In Davenport, there's a very good Farmers Market on Saturday mornings from May thru October. We go there about every weekend - early enough to beat the crowds (and the large dogs) that fill up the aisles in the parking lot at Modern Woodmen Park. One of the longtime vendors at the Farmers Market was Nostalgia Farms, an organic farm run by partners Joe Dennis and Ed Kraklio. However, when a chance for Kraklio and Dennis to run a restaurant inside the nearby Freight House building came up, they decided to open a little deli - Fresh Deli (by Nostalgia Farms) - and stop selling at the Farmers Market. We've eaten at Fresh Deli a number of times since they opened in the Spring of 2012, and on a recent Sunday afternoon we went down to have a sandwich at Fresh Deli.
When Ed Kraklio and Joe Dennis (pictured at right - photo courtesy Radish Magazine) met over 20 years ago, they found that they shared an interest in organically-raised, locally-grown foods. They ended up setting up their farm near Maysville, IA as a sustainable farm, long before the sustainable movement really got any traction. The two provided a handful of restaurants in the area with produce, but most of their business was done in the summertime at the Davenport Farmers Market. My wife was a regular at their stand getting veggies such as broccoli, tomatoes and peppers, and a lettuce mix they had for salads. Dennis and Kraklio were outgoing and engaging with their customers at their stand, and also educated people on this obscure leafy substance called kale long before kale was a trendy thing to eat (or use in blended vegetable drinks.)
Kraklio and Dennis also were known for their poultry farm - they raised chickens and turkeys, and they also raised duck and geese, as well. My wife loved to get their farm fresh eggs from their stand at the Davenport Farmers Market. However, after the two opened the little restaurant, they decided to give up their poultry operation and closed it down in 2014 after the last turkey was sold for Thanksgiving. A little over a year later, the two sold their farm west of Davenport to concentrate solely on the restaurant.
Fresh Deli is located in the Freight House that is next to LeClaire Park in downtown Davenport. (see map) There's a large parking lot just off Ripley Street at River Drive that's in front of Fresh Deli. The Freight House also features the indoor Farmers Market that is open year round, the Quad Cities Food Hub - a non-profit entity that features locally grown and locally made items, and the Front Street Brewery Tap Room. A deck in front of the businesses at the Freight House that overlooks LeClaire Park and the Mississippi River beyond is a busy place during the warmer months with the popular bike path just on the other side of the parking lot.
The deck was nearly full of people when we got to Fresh Deli around 1 p.m. that particular Sunday. We decided to eat indoors this time. The dining area at Fresh Deli isn't large, but it will easily accommodate 35 to 40 people. It's also very well lit with the full front glass windows across the front of the restaurant. The same "Now Open - Fresh Deli" sign that has been there since they opened five years ago still hangs above the front door to the establishment.
It's counter service at Fresh Deli which features breakfast, lunch and dinner. The menu is on the wall above the counter and they have smaller folded menu's in a holder near the cash register. A board of daily specials is also located on the floor near the cash register. Many of the foods can be made gluten-free and they have a number of vegetarian and vegan options on the menu.
Fresh Deli also has draft beer from local breweries and they feature a limited bar including Bloody Mary's - one of the few places in the Quad Cities where you can get a Bloody Mary on a Sunday morning at 8 a.m. I ended up getting one of their very good Bloody Mary's - I think it's made with clamato juice, but I'm not certain. The basic Bloody Mary is what I ordered - you can also get a couple three different levels of loaded Bloody Mary's with different things added to the olives, pickle spear and celery - including shrimp and bacon - that you can get other the basic one. And I like a cold beer chaser to go along with my Bloody Mary's. I ended up getting a Mississippi Blonde from the Bent River Brewing Company in downtown Moline.
I had been hankering for a tuna melt sandwich and the Fresh Deli has a good one. It's albacore tuna salad topped with American cheese and fresh tomato slices and served on grilled sour dough bread. It's pretty tough to screw up a tuna melt sandwich, but for some reason I really like the one they serve at Fresh Deli. (As we were leaving that day, we passed a couple who was discussing their lunch out on the deck. He was rather dismissive of his sandwich - the tuna melt. He felt it didn't have much flavor. I beg to differ, but I didn't tell him so.)
My wife went with something that she had thought about getting in the past, but had never ordered - one of Fresh Deli's flat breads with pesto, mozzarella and fresh sliced tomatoes. She got a small bowl of mixed chopped vegetables to go with the flat bread. She loved the taste of the combination of the fresh pesto, fresh tomatoes and the fresh mozzarella cheese on the house-baked flat bread. It wasn't large, but it was more than enough for her to satiate her appetite.
Fresh Deli is nothing fancy, but their food is always fresh and consistent. It's tough to beat their reasonable prices on their food items, and its one of the very few places in the Quad Cities to be able to get a Bloody Mary at 8 a.m. on a weekend morning. Fresh Deli is a popular place for breakfast and lunch, and if you're down the way enjoying an afternoon or evening beer at the Front Street Tap Room, you can order up some appetizers from Fresh Deli to enjoy while you're seated on the expansive patio out front. While I'm not quite as dismissive of their food as that other patron was, I know what I'm going to get each time I go into Fresh Deli - good and fresh food at a fair price.
LOL! That picture of Joe and Ed has to be from 20 years ago!
Posted by: Dawn | August 02, 2017 at 09:36 AM