Traveling around Iowa for a number of years, I've always wanted to find some of the better burger places around the state. In 2010, the Iowa Beef Industry Council has staged its "Best Burger in Iowa" contest. I've had the pleasure of visiting many of the winners over the years (click here to see the entries) and while most have been pretty good, a couple three I've scratched my head and wondered how in the hell that particular burger got the "Best Burger in Iowa" award. I recently had a chance to go to the 2022 winner of the Best Burger contest - The Flying Elbow in Marshalltown, IA. But let me first tell you how this unique burger and beer joint with a pro wrestling theme came to pass.
Garrett Goodman was a Marshall County native who graduated from East Marshall High School in Le Grand, IA in 2004. Goodman dabbled in a little bit of this and that after he got out of high school. He's a musician whose music and voice have been heard on advertisements across the state of Iowa, he was an IT manager at Emerson/Fisher Controls in Marshalltown, and he worked along side his step-father in a restaurant kitchen. It was while working in a kitchen at a small steakhouse in Laurel, IA where he found that he loved working in a restaurant the most.
After accepting a voluntary severance from Emerson/Fisher Control in 2016, Goodman went into the restaurant business for himself starting up what turned out to be a very popular professional wrestling-themed food truck which mainly focused on unique styles of gourmet hot dogs but also served basic burgers. Like most food truck vendors, Goodman hoped to open his own brick-and-mortar business and that time came in May of 2018 when he opened the first incarnation of The Flying Elbow in downtown Marshalltown.
Pictured right - Garrett Goodman. Photo courtesy Marshalltown Times-Republican.
Two months to the day after The Flying Elbow opened, downtown Marshalltown was hit by a devastating tornado that tore the roof off the restaurant's structure allowing a torrent of rainwater to come in and basically destroy everything. With his dream of operating a restaurant smacked down for the time being, Goodman helped with the relief efforts in the aftermath of the tornado by handing out free hot dogs from his resurrected food truck.
Goodman continued out of his food truck until the pandemic hit. Then five months into the pandemic, a derecho that raced across Iowa one August day caused as much damage as the devastating tornado two years prior. Goodman's dreams were suddenly body slammed, but as Goodman "bridged" long enough to keep him from getting pinned, it allowed him to get his second wind and go in a different direction.
It was a chance invitation by a couple friends who owned a bowling alley/arcade/event space that put Goodman back into the restaurant business while he was looking for a new place to take the place of his now-demolished original Flying Elbow. At Wayward Social in Marshalltown, Goodman oversaw a kitchen that made pizzas, wings, sandwiches and burgers. It was at Wayward Social where Goodman first started to make his now signature smashed burgers.
A local real estate agent came to Goodman with a spot on Marshalltown's 13th Street corridor, an area with bars, restaurants and shops on the city's northwest side. Goodman jumped at the chance and opened a new and improved Flying Elbow in September of 2021 complete with its World Wrestling Entertainment design and motif.
Gourmet hot dogs were still the focus at The Flying Elbow, but when business slowed down considerably in the winter months Goodman and his co-workers sat down to figure out someway to help grow the business. They had joked on a couple of occasions that maybe they should add burgers to the menu. Goodman knew how to make a good smashed burger from his time at Wayward Social, so one day he came in with new menus, handed them out to the staff and basically said, "We're gonna start doing flat-grilled burgers." The staff was incredulous as they thought he was joking, but Goodman was serious about the pivot to burgers while keeping the gourmet hot dogs on the menu.
Goodman came up with a blend of ground chuck, brisket, short rib and Wagyu beef - a combination that Goodman believes is the only of its kind for a burger joint in Iowa - and added a new style of bun that wasn't too thick, but held together with all the various toppings on The Flying Elbow's burgers. It wasn't long before word got out The Flying Elbow had a great burger and it caught the attention of the Iowa Beef Industry Council after the burger joint garnered enough votes just 3 months after starting to make their burgers to be named a finalist for the Best Burger in Iowa contest in 2022. A month later, a panel of judges called The Flying Elbow's burgers to be the best in Iowa. Sort of remarkable for a restaurant who had just been making burgers for less than 5 months!
Business doubled overnight after the announcement. Goodman said that in 2022 alone the restaurant made over 65,000 burgers. It looked like his decision to add burgers turned out to be the right one!
As a young boy, Goodman remembered the family significance of barbecuing and smoking meats on Sundays. He had a small smoker at The Flying Elbow where he would smoke pork shoulders and experimented with making some barbecue specialties to sell alongside the burgers and hot dogs. In late 2022, Goodman got more serious about his barbecue upgrading his small smoker to a 300-gallon wood fired smoker where he can smoke his pork shoulders the traditional way - low and slow over a combination of oak and cherry wood.
Once again, Goodman struck lightning and earlier this year The Flying Elbow was crowned as having the best pulled pork sandwich in the state of Iowa by the Iowa Pork Producers Association. So, in the space of 10 months, The Flying Elbow has the best burger and the best pulled pork sandwich in the state of Iowa! Now, THAT, is truly a remarkable feat by any measure!
