Martha’s Pick:

Sugars Lounge and Diner
2725 E Kanesville Blvd, Council Bluffs
Fare: Diner eats
Cost: $37 for one appetizer and two meals
Reservations: Not needed

Greetings, Eaters and Readers!

Maybe you knew this or maybe you didn’t, but every year Iowa’s Pork Producers Association (IPPA) crowns an “Iowa’s Best Breaded Pork Tenderloin” winner. I don’t think I knew it was a thing until moving to the Omaha/Council Bluffs area. Even then, I’ve paid little attention because usually the restaurants, bars and grills that make the list weren’t located close-by.

Then Dunlap’s Dairy Sweet won the prestigious pork prize in 2024. Suddenly, I saw numerous friends and family not only making the drive to try the award-winning tenderloin – they made repeat trips! Some traveling over two hours roundtrip to enjoy Dairy Sweet’s glorious grub. I never did make the trip, though I hope and plan to. I confess: I carry some deep-fried FOMO until I can get to Dunlap myself.

When the IPPA announced this year’s 5 finalists – I was stoked to see not just one finalist within striking distance – but two! Better yet – one of them was located right here in my new city of residence: Sugars Lounge and Diner in Council Bluffs. (The other is Walker’s in Salix, about a one hour drive from Omaha.)

So when it was my turn to pick our target for November’s post, I told Jaclyn to head on over and let’s visit Sugars. I didn’t have the Dairy Sweet’s winning experience in my brain or belly to compare it to, but I went in asking myself one question: After tasting their pork tenderloin, would it be something I would drive an hour for, multiple times? Would it be a sandwich I would tell others is worth traveling great distances? Jaclyn and I headed in to find out.

Cheese Balls ($9.95)

Jac eyed the cheese balls, wondering if they were perhaps little pieces of seasoned cheese (there was no description). I told her they were probably cheese curds, which Jac normally doesn’t care for. We got them anyway and cheese curds they were. She was a little disappointed, but popped a few nonetheless. We both thought they were pretty good – and Jaclyn even mentioned they seemed less rubbery than others she’s tried.

Fat & Fluffy Pork Tenderloin ($12.95) | Onion Rings ($1.50)

I poured over the menu like I was actually going to order anything else. Some items caught my eye: I’m looking at you, all-day-breakfast menu! But I had to stick to my intended purpose and the reason we were there: the breaded pork tenderloin. I keep my tenderloin toppings pretty simple – mayo, ketchup, mustard and lettuce.

At first glance, Sugars’ tenderloin is a feast for the eyes. Generously portioned, but not one of those plate-sized behemoths that just feel like a chore to eat and handle. I usually prefer a “pounded-thinner” tenderloin, but this was still a juicy, hot, flavorful bite. I know if it was too thin, it wouldn’t be that kind of bite.

My onion rings were okay – a bit overdone. But I kept my focus and measuring stick on the tenderloin. My Sugars experience was what it should be: hot from the kitchen, juicy and good … enough. Maybe this is my own fault, but with the hype surrounding Dairy Sweet and how the people raved – I wanted this to hit my mouth like a revelation. I wanted to start sounding the alarms, “Y’ALL GOTTA GET IN HERE AND TRY THIS.”

Gentle honesty: I didn’t feel that way.

I’ll expand more in our Final Bites, but at the end of our meal and while looking around and really taking in all that was going on at Sugars – I didn’t feel like it would be a place that parks itself of my personal list of places I need to take visiting friends and family. Not even for the IPPA’s top 5 breaded pork tenderloin.

Build Your Own Pizza ($8) – Beef ($1), Green pepper ($1), Pineapple ($1)

Knowing Martha had the tenderloin covered, Jac ordered a build-your-own pizza with beef, green pepper and pineapple. (Hush, you pineapple naysayers.) She thought it was good, but not great or mind-blowing. The crust appeared to be the ready-made frozen kind with its perfectly round edges. This pizza did the trick as far as satisfying her pizza craving, but nothing she’d write home about.

Final Bites

When we parked outside of Sugars, and I looked at the full parking lot, something tickled my small-town Iowa DNA particles. Positioned out on the edge of Council Bluffs, right where the lines of city-living and country-life get blurry, I knew before I walked in that Sugars was probably a well-loved local hot spot where people knew they could get cold beer, hot food, catch up with friends and shoot the you-know-what about the upcoming Husker/Hawkeye games. And as soon as we opened the door, that was all confirmed.

For an otherwise not-special Tuesday, Sugars was full on both sides of the establishment. The bar didn’t have an empty seat and the diner side was nearly full.

Our server was an army of one, though she had some runner help – someone who dropped off the menus, waters and preemptively apologized for any slower-than-usual service. That might rub some people the wrong way, but I see it as a simple acknowledgement that they are busy and doing their best. I can be patient for that. And we could see our server racking up her steps, quickly going from table to table to kitchen to table to bar and rinse/repeat throughout our stay. We hardly noticed any real ‘wait’ between being sat, placing our order, and hot fresh food hitting our table. And our server made sure to make eye contact/smile/acknowledge us in between her stops at our table.

Even though we both give Sugars a sideways rating – I want to be clear: Sugars is exactly what I thought it would be during my brief research and pre-meal assessment: a well-loved, no pretense, “we’ll treat ya right” local watering hole. If I go back, it will be to try the all-day breakfast. We don’t necessarily think it will have the long-distance pull that Dairy Sweet does – but then again, maybe more experienced tenderloin lovers will come do their own research. I’d love to hear their (your) thoughts if they do.

Cheers!
The Good Bite Gals

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