If you’re craving a ridiculously good burger, hot dog, or the best tater tots you can find, then you need to head to Marshalltown, Iowa and check out The Flying Elbow (229 N 13th St, Marshalltown, IA) A professional wrestling themed burger joint, with wrestling themed names for their burgers/dogs/and fries or create your own perfect burger! Not only do they have great food, a nice array of Iowa brewed beers as well. I like to try a bit of everything so we ordered quite the haul to try, here’s a look at the deliciousness that went down!
BEER
Sweet, delicious, frothy, beer. The perfect accompaniment to a burger or a dog. The Flying Elbow had 12 beers on tap and I went with Adventurous Warrior from Adventurous Brewing and followed that with a Big Grove Easy Eddy. Cold and delicious.
STARTERS
Ok…here’s where I was blown away….the damn tots “Vader Tots” to be more precise…..so good, had to get two orders. Shredded hash browns with cheese, seemed to be some smoke in them as well, deep fried and served with a cherry smoked ketchup. Absolutely outstanding and worth the drive to Marshalltown alone!
BURGERS/DOGS/SANDWICHES
Burger #1 – The Tombstone– The Undertaker would be proud to have this burger named after him. Tons of flavor in this one. Toppings of havarti cheese, guac, bacon, sour cream, and a hot sauce called Death Valley Hot Sauce that added a perfect kick to this burger. Would order again.
Burger #2 – The Briscoe Burger– an homage to the Briscoe Brothers and patty melts! Nothing like a patty melt starting off with Brioche Texas Toast! Add swiss/american cheese, smoked bacon, mayo and tomato and you have a tough to beat patty melt!
Burger #3 – The Vinnie – pretty much a Big Mac on steriods. My favorite of the bunch and definitely worth seeking!
Sandwich #1 – Jake the Steak – smoked tri-tip thinly sliced and doused in a chimichurri, bell peppers, onions, cheese, and mayo. Tri-tip smoked right out back on one of their smokers and the flavor shined. Perfect amount of smoke, extremely tender chew. Absolutely, a wonderful sandwich.
Dog #1 – The Punk – named after the “Second City Saint” CM Punk, this is their take on the traditional Chicago style hot dog but amped up a bit. Neon green relish, pickle spear, sport peppers, red onion, diced Roma tomato, mustard and celery salt. Delicious!
There’s no question I will go back. Terrific food, tasty beer, and a wonderful and unique ambiance and experience for a pro wrestling fan. Not a pro wrestling fan? No worries, the food here is totally worth your trip!
I wrote this review for Little Village Magazine which you can check out by clicking HERE:
The latest venture from the group that brought you Lua Brewing company has seemingly taken over Grand Avenue in West Des Moines! Either/Or restaurant (6222 Grand Ave. Des Moines) opened their doors in early Fall of 2023 and has been consistently busy since.
“Lua is about craft beer and food. It was our first, so it’s always our baby, but it’s small. Either/Or is bigger on just about every scale. We still do craft beer and handmade food as well as we can, but we have cocktails, we have a private event space, we have a huge patio with green space and a playscape and five fire pits. We have twice as many team members and so much more space. At Either/Or, you can do date night or you can do family night or you can do Friendsgiving. It’s really flexible for any occasion,” said owner Scott Selix.
Their cuisine can be described as elevated American fare with the focus being on the quality of the food that they put out. All of their burgers are ground in house, juices squeezed fresh for their amazing cocktails, and the always fresh and never frozen concept. “We have a great team. Our head brewer, Zack, did the draft beer list with input from all of us. Our chefs, James and Cesar, did the food menu. And then it was a group effort on making high-end cocktails. So it was a collection of people. And the one thing they all had in common was we created what we like. The beer list has Bierstadt and Sierra Nevada and Confluence and Lua, but also High Life and Duchesse, because that’s what we like to drink. The food menu was a collection of foods we’ve been inspired by. Cesar, our chef de cuisine, is of Mexican heritage, and so there’s some fresh Mexican inspired dishes. But he and James love Asian food as well, so there’s some Asian influence. We also make homemade bologna, which is a very lengthy process and is distinctly European/American. We grind our own burgers everyday, and we only source 100% Iowa-sourced Certified Angus Beef. We pretty much said “let’s create a restaurant we’d want to dine at,” and that’s what we did! So the food is approachable, but unlike stuff you’ll find elsewhere and always homemade (see the Bologna).”
On why the ownership group chose this particular location for Either/Or, Selix responded, “It’s actually just barely east of the WDM border, so still in Des Moines by about 100 yards. But I played soccer at the soccer fields just south of Either/Or. Some partners on the building showed us the space and once whit and I saw it, we were set on it being a restaurant. Those partners live within walking distance, so they saw potential in the building. And then we saw it right away too. The huge patio, the connection to my old soccer club, the great location on Des Moines’ front porch from WDM, it all came together pretty quick with the tremendous team we have.”
