Reviewing based on my 2nd trip to Zeppelins in Cedar Rapids. My wife and I took both our kids out to eat and decided on this place. We had been here once previously and had enjoyed our experience. Walking into the place it has a really nice decor and the bar area is very nice. The first thing I always check is the beer selection and Zeppelins was surprisingly good, actually it was fantastic. They had a few seasonals and then many local brews; including stuff from Great River in Davenport, Peace Tree in Knoxville, but they also had one of my favorites; Bells Two Hearted Ale. Anytime that is offered on tap I am a happy man.
We were there on a Sunday, and they still had happy hour 2 for 1 specials which is always a nice treat.

My wife and I each had a Great River Stout, which is very good on tap. We also shared an appetizer of their cheese wontons which are served with some excellent honey mustard sauce.
My wife ordered a steak sandwich and I had the Zeppelin burger which was a burger with fried onions, bbq sauce, cheddar cheese, and a few strips of bacon. Both meals were fantastic! I would definitely get either meal again; my five-year olds’ chicken strips were very good as well. Family friendly, good food, good beer, tough to beat that combination. I think one downfall many people would see, would be the price. But I’m a believer in you pay for what you get and at Zeppelins you get some really excellent food. If you are in the Cedar Rapids area and want some great food, (not only burgers, but steaks, seafood, etc.) check it out! Check out the menu here! http://www.zeppelinscr.com/

This was meant to be posted a few months ago as that was the last time I ate at the Mining Company. I remember it very clearly as it was the day my daughter was born and I went with my brother to have a bite to eat. We both were wanting something with a little grease that wasn’t in a chain restaurant but something local and good. I remembered eating at the Dubuque Mining Company a year earlier and how I was pleased with it.
This place has everything I’m looking for in a pub/bar. A nice comfy feel that doesn’t have 50 feet ceilings, 90 tvs, loud music, and $5 shitty beers. It was cozy, a little dark, and had the type of food I was looking for, although the beer selection could have been a bit better; they did have Boulevard Wheat and Sam Adams seasonal on tap, so it’s not too terrible. When I sat down I was pleasantly surprised to see a brat burger on the menu. I’m a huge advocate of the brat burger, don’t get me wrong, I love brats, but the burger form is much easier to eat and less messy. Anyway, got one of those piled with warm sauerkraut and yellow mustard with a side of fries and life was good. They have an extensive burger list and the food hits the spot.
Here’s the link to check out the menu: http://www.dubuqueminingcompany.com/menu.cfm

Have you been there before? Let me know what I need to get next time!

I can remember the first time I went to the Pit. I was with my brother and brother-in-law and we had just drunkenly walked from Kinnick stadium all they way to downtown Iowa City. My brother-in-law talked us into going to this BBQ joint to grab some food. Upon entering the smell of various meats being smoked (not a sexual reference) made your mouth water. Since I was in a certain stage of inebriation I don’t remember exactly what I had to eat but I do remember my brother-in-law ordering deep-fried jalapenos and sweating profusely on a 45 degree day in Iowa.
Onto the current day; my wife and I take our kids to the Pit quite often. My son loves their cheese balls and also the vintage style arcade game they have there. I have fallen into a routine of ordering the “Slawich”. The slawich consists of warmed hoagie roll with tons of pulled pork topped with a nice refreshing coleslaw and pickles. I usually dump a bunch of their spicy bbq sauce on it. This is a meal for champions; filling, tasty, and unbelievably satisfying. The pork is smokey but not overally and coleslaw is just the right consistency; not too dry and not too creamy. For a side I usually go with their fries. They are the crinkle cut and are fried perfectly; nice and crisp on the outside and soft in the middle. Awesome!
We also sometimes order the brisket, fried pickles, and bbq baked beans. Everything I’ve had I’ve really enjoyed.
On tap they have Boulevard Pale Ale, Great River brewing’s red ale, PBR, and John’s White Ale from Millstream along with some sodas. My pick for BBQ in the IC area; check it out. (www.thepitsmokehouse.com)

