Archie's Waeside in Le Mars, Iowa (the self-proclaimed Ice Cream Capital of the World because it's the home of Blue Bunny Ice Cream) is one of those old time steakhouses that you can find in any number of small Midwestern towns. The only difference is that Archie's steaks and wine list would put some big city steakhouses to shame.
I'd heard about Archie's Waeside from a number of people. My friend, George Miller, absolutely raved about the place, including the extensive wine list that Archie's possesses. So while I was in Sioux City recently, I took one of my old-time dealers out for dinner to Archie's, trying to butter him up to have him buy some of my products.
The exterior of Archie's is nothing to look at. It's a long building next to the Plymouth County Fairgrounds, and if you didn't know it was there, you may just drive right by it (see map). But the smell of cooking steaks gave the location away a couple blocks from the restaurant.
The interior of Archie's is decidedly 60's-ish, with a bunch of Department 56 village buildings on shelves throughout the restaurant. There's a bar area (that doesn't serve food) and a couple of larger "party" rooms - one of which was in use for a birthday party when were there.
(Interior shot courtesy of Michael Stern)
The menu is typical of a Midwestern steakhouse - beef, pork chops and a little seafood. My guest suggested the tenderloin filet, but I went with the special, the thick cut New York Strip with Maytag Blue Cheese crumbles on top.
All of Archie's steaks are dry aged in a special room on the premises. There's not many steakhouses in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest that can claim that. (Photo of Archie's drying room courtesy of Michael Stern)
The wine list was not very large, but very eclectic, especially for Le Mars, IA. I was amazed at the selections they had. The owner, Bob Rand, is a wine enthusiast who travels to California once a year to go through the vineyards of Central and Northern California looking for obscure, but great, wines. He also sells a number of his wines to the public by the case to take home.
The only problem is that he runs out of them pretty quickly (I'm guessing). I ordered a bottle of the Pezzi King cabernet that was very nicely priced at $45 a bottle. The waitress came back and said, "I'm sorry, sir, we're out of that wine." She handed me the wine list again and I let my guest go through the list and he picked out a bottle from a winery that I wasn't familiar with (and can't remember the name off the top of my head), but one he said was very good.
Three minutes later, the waitress came back and said, "Gentlemen, this is so embarrassing. We're out of that selection, too." We sort of shook our heads and chuckled. I joked, "Tell you what - why don't you tell me what you DON'T have in stock and that will make our decision easier." Only she didn't take it as a joke.
I said, "OK, I'm sorry. Let me take a look again." I picked out a 2003 Deerfield Ranch cabernet. I've never had it, wasn't familiar with it, but I thought I'd give it a shot.
While all this was going on, our salads and relish try had shown up and we were done with the salads before the bottle of wine made it to our table.
By the way, one interesting aspect of the salad presentation is that they serve the salad with a slice of dry cured corned beef. I asked the waitress what the significance was of the serving the corned beef with the salad and relish tray and she said, "I don't know, really. We've been doing it for years. Some people like to put it on their salads, sort of like how some people like anchovies on their Caesar's salad."
Our steaks came and mine was absolutely cooked to perfection. My guest's filet looked exactly like this picture Michael Stern took of his filet at Archie's (right).
I've had steaks with Maytag Blue Cheese on the top where the cheese just overpowered the taste of the meat. But the seasonings and the grilling procedure that Archie's uses helped bring out more of the flavor of the meat over the cheese.
The Deerfield Ranch cabernet was a little flat when it was first poured, but I'd hoped that it would open up in time. It really didn't. I was disappointed.
The waitress wanted to know if we wanted dessert, and we declined. But I saw that Archie's had a reserve wine list and I asked her if I could just look through that for fun. She brought it out to me and explained that Bob had a room in the back that housed his wine, but it was also big enough to have a small gathering in there for dinner. I asked if I could see it and she said that Bob was actually hosting a group in there and it was in use. Oh well, next time.
The reserve list was almost as lengthy as the regular wine list and the prices were very reasonable. The least expensive wine on the reserve list was $60 (which was price of the most expensive wine on the regular list), with most of the wines between $85 to $110 a bottle. The most expensive was a Beaulieu Vineyards Georges de Latour reserve that sold for $250. It's the same bottle I've seen priced at other restaurants at well over $300 a bottle.
With the bottle of wine and tip, our meal came to $92 dollars. Ninety-two bucks! I was amazed! That included the salad (which was nothing special), the relish tray (also nothing big), and a side (I had hash browns with cheese and onions on top). That same meal in Chicago would have been close to $130 or more. What a bargain!
I will go back to Archie's when I get back up to the Sioux City area. But I'll try the filet next time. My New York Strip was very good, but I think my guest got the better of the two steaks that night.
After I ate at Bob's Drive-Inn in Le Mars, IA recently, I went across the street to the Wells Blue Bunny Visitor's Center to get an ice cream cone. 
The Wells Blue Bunny Visitors Center is pretty nice. It consists of a museum shaped like a barn that takes visitors through the years of developing Wells Blue Bunny ice cream into what it is today. I didn't go through the museum, but the lady did allow me to take a quick look when I told her that I was just there for the ice cream.
Next to the museum is the Wells Blue Bunny old time ice cream shoppe. It has the old style striped awnings and the picnic tables out in front. 
Inside, it's fashioned after an old time soda fountain complete with a soda bar, a wooden ceiling with antique light fixtures, wooden tables and chairs, and big wooden booths. It's actually pretty neat. There's a gift shop and a couple rooms in the place that can be used for private parties. 
One other neat thing they have out in front of the visitor's center is a vintage Divco milk delivery truck. Made in Ohio beginning in 1926, the Divco milk trucks were the ones that many dairies used to deliver milk in the 30's, 40's and 50's. 
