Road Tips

Brew in the Village - Davenport, IA

The Village of East Davenport is not far from where my wife and I live and we find ourselves down there quite a bit - going to the cleaners, picking up bird feed, having a meal at one of the restaurants, or hanging out having a cold one at one of the bars.  One place that has turned into one of our favorite spots is a small restaurant/bar by the name of Brew in the Village.  It's quietly turned into one of the more popular places to have breakfast on the weekends - mainly because they start serving Bloody Mary's on Saturday and Sunday mornings before 11 a.m., one of the few places that do that in the Quad Cities.  

The entity of Brew has been around since 2011, but the building that houses the little bistro dates back to around 1860 toward the beginning of the city of Davenport's existence.  The building was built as a blacksmith shop on one side and a hotel/saloon on the other side.  In the early 1900's, a gentleman by the name of Frank Boyler bought the blacksmith shop and changed the name to Boyler's Blacksmith Shop.  But Frank did a lot more than make horseshoes.  He eventually expanded the building to the north to put in a horse wagon and buggy shop where each one was handmade.  Boyler lived in the old rooming house upstairs and the basement of the building was a notorious speakeasy during Prohibition.  When cars began to become popular and people weren't needing horseshoes or buggies, Frank put in a gas pump with a holding tank beside the building and put a lift in the old wagon shop making it the first full service gas station in Davenport.  On top of all this, the colorful Frank Boyler was also the mayor for the Village of East Davenport for over 20 years.  

Frank Boyler passed away in 1949 and the business passed along to his son, Richard.  With all the blacksmithing equipment in place and the lack of need for a service station since a number of free standing gas stations had been built around Davenport over the years, Richard decided that he'd turn the business into a fabricated metal shop and eventually renamed it Boyler's Ornamental Iron.  Richard grew the business so well over the first few years that it had to expand into the old service garage next door.  By 1975, he had to move the whole business to a facility on State Street in Bettendorf.  

Richard Boyler used the original location in the East Village as a display showroom for a number of years after moving the bulk of the operations to Bettendorf.  Boyler's sons - Mike, Bruce and Doug - took over the business when Richard retired in 1983 and continue to run Boyler's Ornamental Iron today along with the help from their respective children making it 4 generations of Boyler's in the business.  The Boyler family still owns the original East Village building with a large "Frank W. Boyler" painted on the brick facade and they lease out the spot in which Brew is located, as well as Pete Peterson's Wild Bird Shop (where we get our feed for our bird feeders) and a hairdressing shop where the old service garage was located.  The former Boots country bar (it was called Bootleggers up to about year and a half ago before permanently closing earlier this year) was located on the west side of the building and there are still apartments on the upper floor of the building.  

I don't quite remember exactly when there started to be a bar/restaurant in the spot.  I remember seeing the Boyler truck there quite a bit moving things out of their showroom starting about 10 years ago.  The space eventually became a small coffee shop by the name of Brew that eventually expanded into being a wine bar with a convection oven to make pizza.  Quite actually, their pizza was very good, and my wife and I would get one of their pizzas to take home from time to time.  

The gentleman who owned the coffee shop and small bar in the East Village was also the general manager at another restaurant in the Davenport area called Pepperjacks.   But both Brew and Pepperjacks abruptly closed in late December of 2013 when he moved his family out of state.  We were sort of crestfallen as Brew was a great place to grab a coffee or espresso on weekend mornings.  The building stood empty for awhile before Bill Sheeder happened to walk by the place with one of the Boyler's standing out front one morning a few months after the original Brew closed down.  

Sheeder was the owner of a commercial cleaning company, but his partner, Stephanie Sellers, was running a small bakery out in LeClaire by the name of The Sweet Life.  We first got to know her when she was selling her gourmet cupcakes at the Freight House Farmer's Market in downtown Davenport a few years ago.  They had talked about running their own little bistro-style restaurant that specialized in craft beers and Sheeder saw an opportunity in the old Brew location.  Virtually everything was in place for Sheeder and Sellers to take over the spot, and by that evening they had signed the lease to reopen Brew.  And they did so in early 2014.  

There's no room for a full kitchen at Brew and Sheeder and Sellers felt constricted with what they could do with a menu at the restaurant.  They immediately got rid of the convection oven for the pizza, and they de-emphasized the coffee offerings to the point that the "Brew" in the name quickly became more associated with beer than coffee.  But Sheeder had his eyes on another building a couple blocks to the west that he could gut and shape into a restaurant/brew pub of his own design.  