On this particular Friday, I had the pleasure of taking my two daughters with me to check out this restaurant. They are both familiar with Lua Brewing as we’ve frequented that place many times, and so when I told them the owners of Lua(Scott and Whitney Selix) have opened a restaurant and we are going to get to try it tonight, they were extremely excited. Upon entering, you are greeted with colorful and eclectic decor. The bar pops and the open kitchen gives you an inside look at how your dishes are put together. A very cool, casual, and comfortable feel right away.
We were seated immediately, although the place was already very busy. The menu had many options that appealed to us so limiting what to order was a tall task for 3 hungry patrons. The beer list was loaded with delicious options, noticing that Lua had multiple beers on tap made my decision easy though.
BEER I went with their latest double IPA, Dancer. Although it checks in at 8.6% ABV, it’s scarily drinkable and I had to convince myself to not order another. I love the hop combo on this beer and the creamy texture it brings. Lua makes some of the best beers in Iowa and this one is right up there for me as a favorite. Fantastic beer, a beer of the year candidate for sure!
APPETIZER
Quite a few delicious options on the appetizer portion of the menu, but the clear cut favorite that my daughter’s chose were the Mexican cheese curds. If cheese curds are on the menu, there’s a 99% chance that my kids would have me order them. These cheese curds, however, were very much more inspired than just your basic fried cheese curd. House battered and served with pickled fresno chiles, cilantro and a chipotle ranch dressing these were some of the best cheese curds any of us had ever eaten. The perfect bite consisted of a curd, a pickled fresno, and a leaf of cilantro with just a tiny bit of dressing. It hit all the taste buds. A great dish.
MAIN COURSE
We decided to do a bit of sharing and order a couple of sandwiches. I asked our waiter what Either/Or was known for besides the smash burgers, the fried bologna was recommended. I also wanted to try a vegetarian dish so I got the Italian mushroom sandwich. This bologna sandwich is unlike any you have had. It’s not your Oscar Meyer bologna sandwich. It’s made in house and the flavor is off the charts. Almost a pepperoni spice to it, it melts in your mouth and they stack this sandwich high with it. An excellent sandwich. The mushroom melt made you forget you weren’t eating meat. Loaded with perfectly cooked mushrooms and topped with a delicious homemade giardiniera and a side of jus, this sandwich would be perfect for not only a vegetarian diet, but even the biggest carnivores can get behind a sandwich this tasty!
DESSERT There was no question what dessert we were going to order. My kids have been rice pudding lovers since they were little. Either/Or’s rice pudding was extraordinary. Either/Or added some apple compote and then topped their pudding off with a sesame tuile, which is a baked wafer. A great final dish to cap off a really wonderful meal.
OVERALL I’m really excited to see what Either/Or brings to their menu and what they will come up with for their seasonal offerings. Their menu is ever changing and the way they play with fresh ingredients and the detail put into their dishes is commendable and appreciated. This place will be consistently busy, their food is delicious and approachable. This ownership group is doing all the right things and they continue to set the bar high for other establishments. If you are in the West Des Moines area, this is a must stop for a truly wonderful meal!
It’s always fun when you are traveling through a big town or city and see a random restaurant/bar/tavern pop up on a neighborhood corner far seemingly far removed from the chains that have taken over main drag USA. Heading down a street in the Oak Hill Jackson neighborhood in downtown Cedar Rapids and seeing a lovely sign of a cow with a halo over its head was a welcomed sight! Sacred Cow Tavern was calling my name and I couldn’t wait to answer!
Opened in October of 2022 as a the brainchild of the FNF restaurant group, this restaurant has quite a history, including being a church a few different times! This restaurant group is known for a wide range of food items that can satisfy any diet and they’ve done an amazing job incorporating vegan/vegetarian dishes to be part of their main menu as well. Appetizers, smash burgers, sandwiches, wings, salads and much more with a wonderfully revamped image of those dishes and executed perfectly as well as their vegan/vegetarian options that are more than just a black bean burger, this menu is packed with flavor.
The ambiance upon walking in gives you complete comfort, a homey vibe and a place where you don’t necessarily want to leave. First point of order….BEER…..need to check out the beer menu. Although Sacred Cow does not have any tap beer, they do offer a variety of cans from local breweries plus a fully stocked bar for mixers and wine. I went light, a Backpocket 319 lager, knowing that I was going to be putting some food away.
It was restaurant week and so, like many other local establishments, Sacred Cow had a few specials that they were advertising. One special was Elote Chicken Wings. If you’re not familiar with elote, it’s a popular Mexican street dish of corn on the cob slathered in mayo/cream sauce dusted with chili powder and cilantro. Sacred Cow took the sauce dimension, added some grilled corn and cilantro to their extremely crispy chicken wings and final result were some of the best and most creative wings I’ve had! Hoping these find their way to the menu!
The other special item for “Restaurant Week” was a walking taco smashburger. I’m a lover all of kinds of burgers and smashburgers are always hard to pass up, add walking taco ingredients to it and I’m sold. A smashed patty, perfectly cooked, topped with cheese, doritos, a cilantro lime crema and lettuce was more than a mouthful in every bite! Excellent burger, something I would order again.
Overall, this is a place I hope to be a patron of for a long time to come and I hope many more neighborhood bars begin popping up in our area. Sacred Cow Tavern is definitely a welcoming place for any and all! Cheers!
