Since I travel abroad frequently enough and I have so much time to write on my travels, I don't so much write about my travels domestically, but this one was different and I decided to enter a short post.
I spent two nights and almost two days in Spencer, Iowa, in the northwest corner of the state. First time ever to this town where the University of Iowa has a Child Health Specialty Clinic. It looks like the town is established around a cross between highways 18 and 71. Initially, I thought Highway 18 was the only throughway and wondered what people did here, in this tiny "village". When I started looking for the Mexican restaurant, which took me to the downtown area, I recognized the town had at least two dimensions. It has a cute rural midwestern donwtown with an antique shop, bakeries, a jewelry store, even a health food store. I was impressed with the latter, although I couldn't catch it open.
Once the training was done, which was what had brought me to this town in the first place, I decided to find the famous steakehouse: Primerib steakhouse. I couldn't believe my eyes when I reached the restaurant. It was in the middle of two acres of a parking lot, which was full! I thought the entire town must be there, it was Friday night after all. The clientale looked like the upper class of the town and perhaps its surrounding area. I could understand why more than half of Iowans are overweight if not obese. I was the only one in the entire place who was not overweight. Looking around, my coronaries felt clogging up. what the heck, I ordered my primerib just like everybody else, my HDL is sailing in high 90s, my blood pressure is only 105/57, I calmed down my guilty conscience and started waiting for my steak, whihc apparently was roasting all day long.
I learned more about the steak later on: They cook the entire rib cage in a special oven over the entire day and believe it or not with no sauces added, not even salt or pepper. Works for me, I hate the barbecue sauce and all others anyway. I had to make sure the meat would taste only like meat unadultarated. Just like fish, meat should be cooked with no additives if I am to eat it as the main dish. I must say, I had the best rib/steak of my life. It came in sliced in its own juice, nothing added. I seasoned it with a bit of salt and pepper. With my salad and vegetables instead of potato (that's where I drew the line to differentiate my menu from the others around me) I calmed down my guilty conscience one more time for eating such a big chunk of meat. When I left the restaurant, I was content, for having found such an interesting place in Spencer with a population of only 13,000.
Yet, the real gem was to be discovered, yet. The next and my last day in Spencer, I wanted to have a simple breakfast at one of the bakeries before taking off. I found Carol's Bakery and Toad's Coffee Shop on my cell phone. As I was looking for Toad's (just because the name triggered my curiosity) I came across Carol's. I thought, what the heck, let me try this one. It was indeed a local's favorite. It was packed with Spencerites, not only that, both of the servers knew everybody by name from kids to adults. Furthermore, they also knew who would order what. I smiled to myself recalling Bill and his relationship with the servers at the Java House in Iowa City. They had all learned that he would drink his coffee 1/3 dark roast regular and 2/3 decaf. He took pride in that. I smiled to him, too. Not finding anything to my taste (everything looked so sweet, nothing savory other than a three-grain bread), I decided to try Toad's as well.
Toad's Roast Coffee Shop
Toad's is located in an old but well-kept building. I climbed up the stairs, entered the shop, oops, did I come to the right place? There are a couple of small tables, and a few chairs, but no customers, in fact nobody in sight. Just as I looked to my left, a curious looking man stepped out from around the corner. I heard myself utter "Is this the coffee shop?" How rude! Of course he got offended "What, doesn't it look like a coffee shop?" How embarrassing, what do I say now? I mumbled something like "Well, this is my first time in Spencer, I wasn't sure..." He was kind enough not to confront me any further with my putting my foot in my mouth. He had brownies for food, but the best coffee in town and probably in a large circle around here. Looking around a bit more, I could tell, this place would be much more interesting to learn more about Spencer than Carol's. But I couldn't have breakfast with brownies, either. I made a decision on the spot. I would get the three-grain bread from Carol's and olives and/or cheese from the health food store and come back to Toad's for coffee. With that plan, as the shop-owner, who will turn out to be Jim in a little bit, I headed to Carol's as Jim was making decaf coffee for me.
I went back to Carol's and did get a three-grain loaf of bread, shoot, it was frozen. Headed to to teh health food store to see what they had, it was closed at 10 am on Saturday. I guess their work schedule is pretty flexible. Came back to Carol's and bought the least sweet item I could find on the counter. I bet everybody around me thought "who is this wierd woman looking for the least sugary thing in the store?" I am sure I had an apologetic look on my face. I was a bit late to Toad's of course and thought I owed the shop-keeper an expanation. He was so sweet, after hearing my story, he did offer me an un-sweetened oatmeal breakfast dish with fruit on top. The sweet baked good I bought from Carol's would dry out in my refrigerator and find its way to the garbage can in a few days.
are much more special. I spent two nights and almost two days in Spencer, Iowa, in the northwest corner of the state. First time ever to this town where the University of Iowa has a Child Health Specialty Clinic. It looks like the town is established around a cross between highways 18 and 71. Initially, I thought Highway 18 was the only throughway and wondered what people did here, in this tiny "village". When I started looking for the Mexican restaurant, which took me to the downtown area, I recognized the town had at least two dimensions. It has a cute rural midwestern donwtown with an antique shop, bakeries, a jewelry store, even a health food store. I was impressed with the latter, although I couldn't catch it open.
