State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

Restaurant Crawl

  • Frida Kahlo Mexican Restaurant and Lucy’s Bakery

    SOLON— Frida Kahlo Mexican Restaurant and Lucy’s Bakery is open and the tres leches cake is delicious. A friend and I stopped for afternoon coffee, and if the interior was reminiscent of previous restaurants in the space, the food was delicious. The chef made a fresh pot of coffee when we ordered. What a great… Read more

  • Small Town Dairy Queen

    SOLON— Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought Dairy Queen in 1998, and after that, it became easy to associate the purveyor of dairy treats, Coca-Cola, burgers, hot dogs and fries company with his corporate governance. It is our local outlet in the industrial food chain with ties to the deepest memories of growing up in the… Read more

  • Salt Fork Kitchen Redux

    SOLON—My first reaction to Salt Fork Kitchen was accurate— except the part about struggling in the old, well used space. Great food will make the restaurant, even if the old church pews are uncomfortable, and the cheap, stackable restaurant chairs don’t rise to the food’s quality. Bent forks and all, the restaurant has become a… Read more

  • Try Big Grove Brewery

    SOLON— When one is connected to the community, it is hard not to like Big Grove Brewery. The city council invested a forgivable loan to get them to build at the corner of Main Street and Iowa Avenue, and unlike the last microbrewery in town, this one scaled to a size to brew lots of… Read more

  • Subway in Solon

    SOLON— The restaurant crawl has been intentionally avoiding a trip to the Subway restaurant located in a strip mall at the edge of town. That there would be one is not surprising, although the only thing local about it is the employees and its iteration of industrial food architecture. According to the chain’s website, Subway… Read more

  • Solon Station

    SOLON— Solon Station is a place to grab the special and go when on Main Street at lunch time. At 1:40 p.m. they were still serving— a cheeseburger basket for $6. I took a seat at the worn wooden bar and checked in on my mobile phone while waiting for the bartender/cook to prepare my… Read more

  • Baxa’s Sutliff Store and Tavern

    SUTLIFF— Baxa’s Sutliff Store and Tavern in rural Johnson County, Iowa is a place to hang out after outdoor activities. It is tucked away in the sparsely traveled recesses of the Cedar River Valley, next to a restored Parker truss bridge that is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is accessible by automobile,… Read more

  • El Sol de Solon

    SOLON— El Sol Mexican Cuisine has been a hit since it opened. The small space at 240 E. Main St. can be crowded and a fun place to dine. On busy days, the noise level can high and the excitement contagious. It is Solon’s place to get tasty Mexican fare and enjoy life. We recently… Read more

  • Savvy Coffee and Wine Bar

    SOLON— Savvy Coffee and Wine Bar has been a place for friends to gather in Solon since the strip mall at 417 E. Haganman Lane was built in 2005. It is the only coffee shop in town, although the cachet of coffee shops has dulled with passing years. Nonetheless, there is Wi-Fi, coffee, a selection… Read more

  • Gossip and Gas Stations

    SOLON— Word on the street is that the Dock Restaurant is doing a makeover. There had been some negative chatter about the restaurant in social media, the owners found out and are taking some new directions. As I wrote in my Aug. 18 review, “the food was good, and reasonably priced, and that is a… Read more