Courtlin Visits the First Restaurant on Her Summer Bucket List

One down, three more to go!

Anyone that listens to the show knows that I absolutely love checking out awesome locally-owned restaurants. I've been to a ton here in the Cedar Rapids area, so earlier this year I decided to do something different for the summer. I made a Summer Restaurant Bucket List. I chose five restaurants that are a little bit of a drive from the places I normally visit, but that have been highly recommended to me. I planned to do one a month from May through September, but unfortunately, I've had to alter my plans slightly. One of the restaurants, the one that was the inspiration for the list, is no longer serving food. The Irish Shanty in Elgin announced last month that their kitchen is closed, which means no more Gunderburgers! As bummed as I am, I have faith that it will open back up eventually.

This weekend I traveled to Jones County to check my first restaurant off of my list: Teddy's Barn & Grill. I first heard of Teddy's when they were entered into our 2019 Favorite Local Restaurant Bracket, and then they ended up winning! I've heard only positive things about the restaurant, so I was excited to visit. I was bummed that the weather prevented us from sitting on the beautiful patio, but I got over it once the food was served!

If you aren't familiar, Teddy's is located in a gorgeous old barn off of County Home Road in Anamosa. We ordered the Cheese Platter for our appetizer, which included mozzarella sticks, breaded yellow cheese curds, beer-battered white cheese curds, cheesy potato tots (my favorite!), and cheddar broccoli bites. So much fried goodness!

For my meal, I went with the Bacon Jack Chicken Sandwich. No complaints there!

The highlight of the visit, though, was dessert. I'm not normally a dessert person, but something about the Cowpie made it hard to resist. It's a skillet chocolate chip cookie topped with vanilla bean ice cream, chocolate syrup, caramel, and whipped cream. It was MAGNIFICENT.

If all my summer restaurant experiences are as good as this one, I'm in for a delicious few months! I'll see you all in July when I check another restaurant off the list :)