Usually when Asian restaurants pop up in small towns you don’t expect too much in the quality of the food that is going to be served. So when my 5-year-old said he was hungry for “Kung-Fu Noodles” and I didn’t feel like driving to Iowa City or Cedar Rapids to get Chinese our only other option was Kyi Kyi restaurant in Lisbon, IA. Lisbon has your typical small town eateries, a pizza place, bars, and of course a Caseys. Getting to know that this is a family run restaurant specializes in dishes from their culture made me feel a little better about picking this place and our first experience was very pleasant. While waiting in line at Kyi Kyi I noticed 15-20 college students from local Cornell College in Mount Vernon lined up asking if they had Pho still available. Looking closer into this I saw that Pho was a type of soup with super thin slices of beef cooked in a scalding hot broth topped with bean spouts, cilantro, rice noodles, fresh jalapeno, and a lime wedge. I took note to order this the next time and today was the day to do so.
My wife and son shared an order of Lo Mein, which was good. We always get crab rangoons at any asian restaurant we go to and sometimes they can be very disappointing, too mushy, too little cream cheese, something like that; these were perfect, fried perfectly with the correct amount of filling; excellent!! Onto the Pho, we got it to go and my broth mixture had the beef already in it, you could tell it was freshly made as the beef had a gray look to it; not necessarily appetizing to look at but it gets better. I added the rice noodles first and then the sprouts, cilantro, fresh jalapeno, and a squeeze of lime wedge. Mixed it around and was blown away by how fresh and satisfying this dish was. This is the dish that I needed, that I had been missing after watching so many Anthony Bourdain “No Reservation” episodes where he goes off on how fantastic the cuisine in Asia is or Andrew Zimmern scarfing down bowl after bowl of this stuff on “Bizzare Foods”. This was it!! You think sometimes these guys over react with some of the foods they eat but I was absolutely blown away by this soup. Knowing I am supporting a local family, within a bike ride distance of a fantastic Asian restaurant in an otherwise lackluster culinary local (Lincoln Cafe not included in that of course). If you happen to find yourself in Lisbon, Iowa and need a meal option, please make it Kyi Kyi, get the Pho, and eat and slurp every bite.

I know, I know, I’ve already review Lincoln Cafe a couple of times but each time it has been a different meal and also my wife and I will not be having any romantic evenings out at nice restaurants anytime soon because Baron Baby #2 has arrived. 
Throwing ideas around for lunch today and in Mount Vernon, we are pretty limited unless we wanted to travel to CR or IC; which we occasionally do. Today however, we wanted to stay close and get some take out food which usually limits us to Hardees, Casey’s Pizza, Subway (I despise Subway and think it is evil), or a local bar. We often forget we have a gem of a restaurant in town that is Lincoln Cafe.
Today I ordered their special: Homemade bratwurst with their house made mustard and homemade potato salad. All of this was great. The brats were not too greasy and had the right amount of fat to give you the juicy wonderfulness that brats give you. The potato salad was very good and refreshing. Their soup special was a watermelon gazpacho. I’ve never ordered a gazpacho before just because cold soup really doesn’t appeal to me. This soup today will always make me rethink my choices. This soups was great! The best way to put it is a cold watermelon broth, with cucumbers, onions, spices, and herbs. Amazing! Refreshing, light, and the perfect thing (besides beer) to cool you off on a hot, muggy Iowa summer day. If you ever get to Mount Vernon, and you love food, make sure to check out Lincoln Cafe. (www.foodisimportant.com)

This past Friday night my wife and I had the pleasure of going out to eat with my parents and my sister and her husband. We had been talking up Reds’ Alehouse for a long time and since they live in Indiana, they had yet to try it. When we got there I noticed they didn’t have Bells Two Hearted Ale on tap, which is my go to beer. Usually when a place doesn’t have your go to, you are disappointed, but at a place like Reds where the kegs are ever-changing, it’s kind of nice because you get to try something new. Here’s the first beer I had:

**Rogue Ales Chatoe Rogue OREgasmic Ale**
An American pale ale and you know if Rogue makes it, it will be pretty good. The best part of this whole thing is that at Reds from 3-6 EVERYDAY it is happy hour! Two for ones baby!! A nice smooth pale ale that has the spicy fruit aroma and smell. Excellent beer for a summer day!

My dad decided to go with Rogue also, but he went a different direction with the style.
**Rogue Dad’s Little Helper Black IPA**
A somewhat new trend is taking the wonderfully bitterness and citrus flavor of IPAs and adding the nice roasted flavor of stouts, porters, and black lagers. When you drink this beer you get the hop flavor and bitterness right away and it finishes with the nice roasted maltiness.

