12 hours in the Quad Cities
by Emily McFarlan Miller
The last time I saw Lewis, we were in Chicago eating Quad Cities-style pizza, a thing that does not exist. I know this because Lewis lives in the Quad Cities, and he said he had never heard of it. One of the PR folks at one of the schools I cover for The Courier-News also has lived in the Quad Cities. He said he thought it had to do with the sausage. (Evidently, it has to do with the way the pizza is cut — into long, thin strips, rather than pie slices or squares — and the admittedly delicious inclusion of malt in the crust.)
We also were agreeing Joel and I should visit the Quad Cities on a Thursday night in February, when Lewis would be playing music at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa. And one Thursday night in February, the last Thursday night in February, that’s what we were doing.
- Figge Art Museum, 225 W. Second St., Davenport, Iowa. It’s no secret Joel and I judge a city by its art museums. We didn’t get to see any art at the Figge, though. Not even the gallery of Art and Devotion in Viceregal New Spain. Just its cafe, where Lewis was playing and everything on the menu inexplicably came with a side of ranch dressing. But I can vouch for the Quad Cities’ fine taste in music: One little old lady threw a crumpled $5 bill at Lewis and told him he was “delightful.”
- Jim’s Rib Haven, 1600 Tenth St., East Moline, Ill. Skip the pizza. If there’s one thing to eat while in the Quad Cities, it’s Jim’s Ribs, according to Lewis. The appeal of gnawing tough meat, dripping with messy sauce, off the bone is somewhat lost on me, I’ll admit, but the guys were in heaven.
- Rozz-Tox, 2108 Third Ave., Rock Island, Ill. ROZZ-TOX SERVES BROOKLYN EGG CREAMS. EGG CREAMS! Also, Ovaltine! But the thing Lewis brought us here for was Redband Stout by the Great River Brewery, based in Davenport. Redband tastes like equal parts coffee and beer, kind of like Coke Black. Remember Coke Black? It tasted like equal parts coffee and Coke. I never really decided if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It just was. Coffee-beer aside, Rozz-Tox is a genuinely cool, avant-garde place — a “cultural space” that combines café, bar, music venue, art gallery and bookshop — based on a genuinely cool, avant-garde manifesto.
- Village Inn, multiple locations. (Not pictured.) Village Inn is your typical Baker’s Square knockoff, brunch and pie and bottomless cups of coffee. But they had me at Eggs Benedict… on a potato pancake… southwestern style, with avocado and carnitas. I hear there is free pie Wednesdays. I also hear there is an open mic Wednesdays at RME in Davenport that features some pretty “delightful” music. Which means this likely won’t be our last visit to the Quad Cities.
Photos taken with Retro Camera. Click to embiggen.
Em Miller writes 
Actually it is not just the cut of the pizza and the slightly sweet crust that identifies Quad City style Pizza. The crust of Pizza from Franks, Harris, Fields of Pizza and Wise Guys cannot be called a NY thin Crust or a Chicago thick crust. It is crispy on the bottom similar to a NY style but slightly thicker. I have always felt that visiting another city and eating at a chain restaurant like Village Inn taking the safe route, similar to cattle grazing. I haven’t eaten there since the mid 90’s when Bakers Square merger really started to make itself known on the menu, as the Village Inn started cutting back on the variety of pancakes in favor of their skillet meals. When Obama was in town he actually took the plunge and ate breakfast at Ross’ Restaurant, home of the heart attack on a plate, called the Magic Mountain -located just across the I74 bridge on the Iowa side. Not my cup of tea but a local take that is also very popular with the cattle grazers. Porkies in Silvis makes a tasty mean old fashioned greasy classic sausage gravy but use horrible tasting microwaved biscuits. But mostly the standard breakfast fare leaves me cold. Chains offer little different fare than locals. I can fix it myself for a fraction of the cost. If I am going to eat breakfast out – I’ll have Schuncks doughnuts or pastries please. I do admit I miss the cinnamon rolls they used to serve at the long gone American cafe in Silvis. jack really knew how to create a fluffy cinnamony tasting delicacy. The former Taste of Europe also offered up tasty made fresh daily pastry. It was phased out at the hotel it was located in favor of the Bennigans chain restaurants.
