Slightly OT - Tell me about Manchester, Iowa

MikeyLikesIowa said:
The Sunset is a pretty good place with a wide variety of food to choose from and they serve breakfast all day. They serve a tenderloin, but I've never had it. You can also get a tenderloin at April's Downtown Diner. That place just opened last summer so I haven't been there yet.

The Mexican restaurant was the Rio Blanco which permanently closed in February. I ate there a couple times with the wife and thought it was great. It was highly regarded by the locals and many were surprised & upset when they closed. They actually have a location in Dyersville which was closed temporarily earlier this year (before the COVID-19 pandemic), but is now open again.
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I forgot about The Sunset, my parents have had the tenderloin and they said it was decent and I have not tried April's yet. It would be odd for a town like Manchester that sits in the middle of hog country to not have a place to get a decent tenderloin.

That sucks Rio Blanco got closed, I thought another Mexican restaurant was reopening there?
 
My home town.

I rarely make it back nowadays but still have family and friends there.

Manchester is kind of the basic quaint small Iowa town. Not a bad place at all to grow up, but not exactly a place for fun and excitement. Just north of Manchester is where the real scenic area of Iowa starts. For those that appreciate views, there are some hidden gems along many of the roads in Clayton, northern Dubuque, and Winneshiek counties.

For dining, your best bet is to drive the 45 minutes or so east to downtown Dubuque. Dubuque has invested heavily in its downtown over the past several years, and the atmosphere is good, and there are some quality restaurants as well. If you go that route, I agree with others that a short drive up to Balltown (just north of Dubuque) is definitely worth the effort. The scenery is amazing, but do it during the day.

If you are the outdoor type, the 10-15 minute trip up to Backbone State Park is definitely worth it. Great park set up with outstanding trout fishing and hiking.

As for FOD, it's nothing exciting but not a bad bucket list place just for the nostalgia. I lived in the area when they were making the movie. My late uncle is a stand-in in one of the scenes.
 
#1DieHardHawk said:
My home town.

I rarely make it back nowadays but still have family and friends there.

Manchester is kind of the basic quaint small Iowa town. Not a bad place at all to grow up, but not exactly a place for fun and excitement. Just north of Manchester is where the real scenic area of Iowa starts. For those that appreciate views, there are some hidden gems along many of the roads in Clayton, northern Dubuque, and Winneshiek counties.

For dining, your best bet is to drive the 45 minutes or so east to downtown Dubuque. Dubuque has invested heavily in its downtown over the past several years, and the atmosphere is good, and there are some quality restaurants as well. If you go that route, I agree with others that a short drive up to Balltown (just north of Dubuque) is definitely worth the effort. The scenery is amazing, but do it during the day.

If you are the outdoor type, the 10-15 minute trip up to Backbone State Park is definitely worth it. Great park set up with outstanding trout fishing and hiking.

As for FOD, it's nothing exciting but not a bad bucket list place just for the nostalgia. I lived in the area when they were making the movie. My late uncle is a stand-in in one of the scenes.
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Longtime Dubuque Hempstead theatre teacher Sue Reidel helped pick the farm and coordinated the final "traffic jam" scene in the movie.

Longtime Dubuque radio personality Paul Hemmer had a speaking line when they were in the school gymnasium debating over Terrance Mann's books.

One of the Boston scenes was the historic Martin gas station on Locust street in Dubuque. It was historic in the sense that it was Iowa's first self serve gas station. It was torn down without permission to make way for parking for what is now the Barrel House restaurant, the original entrepreneurs having long bailed for a number of reasons.

The neighborhood around Mann's apartment was the block of Central avenue between 17th and 18th Street. It had to be made into a two way street for the movie. Remnants of the Jewish names on the storefronts still remain today.

The motel Ray and Terrance stayed in on the way to visit Moonlight is the Airport Inn near the McDonald's on Hwy 61 south. Other recognizable landmarks in the movie are Downtown Galena, Hwy 20 between Galena and Dubuque, the U of Dubuque campus, Hendricks Feed Co., and the Speede Shoppe convenience store (now a Big Ten Mart) on Twin Valley Rd. near the Hardee's.
 
