I've been sort of intrigued by these Hy-Vee Market Grille locations that have been popping up around the Upper Midwest over the last few years. It's kind of an interesting concept - having a sit-down restaurant in a grocery store. OK - it makes sense. They can get the freshest ingredients from their meat and produce department. But they also have a full bar with craft beers and specialty cocktails. Now, I don't think of Hy-Vee as being a place where I'd go for dinner or to hang out for a beer or three. But I'd heard that they had a very good burger at the Hy-Vee Market Grille. And no matter how many times I'd suggested to my wife that we needed to go out to the Hy-Vee at 53rd and Utica Ridge on the northeast side of Davenport to try one of their burgers, she was less than enthusiastic with my proposal. Finally, one weekday when I was home, I decided to head out there to try one of their burgers. Without my wife.
If you live in the states of Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota, you're very familiar with Hy-Vee grocery stores. They are the largest grocery store chain in the Midwest with nearly 250 locations employing over 85,000 people with a combined annual sales total of over $10 billion. The genesis of Hy-Vee began in the small town of Beaconsfield, IA in 1930 by Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg, two men who owned a handful of small dry goods outlets in southern Iowa and northern Missouri. The two combined over a dozen individually owned stores after the Great Depression into Supply Store locations with the town's name preceding the Supply Store title.
In 1952, the company changed its name to Hy-Vee - a combination of the Hyde and Vredenburg names - and started a gradual expansion of both stores and services. By the late 60's, under the leadership of co-founder David Vredenburg's son Dwight, Hy-Vee had grown to nearly 70 locations in Iowa and southern Minnesota. But the company's serious growth spurt happened under President/CEO/Chairman of the Board Ron Pearson. Pearson oversaw the operations of the grocery chain as they had expanded into more states and became the second largest employee-owned company in the U.S. Stores of over 70,000 square feet became the standard footprint of new Hy-Vee stores just before and after the turn of the century.
Hy-Vee has expanded their brand into gas stations, health and nutrition products, clothing boutiques, on-line grocery shopping, and partnering with actor/entertainer Mark Wahlberg on a line of sports nutrition products, as well as working with Wahlberg's brothers Donnie and Paul in franchising over two dozen Wahlburger locations in the Upper Midwest. And just last year, Hy-Vee opened the first Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh convenience store not far from where I live in Davenport, IA. Fast & Fresh offers many "ready-to-eat" meals-on-the-go including made to order wood-fired pizza, sushi, a craft beer station, full liquor and beer store, and a Starbucks on premises. Unlike the main Hy-Vee grocery stores that are open 24 hours, 7 days a week, the Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh stores are open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. (Look for an upcoming Road Tips blog post on the wood-fired pizza from Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh.)
About 8 years ago, current Hy-Vee CEO Randy Edeker spearheaded an effort to bring full service restaurants to select Hy-Vee stores in the chain. These would be sit-down establishments serving a variety of breakfast, lunch and dinner entrees, sandwiches, burgers and appetizers featuring craft beers, mixed drinks and a Sunday brunch spread that rivaled many other brunch places in certain cities. The first Hy-Vee Market Grille opened in 2012 and it was met with a lot of skepticism from people. Many of the locations floundered for the first couple three years they were open and in 2017 Hy-Vee scaled back a number of the Market Grille locations into Market Grille Express concepts with an reduced menu and counter-ordering only. Today, there are nearly 50 Market Grille locations and another 75 Market Grille Express locations.
My wife and I have also been a little leery of the Market Grille restaurants that we would see around the Quad Cities. But a little over a year ago a friend told me that the Market Grille up on 53rd Ave. and Utica Ridge Road in northeast Davenport had pretty good food - including a great burger. As I said earlier, I wanted to go try the burger there, but each time I suggested it to my wife, she wasn't too thrilled with the idea. That's how I ended up going alone to the Market Grille location inside Davenport Hy-Vee #4 one afternoon for lunch. (see map)
Walking into the Market Grille, I lingered up front by the bar area for a moment as I was waiting for someone to come to the hostess stand. With a number of flat screen televisions hanging all over the place, it sort of looked somewhat like an upscale sports bar. The space was well lit with natural light coming in from the wall of windows along the south side of the room.
I greeted by a young lady who showed me to a booth back in the corner of the restaurant. It was a spacious area with a combination of booths and tables, as well as banquette seating in the center of the Market Grille.
I was given a menu and it wasn't long before my server, a pleasant young lady by the name of Bethanie, came over to greet me. I got a light beer that was on tap - she asked me if I wanted a 16 or a 25 ounce beer. I got the 16 ounce beer because I needed to get back to my home office and do some work later in the afternoon.
Even though I was there for the burger that day, I have to say that I was somewhat surprised at the food options available at the Market Grille. They had pasta dishes including chicken parm and a chicken & asparagus carbonara, sushi rolls, Asian/Thai dishes, seafood items such as grilled salmon and blackened shrimp tacos (the Baja fish tacos really caught my eye - I may have to go back and try those some day), as well as steaks and pork chops. Sandwiches such as a reuben, a classic club sandwich, a spicy Buffalo chicken sandwich, and a gourmet BLT were also available. A number of interesting appetizers including pepperoni pinwheels, and bacon/jalapeno won-tons, as well as flatbreads and a selection of salads rounded out the menu.
They had seven or eight burgers on the menu including a California burger topped with guacamole, bacon and a sriracha honey sauce, a mac & cheese burger, a gourmet three-cheese patty melt, and a peanut butter burger (uh, no thanks). For my first trip in to try a burger at the Market Grille, I went with their regular cheeseburger. Six different types of cheese are available and I got the smoked gouda on mine. I also asked Bethanie to put some bacon and some sautéed mushrooms on the burger.
The burgers at the Market Grille are all cooked to order and my medium burger came out with a nice pink tint in the middle. It was served on a toasted bun with a side of fries. One thing that I noticed is that the only condiment they offered was a small metal container of ketchup. (I suppose I could have asked for mustard or more ketchup if I wanted. But I was happy with the burger the way it was.
And the burger was... good. Actually, it was surprisingly good. In fact, it was astonishingly very good. It was a multiple napkin burger because of the combination of juiciness and the toppings on the burger. The smoked gouda oozed off the patty with nearly each bite, the bacon was thick cut and a delicious added flavor to the burger, and the sautéed mushrooms were fresh and earthy. The bun even held together very well with all that was going on with the burger.
The fries were more of an afterthought for me, but I thought they were pretty good. Except they were too salty for my taste. I only had a few of the fries because I was concentrating on finishing the burger. Which I did.
I have to say that any misconceptions or misgivings I had about eating at a Hy-Vee Market Grille sort of went away after this visit. The burger was surprisingly very good, the restaurant, itself, was bright, clean, and comfortable, and I was more than happy with the cheerful and friendly service I received. And there were some other interesting items I found on the menu that makes me want to go back and try at some point. But what I really have to do is convince my wife that the burger is actually THAT good at the Hy-Vee Market Grille so she'll go there with me.
A Hy-Vee opened near me a year ago or so. I like their food. It is always consistent. The one near me carries a lot of local beer. The Sunday buffet also includes all of the foods outside the restaurant where you would purchase ready made, ready to eat foods such as sushi, Chinese, pizza, etc...
Posted by: S | April 12, 2019 at 10:40 AM