Like many during this pandemic, my boyfriend and I have a lot of time on our hands and are spending 90 percent of it at home. One way we’ve been breaking up the sameness of every day is by ordering takeout and delivery from restaurants we always meant to try but for some reason never […]
Food Reviews
Posted inFood & Drink
LV Recommends: Crab Attack Cajun Seafood
Opening a seafood restaurant in a landlocked Midwestern state in the midst of an unpredictable pandemic sounds like a near mythical feat. But that’s exactly what the owners of Crab Attack Cajun Seafood did, and with delicious results. Owners Stephanie Johnson, Nichole Davis and Gerald Seals wanted to bring something different to Cedar Rapids. Johnson […]
Posted inBread & Butter Dining Guide, Dining Recommendations, Food & Drink
LV Recommends: The Village Meat Market
If you find yourself wandering Czech Village, pop into the Village Meat Market Café for some simple and delicious fare. But don’t leave without taking some butcher loaf home.
Posted inDining Recommendations, Food & Drink
LV Recommends: Casey’s General Store
Casey’s is not a gas station, a friend once said: It’s a pizza place that has amenities, and those amenities happen to include gasoline. Looking at it this way takes some of the shame out of gas-station pizza, a shame the chain seems to insist on by putting its slices on triangular plates that go […]
Posted inDining Recommendations, Food & Drink
LV Recommends: Bar’ber Shop
If I hadn’t looked at the reviews online, I would have flown right by it. “Bar’ber Shop? I searched restaurants!” But upon more investigation, it appeared this place (located at 218 1st Ave. in Coralville) wasn’t serving up a shave and a haircut, but meals made from locally sourced foods at an affordable price. So, […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Chicken Little Reviews: Pho Zaika
The flavors of Vietnamese food — garlic, lemongrass, ginger, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, chilies, fish sauce — are some of my favorites. Thankfully, and at long last, there is delicious, complexly flavored Vietnamese food in the Iowa City area, at Coralville’s Pho Zaika. Pho Zaika, also known as “I ♥ Pho,” opened early this year […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Chicken Little Reviews: Haveli Indian Cuisine
The Iowa City area has seen many restaurants open in recent months, and one of these noteworthy newcomers is Haveli Indian Cuisine in Coralville (943 25th Ave.). With upwards of 120 items on the menu, I’ll admit I felt overwhelmed on my first visit. But after being warmly welcomed on multiple occasions, I decided to […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Chicken Little Reviews: Sushiya
Moshi moshi! Irrashaimase! If you’re greeted at a sushi restaurant by by three men in immaculate chef’s whites calling out from behind the small sushi bar, “irrashaimase!” (roughly translating to “welcome” in Japanese) and “moshi moshi,” trust that you are in good hands. At Sushiya — North Liberty’s newest Pan-Asian restaurant focusing on approachable Japanese […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Chicken Little Reviews: Kalona Brewing Company
Kalona Brewing Company 405 B Avenue, Kalona, Iowa Over the past year, the number of craft breweries in Iowa has grown from 40 to 52, with seven more currently in the planning stages of opening. This increase reflects a nationwide trend in both the food and beverage worlds of returning to local and small-scale production […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Chicken Little Reviews: Cobble Hill
Cedar Rapids’ restaurant history is rather infamous. Prohibition began there five years before the rest of America. On the outskirts of town, supper clubs like the Lighthouse Inn and Ced-Rel flirted with the likes of Al Capone and John Dillinger. Cobble Hill came to fruition in 2013, when Carrie and Andy Schumacher took over the […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Chicken Little Reviews: Thai Spice
It’s no coincidence that people who live in hotter climates enjoy fiery cuisine year-round; it’s basic science: Spicy food makes you sweat; sweat makes you cool down. The aptly named Thai Spice has the best green curry in town, but I don’t find it to be unbearably spicy; the coconut milk cuts the heat with […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Chicken Little Reviews: Saturday Farmers Market
You know that first perfect spring day after the endless winter? That cloudless day of birdsong, bike rides and bunnies; of budding flowers offering up their sweet stink to bees and passersby? That’s the day that makes many people fall (back) in love with Iowa City, and it’s the day we know the Farmers Market […]