Chain restaurants are mostly prefab food constructed so that people can graze from city to city eating the same flavor of grass they are familiar with in their own backyard. That does not make them bad, I visit some of them myself, just boring. But an independent restaurant, like the a fore mentioned pizza parlors, that creates a meal that sticks in your mind – will cause you to wander out of your way to to graze in their fields. During my teens my folks would take us on a pilgrimage to St. Charles Illinois a couple of time a year to visit a restaurant that served chopped pork BBQ sandwiches with a scoop of coleslaw they had came across in the late 50’s when my dad worked construction in Elgin. It was well worth the trip. My folks would load up on the sandwiches and bring them back to the QC, where we would eat off them for days. The closest I have ever seen since was a chicken BBQ version put out by the now defunct Minnie Pearls BBQ.
Thanks for the ideas! I always like the local places, too, and I have to say, Lewis was an excellent tour guide! Which barbeque place did you visit in St. Charles? I’ll have to check it out — I actually work in Elgin.
We used to make the trip up that way a lot when I was a kid as my late grandparents lived in Geneva for many years. (Near an A&P store I seem to remember.) Sadly like a lot of restaurants from my child hood, the BBQ place eventually closed. my dad used to hall us all up to there then we would drive a few minute down the road to a Dairy Queen that served Milk Shakes the proper way with whipped cream, a cherry on top and a couple of wafer cookies. Other places from my childhood, like A Pizza in Rock Falls, who served an authentic NY style crust ( a little to authentic it turned, out as they were busted for mob connections), a small hole in the wall Chinese place in Davenport, a pizza joint in Prophetstown that served the only “Garbage” pizza I ever liked- those and many other eating joints I enjoyed over the last several decades, are all gone. 😦
There are lots of good places to eat in the Quad City that are not chains. Though not in the same league as Chicago, we have enough of a Hispanic community that the QC has several nice Mexican food places. Those include, but not limited to, Habaneros right on Rt. 92 not far from the East Moline-Moline border (this is actually a spin off another restaurant called Jalapenos that eventually closed after the son of the Habaneros place was killed in a car wreck), Adolphs just across from the 23rd Ave ( <–now promoted by the Tourism council as Avenue of the Cities) Jewel shopping center in Moline (on Sundays they offer a Mexican buffet until six pm. But if you can eat over one plate of the rich food -you are a better chomper than me, they also include a tasty apple or cherry dessert with the meal.) plus there are several Rudys restaurants all over the Quad Cities (okay, there hot sauce is not much to shout about – according to some their kid went to college with; tomato juice with crumbled hot peppers.) but they make a mean chips and salsa huge appetizer, usually enough for 2-3 people, called "Chips Deluxe". If more traditional American fare is your calling – the Davenport Family Square Restaurant (located in the NW Boulevard shopping center adjacent to North Park Mall) is not much to look at on the outside, even cheesier looking on the inside but they several some tasty American fare along with some Greek based meals including an Iowa cut Pork Chop that is heavenly. I don't know how they cook it but most of the times I have ordered it it was fork tender. They also have a nice pork tenderloin they serve. Another nice place on the west side of Davenport is called Harlans. We used to take my father there as he was fond of their country fried steak (an upgrade over chicken fried steak) and their fried chicken. They also served good onion rings and desserts. I am a push over for any place that serves tasty onion rings. My mother was fond of the Iowa Machine Shed.in Davenport I like it also but not as much as she did. They do have some great pork dishes and their apple dumpling with ice cream is a quick way to raise your blood sugar levels. I am not a drinker but if you like fancy beers with your meals the Blue Cat Brew Pub -located near the District of Rock Island- offers unique locally made beer along with quality food options. There are a lot of great places to eat in the Quad Cities American Fare and/or Ethnic – National, Regional and even local chains plus independents. It is too bad though – that much of the region pines for the big national chains making it hard for independent places to survive. I am still steamed (twenty years and counting) at General Growth, former owners of South Park Mall in Moline – for forcing Uncle Petes Gyros out of the mall – now located on 23rd Av in Moline – in faovr of national chains. There is actually an upgrade to Rock Islands Dr. Gyros fixing to open up in the Silvis area. With restaurants when one door closes another one opens – still I hate when old favorites – like the Villa Campione (sacrificed by the RI hotel to install a Bennigans {I still refuse to eat at}, 1999) are shuttered. 😦
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