La Chiesa in downtown Spencer, Iowa is a new Italian restaurant in an old Episcopal church, so you can eat pasta and pizza in a former sanctuary, complete with stained glass windows, arched wood beams and a big cross. So says Family Living, an Iowa Farm Bureau publication (that, full disclosure, my husband edits.) The fare is Italian country – more roasted pork with handmade fettucini and”Pork Belly and Apples Two Ways” than “That’s a spicy meatball.” No hot dogs that I know of. (Just threw that in to test my theory that people are more inclined to read blog posts that mention hotdogs…)
Category Archives: Iowa
Coming in from the cold at The Cheese Shop in Des Moines
The Cheese Shop is such a nice addition to my local neighborhood strip mall – The Shops of Roosevelt in Des Moines. I finally visited yesterday after driving by it’s fogged-up glass windows for days, vaguely seeing people gathered at tables and around the cheese counter. Struck me as a particularly warm place to come in from the cold – and so it is.
I sat at the wooden bar (salvaged from a local architectural salvage shop) by the cheese counter with a friend, sipping a small glass of amber-colored cider (the kind with alcohol) and nibbling on a plate of artisanal cheeses, including a delicious Vermont cheddar (although not the delicious Vermont cheddar we ate in Grafton, Vt. when we were there in September), hearty bread from La Mie (a few doors down in the center) and fancy olive oil.
Yes the cheese is pricey (some are $27 a pound) and next time I will try to sit at one of the three or four tables rather than the counter (better for carrying on a private conversation) but this place is a keeper. I hope it continues to find customers and does well.
Good also to see The Shops filling in after a period when several businesses left. Never good to have empty store fronts. And there’s a fun mix at the moment that sort of reminds me of an old town square with the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. You can visit “The Cheese Shop,” “The Soap Shop” and “The Juice Company.” (Reminds me of Tucson’s fondness for one-syllable, to-the-point shop names like “Sauce,” a pizza place, which is next to “Frost,” an ice cream shop.) Plus you can get baked goods/a meal (at La Mie), a haircut, upscale second-hand clothes, one-of-a-kind handmade jewelry, not to mention do a little yoga and, if need be, get some body-cracking from a chiropractor.
Fun Fact according to the DMRegister: One of the cheese shop owners is the son of the guy who opened the original Timbuktuu Coffee Shop in the same strip (where La Mie is now.)
Filed under Des Moines
Gourmet hot dogs – from Chicago to Des Moines
About a year ago, I found myself in a long line of people stretching down the block from a small brick building that is home to Chicago’s renowned (apparently) hot dog haven…Hot Doug’s (aka “the Encased Meats Emporium and Sausage Superstore.”) After waiting about 20 minutes on a chilly afternoon and hearing that the wait might be over an hour longer, we left and went to a very good Cuban restaurant nearby.
I’m hoping the wait won’t be as long but the dogs will be as good at Capital Pub & Hot Dog Co., just south of the East Village in Des Moines. From the outside, the place looks like an old roadhouse that matches its gritty industrial neighborhood that is slowly slowly gentrifying. The pub – located in a 19th century building originally built for Irish immigrants working on the railroad, the Des Moines Register reports – is selling 100 percent beef dogs (also turkey and vegan dogs) in 13 guises. They’re thick (maybe like my favorite dogs – kosher hot dogs?) – and cooked to order (whatever that means with a hot dog – surely people don’t eat “medium rare dogs”).
One favorite is the Chicago Dog (natch), which sports yellow stuff (mustard, onion), diced tomato sweet relish, sport peppers, pickles and celery. The Mobayashi dog sounds way weird – tempura battered and fried, dressed with spicy mayo, cream cheese, cucumber and, of course, wasabi. I may have to go for the non-hot dog sandwich – the Southside Link, made from locally-made (Graziano’s) Italian sausage with giardiniera pepper relish (which I first ate at a street fair in Chicago, yum) and cheeses.
Filed under Chicago, Des Moines, Uncategorized
Pilgrimage to new FLWright hotspot in Mason City
Just back from a tour of the Historic Park Inn Hotel in Mason City, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Fantastic$18 million renovation of the 101 year old hotel and bank buildings (now a lovely hotel with 27 rooms.) And the FLWright aficionados have discovered the place – both tours offered today were full of people, some almost as knowledgeable as the docents giving the tours. Next time, I’ll have to book a room and stay for the night. Also found a good place to eat – new spot about two blocks west of the hotel call Chop with very affordable salads, sandwiches, egg dishes served in stylish room with FLWright overtones (same ochre colored, scallop patterned plaster walls etc.)/ Lovely day.
