traveling west across Wisconsin to Iowa

[mr. furley]

already planning to stop at Forager in Rochester MN but that won't be until mid-afternoon, after lunch.  we'll be stopping before that to eat lunch somewhere in the middle of the state.

any suggestions for lunch along this route:  https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Green+Bay,+Wisconsin/West+Okoboji+Lake/@44.0462149,-91.3753265,8z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x8802e2e809b380f3:0x6370045214dcf571!2m2!1d-88.019826!2d44.519159!1m5!1m1!1s0x878cb66c5e8e0e4f:0x8dc5c56afef3950c!2m2!1d-95.1588464!2d43.3820675!3e0

[JJ]

I heard there's a good greasy spoon place along that route. It's the one with a semi and two tractors in the parking lot, a sign mentioning "Supper", mangy old dog in front, dusty parking "lot", broken windows with flickering neon Blatz signs, located across from a bar matching the exact same description and a cornfield.

Keep your eyes open for it. If you reach the place without a dog you went too far.

[emerge]

That Polish deli that Bison mentioned is along that route, "J B Sales" in Necedah.

Trempealeau is a cool little town with a nice little restaurant in the 100 year old hotel there. They invented the walnut burger recipe, if you still have a little vegetarian. Lunch menu. Outdoor area for the kids. Adds 20 min to the route though.

[mr. furley]

That Polish deli that Bison mentioned is along that route, "J B Sales" in Necedah.

Trempealeau is a cool little town with a nice little restaurant in the 100 year old hotel there. They invented the walnut burger recipe, if you still have a little vegetarian. Lunch menu. Outdoor area for the kids. Adds 20 min to the route though.

i may or may not be banned from Trempealeau 

[flyingbison]

Culver's?

[emerge]

That Polish deli that Bison mentioned is along that route, "J B Sales" in Necedah.

Trempealeau is a cool little town with a nice little restaurant in the 100 year old hotel there. They invented the walnut burger recipe, if you still have a little vegetarian. Lunch menu. Outdoor area for the kids. Adds 20 min to the route though.

i may or may not be banned from Trempealeau 

did you swipe their town mascot or something?
or just banned from route detours?

[mr. furley]

well, there was an incident at a park with some friends

that's actually the same night a bird hit me dead in the face at about 5 AM

[emerge]

well, there was an incident at a park with some friends

that's actually the same night a bird hit me dead in the face at about 5 AM

oof 

[mr. furley]

glad that's over

actually a fun time but that's a lot of window time for 6 & 8 year olds and a wife who gets car sick.

we did stop in Necedah and ate at Little Crane Cafe & popped in to J B Deli.  what a strange and awesome find. two guys were sitting in the tiny dining area, chatting in Polish, eating goulash.

picked up some beers, a wedding sausage and hit the road.

we stopped a bunch of places along the way and saw a lot of new, cool shit.  without the kids we probably power through and miss 90% of it. definitely inspired more road trips.

[emerge]

glad that's over

actually a fun time but that's a lot of window time for 6 & 8 year olds and a wife who gets car sick.

we did stop in Necedah and ate at Little Crane Cafe & popped in to J B Deli.  what a strange and awesome find. two guys were sitting in the tiny dining area, chatting in Polish, eating goulash.

picked up some beers, a wedding sausage and hit the road.

we stopped a bunch of places along the way and saw a lot of new, cool shit.  without the kids we probably power through and miss 90% of it. definitely inspired more road trips.

[emerge]

glad that's over

actually a fun time but that's a lot of window time for 6 & 8 year olds and a wife who gets car sick.

we did stop in Necedah and ate at Little Crane Cafe & popped in to J B Deli.  what a strange and awesome find. two guys were sitting in the tiny dining area, chatting in Polish, eating goulash.

picked up some beers, a wedding sausage and hit the road.

we stopped a bunch of places along the way and saw a lot of new, cool shit.  without the kids we probably power through and miss 90% of it. definitely inspired more road trips.

This is pretty awesome. Probably don't see that in WI much outside of Milwaukee, right?
How's the Wedzona sausage?

[mr. furley]

glad that's over

actually a fun time but that's a lot of window time for 6 & 8 year olds and a wife who gets car sick.

we did stop in Necedah and ate at Little Crane Cafe & popped in to J B Deli.  what a strange and awesome find. two guys were sitting in the tiny dining area, chatting in Polish, eating goulash.

picked up some beers, a wedding sausage and hit the road.

we stopped a bunch of places along the way and saw a lot of new, cool shit.  without the kids we probably power through and miss 90% of it. definitely inspired more road trips.

This is pretty awesome. Probably don't see that in WI much outside of Milwaukee, right?
How's the Wedzona sausage?

up here there are quite a few Poles but i can't think of a dedicated Polish market or bar. seems to be a dying thing.