MikeyLikesIowa said:
Manchester was my neck of the woods growing up. There's a fish hatchery just east of town that's great for kids. Whitewater Park is on the Maquoketa River near downtown if you want to go tubing or kayaking. You could also check out the Franklin Street Brewing Company. That's about it for in-town attractions There are some other places to see outside of town, but within 30 minutes. Backbone State Park (the oldest state park in Iowa; 15 minutes straight north) and the Lake Delhi Dam (15 minutes SE; breached in 2010 and rebuilt in 2016) come to mind.

Manchester actually has quite a few restaurants for it's size, but none of them are "must see" places IMO. There's Dairy Queen, Subway, Pizza Ranch, The Sunset, and Godfather's Pizza on the West side near the Walmart. There's a few mom & pop places and a Burger King & Hardee's across from each other downtown. Lastly, on the East side all by itself is a Pizza Hut. The DQ used to be right next to it, but moved to it's current location many years ago. I've eaten at the Sunset in Manchester a few times and thought it was very good and reasonably priced.

Breitbach's claims to be the oldest continuously operating restaurant & bar in the state of Iowa. It's been open since August 23,1852, but they had two fires within 10 months of each other in 2007 & 2008. It's still a good restaurant, but not as good as it was before the fires. It's not worth the 50 minute drive from Manchester unless you also want to check out the beautiful scenery overlooking the Mississippi River on the NW side of Balltown.

As previously mentioned, Dyersville's about 20 minutes straight East on Highway 20 and there's much more to see there. They have the Field of Dreams, National Farm Toy Museum, Plaza Antique Mall, and the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier.

If there's one place you must go to try the food, it's Chad's Pizza in Dyersville. The dining area is small, but their pizza is amazing. It's on the same level as the Wig & Pen in Coralville IMO.
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Just curious, but are you old enough to have been to Chad's when it was still Leroy's? I think Chad still uses Leroy's pizza recipe that he used almost 40 years ago. My friends and I used to eat at Leroy's all the time in high school back in the 80s.
 
ssckelley said:
I forgot about The Sunset, my parents have had the tenderloin and they said it was decent and I have not tried April's yet. It would be odd for a town like Manchester that sits in the middle of hog country to not have a place to get a decent tenderloin.

That sucks Rio Blanco got closed, I thought another Mexican restaurant was reopening there?
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I heard Fiesta Cancun is coming to the old Rio Blanco place. My wife and I got take out at Rio Blanco in Dyersville last week that was very good. Hope they make a go of it there.
 
peerok said:
Just curious, but are you old enough to have been to Chad's when it was still Leroy's? I think Chad still uses Leroy's pizza recipe that he used almost 40 years ago. My friends and I used to eat at Leroy's all the time in high school back in the 80s.
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Yes, I clearly remember when it was Leroy's. Whenever we got pizza when I was younger, we rarely got it from anywhere else. Chad took over the business in 2004, and we still get pizza from there at least 2 or 3 times a year when we go up to my parents' house. I can tell you without a doubt that Chad still uses the same recipes that Leroy used. I found a great write up about Leroy's/Chad's Pizza that I've linked below. It explains the history of the business and what makes the pizza so great. Chad should really link it on the restaurant's website.

http://partners.dubuque365.com/dining/pdf/argosy-chadspizza.pdf
 
Fryowa said:
Hate to be that guy but Field of Dreams is a letdown.

The field is not the original one, nor is it in the original spot. There are bleachers similar to the ones you see in the movie which is ok for picture opportunities and the house is still there, but you are going to be generally underwhelmed. The Porta Pots don't help.

That said, if you are a baseball fanatic like myself, FOD is one of those necessary Meccas that you should probably just check out to say you’ve been there. My kid and I love baseball and the movie and we can say we’ve played catch there, so there’s that, but after going once I don’t feel a need to go back until when or if I have a grandkid.
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Lol. Agree. I was there about 25 years ago. House..OK. Field..OK. Lights..OK. Bought some dirt...can't find the vial anymore. Meh.
 
Northside Hawk said:
Longtime Dubuque Hempstead theatre teacher Sue Reidel helped pick the farm and coordinated the final "traffic jam" scene in the movie.

Longtime Dubuque radio personality Paul Hemmer had a speaking line when they were in the school gymnasium debating over Terrance Mann's books.

