZ Coffee & Energy
Backpocket
The Vault Restaurant & Lounge
Baraboo’s On Main
The Spot
Carnegie Stout Public Library
Dottie’s Cafe
Dimensional Brewing
Dubuque Museum of Art
Brazen Kitchen
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FAIRFIELD
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Assoc.
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Information Center
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GRIMES
Breadeaux Pizza
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HIAWATHA
Hiawatha Public Lib.
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HILLS
Old 218 Tap
HUXLEY
Casa Azteca
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Opera
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Bookstore
Savor the Rise
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IOWA CITY
AJA Estate Services
Artifacts
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Bluebird Diner
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Hotel
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Deery Chrysler Dodge
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El Senor Cactus
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FilmScene
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Hills Bank
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Hot House Studio
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IC Downtown District
IC Bike Library
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IC Senior Center
Iowa Hawk Shop Tech
Department
Jakob Piano Studio
Java House
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Joe’s Place
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Om Gifts
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RAYGUN
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Systems Unlimited
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JOHNSTON
Johnston Library
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KALONA
Best of Iowa
Kalona Brewing Co.
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KNOXVILLE
Atlantic & Pacific Pub
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Grand Theater
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MARION
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MOLINE/E MOLINE (IL)
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La Feria Mexican
Pleasant Hill Diner
Pleasant Hill Public Lib.
Rolling Smoke BBQ
RIVERSIDE
La Chiva Loka
ROCK ISLAND
Bayside Bistro
Ragged Records
Rozz-Tox
URBANDALE
Bike World
Campbell’s Nutrition
Friedrichs Coffee
Hotel Renovo
Living History Farms
Microtel Inn
Palmer’s Deli & Market
Revel Hotel by Hilton
Rieman Music
Tasty Tacos
Ted’s Coney Island
Urbandale Public Lib.
WASHINGTON
Cafe Dodici
Coffee Corner
Frontier Family Rest.
Lewbowski’s Rock n’ Bowl
Panda Palace
Taste of China
The Hair Bar
The Wooden Spoon
Bakery Outlet
Washington Public Lib.
WATERLOO
Jameson’s Public House
Lava Lounge
Newton’s Paradise Cafe
Rocket’s Bakery
Rodney’s Kitchen
SingleSpeed Brewing Co.
Waterloo Bicycle Works
Waterloo Center for the Arts
Waterloo Community Playhouse
Waterloo Public Lib.
WAUKEE
Central Standard
Home Sweet Cone
Kue’d Smokehouse
Kyle’s Bikes
Palms Theatres
Saints Pub
WEST DES MOINES
Atomic Garage
Banana Leaf
BeerStyles
Bike World
Budu/Bu
Coffee Cats
Early Bird Brunch
Eggs & Jam
Element West Hotel
Friedrichs Coffee
Hilton Garden Inn
Hurts Donuts
Hyatt Place West
Jay’s CD & Hobby
Kavanaugh Gallery
Keg Stand
La Barista
Roslin’s on Fifth
Sheraton Hotel
The Distillery @ the Foundry
The Hall @ the Foundry
The Rewind by Hilton
Townplace Suites
Val Air Ballroom
Valley Junction
Foundation
LITTLE VILLAGE
In print at least monthly since July 2001, Little Village is among the longest-running free alternative publications in the Midwest.
We distribute an average of 20,000 free copies each month at about 800 Iowa locations.
Known to support and participate in the local, brickand-mortar community at above average rates, nearly all LV readers picked up the mag while visiting their favorite food, retail, performance or other cultural venue.
LV readers are deeply invested in community.
73% are, and have 1-2 children per household on average. 98% voted in 2020, and 96% in 2022. With your help, we’ll reach 100% in 2024!
Oasis Falafel
Bread Garden Market
Burger Haul
Buzz Salon
Carousel Motors
Old Capitol Mall
Old Capitol Screen
Printers
Revive Hair Studio
Wackos
SLATER
Slater Public Library
Town & Country Markets
Waterfront Seafood
Wellman’s Pub
West Des Moines
Public Library
501(c)3 charitable contributions to Little Village support the public service mission of this magazine in three key ways:
1. ARTS JOURNALISM
Little Village artist profiles, performance previews and thousands of free online event listings each year are helping Iowa culture put its best foot forward every day. While event attendance is, of course, essential to the continued sustainable operation of our state’s most beloved venues, it is also among the most important drivers of the state’s overall economy. When it comes to nurturing quality of life and making Iowa’s communities better places to live, supporting arts and culture is a great place to start. For Iowans looking to do just that, picking up a free monthly copy of Little Village is often the first step.