Sheeder and Sellers bought that building in 2015 and ended up selling Brew to nearby neighborhood residents Tim and Jennifer Chen.  Tim Chen was the International Business Development Manager for HON Industries in Muscatine at the time while Jennifer ran The Plaid Rabbit, a small stationary/gift store in the East Village.  After gutting their new building and renovating it into a brewpub/restaurant/bakery/live music venue, Sheeder and Sellers opened Baked Beer and Bread Company in 2016.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Baked.)  

Since Tim Chen was traveling quite a bit overseas and Jennifer was deeply involved with The Plaid Rabbit, the Chen's turned to a neighborhood friend, Tracy Cameron, who had a background working as a bar manager at some more upscale restaurants around the Quad Cities area.  (My wife and I first met Tracy and her husband, Ed, when we moved into our house nearly 17 years ago as they lived just down the street from us for a couple of years before moving to the McClellan Heights neighborhood just up the hill to the east of the East Village.)  Tracy had stepped back from the restaurant business for awhile to focus on raising her two boys and was happy not to worry about the day-to-day operations associated with being a bar manager.  When Tim Chen approached her to manage Brew for them, she initially turned them down.  But the Chen's eventually got Tracy to agree to run the place for them and she continues to run Brew in the Village today.  

Brew in the Village is located at the corner of Jersey Ridge and 11th St. in the East Village.  (see map)  We got there early enough on this particular Sunday morning that we were able to park in front of the place on the street.  (Brew opens at 8 a.m. on the weekends and 11 a.m. throughout the week.)  There's a small patio area in front of the place that's popular for al fresco dining on warm days.  A small smoker where they make their own bacon out of pork belly sits in the corner of the patio.  Some days when I'm driving by or stopping by the bird shop, the smell of the smoking bacon can be somewhat intoxicating.  

It was sort of cool, but partly cloudy the day we were there that Sunday and we decided to sit inside the restaurant.   It's a cozy space with a long bar and a long, narrow space filled with high-top tables.  One of the regular servers at Brew, Jessica, came over to greet us and drop off menus for us to look over.  She clearly recognized us from earlier visits.  Not long after we sat down, Tracy Cameron came in to drop off some supplies and she stopped at our table for a "getting-caught-up" chat with us.    

In the corner of the restaurant next to the bar, there's a display of former items that were made at Frank Boyler's original blacksmith shop.  Horseshoes, harnesses and blacksmithing tools hang from the exposed brick walls in the corner at Brew.  On the menu is a small history of Frank Boyler and his business that was once in the same spot over 100 years before.  

One of the first things that I had to get was one of their Bloody Mary's.  I always like getting a beer to go along with my Bloody Mary's - even at 8:30 in the morning.  They have a number of Quad City-area and Iowa craft beers on their menu and I ended up getting a Raygun IPA from the Backpocket Brewing Company over in Coralville.  They load up the Bloody Mary at Brew by putting a pickle spear and green olives on a spear with a strip of their wonderful house-made bacon.  One of my neighbors and I have been known to stealthily roll down the hill to Brew from time to time on Saturday or Sunday mornings to have a quick Bloody Mary and a beer.  Or two.  

On the weekends, they have bottomless mimosas available until 2 p.m. for $14.95.  My wife likes a mimosa from time to time, but she isn't one to sit there for a long spell drinking them down.  They will just charge you for one mimosa at a time if you like and that's exactly what my wife ordered from Jessica. 

As I said, there's really not a lot of room for a kitchen at Brew in the Village, so their menu is pretty limited.  They don't have a fryer or a grill top, so if you're looking for a burger and fries, Brew ain't the place.  But they do have sandwiches, flatbreads and salads available.  Appetizers such as a charcuterie board of cured meats and local cheese, stuffed mushrooms, and red pepper hummus served with fresh vegetables or crostini bread for dipping are also available.  

I have to tell you, though - I've never been there for anything but breakfast since the Chen's and Tracy Cameron have been running the place.  My wife has met friends there for wine and appetizers in the evenings, but I've only been there for breakfast.  And their breakfast items are rather unique.  Once again, you won't find omelets, French Toast or pancakes on the menu.  But they do have breakfast sandwiches - big enough that my wife and I can usually split one - breakfast tacos, and biscuits and gravy.  On the weekends, they also bring in a waffle iron and make their variation of a cinnamon roll waffle that's served with cinnamon butter and a cream cheese icing.  

What my wife and I usually get, however, is one of the Brew breakfast bowls - a concoction of scrambled eggs and a varied choice of cheese, vegetables and meat to add into it.  They call this the Hulk Smash and it's served with a biscuit and honey on the side.  This morning we got the bowl with smoked gouda cheese (that appeared to be cheddar, but the chef at the bar swore to us when we asked about it that it was, indeed, gouda), spinach, ham, and avocado chunks.  Also on the weekend, Brew serves Tracy's wonderful cheesy potatoes.  We'd been trying to eat smart in the previous weeks, but the oven-baked cheesy potatoes are too good to pass up at Brew.   And we usually get a side of bacon with our breakfast, but for some reason I didn't order any on this visit.  

