Best of the CRANDIC 2021 winner: Best African Cuisine The first time I tried to order from Tee’s Liberian Dish, I couldn’t. The restaurant had had such a busy day that they’d sold out of everything and had to close up shop early. That alone hints at what you can expect from Tee’s. The first […]
Tiffani Green
Posted inFood & Drink
The Takeaway: Deluxe welcomed me to the neighborhood with luxurious sweet and savory snacks
It’s a truth (nearly) universally acknowledged that buying a house you love is the cornerstone of the American dream. Often left out of that narrative is the fact that packing and moving all your belongings can be a nightmare. Rather than move all in one cortisol-drenched go, my boyfriend and I decided to spread our […]
Posted inFood & Drink
The Takeaway: Valérie’s French Cooking is très délicieux
I have been a Francophile for so long that I don’t quite remember when it started. At some point in my tweens, I grew fascinated with French culture. I took French through all four years of high school, listened to French pop music, watched French films and tried gamely to read French Vogue. I associated […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Built by immigrants in 1893, the Matyk Building is now a font of food and art in Cedar Rapids
The building that sits at 1029 3rd St SE in Cedar Rapids has roots almost as deep as the city itself. It was erected by the Matyk family, immigrants from Czechoslovakia, in 1893, only 44 years after the city was incorporated. The building began its life as a dry goods store, with the family living […]
Posted inFood & Drink
The Takeaway: I came for the enchiladas from Sobremesa and stayed for the mole sauce
Mexican food was always one of my first favorite cuisines, because my family ordered it all the time. It was a weekend staple and I remember loving to go to our family’s favorite place and gorge myself on the bowls of salsa and trays of chips because it was one of the few times I […]
Posted inFood & Drink
The Takeaway: Marquee Pizzeria’s sweet and spicy pie is my new vice
I have heard it said that pizza is like sex: even when it’s bad, it’s good and when it’s good, it’s amazing. I tend to agree. I’ve had slices from school cafeterias, gas stations, bars, food trucks, mall food courts and upscale pizzerias — and I’d eat every one of them again. Pizza is never […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Oasis expands its hummus empire into seven states, Costco as ‘Oasis Street Food’
Oasis Falafel began as a conversation. In 2004, when co-founders Ofer Sivan and Naftaly Stramer were hanging out in the Iowa City Ped Mall and craving the Mediterranean food they had grown up eating, they decided to recreate it themselves. Using family recipes, they started small, selling falafel and hummus from a food cart. The […]
Posted inFood & Drink
The Takeaway: Sumo Sushi and Ramen, Osaka’s successor, boasts excellent maki and ‘the good kind’ of crab rangoon
The first time I tried sushi I was, ironically, a vegetarian. Even as a non-vegetarian, the idea of eating raw fish was difficult for me to wrap my head around. At the time, sushi was still a rare specialty food that I associated with bigger cities and West Coast states. Sometime in the ’90s, sushi […]
Posted inFood & Drink
The Takeaway: Mosley’s is for barbecue lovers, from the ribs to the sides
I was raised by a father whose love of barbecue was such that he’d bring home ribs from a different restaurant almost every Friday as part of a long-running project to determine which ones were the best. I only vaguely remember the criteria: tenderness, something about the quantity and flavor of the sauce — I […]
Posted inFood & Drink
The Takeaway: The Dandy Lion is as wholesome and versatile as breakfast itself
Breakfast is perhaps the humblest meal, but also one of the most universally loved. It can be eaten at any time of day and its most common components — eggs, some sort of bread or pastry, maybe a little meat — can be put together in innumerable ways, from a basic scrambled egg and toast […]
Posted inCommunity/News
The Domestic Violence Intervention Program cooks up a new recipe for their biggest annual fundraiser
The Domestic Violence Intervention Program (DVIP) chose to reference the Super Bowl for their biggest annual fundraiser in an effort to set the record straight. “We wanted to debunk the myth that domestic abuse gets worse during the Super Bowl,” said Alta Medea-Peters, director of community engagement for DVIP. That myth, based on a number […]
Posted inFood & Drink
The Takeaway: Even over delivery, Stella stays crispy
Food comes in many forms and can serve many purposes. It can be a multi-course work of art. It can be a tentative lunch at a coffee shop to forge a connection with a new friend or a home-cooked meal to show our love to our families. It can be purely utilitarian, like chunks of […]
