Road Tips

Twisted Tail - Beebeetown, IA

Since 2010, the Iowa Beef Industry Council has sponsored the Best Burger in Iowa contest.  Bars and restaurants across the state vie for the annual crown through a initial voting system (re: creative ballot box stuffing) and then the top 10 vote getters are visited by a panel of judges who determine which place has the best burger in Iowa for that year.  Over the years, I've been to all of the places who were named as having the best burger in the state, save for 2019 winner Wood Iron Grille in Oskaloosa and this past year's winner, Bambino's in the small town of Ossian near Decorah.  (Click here to see the previous Road Tips entries on the Best Burgers in Iowa.)  The 2020 winner is located just about 25 miles north and east of Omaha, and on a recent trip out there I stopped into the Twisted Tail in Beebeetown, IA to give their award winning burger a try.  

Now, if you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you know that I like to think of myself as somewhat of a burger connoisseur.  I have over 300 entries in my Burger Joints category alone, so I think I have a pretty good grasp of what makes a good burger.  And I have to say that a couple three of the Best Burger in Iowa contest winners I've tried over the years were, well, not very good.  And some that were winners, well, I thought they were good, but not what I would call an excellent burger.  So I always went to a place who had been named as having the Best Burger in Iowa with a bit of skepticism.

And that's how I was when I pulled up to the rustic Twisted Tail which is located about a mile north of Interstate 880 - which connects I-80 and I-29 in extreme western Iowa - in the unincorporated village of Beebeetown.  (see map)  The place wasn't all that fancy from the outside and the small lot in front was packed with a combination of SUV's and pickup trucks.  I actually had to park down the street a bit from the Twisted Tail before I made my way into the place.  It was good that it was a popular lunch spot.  

The Twisted Tail has been around since 2011.  Local real estate broker/auctioneer Ed Spencer and his wife Ruth bought the building and resurrected the old steakhouse that had been on that corner for a number of years before.  Two of their children - Luke Spencer and Hannah Spencer-Johnsen - manage the restaurant for the family.  On weekends when the place gets really crowded for the Friday night ribs or the Saturday night smoked prime rib, you'll see Ed and Ruth's grandchildren bussing tables and sweeping the floors.  

Over the years, Ed and Ruth Spencer have accumulated a number of antiques rifles and historical pictures of the surrounding area.  Many of those antiques and pictures were on display on the knotty-pine walls of the restaurant.  Hardwood floors and a tin ceiling gave the Twisted Tail sort of a hollow-sounding feel, but with the waning lunch crowd it wasn't all that loud in there.  

I ended up seated at the small bar toward the front of the long and narrow restaurant.  I took a seat and the bartender that day just happened to be Hannah Spencer-Johnsen.  She seemed to be distracted and somewhat agitated.  She greeted me curtly and offered me a menu to look over and walked back into the kitchen.  I just figured she must have been having a rough day.  

She came back moments later and asked if I wanted anything to drink.  I saw that they had a number of beers on tap including craft beers.  They had the Toppling Goliath Psuedo Sue out of Decorah on tap and I ordered up one of those while I looked through the menu. 

I was definitely there for the burger, but they had a number of sandwiches, salads and appetizers available.  Their dinner menu served in the evenings featured steaks, seafood, and the aforementioned ribs on Friday night and smoked prime rib on Saturday night.   The Twisted Tail is also sort of locally famous for their Philly cheesesteak sandwiches including a Buffalo chicken Philly topped with pepper jack cheese, grilled onions, green peppers and jalapeños.  Just reading that on the menu made my stomach go "burp!"  

Hannah came back a little more composed than she was before and took my order.  I ordered the mushroom/Swiss cheese burger made with the locally-sourced beef having an 80-20 lean-to-fat ratio.  I had a choice of sides and they really only had French fries, sweet potato fries or onion rings.  I thought a bit about what side I could get and was a bit apprehensive about the onion rings.  But I ordered them anyway.  But that quickly changed when Hannah came out of the kitchen with a bit of exasperation in her voice that they were out of the onion rings.  OK, no problem.  So, I went with the French fries.  

