Seven Iowa City area gems not to miss, from Lake Macbride to Heyn’s

When you’re a scholar in Iowa Metropolis, you’ve in all probability spent numerous nights on the library, and even later nights on the Area Home bar.

Between which might be the journeys to Prairie Lights, lunch at Pullman’s and brunch at Bluebird Diner. But when the college 12 months flew by and you end up not as acquainted with Iowa Metropolis space haunts as one could possibly be, don’t go away the town fairly but.

Listed below are seven spots in Iowa Metropolis to take a look at earlier than you permit, whether or not you’re a scholar, a member of the family serving to somebody transfer or planning your future journey for a Hawkeye recreation.

George’s Buffet

The speedy assumption about George’s Buffet is that it’s a buffet.

It’s not, or not less than it hasn’t been for a while.

As a substitute, its menu is confined to nice hamburgers, together with one with horseradish, and low cost drinks.

Regardless of the Northside being lower than half a mile away from the Ped Mall, George’s Buffet is nestled in an space distinctive from its faculty bar scene counterpart.

George’s opened in February 1939, named after George W. Kanak, then the deputy to the Iowa Metropolis assessor, who offered the enterprise practically a decade later.

In a downtown that has seen a lot change with new bars and eating places coming and going, George’s lengthy historical past means you have to step inside as soon as, if solely to order pop and a burger, in any other case you miss out on a basically Iowa Metropolis expertise.

Although a budget drinks and beloved burgers may be the draw for somebody new, it’s the bar’s cozy, communal feeling that retains individuals returning.

The place: 312 E. Market St.

What to do whereas there: Order a Hamm’s beer (at one level, that and solely Olympia have been on faucet) and a cheeseburger.

Heyn’s Ice Cream

In a city of frozen custard — Freddy’s, Culvers — and a preferred froyo store within the Ped Mall, typically all you need is ice cream.

Particularly, getting into an ice cream store and looking at tubs of the colourful chilly dessert by a glass panel and debating what number of scoops you need.

Enter Heyn’s Ice Cream. 

Heyn’s has two areas in Johnson County: Iowa Metropolis and North Liberty.

The ice cream store started in 1991 when Paul Heyn renamed Dane’s Dairy drive-thru on First Avenue in Iowa Metropolis to Heyn’s after buying the shop two years earlier than, in accordance with Press-Citizen archives. 

In 1993, the Press-Citizen held an unofficial reader survey and realized that, from 70 votes, the bulk went to Heyn’s to buy ice cream.

Although actually not the outpouring of suggestions one would possibly suspect, it’s telling that in solely the temporary time Heyn’s had been working, it was doing one thing proper.

Peggy Cullivan, proprietor of the North Liberty location, advised the Press-Citizen the preferred ice lotions embrace Monster Mash, a cookie dough, peanut butter and M&M medley; and Chocoholic Delight, which is chocolate ice cream with fudge, brownies and a Heath bar.

The place: 25 E. Cherry St. in North Liberty and 811 S. First Ave. in Iowa Metropolis.

What to do whereas there: Strive the favored Monster Mash or go along with the seasonal banana pudding ice cream.

Historic South Summit Road

Strolling down Summit Road in Iowa Metropolis is like stepping again greater than a century in time.

A few of the stately properties date to the 1860s, boasting architectural kinds distinctive to that point, together with Italianate and late Victorian kinds.

Through the spring and summer time, Summit Road is a sight to see for its full, inexperienced timber and preserved, restored properties.

Summit Road’s title comes from the slight ridge upon which the world was developed. The road was integrated into Iowa Metropolis in 1880, in accordance with the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations. 

The largely residential thoroughfare was positioned on the registry in 1973.

Among the many older properties are the Kauffman Home, situated at 304 S. Summit. The portion of the home going through the road was inbuilt 1869 by Levi Kauffman as an addition to the constructing. The constructing’s rehabilitation received a Preservation Award for Residential Rehabilitation from the Iowa Metropolis Historic Preservation Fee in 2017.