Did I mention this is the only hotel designed by FLW that remains? (I think there’s a hotel in Oklahoma that’s in a FLWright building but it wasn’t originally designed as a hotel. Must doublecheck that.)
Filed under architecture, Iowa
One coffee with a raw egg please? At Susie’s Kitchen in Stanton Iowa!
I waited with baited breath the other day to hear which Iowa cafe the foodies Jane and Michael Stern (of roadfood.com fame) would recommend after hearing a plug for their segment on the NPR show The Splendid Table. And the winner is….Susie’s Kitchen in the southwestern Iowa town of Stanton, famous for all things Swedish including apparently Swedish coffee made with a raw egg. I went there years ago – and of course remember the distinctive water tower shaped like a Swedish coffee pot (there’s also a coffee or tea cup water tower now, I gather.)
Apparently this isn’t fancy-schmancy barrista coffee – this is a more watery, lighter Iowa cafe coffee that townies spend hours drinking (sometimes using their own cup hung in the cafe), and the secret, we’re told, is that Suzy (0r whomever) mixes ground coffee with a raw egg and then boils it “to clarify the brew”… (see http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/listings/111015/ to hear the Sterns’ description.)
Doesn’t really make me want to jump in a car and drive two hours from DM to Stanton but Susie’s pie does, especially her Fruit of the Forest pie, described by the Sterns as: “a multi-fruit extravaganza of apple, rhubarb, strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry heaped into a golden, lard-rich crust that is light, flaky, and flavorful.” Susie’s is at 404 Broad Ave (712) 829-2947
By the by, Stanton is also the home of the actress (Virginia Kraft) who played Mrs. Olson in ye old Folger’s coffee TV commercials. During my visit years ago in late April, I found myself walking around the small town with a strolling group of men singing in Swedish and stopping at neighbors homes to drink…what else…coffee. It’s the town’s Swedish tradition of welcoming May by singing “Skona Maj” or “Beautiful May.”
Here’s water tower photos!
Filed under Iowa
now for a little self-promotion…hot off the press: The New York Times, 36 Hours: 150 Weekends
A New Yorker cartoon recently summed up the typical contents of a blog that it’s: 1/3 how to sew, knit, cook, whatever, 1/3 kvetching of one variety or another and 1/3 self-promotion. Or some such.
With this blog, I’ve tried not to do much of any of that. But hey, what’s wrong with a little self- promotion – especially when, sadly, I won’t earn anything else from the re-publication of two of my stories for the NYTimes in an upcoming 774- page coffee table travel book.
So be on the look out for The New York Times, 36 hours: 150 weekends in the USA and Canada which should be available in November I’m told and includes my stories on Oak Park (Illinois) and on Iowa’s Coast (yes, coast – along the Mississippi). They’ve been updated since they ran several years ago – but not entirely by me.
Here’s some promo material:
The 740-page book includes the Times’ top 150 travel destinations, from cities and towns to natural wonders across America. Practical recommendations for the over 600 restaurants and 450 hotels is inside with color-coded tabs and ribbons to bookmark favorite cities in each region. Nearly 1,000 photos, most of them from The New York Times archive made it in, making it small enough to throw in your suitcase but big enough to enjoy from your favorite reading chair. The new illustrations by Times illustrator Olimpia Zagnoli of Milan, Italy look fantastic, and includes easy-to-reference indexes and detailed city-by-city maps,. This will be TASCHEN America’s top title of the year.
The New York Times, 36 Hours: 150 Weekends in the USA & Canada
Hardcover, 16.8 x 24 cm (6.6 x 9.4 in.), 744 pages
EUR 29.99 | USD 39.99 | GBP 24.99 | JPY 5900.00
The best of the USA & Canada: The highly acclaimed New York Times travel feature finally available in one updated volume
Daring to ride a bicycle on Iowa’s county roads – Chichaqua Trail east of Des Moines
You can get very spoiled riding bikes on Iowa’s trails – no cars to worry about except at infrequent intersections with usually pokey gravel roads. But yesterday – in part because one of our favorite trails, the (unpronounceable) 20-mile Chichaqua Valley Trail from Bondurant to Baxter, east of Des Moines, is partially closed – we decided to try riding on a few county roads paralleling the trail.