2. LOCAL & STATE GOVERNMENT REPORTING
With compelling storytelling, engaging layouts, and reporting that looks beyond the 24-hour news cycle, Little Village aims to provide necessary context, fresh perspective and reliable facts to readers who stand ready to advocate for their communities and add their voice to the state’s most important conversations.
3. FREE ACCESS FOR ALL
Charitable donations to Little Village support the printing, distribution and racking costs associated with keeping this free publication readily available at over 800 locations, connecting over 30 towns and cities. Your support also helps cover the hosting and development costs of our website, providing 50,000 unique monthly visitors with fresh daily coverage and 24-hour access to an archive stretching back to 2001—always free, with no paywalls.
OUR COVERAGE FOCUS
Quality of life—Healthcare, education, affordability and accessibility. Equity & justice—Environmental, racial, gender, labor and economic. Events—Expansive listings, arts and culture previews, criticism and commentary.
HOW TO GIVE
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Little Village is an approved partner project of the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation (ANF), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to supporting news outlets that provide coverage on a local level and strive to achieve exceptional journalism. Visit altnewsfoundation.org for more information on ANF and its mission. Email lv@littlevillagemag.com with any questions about this partnership and how our charitable programs work.
Bread & Butter Gastrology
BY DAWN FRARY
If astrology is a method of divination based on the positions of stars and planets used for predicting and explaining human events, then gastrology must be a method of divining dining destinations based on cosmic culinary cravings. Read on for your hunger horoscope.
Aries (Mar 21 - Apr 19)
Oak Park, Des Moines Energetic, influential, confident and competitive, Aries is adept at arranging an experience that won’t soon be forgotten. Dining at Oak Park in Des Moines easily aligns with Aries’ aspirations, boasting a “truly original dining experience … that starts long before entrees are served.” Aries can impress dining companions with the Chef’s Table Experience, an intimate behind-the-scenes look into Oak Park’s kitchen featuring a bespoke multi-course menu and custom-selected wines. Or perhaps treating your guests (or yourself) to the $100 banana split with foie gras ice cream, champagne mousse and gold leaf is more your speed to top off what is surely an exquisite and exceptional experience, Aries-style.
Taurus (Apr 20 - May 20)
Royceann’s Soul Food, Iowa City Taurus is here to kick back and indulge in all manner of earthly delights and pleasures, and Royceann’s Soul Food is certainly a delightful pleasure. Located in Iowa City’s South District Market, Royceann’s dishes up Southern soul food classics like fried chicken, cornbread, collard greens, mac and cheese, and Royceann’s homemade banana pudding. These are not merely meals; they are memories you can taste. Rooted in tradition and community, Royceann’s Soul Food evokes strong feelings of home, family and togetherness—all things a dependable and grounded Taurus holds dear.
Gemini (May 21 - June 21)
Fancy’s Pizza, Cedar Rapids
Spontaneous and charming yet elusive and enigmatic, Gemini is difficult to pin down and always wants to keep things exciting and fresh. Fancy’s Pizza is similar, and you’ve gotta know where and when to catch them if you truly desire what they provide: a selection of inventive and decadent pizza pies. Orders are placed via message/DM and picked up at scheduled times throughout
the afternoon and evening from Fancy’s pop-up spot on Mt Vernon Road in SE Cedar Rapids. With a rotating menu each week featuring ingredients like smoked mozzarella, Iowa pepperoni, hot honey, local veggies and seasonal morel mushrooms, a pie (or several) from Fancy’s is certain to be the highlight of any gathering—just like Gemini.
Cancer (June 22 - July 22)
Crab Attack Seafood Kitchen & Bar, Marion For Cancer, the celestial crustacean of the zodiac, it’s only natural that Crab Attack Seafood Kitchen & Bar in Marion is your cosmic dining match. Not only is Cancer a water sign represented as an actual crab, but Cancer season ushers in summer and escorts us to its peak: the summer solstice, the Fourth of July, vacations and beaches and cookouts and fish fries and shrimp boils. With summertime seafood favorites like catfish and grits, shrimp po’ boys, corn on the cob and Cajun dishes like jambalaya and blackened salmon, Crab Attack serves up summer in a basket with a side of fries, sure to capture the heart of go-with-the-flow Cancer.
