Known for substantial home cooking, the Coffee Cup Café in Sully (18.7 miles from Grinnell) has existed since 1917. Walking in, it feels like you are in a small-town restaurant. The simple interiors greet patrons, featuring only vintage photographs on the walls and well-worn tables and chairs scattered throughout the space. The bathroom is decorated with fishing paraphernalia topped off with a stenciled quotation, “I will make you fishers of men,” attributed simply to Jesus.
You quickly become aware that this is a family-owned and operated restaurant. A small child clad in his karate uniform brought our menus and silverware. In the corner near the kitchen door, a group of adults sat with a baby and the waitresses took turns playing with the child. That same karate kid ran in and out of the kitchen, eager to help out.
The menu at the café consists mainly of diner food and American home cooking. I discovered that outside of side dishes like mozzarella sticks and salads, most things on the menu aren’t vegetarian-friendly. When it came time to order, I decided upon the split pea soup and a bacon cheeseburger.
The food at the Coffee Cup Café was salty, greasy and probably horrible for me: everything I want from a small-town diner. My juicy burger came piled with bacon and a melted slice of American cheese oozing out of the bun with a large pile of seasoned curly fries sitting next to it. Everything was well-made and tasted as delicious as it looked.
One of the things you first notice on the Coffee Cup Café’s menu is a list of accolades from various news organizations. At the top of the list is NPR’s proclamation that it is one of the “Best Places to Eat” in the country. Certainly one of the main reasons that the restaurant earned this reputation is for the pie.
The wide selection of pies is written up on a chalkboard behind the counter and erased throughout the day as selections sell out. I went late in the day and only banana cream, apple and rhubarb remained. I settled on ordering a slice of rhubarb pie, and I’m glad I did. The sharp tanginess of the vegetable pairs well with the sweet and flaky crust that melts in your mouth. It would be difficult to visit Sully without sampling a slice of this restaurant’s pie.
The Coffee Cup Café doesn’t do health food or vegetarian dishes. What is does do very well is stick-to-your-ribs food that warms and fills you up. It is the ideal home cooking restaurant, well worth the slightly out of the way drive.
Coffee Cup Cafe
616 4th Street
Sully, Iowa 50251
www.coffeecupcafe.com
