Iowa Brëd — Restaurant in Ainsworth

Here is a fairly short review of the food I had over a weekend of gravel racing outside of Fairfield, Iowa. The Fishback & Stephenson Cider House does not serve food, focusing solely on their (from what I have heard), most excellent cider. The food is provided by the Iowa Brëd food truck (actually a trailer), parked close by the cider house entrance. I had two dishes. The first was fish tacos, the second, chicken nachos. The tacos: The reasonably sized portion of fish (≈1 oz) was battered. The batter had a good flavor, with a general tastiness, not the garlic, cajun, sweet, or beer (etc.) flavor one often gets in battered fish. The batter was also not unduly thick, allowing one to taste the fish. The toppings consisted of pickled red onion and shredded cabbage. I enjoyed the onion. It's flavor providing a good counterpoint to the batter. The cabbage was simply cabbage, which I am okay with. It provides crunch and just a hint of earthy, veggie flavor. However, my cabbage was not uniformly shredded or sliced. There were some good-sized chunks. This coarseness detracted a bit from the texture and mouth-feel of the taco. The tortilla was a flour tortilla, plain and simple. The tacos were accompanied by plain black beans and completely standard Mexican rice. So what did I think? Well, I was hungry and munched all three tacos down with nary a complaint, but while doing so, I considered this question. How much of one's appreciation and criticality is influenced by the setting in which the food is prepared, served, and received? If I had received this dish from a cafe on a beach in, say, California or North Carolina, I would have been disappointed. However, this dish came from a hard-working food truck outside of a Midwestern town of 9500 people... I enjoyed the tacos. The nachos: I will have to admit straight away that I haven't had nachos for quite some time. I love them, actually one of my favorite dishes, but the calorie-counter in me has vetoed them for years. But on this day, in this setting, I decided to throw the counting out and indulge. And I was very glad I did. The chips are fried in-house and sinfully crispy and yummy. The toppings were fresh and well-proportioned, not too much of one thing (as in loaded down with black olives or pickled jalapeños). They consisted of rice, beans, lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, and cheese. All were fresh, tasty, and plentiful. A special note on the cheese, it was shredded, which I very much enjoyed as it didn't overpower the dish or make the excellent chips soggy, as a nacho cheese sauce often can I chose chicken out of the list of meats (steak, chicken, barbacoa, carnitas, or ground beef). The chicken was well seasoned with a fajita-type flavor profile and chopped to a fairly fine texture, which worked really well with the nachos. I savored every bite of the oh-so-rare treat. I might be biased in this case, but they seemed a darn fine nacho to me. I enjoyed the setting, I appreciated the effort and skill of the two hard-working souls in the truck, and I must say, in the end, I thoroughly enjoyed the food. There is my short review of Iowa...

Been there three times so far. First time, the fries and tenderloin were undercooked and cold in the middle. (But got it to go so was a bit screwed) The second time I visited, I asked for both to be left in for an extra few seconds, but came out way overcooked. Third time, (I know, shame on me at this point) I tried the wings, sauce on the side and they came with sauce all over them. I tried to eat as much as I could but there was just way too much sauce. I feel like they are really close to being a good restaurant, but it seems like someone or something just doesn't care enough to take it to that extra level. I will wait about a year or so to let them get it figured out. It's a bit too overpriced to keep taking chances. I'm glad they are around, as we need more food options. It's just a little disappointing when you don't consistently get what you expect. The staff (one woman who is way overworked and constantly swamped) is very friendly and...

Tried eating there 2/14 for dinner. Place was empty of customers and we sat ourselves. The man bartending and the girl he was flirting with just stared at us while three children ran circles around the restaurant screaming at the top of their lungs throwing things everywhere for 5 minutes straight. We left and won't be back. It's a shame because the cook makes excellent dishes. Stick with the food truck, the service will...