We threw in a couple of standards (Moose Drool Brown Ale) and then we decided to try the flight. A flight of beers is something a bar/brewery puts together to let you try the different styles without having to order a pint of beer. We get smaller amounts to try. Reds’ flight on that Friday consisted of these four beers:
*Dieu De Ciel Peche Mortel which is an imperial stout that www.ratebeer.com gave 100/100. Its ABV is 9.5%
*Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast which is a stout with 7.5% ABV.
*Mikkeller USalive Belgian Wild Ale which has the hoppy aroma mixed with nice maltiness. Its ABV is 9.4%
*Mikkeller Big Worst which is an American Barley wine and its ABV is…….ready for this??……………18.5%

I’m not going to lie to you, the Big Worst scared the shit out of me, but since I was sharing it was worth trying. This flight of beers was amazing, I really enjoyed the Peche Mortel and the Beer Geek Breakfast stout, the USalive was a different style than I had ever had but would like to try more of that style. The Big Worst, although the 18.5% ABV was frightening to see, what is even more worrisome is the fact that the alcohol does not dominate this beer at all. You get a nice sweet beer with some hop bitterness and it is relatively smooth. A fantastic flight!!! If you want a beer experience in Eastern Iowa, Reds is your ticket. Check out their site www.redsalehousenl.com for constantly changing beer menu.

I talked about beer most of this review, but their food can’t go unnoticed. My wife always orders their seared tuna appetizer, which is always great. I had their Alehouse burger which I have yet to have a better burger in the area than this one. And the best was my mom’s order of Black and Tan onion rings. The best onion rings I have ever had! Thanks again to Reds and their knowledgeable wait staff and servers!

This past Friday night my wife and I had the pleasure of going out to eat with my parents and my sister and her husband. We had been talking up Reds’ Alehouse for a long time and since they live in Indiana, they had yet to try it. When we got there I noticed they didn’t have Bells Two Hearted Ale on tap, which is my go to beer. Usually when a place doesn’t have your go to, you are disappointed, but at a place like Reds where the kegs are ever-changing, it’s kind of nice because you get to try something new. Here’s the first beer I had:

**Rogue Ales Chatoe Rogue OREgasmic Ale**
An American pale ale and you know if Rogue makes it, it will be pretty good. The best part of this whole thing is that at Reds from 3-6 EVERYDAY it is happy hour! Two for ones baby!! A nice smooth pale ale that has the spicy fruit aroma and smell. Excellent beer for a summer day!

My dad decided to go with Rogue also, but he went a different direction with the style.
**Rogue Dad’s Little Helper Black IPA**
A somewhat new trend is taking the wonderfully bitterness and citrus flavor of IPAs and adding the nice roasted flavor of stouts, porters, and black lagers. When you drink this beer you get the hop flavor and bitterness right away and it finishes with the nice roasted maltiness.

We threw in a couple of standards (Moose Drool Brown Ale) and then we decided to try the flight. A flight of beers is something a bar/brewery puts together to let you try the different styles without having to order a pint of beer. We get smaller amounts to try. Reds’ flight on that Friday consisted of these four beers:
*Dieu De Ciel Peche Mortel which is an imperial stout that www.ratebeer.com gave 100/100. Its ABV is 9.5%
*Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast which is a stout with 7.5% ABV.
*Mikkeller USalive Belgian Wild Ale which has the hoppy aroma mixed with nice maltiness. Its ABV is 9.4%
*Mikkeller Big Worst which is an American Barley wine and its ABV is…….ready for this??……………18.5%

I’m not going to lie to you, the Big Worst scared the shit out of me, but since I was sharing it was worth trying. This flight of beers was amazing, I really enjoyed the Peche Mortel and the Beer Geek Breakfast stout, the USalive was a different style than I had ever had but would like to try more of that style. The Big Worst, although the 18.5% ABV was frightening to see, what is even more worrisome is the fact that the alcohol does not dominate this beer at all. You get a nice sweet beer with some hop bitterness and it is relatively smooth. A fantastic flight!!! If you want a beer experience in Eastern Iowa, Reds is your ticket. Check out their site www.redsalehousenl.com for constantly changing beer menu.

I talked about beer most of this review, but their food can’t go unnoticed. My wife always orders their seared tuna appetizer, which is always great. I had their Alehouse burger which I have yet to have a better burger in the area than this one. And the best was my mom’s order of Black and Tan onion rings. The best onion rings I have ever had! Thanks again to Reds and their knowledgeable wait staff and servers!