Once the training was done, which was what had brought me to this town in the first place, I decided to find the famous steakehouse: Primerib steakhouse. I couldn't believe my eyes when I reached the restaurant. It was in the middle of two acres of a parking lot, which was full! I thought the entire town must be there, it was Friday night after all. The clientale looked like the upper class of the town and perhaps its surrounding area. I could understand why more than half of Iowans are overweight if not obese. I was the only one in the entire place who was not overweight. Looking around, my coronaries felt clogging up. what the heck, I ordered my primerib just like everybody else, my HDL is sailing in high 90s, my blood pressure is only 105/57, I calmed down my guilty conscience and started waiting for my steak, whihc apparently was roasting all day long.
I learned more about the steak later on: They cook the entire rib cage in a special oven over the entire day and believe it or not with no sauces added, not even salt or pepper. Works for me, I hate the barbecue sauce and all others anyway. I had to make sure the meat would taste only like meat unadultarated. Just like fish, meat should be cooked with no additives if I am to eat it as the main dish. I must say, I had the best rib/steak of my life. It came in sliced in its own juice, nothing added. I seasoned it with a bit of salt and pepper. With my salad and vegetables instead of potato (that's where I drew the line to differentiate my menu from the others around me) I calmed down my guilty conscience one more time for eating such a big chunk of meat. When I left the restaurant, I was content, for having found such an interesting place in Spencer with a population of only 13,000.
Yet, the real gem was to be discovered, yet. The next and my last day in Spencer, I wanted to have a simple breakfast at one of the bakeries before taking off. I found Carol's Bakery and Toad's Coffee Shop on my cell phone. As I was looking for Toad's (just because the name triggered my curiosity) I came across Carol's. I thought, what the heck, let me try this one. It was indeed a local's favorite. It was packed with Spencerites, not only that, both of the servers knew everybody by name from kids to adults. Furthermore, they also knew who would order what. I smiled to myself recalling Bill and his relationship with the servers at the Java House in Iowa City. They had all learned that he would drink his coffee 1/3 dark roast regular and 2/3 decaf. He took pride in that. I smiled to him, too. Not finding anything to my taste (everything looked so sweet, nothing savory other than a three-grain bread), I decided to try Toad's as well.
Toad's is located in an old but well-kept building. I climbed up the stairs, entered the shop, oops, did I come to the right place? There are a couple of small tables, and a few chairs, but no customers, in fact nobody in sight. Just as I looked to my left, a curious looking man stepped out from around the corner. I heard myself utter "Is this the coffee shop?" How rude! Of course he got offended "What, doesn't it look like a coffee shop?" How embarrassing, what do I say now? I mumbled something like "Well, this is my first time in Spencer, I wasn't sure..." He was kind enough not to confront me any further with my putting my foot in my mouth. He had brownies for food, but the best coffee in town and probably in a large circle around here. Looking around a bit more, I could tell, this place would be much more interesting to learn more about Spencer than Carol's. But I couldn't have breakfast with brownies, either. I made a decision on the spot. I would get the three-grain bread from Carol's and olives and/or cheese from the health food store and come back to Toad's for coffee. With that plan, as the shop-owner, who will turn out to be Jim in a little bit, I headed to Carol's as Jim was making decaf coffee for me.
I went back to Carol's and did get a three-grain loaf of bread, shoot, it was frozen. Headed to to teh health food store to see what they had, it was closed at 10 am on Saturday. I guess their work schedule is pretty flexible. Came back to Carol's and bought the least sweet item I could find on the counter. I bet everybody around me thought "who is this wierd woman looking for the least sugary thing in the store?" I am sure I had an apologetic look on my face. I was a bit late to Toad's of course and thought I owed the shop-keeper an expanation. He was so sweet, after hearing my story, he did offer me an un-sweetened oatmeal breakfast dish with fruit on top. The sweet baked good I bought from Carol's would dry out in my refrigerator and find its way to the garbage can in a few days.
Jim with one of his creations, but I think, the incredible carvings he does on tree barks
Yes, the coffee was excellent. I bought a bag of regular for my daughter and her boyfriend and a bag of decaf for myself. What a gem to find in this corner of the state. Jim is an artist, who carves exceptional pieces out of raw tree barks. He has a blog, where he publishes his fiction, poetry, and other essays. He has published couple of poetry books and continues writing. The pieces he sahred with me were very deep, subtle, very intriuging. He also holds meetings with the artistic community in town and in surrounding communities. Next time around here, I definitely will come back and check to see if there is a poetry reading meeting, if I am lucky.
