The Iowa Cafe

Phoenix has a lot of transplants from other parts of the country: New England, the South, and especially California. But Arizona seems to draw more Midwesterners than anything else. So it’s no surprise that one Mesa restaurant serves a taste of America’s Heartland. The Iowa Café was started in 1985 by Ruth Cavendar, a woman with big dreams from small town Mount Ayr, Iowa. The café has since changed hands to another lady from the Hawkeye State, Pam Ohsman, who continues the tradition of down-to-earth homestyle cooking. Breakfast features all American classics like cheesy omelettes, chicken-fried steak, corned beef hash, sausage patties, pancakes, homemade cinnamon roll French toast, bran muffins, grits, and biscuits smothered in sausage gravy. Dessert is the best-known dish, however, so don’t leave without trying a good ol’ fashioned pie with a flaky, buttery crust in over 20 flavors like apple, mincemeat, rhubarb, and chocolate peanut butter.