My wife and I usually split the breakfast bowl at Brew passing it on between us to nibble on for a bit before passing it back.  The cheesy potatoes - well, that's a free for all.  We try to position them where we both can reach them with a fork.  There's more than enough food in the breakfast bowl for us to easily split one.  And when you add in the cheese breakfast potatoes, we usually don't have to eat lunch that day.  

Brew in the Village isn't the restaurant you're looking for if you're thinking about getting a burger, some fried appetizers, or an omelet.  But for the space they have to work with, their small kitchen area behind the bar is efficient enough to offer a number of interesting items for breakfast and sandwiches.  They have a number of craft beers available, as well as wines and mixed drinks.  Their Bloody Mary's that they serve are usually spot-hitters for me on Saturday or Sunday mornings.  It's a quaint little space housed in a building that dates back to pre-Civil War days.  Brew in the Village is one of the best out-in-the-open hidden secrets in the Quad Cities.     

Flannigan's - Coralville, IA

I have some old friends from my time at the University of Iowa that I get together with to grab a burger or sandwich, drink some beer, talk sports and man-gossip, as well as trying to solve all the world's problems over a two hour period three or four times a year.  We've been doing this for years and we had been meeting at a number of different places in the greater Iowa City/Coralville area.  But about three or four years ago, we settled in for our quad-annual gatherings at Flannigan's in Coralville, IA.  One of my friends said, "You know, you should write this place up on your blog."  And he was right.  Flannigan's did deserve a write-up in Road Tips.  

Flannigan's is the bar area for the venerable Iowa River Power Company located next to the Iowa River at the corner of First Avenue and 5th Street in Coralville.  (see map)  Housed in a building that dates back to the turn of the 20th century, the Iowa River Power Company was exactly that for a number of years.  The original dam and building were built in the mid-1840's as a grist mill.  For over 50 years, the mill churned out flour until a fateful day in 1899 when an explosion killed three workers and demolished the building.  The dam was still intact and local officials looked at using the site as a new hydroelectric power plant.  The building was quickly rebuilt and it began to power parts of Iowa City by 1902.   

The power plant was closed in 1968, but the dam remained - and does so to this day.   The building stood empty for about eight years before three local businessmen - Allan Johnson, David Koenig, and Gary Huysman bought the building and surrounding land in 1976.  They renovated the building into a restaurant concept with a great view of the Iowa River and opened the doors in October of 1977.  It quickly became the top restaurant in the Iowa City/Coralville area.  (Although some people may argue that The Lark in nearby Tiffin was the best in the area when it was still in business.)  

In 1988, Huysman and another partner, John Fisher, bought out the financial interests in the restaurant from Johnson and Koenig.  They did a renovation to the restaurant and added on to the main dining room.  By 1996, Fisher had left and Huysman had become the sole owner running the restaurant until declining health forced him to sell the place in 2002.  A young couple by the name of David and Danise Petsel who were running a restaurant in the Quad Cities bought the restaurant and implemented a few changes - including eventually turning the old lounge area into Flannigan's, an Irish-themed bar that, to me, doesn't really seem much like an Irish bar, but more like an upscale sports bar.

The lounge at the Iowa River Power Company was well-known as a haunt for many of the more high profile people in the Iowa City area during my years at the University of Iowa in the early-to-mid 80's.  I'll admit that poured back a few beers in the lounge a few times when I was going to Iowa when I didn't feel like "slumming" in some of my preferred drinking holes such as the Deadwood, Mumm's or The Vine.  It was probably the most classy bar in Iowa City in its hey-day.   

These days, it's sort of more homey than classy in Flannigan's.  After entering the main entrance to the building, you go down a hallway lined with a curious mix of portraits of famous people - like Abraham Lincoln, Clark Gable and Gene Kelly - hung on barn board walls to the inside entrance of Flannigan's.

The restaurant, itself, is big and open with a nice bar area, a step-up level along the walls with booths, and a step-up level in the back with low-top tables.  A D.J. booth is set up in the corner of the back area, but I'm not certain they have any dance music playing there any longer.  As I said, there isn't much of an indication that it's an Irish bar other than the name as there are a number of televisions throughout the place tuned to sporting events.  

