Shakespeare's Pub & Grill in Iowa City Iowa

I had known about Shakespeare's for a long time, its been serving locals and townies on the East Side of Iowa City forever. Isn't it crazy how the dive bar on the east side with the busy parking lot seems to have the best tenderloin I've found in Iowa City. I have a couple more places over here to check out since I never made to to Iron Hawk before they closed last year.


Location: 819 S 1st Ave in Iowa City

Directions:I always get lost on this side of Iowa City, Shakespeare's is just a few blocks north of the old mall.

Online at: website is HERE.

The Tenderloin: The meat inside was a thick cut of soft white pork loin. The batter formed a thick and crispy layer that included many pieces that stuck out for extra crunchiness. There was one little dark spot in the meat that I hope doesn't appear on other sandwiches they serve. This reminded me of battered loins from The Elms Club in Creston or Gramma's Kitchen in Walcott. Served on a very soft toasted bun with your choice of fixings. This was a nicely battered loin Overall 8.2 out of ten.

Price: $9.50 with fries.

Also on the menu: There are daily specials and the menu is bar food like burgers, sandwiches, and fried appetizers.

Service: There is bar service with wait staff slowly working through the crowded room.

Ambiance: the pub describes itself as an "East side watering hole", and the interior is dark with beer signs and a pool table and the bucket seats at the bar felt like they were decades old. I appreciate the font on their sign.

Final Thoughts: Blow, blow, thou winter wind. Thou art not so unkind, As man's ingratitude.

Shorts Burgers Eastside in Iowa City, Iowa

The original Shorts burgers and Shine in downtown Iowa City has been massively successful and earned mentions in every local media outlet and the New York Times. They have built up a reputation as the best burger place in Iowa City with a huge selection to choose from.


Location: 521 Westbury Dr on the East side of Iowa city in Eastern Iowa.

Directions: Its near the intersection of Scott Boulevard and Rochester Ave or the Herbert Hoover Highway on the far east portion of Iowa City. There isn't much else out here so you can see the place from the boulevard before navigating the side streets.

Online at: Website is HERE.

The Tenderloin: The problem here is that the cut of pork loin seemed to never have been tenderized. This was one chewy sandwich from start to finish. The batter formed a decent crunch that melted away without any real beer flavor. Served on a durable bun that felt calibrated for heavy juicy burgers. This seemed like an extra item tacked onto the menu. Overall 6.4 out of ten.

Price: $10.00 with a mountain of handcut fries that are the real star of the show.

Fries are good

Also on the menu: I counted 24 specialty burgers, 13 chicken sandwiches, and six black bean burgers. The East location has expanded appetizers and chicken wings.

Service: It seemed like students running the show while I stopped in for lunch.

Ambiance: The interior design is great with nice wood fixtures on the bar and booths, with exposed metal and televisions everywhere.


Final Thoughts: The location in a strip mall between Middlebury, Eastbury, and Westbury Roads feels like the geography of being nowhere. I know this area will fill up someday but right now its just emptiness. The original and East location are still places I would go for a burger. My next stop in Iowa City will probably be at Iron Hawk downtown or Shakespeare's Pub.

Joensy's in Iowa City

Is there any single tenderloin place more legendary than the original Joensy's in Solon? These people had been promoting their claim to the Biggest and Best Tenderloin in Iowa for as long as anyone can remember. The other locations have been thriving for years in Cedar Rapids and Center Point, operated by members of the Joens family. The old location was a true small town dive that I always had on my list of places to visit eventually. Its closure came as a surprise, I had only visited the Center Point location and hadn't made revisiting enough of a priority. The convenience of the Iowa City location made a visit incredibly easy while driving through Eastern Iowa.

Location: 2563 N. Dodge St in Iowa City in Eastern Iowa, its just 9 miles south on the road from the original location in Solon.

Directions: This is just a half a block off the Interstate at the Highway 1 North Dodge St. exit north of Iowa City.

Online At: Facebook page is HERE.

The Tenderloin: This is big but it felt like just over the usual eight ounces that most places pass off as a "jumbo" tenderloin. The very white meat is meticulously trimmed of all fat in my sandwich, while also a consistently tenderized and thin meat texture.. The interior would best be described as "steamy" but not juicy while very hot. I really couldn't taste anything in the breading, it was thick in parts where the dryness and crumbliness became a factor. Served on untoasted bun with basic fixings free. Overall 7.0 out of ten.

Sandwich Menu

Price: The Large Tenderloin is listed at $9.50 but that is with fries and a choice of toppings. The plain giant tenderloin by itself was $7.00

Toppings?

Also on the menu: The Tenderloins are available grilled or breaded and with a giant choice of topping which don't look all that special. I understand the need to upsell and get more revenue per item but these topping just didn't look worth trying. There are also salads, steak and shrimp baskets, and other sandwiches.

Service: I walked in at lunch time and there was some quick table service. The counter is an option for to-go orders.

