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.

Comments

[Geoff]

Good entry, great restaurant description, but remember this is a small village burger shack grill similar to a dive, it isn't a 5 star Gordon Ramsay italian steakhouse in manhatten..it's a community burger shack, it's about the down to earth people and its cheap quick grub to go.

[Road Tips]

Thanks for looking in, Geoff! I don't think I disparaged the Twisted Tail, I just thought that if they got the Best Burger in Iowa award that they would have a great burger. It was definitely subpar the day I was there. I know it's tough for restaurants to maintain help and that can hurt the consistency. But that burger was no where near the level of what I would call it as the Best Burger in Iowa.