Service is always prompt, but very laid back at Flannigan's.  After we got our menus, we ordered up a round of beers.  They have the usual domestic beers on tap as well as a smattering of imports and craft beers available.  The servers that we've had over the years - both young men or women - have always been easy-going in their demeanor and are more than amenable to changing something or adding something to the food orders.  

Most of the food on the menu consists of your standard bar fare - a long list of appetizers including fried pickle spears, chicken wings, jalapeño poppers, and a spinach-artichoke dip with chips are the first things you'll find on the menu.  Sandwiches, burgers, wraps and salads are also a main part of the menu items.  Entrees such as pasta dishes, a top sirloin steak, and a grilled tuna fillet with balsamic vinegar are also on the menu.  But for a more upscale menu, you'll need to go next door to the Power Company.  

The first time that I ate at Flannigan's, I had their Flanburger - a half-pound open flame grilled burger that starts at $8.95 for a basic burger.  From there, you can add cheese, bacon, sautéed mushrooms, fried onions, or a fried egg for an upcharge.  Fries, chips or a baked potato come at no charge as a side, but I always get the onion rings, also for an upcharge.     

Quite honestly, the only thing I've ever ordered at Flannigan's over the past few visits over the last four or five years has been the Flanburger.   It also comes with lettuce, a tomato slice, dill pickles and sliced red onions that are all very fresh.  The bun is light and airy, but stays together very well with everything going on the burger.  It's definitely a multi-napkin burger.  

We all pretty much get the same thing on our visits - the Flanburger.   Oh, maybe once in a while someone in our group has ordered a reuben or a pork tenderloin sandwich, but I honestly can't pinpoint when that would have been. The Flanburger at Flannigan's is thick and flavorful with the Swiss cheese I usually get oozing off the top of the patty with each bite.  The beef is so good with that chargrilled flavor that all the toppings and condiments don't overpower the beef flavor.  

And I like their onion rings at Flannigan's, too.  They have a rich and thick coating over wide-cut onion rings that just seem to melt in your mouth.  They're some of the better onion rings I've come across in my travels.  

There's a lot of good burger joints in the Iowa City/Coralville area, but I'll have to say that - by far - the most underrated of them all is Flannigan's.  I'd put their Flanburger up against all comers in town, I think it's just that good.  But there's other things about Flannigan's that keep us coming back - the good, but laid-back service; the cozy and homey feeling of the place; the good beer selection; and a pretty varied menu that I've never strayed from my choice of their burger on each of my visits.  I always look forward to our group getting together 3 or 4 times a year at Flannigan's, not only for the camaraderie, but for the great Flanburger and onion rings they have.

Sports Page Bar and Grill - Bloomington, MN

I have a buddy who travels to Minneapolis a few times a year and he was telling me of a sports bar in Bloomington that he liked to go to when he was there.  He said it was a good mix of locals and travelers, and he always felt welcome at the place.  I was in Bloomington earlier this year and I wanted to watch some of the NCAA men's basketball tournament one night and I took his advice and went to the Sports Page Bar and Grill.  

Located in a strip mall on S. Lyndale Ave. at W. 90th St. in Bloomington, The Sports Page has been around for over 35 years.  (see map)  It's one of those neighborhood places where families and friends have been heading to for burgers, sandwiches, pizza and appetizers. It's a place that's hosted parties - both celebration, work and sports watch parties - and has weekly trivia contests and karaoke every Thursday night.  (Note to self - stay out of the place after 9 p.m. on Thursdays.)  

But it was a Thursday evening when I was there.  I had just gotten back from St. Cloud and wanted to go to the Sports Page to watch some basketball.  When I got there just before 6 p.m., the place was packed.  But it turned out that there are two parts to The Sports Page.  I had walked into a small bar area.  It was a nice little room with a full bar and a number of high top tables.  It was packed and there was no place to sit in there.

I just happened to look toward the back of the bar area and saw a couple of glass doors that appeared to go into another room.  This area was much larger with some booths and low-top tables.  There was a small bar in the back and this room was also packed.  There were a lot of people who appeared to be socializing, while there were some tables that were filled with families with younger kids.  It turns out that it was opening day for the Minnesota Twins that day and a few of the people were in there after going the game.

I was lucky enough to snag a booth along the wall from a couple guys who were getting up to leave.  I sat there for a few moments waiting for one of the servers to at least acknowledge me.  It was well past 6 p.m. by now and the first of two NCAA basketball games had started, but most of the TV's were still on the local Fox Sports North channel from the earlier Twins game that was showing some fishing show instead of NCAA basketball.  

Finally, a lady server whizzed by me and said, "I'll be right with you, hon!"  The beer list was on the table and I was studying it when she finally came back.  She said her name was Chantelle as she dropped off a food menu and asked me what I wanted to drink.  They had the Surly Furious IPA on tap and I signed up for one of those.

