Blackened Salmon seems to be the best choice.

Balltown.

Where they have a lot of.... chutzpah.

According to the article, my chances to not eat there are now better than ever.

Well, unless they were serving mouse-burgers, I would not have been interested.

/I would have named mine 'Mickey'

So, I'm guessing there were potatoes on the menu.

Just a hunch.

But there will always be an Iowa's oldest continually operating restaurant.

Too bad... Food was great, atmosphere was great.

From the slideshow...

I think the real news here is this guys mouth. ^^Here^^
That thing is freakishly wide.

Well crap... there goes my Sunday. Anyone else have any plans? I will be in the QC area looking for something to do on my Saturday/Sunday as I will not travel to this fine place of culinary greatness.

Just the GOP taliban with more of their pesky domestic terrorism before the election.

ZemTheManiac: So, I'm guessing there were potatoes on the menu.

Just a hunch.

That's a few states west, moran.

That sucks. I grew up in that area and usually take my mom there when I'm back in town.

Tao of Steve: That sucks. I grew up in that area and usually take my mom there when I'm back in town.

Wow. . .I took her there too. Who knew?

All kidding aside, just because the building goes does not mean that the restaurant will die.

/Or does it?
//I get confused a lot.

Sugarmoobs: ZemTheManiac: So, I'm guessing there were potatoes on the menu.

Just a hunch.

That's a few states west, moran.

Now that you mention it, that's true.

I knew there was a reason for sleep...

I didn't know anyone lived in Iowa, I always figured it was just one giant corn field. You learn something new every day.

kidsizedcoffin: I didn't know anyone lived in Iowa, I always figured it was just one giant corn field. You learn something new every day.

"Lived in Iowa" (which implies that you can have a life there) is a rather strong choice of words. "Resides in Iowa" would be more appropriate but only because "unliving in Iowa" sounds too much like a Sam Rami flick.

Technically you still can eat at the oldest operating restaurant in Iowa, since now that honor belongs to the former second oldest.

bingo the psych-o: "unliving in Iowa" sounds too much like a Sam Rami flick.

Why do I picture an American version of Shaun of the Dead, right there?

I came to say what hetheeme said.

what were they cooking, crack?

17 degrees F in Balltown, I'm guessing they ain't hanging low and swinging to and fro

A funny thing happened. There's a restaurant about ten miles from here that had been continuously operating for the past 15 years. I worked there as a cook. 3 months ago, they fired me. Today, I found out that they've been closed for the past 2 months.

Huh. Careful what you wish for, eh?

dbirchall: Well, they could always rebuild. My favorite Iowa restaurant isn't on its first incarnation - Hamburg Inn #2 in Iowa City.

Here here. Damn good omelets. IMHO, the only place with a proper breakfast lineup within vicinity of U of Iowa.

/Loves me some Zadar right about now
//Ground beefy, cheesy, hashbrowny, egg yolky goodness.

I wish I had come here to say what hetheeme said.

K3rmythere's thin margins in the restaurant biz...unless the location's killer, it's toast- just ask Pop Hicks
Link (new window)

Sugarmoobs: ZemTheManiac: So, I'm guessing there were potatoes on the menu.

Just a hunch.

That's a few states west, moran.

I'll guess cheese for 100, Bob.

Steel?

Crap.

Boeing?

/outa money

Ramauld: Sugarmoobs: ZemTheManiac: So, I'm guessing there were potatoes on the menu.

Just a hunch.

That's a few states west, moran.

I'll guess cheese for 100, Bob.

Steel?

Crap.

Boeing?

/outa money

Idaho;Potatoes:Iowa;corn

RandyJohnson: Well crap... there goes my Sunday. Anyone else have any plans? I will be in the QC area looking for something to do on my Saturday/Sunday as I will not travel to this fine place of culinary greatness.

You live in the LeClaire Apts.? Trying to guess based on the view ...