About 20 minutes later, a young lady brought my burger out to me.  It was served on a small baking sheet pan with checkered wax paper on the bottom.  The fries were the battered kind that can be good or can be iffy.  Fortunately, these fries were the good battered fries - nice and crispy on the outside, and warm and flaky on the inside.

But, unfortunately, I couldn't say that about the burger.  Although it looked pretty good at first glance, I started to notice some things.  First of all, the bun was too dry.  With the veggies, ketchup and yellow mustard on the burger, the bun literally disintegrated by the time I was halfway through the burger.  And burger patty, itself, was woefully overcooked.  There was absolutely no juiciness to the meat and even with the veggies and the condiments it was a pretty lifeless burger.  I did all I could do to finish the last bite of the burger, but I was highly disappointed with what I got.  

A number of years ago, I had to go to Sioux City and I took Highway 20 across the state from Waterloo to get there.  The very first winner of the Best Burger in Iowa contest (2010) was the Sac County Cattle Company restaurant in Sac City, IA and I stopped by there on the way out to try their burger.  It had been 4 years since they had been awarded for having the best burger in Iowa but if you read the Road Tips entry here, you can read about how a horrible of a burger it was.  

The same thing happened when we went to Mediapolis, IA to the 61 Chophouse to have the 2013 winning burger.  My wife and I were both underwhelmed with the award winning burger there.  In fact, a couple locals we talked to after our experience were sort of incredulous that the place won the best burger contest.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on the now closed 61 Chophouse.)  

I would have to say the burger I had at the Twisted Tail was probably right in between the burger at Sac County Cattle Company and 61 Chophouse.  The burger patty was overcooked, there was no juiciness in the burger that was supposedly an 80-20 blend, and the bun was dried out.  I'm giving Hannah the benefit of the doubt regarding my initial impression of her as she seemed harried and somewhat frustrated.  A lot of restaurant managers and owners have been feeling that lately.  But, once again, I have to question the people who go around and judge the burgers for the Iowa Beef Industry Council.  I would hope that a place that was named the top burger place by the organization would have some consistency in what they serve.  The burger at the Twisted Tail was woefully lacking in any quality taste or texture.  It was highly disappointing.

FoodAffair Bistro - Bettendorf, IA

There's been a trend of casual upscale breakfast/lunch bistro-style restaurants that have opened in the Quad Cities over the past couple of years.  One of those is a place that we'd been wanting to try for awhile - FoodAffair Bistro.  My wife had a good friend of hers come into town for a long weekend recently and on the day that she was to leave to head back to her home we decided to take her out for breakfast.  We decided to head over and give FoodAffair Bistro a try.  

Aman Razdan grew up in Mumbai, IN.  While he was a youngster, he worked in his parents restaurant before coming to the U.S. in 1998.  He settled in the Quad Cities and ended up getting into the culinary program at Scott Community College.  While going to school at Scott Community, Razdin got a job at Le Figaro, a now-closed French restaurant in Rock Island run by Rachid Bouchareb.  Learning under Bouchareb, Razdan did a little bit of everything in the kitchen to preparing salad dressings to preparing charcuterie boards and cheese plates.  

After graduating from Scott Community College, Razdan became the pastry and sous chef at the Red Crow Grill in August of 2002.  Razdan worked at Red Crow Grill until March of 2004 when he was hired to be the head regional chef for Holiday Retirement Corporation.  Working out of the Palmer Hills Independent Senior Living facility in Bettendorf, Razdan oversaw the kitchens for 16 Holiday Retirement properties in the Midwest.  

Pictured at right - Aman Razdan.  Photo courtesy Quad City Times. 

After nearly 3 years working with Holiday Retirement, Razdan was hired to be the head chef at the Best Western Steeplegate Inn in Davenport.  Three years later, Razdan went to work as an executive chef at a local hospital.  During his time at the hospital, Razdan - along with his wife, Martina - started to work on a business plan to someday own their own restaurant.

