We had plans to go to an Italian restaurant in Iowa City for my recent birthday dinner, but those plans got way-laid with a late afternoon call that pretty much stopped us in our tracks. My wife still wanted to go, but the circumstances surrounding the trip had been put on hold and I didn't want to drive an hour over for dinner, then drive an hour back. Somewhat crestfallen, I then had to choose a local restaurant in the Quad Cities for my birthday dinner. I sort of had my heart set on Italian food, and while there are a handful of Italian restaurants in the area, they're nowhere as good as the one we were going to in Iowa City. Finally, my wife came up with an idea. "Why don't we go over and try Combine in East Moline," she suggested. "We've always said we wanted to give it a try." A quick look on-line showed that they were open that evening and I made a reservation on Open Table for a table for two at 6:30 p.m.
Combine is part of the Bass Street group whose primary restaurant is Bass Street Chop House in Moline that closed in 2020 to move to what was the old TGI Friday's location next to the Radisson Hotel in John Deere Commons. Trying to keep the atmosphere the same as at the original location, managing partner Jeffrey Harrup moved the stately dark wood bar intact from the old Bass Street space just down the street to the new location. Bass Street Chophouse reopened earlier this spring. (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on the original Bass Street Chop House.)
A little over 3 years ago, a development in East Moline called The Bend came in existence. On the grounds of what was once the International Harvester plant (later Case-IH) before it closed in 2004, developers put in a park with a bandshell, built a Hyatt House hotel, an event center, and eventually apartments and condos were built on the acreage. One side of a building that had a reception hall in it had room for a full-fledged restaurant and Jeffrey Harrup became interested in the space. Harrup saw the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of projected growth at The Bend and jumped at the chance to open a restaurant at The Bend. And he named it Combine as numerous combine harvesters were built on the site over the years. The restaurant opened in the summer of 2019.
We made our way over to Combine and got there about 20 minutes before our reservation. (see map) Actually, we didn't need a reservation as it was a weeknight and there were plenty of places to sit in the restaurant. We were taken to a four-seat table in the center of the restaurant and given a couple menus to look over. Moments later our server for the evening, Tara, came over to greet us. To start off, my wife got her usual Tito's vodka and cranberry juice (with a twist of lime), and they had Pseudo Sue from the Toppling Goliath brewery in Decorah, IA on tap. I got a pint of that.
The interior of Combine is a spacious, well-lit area with a contemporary decor. The bar area is just inside the entrance off the hallway that separates the restaurant from a banquet room across the hall.
There is an outdoor patio at Combine that was just off the main dining area. It was a small area and a little utilitarian in the choice of furniture for the patio. There was banquette seating along the wall that featured pads for your butt, but it still didn't look too comfortable.
The open dining space features an open kitchen just beyond the banquette seating along a short wall. A number of tables were in the center of the dining area with large, comfortable booths along the east wall of the restaurant. We were told that half of their four-seat tables were taken out due to COVID-19 restrictions and would probably be restored once those restrictions were lifted later this year. I thought that it was cozy enough with the tables they had in place and wondered how crowded and loud it may be with the full complement of tables back later this year.
The menu at Combine is more American-centric with a Midwestern twist. Entrees included a cold smoked/grilled salmon, a prime New York strip with Shiitake mushrooms, a duck dish that is slow-braised in a Decoy cabernet, cold smoked/fried organic chicken, and a 12-ounce premium Iowa ribeye with a parmesan-sweetcorn crust. Combine also featured sandwiches, burgers, flatbreads, a number of salads and some pretty interesting appetizers.
One of the appetizers that caught my eye were the tuna street tacos. It featured 3 won-ton taco shells stuffed with blackened sushi-grade tuna and topped with Asian cabbage slaw, pickled ginger and drizzled with a wasabi-soy aioli. I had a couple while my wife had the other one. They were fabulous. I could have easily just eaten a couple orders of the tuna street tacos for my main meal and been very happy.