Leo (July 23 - Aug 22)
Panka Peruvian Restaurant, Des Moines The only thing hotter than feisty and dynamic Leo are the actual flames occasionally seen emanating from the bustling kitchen at Panka Peruvian Restaurant in Des Moines. Much like Leo themself, Panka is warm and inviting, bringing its heat in the form of bold and complex flavors sourced and spiced from Peru’s dramatic geography and rich cultural history. Confident, charismatic Leo will be drawn to Panka’s ambiance, including its mirror-lined wall. Flavorful Peruvian dishes like empanadas, ceviche, ají de gallina, arroz norteño, lomo saltado, tacu tacu and grilled octopus have enough sizzle to (briefly) distract from attention-seeking Leo’s fiery flair.
Virgo (Aug 23 - Sept 22)
Mikhael’s Restaurant, Cedar Rapids At Mikhael’s Restaurant, you know what you’re going to get. That’s a good thing for Virgo, who is drawn to what is reliable, what they can depend on, what can be trusted. A classic family restaurant standing steadfast on a corner in southwest Cedar Rapids, Mikhael’s has endured since 1983 as a beloved provider of both quality diner-style meals and
warm service from folks who feel like family. Restaurants like Mikhael’s are dependable, familiar and reassuring—all qualities any Virgo worth their salt (you know, the kind you put on hashbrowns) serves up like a plate of country-fried steak and eggs.
Libra (Sept 23 - Oct 23)
Baroncini Ristorante Italiano, Iowa City Libras luxuriate in all that is elegant, romantic and beautiful. Baroncini Ristorante Italiano in downtown Iowa City is all this and more, making it Libra’s ideal culinary fantasy-turned-reality. Beyond the beautiful, Libras are drawn to finding balance, creating harmony, and cultivating a place where everyone feels included and everayone feels at home. Homemade Italian food has a way of bringing folks together, creating a common ground for all to experience a bit of culinary luxury in the heart of downtown Iowa City. Libra can trust that Baroncini appeals to all, from the most discerning of palates to folks who simply crave a gorgeous plate of pasta.
Scorpio (Oct 24 - Nov 21)
Cafe Beaudelaire, Ames With a name like Cafe Beaudelaire one might expect to enter and find tortured poets, angsty artists, wry writers—any deep and intense Scorpio’s cup of tea. And indeed, this haunt is located directly across the street from the ISU campus and residence halls, offering sanctuary to the anguished, hungry soul, Scorpio and otherwise. This Brazilian fusion cafe feels a little bit mysterious but also inviting and alluring, offering something unusual, something different, something surprising—exactly what shadowy Scorpio craves.
Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21)
I Love FuFu, Davenport (original location in Iowa City) Independent and open-minded Sagittarius lives to explore: physically, mentally, spiritually, gastronomically. Why not let that sense of adventure guide you to the new I Love FuFu, which recently took over from the highly acclaimed kitchen of Taste of Ethiopia on Davenport’s historic riverfront? The Ethiopian staples of sambusa, stewed lentils and chickpeas, doro wot, gomen and injera are at once exotic and comforting. A lifelong learner and forever student, Sagittarius can make a day of it by indulging their unquenchable thirst for knowledge at
the Figge Art Museum, which is basically right across the street, or at the nearby Putnam Museum and Science Center.
Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 19)
Loosies, Cedar Rapids Lowkey and down-home, Loosies is the kind of place where even the most disciplined and determined Capricorn can, you know, let loose. Loosies’ casual TV-free atmosphere and chill, cabin-esque vibe is certain to draw Capricorn’s hyper-focused attention away from their to-do list and redirect it to the nostalgic menu of classic (and homemade!) Midwestern comfort foods like loose meat sandwiches, chili dogs, potato salad, malts and pie. Industrious and goal-oriented Capricorn can appreciate all the gumption that’s gone into sustaining Loosies—the restaurant, food truck and catering service—as a family-owned and -operated business since 2019.