In 2015, the opportunity arose to buy the Red Crow Grill where Razdan got his first job out of culinary school.  Red Crow Grill had been open for 16 years and Razdan wanted to change things up and put his stamp on the restaurant.  Red Crow Grill closed on July 1, 2015 and over the next two months, Razdan spruced up the place and came up with a menu that he classified as "global fusion" focusing on Asian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Latin cuisines.  In early September of 2015, Razdan and his wife opened Hemispheres Bistro.  

A few years back, one of the Quad Cities iconic hotels - Jumer's Castle Lodge - had closed and the property was bought by developers who tore down the structure to make way for a Home2 Suites hotel, a gas station/convenience store, and an out-building that would house a coffee shop and a restaurant.  Dr. Rajiv Mallik - a cardiologist - and his wife, Dr. Namrata Mallik - an internal medicine specialist thought the restaurant spot would be a good location for a bistro.  

The Mallik's approached Aman Razdan and asked if he would supervise the kitchen for them.  Razdan envisioned a restaurant that would focus on eclectic breakfasts and lunches, along with gourmet coffee and tea, smoothies and shakes, and a full bar.  Friends of the Mallik's - Dr. Sanjay Pancholi and his wife Karishma - also became investors in the new restaurant.  FoodAffair Bistro opened for breakfast only on Dec. 21, 2020.  Within the next few weeks, they had added lunch items to their mix.  

To get to FoodAffair Bistro, it's a little tricky if you're not a resident of the area.  From Spruce Hills Drive just east of Interstate 74, you have to go north on Utica Ridge Road.  About 100 yards north of the intersection of Spruce Hills and Utica Ridge is an entry point that takes you to Home2 Suites and a Kwik Star.  Just before you get to Kwik Star, however, the entrance into the parking lot for FoodAffair Bistro is on your left.  FoodAffair Bistro is located on the south side of the building with Milltown Coffee occupying the north end of the building. (see map)

Now, my wife and I had driven through the parking lot a couple times on weekend mornings and found the parking lot to be packed.  We figured that FoodAffair Bistro was also packed so we never stopped in.  But upon entering the restaurant, we found it to be much larger than we imagined from the outside.  It featured a number of booths lined along a half wall that looked into the kitchen area.  More booths and tables were situated along the wall and into the middle of the space.  Orange accents were prominent throughout the restaurant.  

The bar area was off to the left side as you walk in.  FoodAffair Bistro featured a number of craft beers and wines in addition to a full cocktail selection.  Just past the bar area was a separate room that could be used for additional seating, meetings, or receptions.  There was also a small private dining area in the back corner of the main dining room.  

Throughout the restaurant, there are original works of art by local artists who are cancer patients or who have survived cancer.  The owners of FoodAffair Bistro teamed with Living Proof Exhibit, a local non-profit organization that provides therapeutic programs for cancer patients and survivors, for the artwork in the restaurant.  Dr. Namrata Mallik personally picked out a number of original abstract paintings by local cancer survivors to showcase (and sell, if one was inclined to do so) in FoodAffair Bistro.

Our server that day was a young woman by the name of Heather.  We had menus dropped off at our table when we were seated by a hostess and we were going through them when Heather stopped by.  She offered us a choice of still or sparkling water.  After we opted for still water and Heather went away, I said to my wife and her friend, "Well, you certainly don't get your choice of water at Perkins or Village Inn!"  

Since they had gourmet coffees and a full bar, I took full advantage of that.  I ordered one of their bloody mary's, a Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA, and a double espresso - just to get me started for the day.  All three were very good for 9:30 in the morning.  Our friend got a mocha and my wife went with just a regular coffee.  My wife remarked at how good their coffee was.  I thought their espresso was excellent.  

The menu is short, but interesting.  There were the usual omelets, pancakes, scramble skillets, eggs benedict plates, and pastries for the breakfast side.  They had basics like eggs, bacon and hash browns, and they had a special that day which I ended up getting and will describe in a bit.  