After we had ordered our meals for the evening, we both got salads to start out. I got the basic Caesar's salad (shown above right) and it was fine. But my wife got what was called the Plantation salad. A number of years ago, long before I moved to the Quad Cities (I've been a resident for 30 years now), there was a restaurant by the name of the Plantation that was in an old mansion on the south side of Moline. They were known for their fine food, their Tiki-themed room, and for their Plantation salad dressing. It was a robust concoction that was sort of a sweet and spicy French/garlic dressing made with mayo and anchovy paste. Well, Combine had their own Plantation-style dressing and that's what my wife got. As we always have to do when she had any garlic dressing, I have to have a bite or two of the dressing or I can't stand to be in the same room with her later in the evening. And the dressing was fabulous - I wished I would have gotten the Plantation salad over the Caesar's, and the Caesar's was very good.
We had finished our drinks before dinner and my wife was interested in getting some wine. Tara said, "You're in luck! It's 2 for 1 glasses of wine up until 7 p.m!" (It was just past 6:30 at that point.) I asked if you could order both glasses at the same time and Tara said, "Most people DO order two at the same time!" My wife was going to get something that would go with a white wine and she ordered 2 glasses of the Pedroncelli sauvignon blanc. Tara said that since it was chilled, she would just bring one glass to the table at a time.
My wife ordered a pasta dish that they had on the menu - the Shrimp Rosé. It featured pan-seared shrimp mixed with fettuccine and a creamy Rosé sauce. Mixed in with the shrimp, pasta and sauce was chopped lemongrass, basil, heirloom tomatoes, and leafy greens. My wife declared her dish as delicious.
Since I had my heart set on Italian food figuring that's what we'd have in Iowa City, they had a dish called "All Day Bolognese" on the menu. It was a traditional Italian bolognese sauce that is slow-cooked for six hours. It's then tossed with penne pasta and shaved parmesan cheese. A couple of grilled pieces of a parsley/garlic bread came on the side. It was the ultimate Midwestern take on Italian comfort food and it was fabulous. For my 2 for 1 glasses of wine, I got the Broadside cabernet - a rich and meaty red from the Central Coast of California that I have had a time or two. The wine was a great compliment with the meaty and hearty bolognese sauce and pasta.
We considered dessert for a moment, but we were pretty full from our meals. We were talking with Tara about Combine's affiliation with Bass Street Chop House and wondered when that place would be reopening. "Oh, we're open now," she said. "I work at Bass Street during the day for the lunch shift, then I come over here to work evenings." She told us that they did their best in trying to replicate the atmosphere from the original Bass Street Chop House, and many of the menu items carried over to the new location. We told her that we were going to definitely check it out. We asked if they were open on Sundays as we like to go out for burgers and bloody mary's on some Sundays. "Since we're attached to the Radisson, we are contractually obligated to be open 363 days a year," she told us. "So, yeah! Come on over some Sunday!"
While it was disappointing to me that we couldn't go to an Italian restaurant in Iowa City as we had planned for my birthday dinner, I completely forgot all about it after my meal at Combine in East Moline. The bolognese/penne pasta dish that I had was excellent and worthy of any Italian restaurant I've been to. My wife was very happy with her pan-seared shrimp and fettuccine in a creamy Rosé sauce. The won-ton shell tuna street tacos were a great start to the meal, as were our salads including my wife's salad with Combine's take on the original Plantation salad dressing that was so famous years ago in the Quad Cities. Tara was a great server - outgoing, friendly, and had a great sense of humor. And it was tough to beat the 2 for 1 glasses of wine that we took full advantage of while we were there that evening. We had been wanting to try Combine for awhile now and it turned out to be even better than we hoped.
Glad you got to try it! It's turned into one of my favorites. Good food, good service. Nice people. Not far from our home, either.
Posted by: Steph's Mom | June 28, 2021 at 09:24 AM