There are two factors of curiosity alongside Summit Road.

Deluxe Truffles and Pastries, which opened in November 2003 and continues to serve macarons, chocolate chip cookies, croissants and nearly each different baked good one would need.

Summit Road additionally has a bridge that overlooks the primary railroad to enter Iowa Metropolis, constructed by the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad, later referred to as the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Passenger.

The place: South Summit Road, Iowa Metropolis. 

What to do whereas there: Strive some dessert at Deluxe Cake and Pastries and stroll over to the benches that overlook the railroad. You could even spot some deer close to there.

Hamburg Inn No. 2

Pie shakes and politicians.

Hamburg Inn’s historical past as a preferred native breakfast and diner spot is hallmarked by its decadent milkshakes and the likes of former presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, present Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, and extra political figures stopping in.

Proprietor Michael Lee bought it from the earlier, longtime proprietor David Panther in 2016. Panther had purchased the restaurant from his father, Fritz, in 1979.

Fritz Panther opened the Hamburg Inn No. 2 in 1948, the menu easier with hamburgers, fries and customary breakfast fare, his son associated in a narrative within the Press-Citizen archives.

Iowa Metropolis beforehand had a Hamburg Inn No. 1 and Hamburg Inn No. 3, and opened an extra location on Rochester Avenue in 2017 earlier than it closed in 2020.

The place: 214 N Linn St., Iowa Metropolis.

What to do whereas there: Strive a slice of their pink velvet cake, pie shake or an omelet.

Lake MacBride

One other spot for beautiful Iowa surroundings, Lake Macbride State Park is the most important of Iowa’s state parks, boasting 2,180 acres.

The lake will get its title after Thomas Huston Macbride, the tenth president of the College of Iowa and a conservationist. UI college students may be most conversant in the title when visiting Macbride Corridor on Clinton Road.

The park has the whole lot to supply, whether or not it’s a easy day journey or a weekend trip.

With summer time approaching — seemingly already right here if the warmer temperatures as of late are a sign — Lake Macbride is the right spot for swimming, paddling, kayaking or laying out.

The place: 3525 Hwy 382 NE, in Solon.

What to do whereas there: Take a look at the paths.

Devonian Fossil Gorge

375 million years in the past, many miles east and south of what’s now 2850 Prairie Du Chien Street NE and close to the Coralville Dam Emergency Spillway, was a shallow, tropical sea.

Almost three a long time in the past, extra water from Coralville Lake flowed into the emergency spillway and washed up soil and rock that had hidden the Devonian limestone bedrock.

Greater than 250,00 individuals visited the location that 12 months, in accordance with Press-Citizen archives.

In 2008, floodwaters swept by the gorge and widened the world.

What’s revealed by the bedrock are the creatures of the time like crinoids, marine animals like starfish and sea urchins, and solitary horn corals. And, the most important predator on the time, the dunkleosteus, a big aquatic predator. 

The place: 2850 Prairie Du Chien Street NE, Iowa Metropolis.

What to do whereas there: Begin on the entry plaza on the Devonian Fossil Gorge, situated close to parking. Seize a printed map that features factors of curiosity and go on a self-guided tour.

John’s Grocery

Whereas it is too late to strive John’s Grocery’s fried hen, in accordance with Little Village Journal, it is a staple for spirits, beer and merchandise that solely a neighborhood would acknowledge.

In 1948, John and Erma Alberhasky bought the storefront. The grocery retailer has remained throughout the Alberhasky household since.

The constructing itself was constructed a century earlier than then, serving as a bakery, a barbershop and residences. 

Its complete alcohol choice is probably not of curiosity to nondrinkers, however it’s price stopping in if solely to say that you’ve.

The place: 401 E. Market St., Iowa Metropolis.

What to do whereas there: The best on this listing. Get a drink.

Paris Barraza covers leisure, way of life and humanities on the Iowa Metropolis Press-Citizen. Attain her at PBarraza@press-citizen.com or (319) 519-9731. Observe her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.