On the lunch side - which is served after 11 a.m. and up until 2 p.m. (weekdays only) - they had a number of items including appetizers such as vegetable spring rolls, Indian-style samosas, smoked ceviche, and smoked chicken nachos.  Sandwiches include a prime rib burger, a Cubano sandwich, a bacon/lettuce/tomato/avocado sandwich, and a chicken tikka sandwich served on Indian naan bread.  Soups and salads were also available. 

However, their lunch menu also featured steaks, chicken, seafood, pork and ribs.  They had tandoori chicken available for lunch, as well a flat iron steak with a ginger soy sauce, and lamb chops.  Sides such as sweet potato fries, mashed potatoes, basmati rice, a fruit cup, and vegetables came with the main entrees.  

My wife and our friend went with the basic breakfast - two eggs (your choice), bacon, toast and hash browns.  My wife went with just two eggs over easy, along with whole wheat toast.  She got fresh squeezed orange juice along with her breakfast.  Our friend got scrambled eggs topped with cheddar cheese.  My wife thought her breakfast was fine for what it was.  But she did remark that the hash browns were very good.  

I went with the special they had that day - the corned beef hash eggs benedict.  The corned beef and potatoes were served on toasted rye bread with two poached eggs on the side.  The corned beef hash was topped with a scallion cream sauce.  A side of Boetje's mustard and a sweet chili drizzle completed the plate.  

It was - in a word - outstanding.  The corned beef was juicy and tender.  The scallion cream sauce just heightened the taste sensations with each bite.  Even the poached eggs had a quality taste.  I was more than happy with what I got.

Since this visit, my wife and I have tried to go back to FoodAffair Bistro a couple times for lunch.  We went on New Year's Eve day to get a sandwich or a burger, but we were informed that there would be a 45 minute wait.  There were numerous open tables, but we figured that it probably had more to do with a staffing issue than reservations.  A week later, we went in on a Sunday for a burger and a bloody mary, but we were told that they only do breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.  

Nonetheless, our only visit - so far - to FoodAffair Bistro was a good experience.  I can't say enough about the corned beef hash with the scallion cream sauce and the poached eggs.  My wife felt that her breakfast - as basic as it was - was also very good.  And the bloody mary/double espresso/craft beer starter I had was a spot-hitter.  One of these days we'll make it back to FoodAffair Bistro for lunch because we know that if their lunches are as good as their breakfasts, it will be another good experience. 

Update - February 2023 - We found out on February 21st that Food Affair Bistro closed.  Per their Facebook page, the restaurant announced that "a gut punch from within" made it so the restaurant couldn't continue.  

And I have to sadly say, it didn't surprise me.  They started doing dinner sometime last year and my wife and I went there a couple times - including this previous Friday night.  Their dinner menu was very short with a burger, some sandwiches, some tandoori specialties, and a couple salads.  I had the burger on my first dinner visit and it was pretty good.

This past Friday, the place was pretty packed.  But they continued to have just a short menu for dinner.  We could see into the kitchen that they seemed to have a number of people working back there and I sort of half-joked that they had one cook for the burgers, one to make the tandoori chicken, one to make the tandoori salmon, one to make the prime rib special they had that night, one to make the sandwiches, etc., etc.  

I wasn't that hungry and I got the wedge salad.  My wife ordered the tandoori chicken.  Our server came back and said that the chicken wouldn't be available for another 30 minutes because they ran out at lunch and it needed to marinate.  My wife and I both thought it was odd, so my wife ended up ordering the tandoori salmon.  

My wedge salad was pretty dry, they didn't have any pepper on the table to add to my salad, and they neglected to bring any lemon wedges for the salmon.  (One of my wife's pet peeves with restaurants that serve fish - each seafood entree should automatically come out with lemon wedges.)  Once that was rectified, my wife thought tandoori salmon was just "OK".  My wedge was pretty weak.  

While we were eating another couple came in and sat at a table next to us.  Our server waited on them, as well, and she immediately told them that there was no salmon left on the tandoori menu.  And it was just before 7 p.m.  On a Friday night.  

