Kalmes Store & Restaurant

WOW....I feel almost SILLY writing about this place.  Why?  Because I grew up in the area and my dad said we have been there on numerous occasions.  I thought this place seemed familiar when we saw Alton Brown on TV there.  First off...this place does NOT need a celebrity NOR me yelping about it to be well established.   It's been there forever and the longevity speaks for itself.  The food was as remembered/expected.  Service was like I remembered places having when I was a child.  We purchased some smoked pork sausage to bring back to Florida with us.....OMG I should have purchased a BIGGER COOLER!  Their sausage puts Webers to the test! LOVE IT!  I hope this place stays true to its roots.  This is one of those places that has fed more than it's share of farmers, rails and hard workers.  I would hate to see  Smelly Hipsters (actually I only assume they smell bad because they look like they never bathe) take over.  If you see greasy dudes in "skinny jeans" heading into this place, just shew them away....it won't take much.

A quite nice omnibus of St Donatus, Iowa, this multivalent establishment possesses a really solid (and really inexpensive) draught list [Old Style, Leinenkugel Honey Weiss], full bar, and even boasts a full dinner menu (with a very continental buffet, along with a salad-bar, situated in the back dining-room). Also a one-pump petroleum station and purveyor of sundries, this Highway 52 stop in Iowa's Little Luxembourg is perched across the street from the historic Gehlen House Inn and its adjoining barn (the Gehlen Barn), which - having been constructed in 1839 - is the oldest barn in Iowa.

The beer from the draught - while nothing extremely special - was refreshing (and refreshingly priced), and well-paired moreover with the food-menu's offerings: the fried cheddar curds weren't transcendent, but certainly super-par; the fried Chicken livers - littered with grilled onions - were, however, superb; and the excellent buttered noodles, which appeared to have been quickly blanched and then fried al dente, formed a superior side. From the quick sampling I enjoyed, the housemade-sausage sandwiches were likewise quite good.

If you're on road to or from Dubuque - or simply on that stretch of the Mississippi - this is quite the hidden gem to patronize.