Iowa

A good bookstore bends time. You walk in for one book, spot the wrong shelf in the best…

By Nadia Corwell · Sep 5

The fruit filling usually gives the first clue. Apples bubble under flaky crust, cherries stain the slice bright…

By Nadia Corwell · Sep 5

The first clue is the smell drifting out of an old brick corner in Iowa City. Then you…

By Hugh Calloway · Sep 5

Loose meat sandwiches do not photograph well. Steamed ground beef, piled into a soft bun, spilling over the…

By Hugh Calloway · Sep 5

A plain Friday night feels very different when dinner includes as much snow crab and slow-roasted prime rib…

By Nadia Corwell · Sep 4

Oh, Iowa, you charming, understated darling of the Midwest. You are often thought of for cornfields and friendly…

By Nadia Corwell · Sep 4

A grocery cart can fill up surprisingly fast when paper goods are heavily discounted and snacks are marked…

By Hugh Calloway · Sep 4

I did not expect my favorite sushi counter in the country to sit on a corner in Iowa,…

By Hugh Calloway · Sep 4

The best fish plate in Iowa usually announces itself before it reaches the table. You hear the crunch.…

By Nadia Corwell · Sep 3

The street parking gives the secret away first. Cars line up along a tiny Iowa main street, the…

By Nadia Corwell · Sep 3

You can eat homemade quiche inside a 100-year-old Iowa barn, then climb into the original hayloft to hunt…

By Hugh Calloway · Sep 3

Labor Day weekend is Iowa’s last big chance to let summer show off a little. Across the state,…

By Hugh Calloway · Sep 3

I planned to spend a couple of hours at this Iowa orchard. Eight hours later, I still had…

By Nadia Corwell · Sep 2

Breakfast tastes a little different when the Mississippi is moving past the windows or morning light is spreading…

By Nadia Corwell · Sep 2

Eastern Iowa has the kind of quiet places that reward you for slowing down. This wildlife refuge is…

By Hugh Calloway · Sep 2

September is when Iowa nature starts whispering instead of shouting. The prairies turn gold, river bluffs soften in…

By Hugh Calloway · Sep 2

I drove past cornfields and gravel side roads in southern Iowa expecting a sleepy fishing dock, and instead…

By Nadia Corwell · Sep 1

Something magical happens when you leave the highway behind and follow a gravel road toward an Amish store…

By Nadia Corwell · Sep 1

There is something about September in Iowa that turns an ordinary weekend into a memory-making mission. The corn…

By Hugh Calloway · Sep 1

Fried chicken stacked in a steam pan, golden and steaming, sitting a few feet from a salad bar…

By Hugh Calloway · Sep 1

I thought I was heading toward another ordinary Iowa farm stop. Then the road opened up beside a…

By Nadia Corwell · Aug 31

Fewer than 450 people live in this river town, and I counted more barges than traffic lights during…

By Nadia Corwell · Aug 31

Iowa takes its pork tenderloin sandwiches very seriously. Honestly, it should. A great one is crispy at the…

By Hugh Calloway · Aug 31

I like farm cafes best when the season is changing and the menu seems to notice before I…

By Hugh Calloway · Aug 31

I have learned that ranking Mexican restaurants is a dangerous game, mostly because every great taco makes the…

By Nadia Corwell · Aug 30

I have wandered through plenty of antique shops, but four floors of salvaged doors, stained glass, and old…

By Nadia Corwell · Aug 30

I did not expect one of my most memorable seafood meals in Iowa to begin by staring into…

By Hugh Calloway · Aug 30

I like Iowa lake towns best when summer starts loosening its grip. The docks are quieter, the sidewalks…

By Hugh Calloway · Aug 30

There is something oddly thrilling about watching how everyday things get built, and Iowa happens to be packed…

By Nadia Corwell · Aug 29

The chocolate smell reaches you before the counter does. Truffles shine behind glass, cotton candy tubs stack up…

By Nadia Corwell · Aug 29

For most of the year, this looks like working Iowa farmland. Then late summer arrives and suddenly whole…

By Hugh Calloway · Aug 29

Iowa apple treats do not wait around for sweater weather. Before summer fully lets go, orchard bakeries are…

By Hugh Calloway · Aug 29

The room is small enough that you notice almost everything. Plates pass close by, conversations stay low, and…

By Nadia Corwell · Aug 28

Pizza buffets are already tempting, but an Iowa pizzeria with a jungle gym downstairs is playing a much…

By Nadia Corwell · Aug 28

The coffee usually hits the table before the plan fully wakes up. Pancakes steam, hash browns crackle at…

By Hugh Calloway · Aug 28

Late-summer drives across Iowa have their own rhythm. Long stretches of corn, a water tower in the distance,…

By Hugh Calloway · Aug 28

I like places that make you work just a little before lunch. This Iowa seafood shack does exactly…

By Nadia Corwell · Aug 27

The almond smell gets you before the doorway does. Butter, cinnamon, and warm pastry drift onto the sidewalk,…

By Nadia Corwell · Aug 27

Late summer makes flower fields feel a little more urgent. The colors are still loud, the bees are…

By Hugh Calloway · Aug 27