On top of that, our bill with tip was $80 bucks.  We sort of looked at one another as we were walking out and came to the realization that we would probably never go back for dinner.  "Breakfast, yes," I said as we made our way out into the parking lot.  "But that's it for dinner." 

Well, looks like we won't be going back for breakfast, either.  It's a sad deal when a restaurant like this closes, but I have to say that I'm not all that surprised.

Kalona Brewing Company - Kalona, IA

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday recently and my wife was antsy to get out of the house and enjoy the day.  She suggested we take a ride along the Mississippi head west and south out of the Quad Cities.  We took off around 11 a.m. and I drove down to Muscatine to go to the Contrary Brewing Company, one of our favorite little microbreweries in the area.  However, when we pulled up just before noon, we saw that they don't open until 1 p.m.

Undeterred to find a microbrewery and my wife willing to continue to drive on a beautiful day, I pointed the car west and went to the small town of Kalona, IA to check out a brewery that I'd heard about, but had never been to before.  Just after 1 p.m., we pulled up in front of the Kalona Brewing Company.  

With the last name of Brewer, you'd think that your destiny would be brewing beers.  And that's sort of what happened with Kalona Brewing Company co-founder Lee Brewer.  While living in Seattle in the mid-80's and working as a painting contractor, Brewer came across one of the first craft breweries in Seattle - Redhook.  One day, Brewer walked into Redhook - which was housed in an old transmission shop - and asked co-owners Gordon Bowker and Paul Shipman if they needed any basic labor help at any point.  They told Brewer to come back on the following Saturday.  He did go back and eventually Brewer was helping with brewing and bottling the Redhook beers on a part-time basis.  

Learning from the brewers at Redhook, Brewer started to brew his own beers at home.  This led him to a friendship with Mike Hale, the owner/brewer at Hale's Ales, a microbrewery in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.  Brewer caught on with Hale's Ale and helped brew beers for Hale for a couple years.  

In 1994, Brewer decided to move to Iowa.  He landed a job at Fitzpatrick's Brew Pub - one of the first craft breweries in Iowa City - where he worked off and on for a few years before going back full-time to contract painting.  Brewer continued to make his own beers at home and he reached out to a long-time friend from the Seattle area, Ted Nagy, with an idea he had come up with.

Nagy was a machine designer who became friends with Brewer when the two would sit around and enjoy some of Brewer's home-brewed beers.  While living in Iowa, Brewer dreamed about running his own brewery and he got with Nagy to talk about the possibility.  Nagy had turned into a serial entrepreneur and thought that a brewery situated in Iowa might be a good thing.  

Pictured right - Ted Nagy and Lew Brewer.  Photo courtesy Kalona Brewing Company Facebook page.   

Nagy eventually moved back to Iowa to run a plastics injection molding firm.  At one point, Nagy and Brewer thought about starting a winery.  But the two knew that the climate wouldn't allow for high quality grapes to be grown.  So, they went back to the idea of starting a brewery in the small town of Kalona, IA, about a half-hour drive south and west of Iowa City.  

They were having trouble finding a building in Kalona for their brewery and were resigned to the fact that they would probably have to build a brewery in a rural area outside of Kalona.  But in 2011, a building in downtown Kalona became available.  It was a former farm implement store and was large enough for a brewery and a tap room.  The two signed a deal to buy the building.  

Of course, there are always snags along the way and their quest to start a brewery was no exception.  Brewer and Nagy literally had to start from scratch putting in plumbing, heating and ventilation, and redoing the floor of the old building.  Then during the build-out, they found out that their original plan of just having a brewery and a tasting room didn't meet city code.  In order to be able to serve their beer on the premises, they had to put in a restaurant.  That effectively cut down on half of the space they had allotted for their brewery operation. 

Undeterred, Nagy and Brewer went ahead with their plans for a brewpub.  Then another bit of luck came about.  The Miller building next door to the building they were already in had become available.  They jumped on that spot and were able to use all their brewing equipment that they had originally invested in.  