It's mainly bar food at The Sports Page with appetizers, sandwiches, burgers, and wraps on the menu.  As I said earlier, they also had 10" pizzas on the menu and it appeared that they were probably pre-made as they only offered cheese, pepperoni, sausage, or a sausage and pepperoni combo.  They also had soups and salads available for lighter fare.  

Most of the sandwiches on the menu were pretty uninspiring - about the most exotic sandwich on the menu was a club sandwich - so, I focused on the burgers.  And it's not to say that the burgers were any works of art, either.  It was basically a choice between a single patty or double patty, and from there you could get cheese on the burger (American, Swiss, or Pepperjack).  They had bacon, mushrooms and jalapeños available on the burgers as well.

I figured out what I was going to get, but Chantelle was busy.  She was hurrying back and forth from the kitchen to tables and back again.  By this time, they still hadn't turned on any basketball and I was getting a little annoyed that a sports bar wouldn't have the focus to figure out that they're missing out on a huge viewing opportunity for their patrons.  But then I noticed later on when they finally did get the first game on some of the TV's that I was probably the only one that was interested in watching the games.  As I said, most of the people were socializing.  I thought to myself, "This is most un-sports sports bar I've ever been to."  And it took forever, it seemed, for them to realize that a second NCAA basketball game was underway at the same time before they finally changed the channel on another group of televisions.  

Chantelle finally did show up and I ordered up a double Swiss cheese, mushroom and bacon burger.  It came with a side of crispy fries and was served open faced with a light spongy bun.  The burger patties were flat grilled and it was hot and juicy when she brought it out to me.  

They didn't skimp on the toppings on the burger.  The Swiss cheese was thick and gooey on top of the burger patties.  The mushrooms appeared to be canned, but they were lightly sautéed in butter, and two thick pieces of bacon criss-crossed across the top of the burger.  The bun, as I said, was light and airy, but it held together rather well considering how messy this burger was.  It was a multi-napkin burger.   It wasn't anything fancy, but it was still a pretty fine burger.  

The fries were classic bar-food fries - skinny, crisp and flaky on the inside.  The double Swiss cheese burger with the sautéed mushrooms and bacon was more than a meal in itself.  But I did have a couple handfuls of fries and they were good.  

For what it was, I thought The Sports Page Bar & Grill was OK.  It's nothing fancy, it's more of a neighborhood hangout joint that just happens to have a lot of televisions on the walls, but they don't seem to emphasize the watching of sporting events probably other than the local teams.  My server was hurried and seemed to be overworked as the place was packed, but I wasn't in much of a hurry to leave as I stayed around to watch both basketball games that were on.  And as time went on, the place had pretty much emptied out by 7:30 p.m.  I don't know if The Sports Page would be my first choice to go watch a game that I wanted to see, but the burger was pretty good and that might bring me back in at some point.   

Big's BBQ Brew Pub - Mount Vernon, IA

My wife and I were visiting her father who was having an extended stay in a Cedar Rapids area hospital one Sunday.  After being with him for awhile, we decided to take off and head east toward the small town of Lowden where her son lives to visit him.  We took Mount Vernon Road out of Cedar Rapids - basically the old Highway 30 that was in use as the main east-west road through the city until the bypass around the southern part of Cedar Rapids opened nearly 40 years ago - over toward Mount Vernon.  We were getting sort of hungry when we got to Mount Vernon and I seemed to remember a place that was a barbecue joint there, but it didn't show up on my GPS.  We did a quick search on my wife's phone and it came up - Big's BBQ & Brew Pub.  Oh!  A brewpub, as well?  I said, "Jackpot!"  We found Big's BBQ & Brew Pub and went in to check it out.

Phil Smith grew up in the heart of Texas barbecue country.  After eating barbecue for years, he ended up in culinary school to learn every nuance of cooking, including making good barbecue.  Eventually moving to Iowa, Smith worked at a number of restaurants in Eastern Iowa.  He became friendly with a local brewer by the name of Aaron Gerbo and the two connected on a common culinary/craft brewing level.  Smith always wanted to have his own barbecue place and Gerbo was a seasoned craft brewer.  The two decided to join forces for a combination barbecue/brewpub.  

Searching for places in and around Cedar Rapids, the two found an old house in Mount Vernon just north of the downtown main drag to and from Cornell College.  They found a house that was originally built in 1890 and was used as a dental practice by the man who built it.  Years later, the main floor of the house was the home of a deli.  Two brothers whose father ran the deli now owned the house and they were approached by Smith and Gerbo about an opportunity to put a restaurant back on the main floor.  The brothers liked the idea of a brewpub/barbecue joint as it reminded them of their father's deli.  They gave Smith and Gerbo the go-ahead and the two set about turning the main floor into a restaurant.  By May of 2017, Smith was offering barbecue to go as the building was in the midst of renovations.  Within three months, the brewery was up and going, and they were offering sit-down barbecue to patrons.  

