Iowa City favorite named one of the best restaurants in US. What to know before you go.
Susan StapletonThe Webster, the upscale American restaurant in Iowa City with seasonal dishes, made national news this week, named along with 46 other restaurants in the 2024 USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year list.
What makes The Webster stand out?
Owner Sam Gelman and his wife Riene opened the restaurant in 2021 after he worked at television personality and chef David Chang’s restaurants, including Momofuku in New York and elsewhere, for 12 years. Riene had worked at Eleven Madison Park, the three Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant from chef Daniel Humm.
Sam grew up in Iowa City and opened the restaurant in the former home to Pearson Drug Store, where he dined as a kid with his father and grandfather, who worked at Mercy Hospital as an orthopedic surgeon two blocks away.
And after a long stretch away from his hometown, Sam wanted to come home, work for himself, and open his own restaurant.
That corner home now features a bank of windows looking out on Linn and Market streets and four floors of condominiums overhead. The former drugstore (and most recently, a Central State Bank location, and before that, a That's Rentertainment movie rental store) was torn down in 2018 to make way for the new building.
More:What's the best restaurant near you? Check out USA TODAY's 2024 Restaurants of the Year.
The Gelmans have turned the restaurant into a destination with dishes that lean into Asian flavors, dotted with nods to Iowa producers.
More:USA TODAY's Restaurants of the Year for 2024: How the list of best restaurants was decided
What to order at The Webster
The first thing to know about the menu is that it can change daily as produce and ingredients move in and out of season. The Gelmans in particular partner with Friendly Farm in Iowa City, owned by a childhood friend of Sam Gelman. They also buy whole pigs, lambs, goats or cows and use the meats across the menu.
The second thing to know: This menu is meant to share, so feel free to order either from each section of the menu or just select the dishes that sound good. You can't go wrong.
Buttermilk biscuits. The menu starts with bread options, including a sourdough from Local Crumb, from the James Beard Foundation semifinalist for Outstanding Baker in 2022 Aaron Hall out of Mount Vernon. Try the buttermilk biscuits that come with cultured butter and a peach freezer jam.
Burrata. This small plate tends to be a staple on the menu with different accoutrements as the seasons change. The newest rendition includes pear, butternut, pepitas, and pomegranate.
Mushroom salad. Does it get more quintessential Iowa than digging into mushrooms grown in Iowa? This iteration comes with dashi-braised pistachios on arugula.
Chicken liver tart. This is another dish that has become a regular on the menu with different ingredients, including spiced cream and cassis.
Duck egg tagliatelle. Sam Gelman makes his own pastas at The Webster, and this tagliatelle has been on the menu since the beginning, now served with cultured butter and Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese from Wisconsin.
Grilled trout. You’ll notice a theme here; regulars on the menu with different ingredients that change with the seasons. The trout certainly falls into this category, served whole and decked out with delicata squash, speck and cranberry.
Dry-aged prime cote de boeuf. The Webster dry ages its beef in house, and this version comes with a confit allium, beef au jus and butter on top.
Chocolate sundae tart. Do save room for dessert here and plan to split it. This tart of the season comes with a pine nut brittle and banana namelaka, a Japanese term that means creamy.
What’s next at The Webster
After recognition from the New York Times in 2023 and this newest accolade in 2024, the restaurant plans to continue serving dinners five nights a week and continue that casual vibe that the Gelmans wanted from the beginning: “I want it to feel like an extension of us and our home,” Sam Gelman said when the restaurant opened.
Details: The Webster, 202 N. Linn St., Iowa City; 319-800-0720, thewebsteric.com
Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, X, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.