To help with the build-out, Brewer enlisted the help of his son Sam who was living in Hawaii at the time.  And realizing that with the increased brewing capacity, Brewer had to have an assistant.  

Lew Brewer turned to a local man who he'd known for a few years, Warren Yoder.  Known as "W" to his friends, Yoder worked for his family's hardware store/building supply business, but dabbled in making his own beers for a number of years.  Brewer asked Yoder if he'd ever considered brewing beer as a full-time vocation.  At first, Yoder declined saying that he wasn't certain he could jump into uncertainty after working for the family business for 17 years.  But a week later, Yoder went back to Brewer and agreed to become his assistant.  

With the help of Nagy's wife Becky, the group decided to use only locally-grown or locally-raised products for both their beer and for the food they would serve in the restaurant part of the brewpub.  Kalona is a community that is home to a number of Mennonite and Amish families, and many of them grow produce and raise livestock.  Nearly everything the Nagy's and Brewer would need to brew beer and prepare food for the brewpub was literally at their doorstep.  

Brewer and Yoder started brewing their beers in 2012 while the restaurant part of the operation was being built out.  They distributed their beers in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area at first, but over time they began to self-distribute to the Quad Cities, Des Moines and other places in eastern and central Iowa.   

With the build-out complete, Kalona Brewing Company opened their doors for the general public on Sept. 13, 2013.  The Nagy's and Brewer obviously weren't superstitious as Sept. 13 fell on a Friday that year.  

Kalona Brewing Company is located at the corner of B Avenue and 4th Street in Kalona.  (see map)  The building was known as the B-4 building when Nagy and Brewer bought it in 2011.  It's in the heart of downtown Kalona which is known for its shops, boutiques and antique stores.  Kalona is a popular destination because of these shops and parking can be iffy.  However, since it was Sunday, many of the stores were closed and we were able to park on B Avenue just down the street to the east of Kalona Brewing Company.    

The inside of Kalona Brewing Company featured a polished concrete floor and and exposed truss ceiling.  Scattered with the tables in the space were couches and coffee tables giving the somewhat modern industrial motif a more homey look.  Natural light courtesy of the large windows on the south and west side of the brewpub splashed into the space.  Just past the bar were ceiling to floor windows that displayed the large brewing vats in the brewery.  

The kitchen area was situated in the back corner of the space.  It featured a large wood-fired oven and a prep area that looked out over the brewpub.  The head chef at Kalona Brewing Company is Kalona native Oliver Hassman who learned the ins-and-outs of beer and wine pairing with locally-raised/locally-grown foods at Vesta in Coralville, IA.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Vesta.)  Hassman was the head chef at Vesta before joining the Kalona Brewing Company in 2018.  

We took a seat at a table in the corner out of the sun across from the kitchen area.  Our server that day was a young lady by the name of Kris.  She brought over a brunch menu that they serve from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday.  We weren't too interested in the brunch menu as my wife had breakfast earlier in the day and didn't want breakfast again.  (Although the Salsa Verde Toast consisting of two eggs over-easy, sausage, pickled onions all topped with a green sauce sounded interesting to me.)   Kris told us that the kitchen would switch over to the regular menu at 2, which was about 45 minutes away.  That was fine with us, as it gave us time to try some of their beers.  

The beer selection at Kalona Brewing Company is deep and varied.  The beer list featured a number of interesting beers including lagers, stouts, ales and wheat beers.  Some of the more interesting beers were a blueberry hefeweizen as well as a cinnamon-peach wheat ale.  We tried three or four samples - the Sucha Much IPA, the Hook & Eye hazy IPA, the Limber Legs Oktoberfest, and the Tree Stand German-style pilsner.  All were very good, but my wife selected the Sucha Much IPA and I went with the Hook & Eye hazy IPA.  The Hook & Eye was named after an attachment that Mennonites and Amish families would have on their clothing instead of buttons or zippers.  