I was back in the Newton area seeing some friends and family a couple months ago when I announced to a buddy of mine that I was planning on going up to Marshalltown (about a half-hour drive north of Newton) to check out The Flying Elbow. He wasn't familiar with the place, but after I told him that it had won the 2022 Best Burger in Iowa contest, he was up for a road trip. With some detours caused by road work between Newton and Marshalltown giving us more of a 45 minute trip to get to the burger and beer joint, it was just after 1 p.m. when we pulled up in front of The Flying Elbow. (see map)
The first thing you see when you get inside the door at The Flying Elbow is a small bar with a selection of craft beers on tap and a selection of liquor on shelves on either side of the spigots. Interestingly, there were a number of model characters of pro wrestlers from over the years. My buddy was a big pro wrestling fan and he recognized a few of the figurines on the shelves above the liquor. One of the televisions behind the bar was tuned to a classic professional wrestling match that featured WWE superstar Ric Flair.
The dining area at The Flying Elbow is a short narrow space with a line-up of windows allowing a lot of natural light to come in and brighten the area. There was a small eating bar along the wall and a smattering of wooden tables throughout the restaurant. By my estimation, The Flying Elbow could hold up to about 24 to 28 people.
The menu was located on a board above the window that looked into the kitchen. A regular menu was available at the walk-up counter where you order your food. Burgers, sandwiches and, of course, hot dogs were the main items on the menu.
While at the ordering counter, I was able to catch a glimpse of the well-seasoned flat-top gas grill at The Flying Elbow. There was a big guy who was the burger chef that day and I remarked to my buddy that it looked like he wouldn't have any problem smashing the burgers on the grill.
Some of the specialty burgers on the menu included the "Nacho Man" burger that was topped with cheddar cheese, guacamole, jalapeños, salsa, nacho Doritos, sour cream, and finished with a nacho cheese sauce. That burger, alone, would have been a 10-napkin burger. The "Mr. Mac'Man Burger" had cheddar cheese, mac and cheese, green onions and sprinkled with Cheetos dust. And the "Texas Rattlesnake Burger" featured pepper jack cheese, The Flying Elbow's housemade chili, chili/cheese Fritos, fried jalapeños, sour cream, and finished with red and green onions.
Their featured sandwich that day was a smoked pulled pork on jalapeño cheddar corn bread with shaved ham, havarti cheese, Chico's BBQ sauce, and and finished with pickled red onions and dill pickles. That sounded scrumptious. And for fun, I looked at the 3:16 Chili Dog which featured The Flying Elbow's housemade chili with a choice of three different toppings including cheese, sour cream, chili-cheese Fritos, and nacho cheese sauce. I would have probably just gotten the regular Coney-style with the chili dog topped with onions and yellow mustard.
My buddy made me a deal - since I drove he said he would pay for our burgers while I would get the beers. Fair enough, I thought. As he ordered up our burgers, I went to the bar and got a Big Grove Easy Eddy that they had on tap. My buddy wanted something light and I ordered up a Backpocket Gold Coin blonde ale for him. The Flying Elbow also has a number of Iowa craft beers in cans to choose from.
I had my buddy order up the Real American burger with two patties for me. I thought about the Brisco burger that was served on Texas toast and topped with Swiss and American cheese, bacon and Roma tomato slices. But I thought for my first burger at The Flying Elbow, I just wanted a basic burger to be able to enjoy the flavor of the beef. I got a side of fries to go along with the burger which was topped with American cheese on both patties, along with grilled onions, dill pickles, ketchup and yellow mustard.
My buddy got the "Vinnie" burger - two beef patties topped American cheese, and finished with shredded lettuce, grilled onions and dill pickles. Thousand Island dressing usually comes on the burger, but he asked for it on the side. He got a boat of The Flying Elbow's potato salad - one of the many sides that were available including smoked baked beans, fried cheese curds, creamy cole slaw and something they called "Vader Tots" which were housemade tots with a cherry-smoked ketchup.
From the first bite, I knew this had to be an award winning burger. The beef was so flavorful and juicy, the cheese just oozed off the top of the patties, and the sesame-seed bun was light and helped with the overall taste of the burger. It was an outstanding burger.
My buddy was amazed with his burger. "Wow," he exclaimed about three bites into his "Vinnie" burger. "I'm glad you talked me into to coming up here with you!"
There were a lot of fries in my boat and I offered some up to my buddy. They were perfectly cooked with a crispy outer shell and a nice spongy interior. He said that he wouldn't be able to eat all of his potato salad and I had a couple bites to try it out. It, too, was very good with a great original taste.
The Flying Elbow was more than worthy of garnering the Best Burger in Iowa award for 2022. I've tried nearly every winner of the contest and I might have to say that the burger at The Flying Elbow is the best of them all. The Real American double cheeseburger that I had had an outstanding taste quality. The bun was light enough not to overpowering the quality beef taste, but was heavy duty enough to withstand the oozing American cheese and the juices from the beef patties. My buddy was more than happy and somewhat surprised at how good his burger was. (He's since gone back to The Flying Elbow at least one time since our initial visit.) If you have the chance to get to Marshalltown at any point, do not leave town without trying The Flying Elbow and one of their award winning burgers. (And their award winning pulled pork sandwich!)
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