It was just after 1 p.m. when we pulled up to the front of Big's BBQ & Brew Pub at the corner of 2nd Ave. NW and 2nd St. NW.  (see map)  The stately old residence was pretty hard to miss, especially with a large "Big's" banner out front.  Upon entering the building, we found a small dining area that sat - maybe - 20 people.  The room was bright with the outdoor natural light shining in the windows.  A small kitchen area was in the back of the main floor of the house.  

The cozy little dining area had a small television hung on the wall, and a mantle over a closed-up fireplace displayed a number of decorative beer steins.  My wife and I took a seat at a table next to the window and a young lady brought us out a couple of menus for us to look over.  

In the front room that looks out to the street was a small bar area.  The three-sided wooden bar sat nine people and the room had some motorcycle memorabilia on the walls.  The bar area was also bright from the natural light coming in the three large windows.  

The beer menus for Big's were on chalkboards just as you walk into the dining room and on the wall in the bar area.  The nanobrewery operation was housed in the basement of the old house.  (Curiously, I looked around the outside of the house as we left and I didn't see a smoker.)  They had an Irish Stout on tap, as well a Russian double imperial stout.  They had two barrel-aged beers - a bock and another stout - and they had a Mexican Vienna lager on tap that sort of interested me.  Big's also has their own cider on tap, as well as a house-made root beer.

They had a kolsch on special that day - the Katfish Kolsch - with pints costing just $2.00.  After I took my first drink, I sort of figured out why it was on special.  It was pretty flat.  I ended up drinking it, but for my second beer I switched to the Double Barrel IPA that my wife had originally ordered.  It was a much better beer than their kolsch.  

It was standard barbecue fare at Big's BBQ & Brew Pub - baby-back ribs, pulled pork, smoked chicken, pork sausage, and a brisket platter that they have on the menu over most weekends.  With the majority of barbecue places that I'm trying for the first time, I wanted to have a combo plate.  I ended up getting the pulled pork and the burnt ends.  

The pulled pork was moist, juicy, very tender and very flavorful.  The burnt ends were also moist and tender with a nice bark on some of the pieces.  I thought the barbecue offerings I had were both very good.  

I can't say that about the sides, however.  I got the baked beans and the cole slaw.  Both were pedestrian, at best.  The cole slaw was pretty bland in taste, while the baked beans really lacked any pizzazz in their flavor.  But the smoked meats were outstanding and the portions were generous so I didn't feel cheated by having such bland sides.  

My wife ended up getting a combo of her own - the baby-back ribs with burnt ends.   The ribs were thick and meaty with a bit of a peppery rub that gave them a little zip in flavor.  They meat pulled away from the bone effortlessly and it was very tender and not overcooked.  My wife liked the ribs immensely.  She also liked the burnt ends very much, too.  My wife commented that she wasn't certain that she could eat all the barbecue on her platter and that's how I ended up getting one of the baby-back ribs to try.  

She got the cole slaw and the collard greens for her sides.  She, too, wasn't too enamored with the cole slaw, but she said she liked the collard greens.  She offered me a bite of the greens and I thought they were a little too sour in taste for me.  I remarked that some vinegar added to the greens might have helped them for me.  

They had a couple barbecue sauces available - the sauce they originally served in a small container reminded me of Cookies BBQ sauce with maybe some vinegar and mustard added.  It was good, but it wasn't as good as the raspberry sriracha sauce I asked for from our young waitress.  That barbecue sauce was simply outstanding.  It had a biting spicy taste at first, but the raspberry helped smooth out the spiciness on the back side.  I could have had a pint of that just to drink, I thought it was so good.  

For the most part, we really enjoyed our visit to Big's BBQ & Brew Pub.  We both thought the smoked meats we had were delicious and very generous in their portion size.  The sides were bland, but my wife did think the collared greens were good enough.  The kolsch beer that I first ordered was flat (I surmised that's why it was on special that day for $2.00 a pint), but the Double Barrel IPA that I got after that was a very tasty beer.  Our service was fine, the place was cozy, but the overall bill (a little over $50 before tip) was a bit of a shocker.  Still, Big's BBQ & Brew Pub was a great little find and a nice place to take a road trip to.