One of the Boston scenes was the historic Martin gas station on Locust street in Dubuque. It was historic in the sense that it was Iowa's first self serve gas station. It was torn down without permission to make way for parking for what is now the Barrel House restaurant, the original entrepreneurs having long bailed for a number of reasons.

The neighborhood around Mann's apartment was the block of Central avenue between 17th and 18th Street. It had to be made into a two way street for the movie. Remnants of the Jewish names on the storefronts still remain today.

The motel Ray and Terrance stayed in on the way to visit Moonlight is the Airport Inn near the McDonald's on Hwy 61 south. Other recognizable landmarks in the movie are Downtown Galena, Hwy 20 between Galena and Dubuque, the U of Dubuque campus, Hendricks Feed Co., and the Speede Shoppe convenience store (now a Big Ten Mart) on Twin Valley Rd. near the Hardee's.
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The gym debate scene is where my uncle can be seen in the background.

I still remember reading the ads Hollywood placed in the local newspaper in their search to find the proper farm for the movie. They had a list of criteria, one of which was a long driveway. Watching the movie, I couldn't figure out why they wanted the long driveway until, of course, the last scene.
 
peerok said:
I heard Fiesta Cancun is coming to the old Rio Blanco place. My wife and I got take out at Rio Blanco in Dyersville last week that was very good. Hope they make a go of it there.
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The one in Dubuque is really good, if they are bringing that to Manchester then it will be a treat.
 
#1DieHardHawk said:
The gym debate scene is where my uncle can be seen in the background.

I still remember reading the ads Hollywood placed in the local newspaper in their search to find the proper farm for the movie. They had a list of criteria, one of which was a long driveway. Watching the movie, I couldn't figure out why they wanted the long driveway until, of course, the last scene.
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I played softball and baseball against some of the ghost player extras from the movie, most notably Frank and Sean Dardis.
 
ssckelley said:
The one in Dubuque is really good, if they are bringing that to Manchester then it will be a treat.
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That is a good place and so are the Los Aztecas in Dubuque.

Stay away from Salsa's. That place has gone downhill. You are better off crossing the street to L May, walking two blocks to Mario's, or going down to the revitalized 9th-11th street scene near Jackson and Washington streets.
 
okeefe4prez said:
My buddy was supposed to have a destination wedding in August, but The Germ has forced a change of venue. His bride is from Manchester, IA, and they are talking about doing the wedding in Manchester. I am all for it. Now, to my knowledge, I've never been to Manchester, but when I looked at it on the map and saw it is down Highway 20 from Fort Dodge, I figured it must be pretty awesome. So to those of you have been there, can you please fill me in on it? Things to do, places to see, must eat restaurants, best tenderloin in the region, etc. I plan to take my boy over to the toy tractor museum in Dyersville and maybe to see the Field if that is open. Anything else in that area I should go check out? Thanks.
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Riverbend Pub. 3 story deal on the river there. Great place.
 
Fryowa said:
Hate to be that guy but Field of Dreams is a letdown.

The field is not the original one, nor is it in the original spot. There are bleachers similar to the ones you see in the movie which is ok for picture opportunities and the house is still there, but you are going to be generally underwhelmed. The Porta Pots don't help.

That said, if you are a baseball fanatic like myself, FOD is one of those necessary Meccas that you should probably just check out to say you’ve been there. My kid and I love baseball and the movie and we can say we’ve played catch there, so there’s that, but after going once I don’t feel a need to go back until when or if I have a grandkid.
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And they are building the "new" field that is set to host the Sox and Yankees in July. Work is ongoing yet. Will see how and if they do the game or push to next summer.
 
Fryowa said:
Yeah, I’d hate to be someone from a different part of the country who thinks if they make the trip it’s some sort of cool movie experience, just to show up and go, “What the hell is this?”

It’s a (very) rough approximation of the field in a totally different spot and orientation, a couple porta pots, and a shack where you can buy keychains and coffee cups.

If you’re a baseball person and happen to be in the area, bring a glove and check it out just because. If not, it isn’t worth the trip.
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It's Heaven. Father / son having a catch. They should come in sweltering heat and humidity when the gnat population is at peak. That makes it glorious.
 
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