Best meals I've ever had have been in Iowa.

/try the pork fritter

Idaho;Potatoes:Iowa;corn

My mom's from Iowa...

(insert mother / corn joke here.)

Damn, all of a sudden I am craving a Hamburg Inn Bison Burger.

Aulus:

I just wish I had been able to get there before it burned.

Me too. Little restaurants like that one are quite common in the eastern part of the state. If you're traveling on Hwy 20 near Dubuque, be sure and stop at the Country Junction in Dyersville. Incredible food and atmosphere.

/born and raised in IA

Ramauld: My mom's from Iowa...

(insert mother / corn joke here.)


My grandmother's from Iowa. I believe I have some distant relatives still living there. My family is all spread out. Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Alaska, a few others that I can't think of. I have an uncle from Pennsylvania, gonna move back when he retires.


Uh, I meant to say... uh....

Yo momma has to run nekkid through a cornfield to... Wait. How does that one go?

I just read through the comments from the linked article. An internet page where everybody is genuinely concerned, supportive, and nice to each other?I expected at least one "this is all the fault of the illegal alien antiwar prolife athiest commie dogfighting SUV driving helicopter moms!"

Gotta love Midwesterners for their compassion. Makes me want to go when/if they rebuild.

Don't knock Iowa. It's been a while but when I was growing up in Iowa we didn't lock our doors when we left the house, we left our keys in the car, we knew our neighbors for a block in every direction. We had a McDonald's but we ate at the diner. You'd get a burger the size of your head and enough fries to fill your hat.
I've been all over this country and I've been all over Europe but I will always have a longing for plain old ordinary Iowa. I would give plenty just to go to an Iowa truck stop for breakfast. I can do that in Arizona and the food might be the same but the people certainly will not.gb

Ramauld: An internet page where everybody is genuinely concerned, supportive, and nice to each other?

Screw you heathen, baby killing, smog producing, anti-American wetback.

/I suck at trolling

Rats. I was hoping it was the I-80 Truck Stop

The ride to and from Balltown made the food even better. They had a fascinating gun collection displayed on the ceiling above the bar area and the upper floors were filled with antiques for sale. Sad to see that one go. My second favorite Iowa restaurant was the Canteen Burger in Ottumwa Iowa. They've now been promoted.

It was also one of the restaurants featured on Alton Brown's second installment of "Feasting on Asphalt".

The town I grew up in had a restaurant that had been in business for about 37 years when a New Years Eve mishap (someone left a fryer on overnight) burned the uninsured building to the ground.

A week after that, a local shopping center announced since they couldn't get a new tennant for a Polynsian themed restaurant, they were going to tear down the building and just expand the shopping center.

On April 1, three months after the fire - the restaurant reopened. They had moved the Polynsian restaurant over to their property and went back to work in it. That was probably the strangest property in California: a restored ghost town, a building that looked like a landlocked paddleboat and a restaurant that looked like a giant Tiki hut - all within a stone's throw of some of the most expensive homes in town.

WTF is this comment in the thread below the article? C'mon Abby Jasper...Get it together!

Yesterday at 11:27 PM Abby Jasper wrote ...

i was shock when i woke up to my dad fireman scaner when they called holy cross then when i found out wath was going on my aunt and uncle live right next to breitbach my wjole faMILY NEW EVERYBODY THERE LIKE MIKE THE WORKERS I WILL MISS THIS PLACE

lobsterman: WTF is this comment in the thread below the article? C'mon Abby Jasper...Get it together!

Yesterday at 11:27 PM Abby Jasper wrote ...

i was shock when i woke up to my dad fireman scaner when they called holy cross then when i found out wath was going on my aunt and uncle live right next to breitbach my wjole faMILY NEW EVERYBODY THERE LIKE MIKE THE WORKERS I WILL MISS THIS PLACE

Holy Cross is a city near Balltown. Makes the comment a little bite more decipherable, but not much..