Prior to ordering from Ramen Belly this week, I had eaten restaurant-quality ramen exactly once — in 2018 while visiting my sister in Portland, Oregon. At the time, it was a novelty, and I didn’t really know what it was, my only previous ramen experience being with the kind that comes in a brick along […]
Food & Drink
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‘Kitchen to me is all about family’: Maggie’s new chef talks Midwest cuisine and kitchen culture
Maggie’s Farm Wood Fired Pizza has a new chef who wants to recreate the feeling of warm family get-togethers in the kitchen. Chef Billy Jimenez said that when he was growing up in Colorado, the kitchen was always the center of their home, where his family leaned on the countertops, eating and talking. He remembered […]
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The Takeaway: Basta is a carb-lovers paradise, but don’t sleep on their salad
Restaurant food is a great way to get your recommended daily intake of cheese, bread, deep-fried things and cured meat. And after weeks of moving, late hours and takeout meals, many of them chosen exclusively because the restaurant in question delivered after 9 p.m., my body had not seen a vegetable in sometime. It was […]
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Dumpling Darling in downtown Iowa City is closing
Dumpling Darling, a farmers-market favorite turned downtown Iowa City eatery, is closing. “As many of you know, it has been a rough couple of years for the restaurant industry,” Dumpling Darling management wrote in a post on the business’s Instagram page Monday. “Between the product shortages, labor shortages, the overall rising costs of doing business […]
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CR’s Willie Fairley is heading to Kentucky to feed tornado victims
Another storm has ravaged the United States, and Cedar Rapids barbecue-master Willie Ray Fairley is on the move again. An outbreak of tornados Friday left a path of devastation through parts of Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee and especially Kentucky. At least 64 Kentucky residents have been confirmed dead, ranging in age from 5 months to 86 […]
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The Takeaway: CRANDIC award winner Tee’s Liberian Dish engages all the senses
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 […]
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Best of the CRANDIC Spotlight: The Webster, new to the IC restaurant scene, has already made a big splash
The Webster (202 N Linn St, Iowa City, 319-800-0720) is the winningest Best of the CRANDIC competitor this year, taking home Best Appetizers/Small Plates, Best Atmosphere, Best Chef (Sam Gelman), Best Food Scene Game Changer, Best Restaurant, Best Restaurant for a First Date, Best Restaurant Staff, Best Restaurant to Take Your Parents To (tie), Best […]
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Best of the CRANDIC 2021: Food & Drink
The results are in! Browse the winners of Little Village’s 2019 Best of the CRANDIC competition in the Food & Drink category, representing voters’ favorite restaurants, bars, growers and innovators in the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City area. Best African Cuisine or Market Tee’s Liberian Dish 1271 1st Ave SE, Cedar Rapids, 609-516-4427, teesliberiandish.com Best Appetizers/Small Plates […]
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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 […]
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Refugee-led nonprofit Tapestry Farms fights Quad Cities food deserts with gardens
Half of Iowa’s grocery stores closed in the last quarter of the 20th century, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. Today, roughly 40 percent of Iowans live a half mile or more from the nearest source of fresh fruits and vegetables—a minor inconvenience for folks with ready access to transportation, but devastating to […]
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Cocktails for the whole family! Inside Unimpaired, downtown Iowa City’s new dry bar
Wednesday night, my daughter and I headed out to a soft opening of Unimpaired, the newest and perhaps most unique bar in town. You read that right: my 11-year-old gladly came along with me for a “fancy ladies night” to Iowa City’s only dry bar. I’ve been stalking the Unimpaired – Iowa City Facebook page […]
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The other, other, other white meat: Why you should consider adding rabbit to your diet
My pandemic project ended up being more unconventional than most. (I tried sourdough at the beginning, but forgot the starter in the fridge until last week.) As an anti-factory-farming activist, I found myself drawn to alternative food sources. I began raising and processing rabbits for meat and fur. Rabbits are a rare meat here in […]