[emerge]

glad that's over

actually a fun time but that's a lot of window time for 6 & 8 year olds and a wife who gets car sick.

we did stop in Necedah and ate at Little Crane Cafe & popped in to J B Deli.  what a strange and awesome find. two guys were sitting in the tiny dining area, chatting in Polish, eating goulash.

picked up some beers, a wedding sausage and hit the road.

we stopped a bunch of places along the way and saw a lot of new, cool shit.  without the kids we probably power through and miss 90% of it. definitely inspired more road trips.

This is pretty awesome. Probably don't see that in WI much outside of Milwaukee, right?
How's the Wedzona sausage?

up here there are quite a few Poles but i can't think of a dedicated Polish market or bar. seems to be a dying thing.

Yeah, sadly true. There are a ton here, but also the largest Polish population outside of Warsaw. They like their delis, and so do I.

[emerge]

Anything good in Iowa?
Already picked up some TG Galaxy DDH Sue... may stop at John's in IC later.
In DSM...515 is closed today, Barn Town was pretty solid though.

[mr. furley]

not that i found anyways. we dropped in & exited from southern Minnesota to a town not far from the Iowa border. so, didn't see much of the state (thankfully).

[emerge]

Ah, well that's ok. We went to Decorah earlier in the year. Looking at making a stop at Green Tree and Bierstube in Le Claire. Wanted to hit "Cellar Peanut" in Pella/Oskaloosa but they dont open til 1pm. Big Grove opened a new location in Iowa City, their beers were very solid at the og location in Solon. Menu looks pretty ambitious too.

[emerge]

Bierstube was meh. They were trying to pass off a brat as "Swedish potato sausage".
Green Tree had one very solid beer, Ceiling Zero a NE IPA. 6 other average to bad ones, I was done.
Nice to see the fall colors on the Mississippi River though

[OHLRangers]

My thoughts on Iowa, based on a couple trips around.

1- Cool fossil gorge outside Iowa City
b- Cedar Rapids smelled bad.
III- Corn. Lots of corn.

[Tip Top]

Did you visit Ted?

[emerge]

Did you visit Ted?

Nope, just family in KC. Last time we took the Iowa backroads it got real Amish real fast.

[emerge]

Ah, well that's ok. We went to Decorah earlier in the year. Looking at making a stop at Green Tree and Bierstube in Le Claire. Wanted to hit "Cellar Peanut" in Pella/Oskaloosa but they dont open til 1pm. Big Grove opened a new location in Iowa City, their beers were very solid at the og location in Solon. Menu looks pretty ambitious too.

Update: Alluvial was great, Big Grove Iowa City was good, 515 DSM was just ok. Seemed like they didn’t get their hop contracts this year or something. Barn Town was good, EIEIO was a tasty BLT interpretation with their killer “bacon steak”. Beers were hit or miss this time.

[emerge]

Ah, well that's ok. We went to Decorah earlier in the year. Looking at making a stop at Green Tree and Bierstube in Le Claire. Wanted to hit "Cellar Peanut" in Pella/Oskaloosa but they dont open til 1pm. Big Grove opened a new location in Iowa City, their beers were very solid at the og location in Solon. Menu looks pretty ambitious too.

Update: Alluvial was great, Big Grove Iowa City was good, 515 DSM was just ok. Seemed like they didn’t get their hop contracts this year or something. Barn Town was good, EIEIO was a tasty BLT interpretation with their killer “bacon steak”. Beers were hit or miss this time.

2019 edition: stopped at Cellar Peanut in Newton, just east of Des Moines. Cool beer bar in the old Maytag factory complex. Gezellig Brewing was a few doors down, but not open yet. Tried a flight of their beers at the bar instead, all solid stuff. Lager and hazy IPA stood out.

[thickfreakness]

A friend of mine is about to have a client in Davenport Iowa that he’ll have to go to pretty often. Any recommendations?

[emerge]

A friend of mine is about to have a client in Davenport Iowa that he’ll have to go to pretty often. Any recommendations?

Endless Brews, Wake Brewing, Big Mouth BBQ

Here’s the long version

[emerge]

Note to self, don’t stop in Keokuk again All the good hotels were booked up in the area, so we were stuck at a questionable one. Stank of mildew and all the appliances had been physically assaulted. Local brewpub was sorta iffy, it was in an old Wendy’s. They had a good Helles though. It was a backwater town, everything was kinda lousy. They also sit around revving trucks all night in the Walmart parking lot (ask me how I know).

Driving up the Mississippi on the Great River Road was cool though, some nice little turnouts that looked out on the river. Also stopped at Illinois’ oldest winery in Nauvoo.

[emerge]

This is the Iowa thread I guess.

Found this checklist and marked off all the breweries i've been to (red √) or tried (yellow highlight). Been to 17, tried 21. Probably more since places that have closed aren't on the list.

[mr. furley]

dang, you really get around   

[emerge]

dang, you really get around   

You should see my Illinois list