Cellar Peanut Pub - Newton, IA

My wife and I were heading back to the Quad Cities from a night in Des Moines last March and I wanted to stop somewhere to watch the Iowa/Tennessee men's NCAA tournament basketball game.  My niece who lives in Newton was telling us about a place that is owned by friends of hers that was part of the old Maytag Plant One complex in downtown Newton.  The place sounded so interesting and I'd heard other good things about the place from friends back in Newton that I wanted to stop in to watch the game.  This post is about our visit to the Cellar Peanut Pub.  

Marty Duffy grew up in New Jersey and ended up moving to Iowa at the age of 15.  His father owned a bar and Duffy helped his father out in his business.  Going to school at William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Duffy hung out with his football playing buddies at a place called the Cellar Peanut Pub.  He was studying to be a physical education teacher and a coach, but when the opportunity for Duffy to take over the bar came about in 2002, he chucked college and bought the bar.  His bar-owning father thought he was absolutely nuts.  But Duffy loved the bar business so much that he jumped in with both feet and never looked back.  

It was at the Cellar Peanut Pub where he met his future wife, Betsy, who was going to school at William Penn.  The two eventually married in 2007 and continued to run the Cellar Peanut Pub that they eventually moved to the old Rock Island Depot in Oskaloosa.  Duffy was a craft beer enthusiast and he turned the little bar into a craft beer destination featuring an ever growing list of beers from Iowa microbreweries.  But Duffy also became famous for his Bloody Mary's that garnered him a number of regional and national recognitions.    

The Duffy's opened a second location in Pella, IA in March of 2016.  Now, this sort of shocked me as growing up around the Newton/Pella area, Pella was known as a "tea-totaling" town, even with Central College the most prominent feature of the area.  I understand that there was still some push-back from local officials that the Duffy's had to deal with to open the Pella location.  But they were able to grow their business and their efforts were rewarded as the Thrillist web site named the Pella Cellar Peanut Pub as the best small town bar in Iowa in 2018.  

In late 2017, the Duffy's lost their lease on the old depot in Oskaloosa and were forced to close down.  The couple then set their sights on Newton and the spaces that were being developed in the former Maytag administration building.  

The Maytag company was sold to Whirlpool in 2006 and the administration building and manufacturing facilities in Newton were soon closed leaving many who didn't transfer to other Whirlpool facilities out of work.  It was a tough time for Newton for awhile as population dropped, businesses closed up, and school enrollment dwindled.  However, the Des Moines Area Community College was looking to expand their campus in Newton and they took over a large amount of the former Plant 1 building in downtown Newton.  In 2016, the owners of the former administration building donated the property to DMACC and the college set about with plans to develop the area that was soon renamed Legacy Plaza.  

Officials with the city of Newton worked to find businesses that would be interested in taking up space in Legacy Plaza and they came upon the Duffy's who were getting a fantastic following of craft beer lovers around Central Iowa.  A large space on the west end of the building was open and the Duffy's decided to turn that into their new location.  In October of last year, the Duffy's opened the Newton location of the Cellar Peanut Pub.  

Quite actually, I wasn't exactly certain where the place was.  All the years I lived in Newton, I really didn't go to Maytag all that much.  I sort of navigated around the parking lot north of the old administration building where my uncle parked when he was the office manager at Maytag years ago and into a smaller parking lot next to the Cellar Peanut Pub. (see map)  We were the only car in the parking lot at 11 a.m. on a Sunday and we weren't even certain if they were open. We walked up to the door, gave it a tug and it opened.  It was empty inside, save for a single young lady behind the bar.  I asked, "Are you guys open?"  She replied with a cheery, "We sure are!  Come on in!"  

The decor in the Peanut Pub is could be described as early 20th century industrial.  The exposed brick walls were a prominent feature of the main bar area with large windows letting in natural light.  There was a small beer garden outside behind the bar area, but it was too cold to be sitting outside that day.  Heavy duty wooden tables with metal industrial-style chairs were all around the bar area.  Incandescent Edison lights were strung from the rafters throughout the place.  Baskets of unshelled whole peanuts were prevalent on nearly every table and on the bar top.   

We ended up sitting at the bar on the not-so-comfortable metal stools.  We talked with Mindy - the young lady who greeted us as we walked in - who said that she was a teacher during the week, but helped out at the bar on the weekends.  Each beertender - as they're called at the Cellar Peanut Pub - must undergo a thorough training through the Cicerone Certification Program before they can become a certified beer server.  The certification program features a 60 question test that focuses on proper pouring techniques, fundamental cleanliness of the bar area, and being able to talk with the customer about different beer styles and tastes.  