It helped that the roads we were (S52 and F24) were chosen by the Iowa Bike Coalition as good – and included as part of a recommended loop on their new biking map that I recently picked up for $2.50 at a bike shop in Des Moines. On a gorgeous fall Sunday, the two-lane roads were mostly quiet – but every once in awhile a car or truck would come up from behind and scare the be-Jesus out of us. My husband was particularly worried about combines and grain trucks – since it’s harvest time.
The roads were very hilly – so a challenge to ride from that standpoint too – with visibility limited. When I could banish my fear of approaching cars, riding the country roads was fun – you get a really different feel for the countryside than on the trails where you are more insulated and your view more restricted. You’re riding in the middle of the corn field rather than on the edge of it, if that makes sense.
Anyway, by the time we got to the small town of Mingo on county roads we were very ready to return to the safety of a trail – and we gladly hopped on the Chichaqua Trail, riding south to Valeria, where the trail was closed thru to Bondurant, due to damage caused by flooding last year. We had the trail from Valeria to Baxter (via Mingo and Ira) almost to ourselves – about a 10 mile stretch – because, I’m guessing, 1) people think the trail is completely closed and 2) the High Trestle Trail has become so popular that it’s siphoning off riders on the the Chichaqua Trail.
The weather was a balmy 75 degrees or so and the trees and light were in their autumnal glory – we rode through tunnels of trees changing color, our tires crunching on fallen leaves, the sun making shadows that dappled the path, gliding past fields of browning corn and golding soybeans, past the occasional combine harvesting away or tractor in the distance making hay bales. Iowa in its glory.
Filed under bike trails, Iowa
Collegebound road trip
We’re off to the University of Iowa tomorrow to move my daughter into the dorm and with any luck we’ll fit all her stuff in the car AND be able to see somewhat out of the rear view mirror…
Rick Perry, lamb kebobs, dairy barn ice cream et al at the Iowa State Fair
If you want to see new presidential candidate Rick Perry up close and personal, a good opportunity awaits at the Iowa State Fair today where he will be speaking at 11:15 or so at the Des Moines Register’s “soapbox” at the Iowa State Fair. The fair was blissfully free of Republican presidential candidates last night but packed with people thanks to the recent arrival of perfect summer weather – low 80s, a light breeze, flawless blue skies. Annual fairgoers are used to much hotter muggier weather – so this nice stuff was a real treat.
I’d also recommend the lamb kebob, one of several lamb entrees offered at the Iowa Sheep Industry Association’s stand, located in a relatively out-of-the-way spot amidst the livestock barns (east of the sheep barn, across the street from the always popular Big Boar who this year was a 1,700-plus pound boar named Tiny). The pork producers outpost is much closer to the action – near the midway and along the grand concourse – and much busier than the lamb folks’ operation. But I found the pork chop rather dry and unflavorful, especially compared to the juicy well-spiced lamb. As always, a chocolate ice cream cone at the Dairy Barn was the perfect treat. And I gladly skipped the newest entry to the fried food on a stick category – fried butter on a stick.
One other tip – hitch a free ride on one of the tractor-drawn open-air shuttle wagons that winds through the fair. It’s very handy when your legs are suddenly getting worn out from so much walking and a good way to people watch as the shuttle moves slowly around the fairgrounds.
Filed under Iowa, Uncategorized
A visit to the Swamp Fox in Knoxville, Iowa
After touring a reconstructed prairie in 100 degree heat (which was lovely except for some very irritating little flies with a nasty bite), we stopped by the Peace Tree Brewery in nearby Knoxville, which is in an airy old brown brick building, and then ate burgers around the corner at the Swamp Fox, in the town’s cultural center (which were guessing was once an old meeting hall.) Darned good patty melt! We passed a good looking ice cream stand on the way west out of town but were too full to partake. Peace Tree is open officially for samples on Thursday and Friday late afternoon and eves and on the weekends. We’ll have to return sometime.
Filed under DINING, Iowa, Uncategorized
TakeBetsywithyou 