Ambiance: Strip mall ambiance with tables and booths for seating. The walls had mostly sports themed or beer graphics.

Final Thoughts: Joensy's goes way back, and its Solon location was a destination for Iowa City and Cedar Rapids people for years. The claim of Biggest and Best Tenderloins drew plenty of visitors but I don't know how many were regulars or just passers by. Its almost a sign of the times that a microbrewery could afford to buy out their old building, raze it to the ground, and construct a new one in its place. The attentive manager told a few patrons about Hawkeye football players stopping in recently, that might explain some things.

Bluebird Diner in Iowa City

While cruising through restaurant websites looking for places to try, this diner in Iowa City reminded me of a place I had visited earlier in Waterloo. Bluebird Diner has a mission to serve homemade comfort food made with fresh and locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. Between this place and Newton's Paradise Cafe in Waterloo, Eastern Iowa seems to have a couple of better, new, retro self-styled "diners" than any of the new diners I have found in Central Iowa.

Location: 330 East Market Street in Iowa City, Eastern Iowa.

Directions: Its across the street from Johns Grocery on the north side of downtown Iowa City.

Online at: their website is HERE.


The Tenderloin: In the dim light that made my photos turn out bad, the sandwich had a medium size and shape that was between a mitten and the triangular loin cut. The white meat was cut with the grain and didn't feel like it had been tenderized. There was a good cracker crunch and just a little seasoning in the breading. The whole thing just wasn't tender enough. Served with all the fixings on a soft toasted bun. Overall 7.1 out of ten.

Price: $8.75 with a side, also available grilled or blackened. They gave me a mountain of lightly seasoned fries with my sandwich.

Also on the menu: Comfort food including a full breakfast menu with burgers, sandwiches and daily specials for dinner.

I sat right in front of the Cinnamon Rolls, and figured they were worth taking a picture:
Service: It looked like two student waitresses and a cook when I visited during the off-hours. The receipt included cute phrases like "It was our tweet to serve you" and "have a pheasant day!"

Ambiance: I think this building was a paint store when I went to school in Iowa City long time ago. The exterior was designed to resemble Edward Hopper's 1942 painting Nighthawks, my camera couldn't really capture the dark light after the sun went down. The diner in Nighthawks has no door, but the Bluebird has a door with a curtain inside.

Final Thoughts: I would come back to this place to try the breakfast items that sound good like the Biscuits & Gravy or the Egg Omelet choices. I haven't spent enough time trying tenderloins in Iowa City since I last wrote up Midtown Family Restaurant a couple years ago. My list of places to check includes Hamburg Inn No.2, Shakespeare's Pub, and a long list of small town cafe's in the area.

Augusta Restaurant in Oxford

UPDATED WITH NEW VISIT AND NEW PHOTOS SUMMER 2014: I was able to make it back and I wasn't satisfied with my first batch of photos. I had always stopped in when I was in too much of a hurry to eat in or when the Augusta Restaurant was closed. The new loin they served me was so tenderized that it broke into two pieces while cooking. The bun was just okay but the mayonnaise adds a little bit of a tasty rich extra bite on the top.


 ORIGINAL is POST FROM 2009

The Iowa Pork Producer's Association releases an award for the best tenderloin each year, and this place won in 2008. Many agree that this is probably the best of all the tenderloins to win the annual award for "best tenderloin". Its at a place founded by a couple of Louisiana natives who moved to Iowa after Hurricane Katrina. Oxford was once "famous" for the book The Oxford Project, which took photos of the people here in 1985 and then again in 2005. Now its home to a great tenderloin.


Location: 101 S. Augusta Ave. in Oxford, Iowa (population 705 in 2000 census). Its about 15 minutes west of Iowa City.


Directions: You can take I-80 from Iowa City or Highway 6 from the Coralville Strip to reach the county road that forms Augusta Ave., the main street through Oxford.


Online At: http://www.augustarestaurant.net/

The Tenderloin: The size is probably just under the super-jumbo average of about 12 ounces, stretching across the takeout box. But this doesn't mean a sacrifice of quality for size. A theme here is high-quality ingredients. The bread crumbs are huge and get separated from the loin easily. Its a great cut of poirk loin, well tenderized yet firm and bright white inside. Served on a fresh toasted bun with tomato, mayo, and red onions. Overall 9.5/10.


Price: $10.00, served with hand-cut fries or sweet-potato chips. Its still not the most expensive tenderloin in Iowa.

Also on the menu: There is a full homemade Cajun menu including Crawfish Beignets fresh cut steaks.


Service: Its only table seating inside with wait staff that must come from across the corridor area.

Ambiance: You pass through a curtain to enter a dimly lit dining area with Louisiana color scheme of purple with accents of green and gold.


Final Thoughts: This place is close enough to the population centers in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids to have this kind of place in such a small town. Having a couple of migrants from Louisiana come here and make the best tenderloin ever kind of pokes a hole through any logic in the idea that only Iowans can make these things right.