A Nice Little Saturday

We're back for another round of "Tell Me About Your Town" with Amanda!  This month's prompt was "date night", in preparation of Valentine's Day.  (You can read post one - thankful and post two - shopping here)

For this month, we're taking it back to Eastern Iowa.  This is special to me because not only is it where I grew up, but it is where Tim and I met and fell in love - in Iowa City.  Downtown Iowa City has some great restaurant options.  We might have been poor college students, but we managed to go out for nice dinners a few times.  It also helps that my parents live thirty minutes north, so I've been to a few other places since graduating.  For this post, let's pretend that we aren't college students - this kind of night could never be afforded on our student budgets!  (We also probably would have been going to different bars, but that's another post for another day.)


Let's Start with Drinks

Meeting for Happy Hour is a must.  Going to Martini's is a great option - best martini's in town (for me) and over twenty beers on tap (for him).  They have a great beer garden in the back that always provides good people watching.

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Let's Move on to Dinner

Atlas is one of my favorite restaurants, probably ever.  Besides the $2 martinis on Thursday nights while I was in college, the food is amazing.  Every time my parents came to visit I would beg them to take me there for dinner.  My favorite?  The Atlas Macaroni and Cheese - Gruyère . Fontina . Mozzarella . Parmesan . Slow-roasted Roma tomatoes - need I say more?  Another great dish is the Boulder Roll - Avocado, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, goat cheese, greens and pesto.  Are you hungry yet?

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THE mac and cheese.  source

And now, the best part - dessert.

At this point, I would be totally stuffed, but as my father in law always says "my dessert stomach will be empty", so there is always room for more.  In Iowa City, dessert has to come from Scratch Cupcakery.  Over 125 flavors of cupcakes, about 20 flavors baked fresh daily.  My favorite is Wedding Day - almond cake and vanilla frosting.  But let's be honest, I love every one I've had.  It's a very good thing that Scratch was not open while I was in school.  This is a must stop if you are ever in the area! 

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If you ever find yourself in Iowa City, I hope you check out one or more of these places - especially that a date night has already been planned.  Which of these places would you visit?