I asked Mindy if they had food as they had a couple menus on the bar from a couple of restaurants in the Newton area.  She said, "No, but we've worked out a delivery deal with Giovanni's for pizza and with Moo's Barbecue." (Giovanni's is the pizza I grew up with and I haven't been in there in years, while Moo's Barbecue had a downtown Newton location until about 3 years ago before moving to a larger building out by Interstate 80).  "But people bring in their own food all the time," Mindy said.  "Sometimes people will bring in crockpots and set them up on the table and have kind of a party buffet going."  

Most of the beers, ciders and sours on tap were from small breweries around the state of Iowa.  Local breweries such as Exile in Des Moines, Firetrucker in Ankeny, Big Grove in Solon, Peace Tree in Knoxville, and Backpocket Brewing Co. in Coralville were represented.  They also had beers on tap from the New Holland brewery up in Holland, MI, the Church Street brewery in Itasca, IL, and they had the Victory at Sea imperial porter from one of my all-time favorite breweries, Ballast Point in San Diego.  And as a nod to the Maytag family, they also had Anchor Steam on tap.  The great-grandson of Maytag founder Fred Maytag - Fritz Maytag - resurrected the Anchor Brewing Company in the 1960's and is widely regarded as the first craft brewer in the United States. 

As I said earlier, I knew that Cellar Peanut Pub was also somewhat famous for their Bloody Mary's.  They've twice been named as having the Best Bloody Mary in Iowa and have garnered awards at the New York Wine & Food Festival.  I asked Mindy if she could make me one and she said that would be no problem.  We also ordered a couple beers to go along with it.  She asked, "Are you guys wearing sweat pants?"  Well, no, we weren't, but we inquired as to why she would ask.  "Sweat pants Sunday," she replied.  "People who come in here wearing sweat pants on Sunday get a discount.  But you guys are first-timers, so I'll go ahead and give you the discount."  

As Mindy made my Bloody Mary, I took a look in the back part of the building.  I was amazed at how big the space was at the Cellar Peanut Pub - about 7000 square feet.  The back room featured games including pinball and bags boards, and had a somewhat homey, yet unfinished look to the room.  

By the time I got back to the bar area, my Bloody Mary was up next to my beer.  I had ordered a Drugstore Cowboy pale ale from the Franklin Street Brewing Company in Manchester, IA (the birth place of my wife).  It was a hoppy New England pale ale that had just enough of a citrus back taste to cut into the hoppy-ness without having an over-powering fruity flavor.  My wife got the Tank Puncher IPA from the ReUnion Brewery in Coralville - a place I've been meaning to try at some point.    

I was remarking to my wife about how big this place was.  Mindy told us that they have bands play in the back room from time to time.  "Duke Tumatoe was here just last night," she told us.  I was amazed that Duke Tumatoe would play in Newton and was sort of upset that I didn't get a chance to see him at the Peanut Pub.  That would have been a fun show to see.   

The Bloody Mary lived up to its billing.  They use a homemade tomato juice mix for their base, then load it with vodka, veggies and fruits.  It was a very rich Bloody Mary mix and it was somewhat filling.  I thought about getting a second one, but I didn't think I could finish it.  And my wife is usually only good for one or two sips from a Bloody Mary.  

As we were enjoying our beers and watching the basketball game on TV, Marty Duffy and another guy came in and went behind the bar.  Marty came over to talk with us and I introduced myself and told him that he and his wife knew my niece.  Well, it turns out that my niece is very good friends with the Duffy's.  After all the pleasantries were exchanged, I complemented him on his place.  "We've had a good run, so far," he said. He said that there were some locals who love Budweiser and Miller Lite who will never come in.  "And that's fine," Duffy said to us.  "There's plenty of other bars around town that can cater to that.  I'm just trying to expose people to the better beers out there."  (I've since been told by one of my local friends that they now have Schlitz on tap.)

The other guy behind the bar with Duffy turned out to be Grant Heuer, the head brewer at the Gezellig Brewing Company (pronounced "hezellig") that Duffy's wife Betsy was opening up just down the plaza from the Peanut Pub.  "We've been down there working to get it going," Duffy told us.  "We hope to be open by this spring."  (They officially opened for business on June 7.)

We had a couple more beers as more people came into the place on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  My niece even made an appearance and she hung out with us for a few moments before taking us down to the Gezellig Brewing Company across the plaza from the Peanut Pub to look into the window to see the work going on at the nanobrewery.    

I have to say that my wife and I both loved every aspect of the Cellar Peanut Pub.  What they've done with the repurposing of the Maytag facilities that have been closed for years is a pretty amazing thing.  Great beer selection, great Bloody Mary, great space - the Cellar Peanut Pub just gave me another reason to go back to my hometown more than I have over the past few years.