Since we couldn't get lunch for awhile, it gave us some time to end up looking around Kalona Brewing Company.  They had a spacious wood-fenced patio in the back featuring a pergola over the concrete patio.  It was a nice fall day, but it was too cool to sit in the shade.  

We hung out back inside waiting for the regular menu to turn over.   Kris had brought over some menus for us to look over so we could make our choices right at 2 p.m.  It wasn't a lengthy menu, but it had some interesting items.  First of all, Kalona Brewing Company is somewhat famous for their wood-fired pizza made with a hand-tossed, house-made dough.  There were three sauces for their pizza - a San Marzano red sauce, an alfredo white sauce, and a pesto sauce.  While we weren't in the mood for pizza that day, the margherita pizza sounded good, as did their house-made sausage pizza.  

Kalona Brewing Company featured a handful of appetizers to share including coconut-ginger shrimp, chicken wings with a choice of either Buffalo sauce or a ginger chili glaze, a spinach-artichoke dip, and a burrata cheese plate with a gremolata garnish (chopped parsley, garlic and lemon zest) and served with apricots and dates.  There were a number of soups and salads on the menu as well as sandwiches, burgers and entrees such as a beer mac & cheese, fish & chips, a New York strip steak from locally-raised natural beef, and a stir fry.  

Kris came by just before 2 p.m. and said that she could take our order now for lunch.  My wife wanted to get the roasted beet salad Kalona Brewing Company had on the menu.  She loves getting the roasted beets in a jar from one of the shops in Kalona and she was pretty certain that the beets at Kalona Brewing would come from the same source.  The roasted beet salad came with fresh mixed greens, candied walnuts, and feta cheese.  A triangle of flat bread came on the side.  For her dressing, she got the house-made raspberry vinaigrette.  She thought the beet salad was outstanding and she offered me a bite of some of the roasted beets.  I never cared for pickled beets until I had some that my wife's grandmother canned a number of years ago.  These beets were especially flavorful with a bit of a roasted taste to them.  

I was in a quandary as to what to get.  Even though the menu wasn't all that vast, there were some things that definitely got my attention.  They had two burgers - one a regular burger with beef from JimRay Farms, a Kalona-area grass-fed cattle operation.  The other burger was the Diablo which was topped with a salsa verde, guacamole, and a jalapeño slaw.  (The Diablo sandwich was also available with a grilled chicken breast or with a portobello mushroom or a Beyond Burger patty for vegetarians.)  But in the end, I went with the meat loaf entree.  

The meat loaf featured JimRay Farms beef served on a bed of Kalona Brewing's beer mac & cheese, with a side of a sautéed fresh vegetable medley.  I got the small portion which consisted of 2 pieces of meat loaf instead of 3 for the large portion.  The meat loaf was topped with a red wine demi-glace.  I normally don't order meat loaf when I'm at a restaurant because my meat loaf at home is about the best I've ever had.  But I have to say this meat loaf was very good.  It wasn't dried out and it held a lot of great beef flavor.  The red wine demi-glace was a nice addition and I really liked the beer mac & cheese that came with the meat loaf.  I was not unhappy with my choice.  

My wife was torn between the chicken avocado sandwich and the grilled salmon Caesar salad.  In the end, the grilled salmon Caesar won out.  The salad featured Arcadian greens and a spring salad mix, and was topped with sliced red onions and shredded asiago cheese along with a house-made Caesar dressing.  I piece of grilled salmon finished the salad.  Another wedge of flat bread came on the side.  She was very happy with her choice of lunch that day.  

It had been a long time since we had been to Kalona and our visit to the Kalona Brewing Company had been a long time coming.  We liked virtually everything about our visit.  The beers were very good, the service we had from Kris was friendly, accommodating and she was fun, and the food was top-notch.  We're glad that we waited out the brunch period and got the regular menu, even though their brunch menu looked very interesting.  Kalona Brewing Company is a bit of a drive for us, but it was worth the trip.  And we look forward to the next road trip we make over to Kalona for shopping and a visit to Kalona Brewing.  Actually, I'll let my wife shop while I hang out at Kalona Brewing Company.