Iowa's Best Burger?

Just north of I-80, on IA-224 at exit 173, sits the Kellogg RV Park and Iowa's Best Burger Cafe. I've driven past it for 30+ years but have never been able to stop because of the time of day...until this past September. Normally our Iowa trips are pretty consistently scheduled but we had to make an unexpected visit, and found ourselves on 80 during the cafe's open hours.

The building looks like it's been around for many years; some of you may remember when most gas stations were this simple and nothing like some of the giant stores and travel plazas so prevalent today.

I didn't have a chance to get an interior shot but the restaurant's website shows what things are like inside. It's simple and because of the size of the building there's not a lot of room to separate the dining area from the store, but the setup creates a nice throwback effect.

We'd already eaten lunch and weren't thinking about a full meal, so we split a single cheeseburger. And did it live up to the name? Well...

It really was quite good, and if I'd actually been hungry it would've been even better. It wasn't an ultra-thin, smash-style burger and it wasn't a puffy pub burger, it was a nice compromise between the two. I don't know if it was fresh or frozen, but it was well-seasoned and nicely grilled with a little bit of char.

Would I go back for another burger? Absolutely. Will I get the chance? It's hard to say.