Last month, I had the pleasure of taking a weekend trip to Chicago. One of my goals, while there, was to find a great restaurant, a relatively easy task in big cities. I poured over restaurant reviews and menus and looked for available reservations.
LV Recommends
Posted inRecreation
Bumper Crops: You don’t have to bowl to ball at SpareMe, home of plentiful pinball machines and friendly competition
October Pinball TournamentSpareMe Bowling & Arcade, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 6 p.m. As an increasingly older, increasingly grumpy Iowa City townie, I have never been more hesitant to write a glowing review of a place. But my god, if you haven’t been hanging out at SpareMe, especially on Wednesdays, what are you even doing with your […]
Posted inFood & Drink
LV Recommends: The Cave DSM is a purveyor of natural wine, fancy snacks and some of the city’s best live music
I you want to feel like you’re doing something bougie while still on a budget, go chill at The Cave DSM. Situated at the very edge of downtown in a small building so nondescript you’d miss it if you weren’t looking for it (I nearly did), The Cave is a wine bar that might also […]
Posted inFood & Drink
LV Recommends: The new food menu at Octopus, Cedar Falls’ accidentally iconic music venue, makes it even harder to ever go home
I arrived at the Octopus in Cedar Falls for the first time on a Friday around 6 p.m., hoping to catch the weekly 5 o’clock Free Chicken Wings special, a tradition/homage to the old crew that ran Stebs. Clocking the where-are-the-wings look on my face, the bartender chuckled good-naturedly and said, “Yeah, we had a […]
Posted inFood & Drink
LV Recommends: 6 local restaurants to try in Dubuque
Monk’s is a great hangout in the charming Cable Car Square (which boasts the world’s shortest, steepest funicular railway!) with coffee and tea drinks and curated beers. Hang out on the deck with a boutique IPA or cozy up on the sofa with a chai latte.
Posted inFood & Drink
LV Recommends: Five local restaurants to try in Waterloo
The po’ boys are so fresh and expertly battered at Rodney’s Kitchen that you might you’ll be swept into a flavor storm
Posted inFood & Drink
LV Recommends: 8 local restaurants to try in the Quad Cities
Mantra Indian Cuisine & Spirits is a classic Northern Indian restaurant that has been a staple of downtown Davenport cuisine for years. Best known for their lunch buffet,
Posted inFood & Drink
LV Recommends: 14 local restaurants to try in Cedar Rapids
Nestled into the back corner of the Town & Country Shopping Center, Siamville is one of those spots that’s easy to miss but hard to forget. It’s the perfect place for a casual lunch date, with a pad thai that’s right at the ideal intersection of sweet and savory.
Posted inFood & Drink
LV Recommends: 13 local restaurants to try in Iowa City & Coralville
A popular breakfast eatery for nearly 90 years, Hamburg Inn No. 2 found new life in 2023 when new owners saved it from certain death.
Posted inFood & Drink
From gold-leafed banana splits to cocktails served courtside, these newcomers are out to impress Iowa diners
The opening of this combination bakery, deli, cafe and fine dining dinner spot in July 2023 fulfilled a lifelong dream of owner Cory Barrett, who has served as pastry chef and executive chef in some of the nation’s most renowned restaurants.
Posted inFood & Drink
Iowa gastrology: Local restaurant recommendations based on your zodiac sign
If astrology is a method of divination based on the positions of stars and planets used for predicting and explaining human events, then gastrology must be a method of divining dining destinations based on cosmic culinary cravings. Read on for your hunger horoscope. ARIES (Mar 21-Apr 19) Oak Park, Des Moines Energetic, influential, confident and […]
Posted inBread & Butter Dining Guide
LV Recommends: 12 local restaurants to try in Des Moines & Ames
Chain and Spoke is half coffee shop, half bike shop. Cycling gear fills in the industrial décor, and walls of windows give the space natural light.
