For the 2025 Bread & Butter dining guide, Little Village food reviewers visited and reviewed 10 locally owned central Iowa eateries. DES MOINES Clyde’s Fine Diner 111 E Grand Ave Suite 111, Des Moines, 515-243-3686 Clyde’s is one of my staples and legitimately one of the best restaurants I’ve ever been to. Truly putting the […]
Food & Drink
Posted inRecreation
Can I eat that? An educational outing with the Prairie States Mushroom Club
Hunters waited at the Ryerson’s Woods trailhead in Iowa City on a beautiful late April Saturday morning. Older men with walking sticks wore blaze orange caps. University students in shorts and sneakers chatted among themselves. A handful of middle-aged women and a few retired folks rounded out the group. I joined them with my notebook […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Coffee Cats in Valley Junction, Iowa’s first cat cafe, has homed more than 1,600 felines
After 40 years as a mental health counselor, Mary Jankowski wanted to do something different, but wasn’t sure what. Then she saw an article about a cat cafe and thought it looked fun. So she partnered with the Animal Rescue League of Iowa and, in the summer of 2020, opened Coffee Cats, the first cat […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Kitty-corner from the Old Cap is a social club so charming, you’ll want to take home the staff
The first cat café in the world opened in Taipei, Taiwan in 1998. Called Cat Flower Garden, it was born out of its founders’ love for local strays and from a desire to set their café apart from others in the area. All the cats are permanent residents of the cafe. The concept quickly spread […]
Posted inRecreation
No yard? No problem! Here’s how to start a container garden
We are now living in the bizarro timeline and food is just going to get more expensive, so all of us should be thinking about brushing up our gardening know-how. I started gardening in 2020 and I am still an amateur, but I can tell you a lot about how to start and nurture a […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Bumper Crops: There’s good food, beer and pinball to be found inside this Quad Cities super-venue
Not doing things is pretty much my favorite thing to do, but I recently set aside a Saturday afternoon to hop in a car with a couple buds, Ryan and Doug, and make a pin-grimage to East Moline to check out Midwest Ale Works. By the time we arrived, Ryan and I were in the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Rozz-Tox’s owner and ‘custodian’ welcomes you to ‘do something fucking cool’ in the Q.C. space
Rock Island, Illinois’ Rozz-Tox is that rare entertainment space that rewards awareness, nurtures community and celebrates revolutionary creativity. Everywhere you look, there’s something interesting to contemplate, literature to read, terrific music and conversation on the air, mixed with the perfume of incredible food. You’re stimulated to explore broader associations between what you’re listening to, what […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa lawmakers move to prioritize corn, pork and dairy in school lunches
Iowa senators advanced a bill Tuesday to implement nutrition guidelines and education in Iowa schools that prioritize the state’s “unique” food sources like corn, pork and dairy. The bill would also update school health class curriculum to include a section on nutrition and include instruction on food production and the benefits of local sourcing in […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Channel David Lynch at one of these Iowa diners
“I had a dream about this place…” —Dan, Mulholland Drive David Lynch was famously fond of Bob’s Big Boy, visiting the greasy spoon “just about every day” in the mid-’70s/early ‘80s. Classic American diners also feature heavily in his work, from Twin Peaks’ Double R to the dreamlike Winkie’s Diner in Mulholland Drive. “There’s a […]
Posted inRecreation
Bumper Crops: Ames is for pinball lovers
Valentine’s Day is here, and when I think of Valentine’s Day, I think of love. When I think of love, I think of pinball. The two aren’t that different, really. Both require good timing and the right amount of physical interaction: play too gently and your chances of scoring go down; play too hard and […]
Posted inFood & Drink
A lean, green protein in the land of pork tenderloins, these bicoastal oysters feed a growing Iowa fanbase
Every year on a Saturday in late March, thousands of fresh oysters arrive in chilled boxes to Club 76, the pub at the American Legion Post 1776 in North Liberty. They’re ordered for the Post’s popular Stout, Sours & Oysterfest. At the all-day festival, guests will go through between 3,500 and 5,000 oysters, eating them […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Wahlburgers loses its biggest franchisee as Hy-Vee quits the celebrity burger business
Hy-Vee announced this week that it is getting rid of all the Wahlburgers still operating in its stores. Hy-Vee Market Grilles will take the place of the celebrity-adjascent burger joints. Interestingly, Hy-Vee’s news release about the change never mentions Wahlburgers. The West Des Moines-based supermarket chain simply said it will “transition all its in-store restaurant […]