Aquarius (Jan 20 - Feb 18)
Plated Table, Iowa City Perhaps the most innovative and individualistic sign of the zodiac, Aquarius is obsessed with what is progressive and nonconforming. Plated Table in Iowa City is all this and more, putting it in perfect alignment with what Aquarius fancies. At once a wine shop, communal dining room, catering and meal kit service, and event venue, Plated Table’s elegant space can shapeshift to accommodate all manner of affairs, from pop-up wine bars and block parties to intimate concerts and readings. With an ever-changing menu and focus on supporting local women-owned businesses and small-scale producers, Plated Table cultivates the unique experience Aquarius envisions.
Pisces (Feb 19 - Mar 20)
Crêpes De Luxe Café, Iowa City
Once upon a time there was a Moroccanborn, French-raised chef who dreamed of opening a restaurant. Lucky for us all, Hicham Chehouani’s dream came true through Crêpes De Luxe Café, Iowa City’s one and only creperie. Drawn to other visionaries, idealistic Pisces will appreciate every pinch of culinary magic and creativity that goes into Crêpes De Luxe’s menu. Each plate is a delicate and intricate work of art illustrating that every crepe, sweet or savory, is indeed prepared with both imagination and love. Pisces, allow yourself to be transported by daydream to a quaint bistro in Paris or Marrakesh with each mouthwatering bite.
Just the Two of Us
BY REBECCA GOLDSTEIN, EDITED BY BEN TAUSIG
the Mets
76. Really feeling the joint, say
77. Sticky stuff
78. “What happens when language fails” per Margaret Atwood
79. Skewers of kofta or koobideh
80. Grand Central, e.g.: Abbr.
DOWN
1. Pain in the neck, maybe
2. Cause of a rising sidewalk
3. Rikishi’s sport
4. Bar option when you’ll be there for a while
5. 1999 role for Keanu
6. WNBA quarter, briefly?
7. Org. with ergonomics standards
8. Catches a glimpse of
9. Bird that migrates in a kettle
10. Yin-yang way
11. Most expensive option on Ticketmaster, maybe
12. Wear a long face
13. World Cup chorus
14. Artist with a foundation in Barcelona
19. Phony
20. Brunch order
All Stars champion ___ Thunderfuck 5000
23. Colombian coin
24. Shaming syllable
26. Reel Big Fish genre
28. On-air figure who has all the answers?
34. Korean barbecue beef ribs
36. Spartan spirit
37. With a single voice
40. Hutchinson who ran for president in 2024 (I didn’t know, either!)
41. Desperately seeking someone?
44. Starter starter
45. Sign for someone whose birthday is March 8
47. Stark craving mad?
49. Bachelorette party band?
50. Basic shelter
55. Arizona county called the Lettuce Capital of the World
56. Achieves inner peace, in therapy-speak
59. Beverly Hills, 90210
surname
61. Animal that sank multiple yachts in 2023
62. Animal that sank no yachts, but which has a very soft mane and surely can help fight capitalism in other ways
65. Words on a polling place sticker
67. Lovesick, maybe 68. Morning moisture
69. Question in a meme about an aspirational relationship, represented three times in this puzzle
74. Holiday party refreshment
75. The Strokes wrote one to
25. Stop Telling Women to ___ (Tatyana Fazlalizadeh book)
27. Marsupial that sleeps most of the day (goals, tbh)
28. Type of artist whose studio has a glory hole
29. Emergency contact?
30. Sukkah, e.g.
31. There are 16 in 1 lb.
32. Pursue
33. Oral inserts?
34. Voids
35. Cambodia’s continent
38. The yoozh
39. Mononymous Celtic musician
42. European capital whose patron is St. Hallvard
43. “Here comes trouble!”
46. It may be bared by a deep V
48. Stocking stuff
51. Full of feelings
52. Irish atmosphere
53. POTUS advisory org.
54. Airline owned at different times by Howard Hughes and Carl Icahn
57. Major with an orgo requirement
58. State with Browns and Reds
59. Black ___, aka Natasha Romanoff
60. Be Curly brand
63. Boop a ___
64. Be a shoulder devil to, maybe
66. Piece of schoolhouse furniture
67. Degs. that can make it hard to answer “Is there a doctor on the plane?”
70. Scarfed scrapple, say
71. Muckety-muck, in Manchester
72. Molecule wrapped around histones
73. Product of a spider’s secretions
A FOODIE PARADISE
While we celebrate terrific foodie options all year round, dining locally takes center stage during Foodie February
