Dan & Jami’s Railway Grill & Bar – Council Bluffs

When you’re on a road trip and you want to know where to eat breakfast…you can ask the GPS “voice” on your smartphone. But other times it pays to do what we like to do. Ask a bartender! That was certainly the case on our recent road trip to Western Iowa…when Underwood Iowa’s Boss Hog’s BBQ bartender “Foz” told us we just HAD to drive into Council Bluffs to try a place called Dan & Jami’s Railway Grill & Bar. So the next morning that’s exactly what we decided to do.

The outside of the building wasn’t much to look at when we arrived…and the location was certainly off the beaten path.  

The eatery sits next to the railroad tracks…in the shadow of a freeway overpass…

We arrived quite early on a Sunday morning…but the parking lot was nearly full already. (That’s a great sign of good food to come.)

We felt right at home when we stepped inside. The restaurant was FILLED with Iowa Hawkeye black and gold! This restaurant might be located closer to Lincoln and those Nebraska Cornhuskers than to Iowa City and our Hawkeyes…but THIS place is Hawkeye Heaven in Husker country!

Our server was one of the best waitresses we’ve had in forever! 

The eatery was packed and she handling many tables, but she made us feel like we were her only customers. And the best part? I watched her make every table feel the very same way!

Our breakfasts were delicious…and the portion sizes were larger than expected or needed!

There was no way I could eat all of my breakfast…and I left lots on my plate.

But the flavors were delicious and the atmosphere was more than we’d hoped for.

As I looked around at all the Hawkeye-themed treasures on the walls, one thing caught my eye…

A hand made string and nail outline of the state of Iowa…with Holbrook, Iowa as the center of the universe. When I pointed it out to Peepaw he was immediately intrigued since Holbrook, Iowa used to be on the UPS delivery route he drove for thirty years! We asked our server about it when she refilled our coffee cups, but she was unsure why that was a special place…But she told us we could ask Dan, the owner, who was also the chef in the kitchen that morning.

I hated to ask her to bother him since he was swamped with breakfast orders…but it wasn’t long before he came out of the kitchen to meet us and to answer our question.

Dan Driscoll and his wife Jami Sousa own the Railway Grill…and it turns out he grew up in Holbrook, Iowa! It didn’t take long for the two guys to make familiar connections all over South East Iowa.

After a few minutes, Dan headed back to work, and I couldn’t resist snapping a photo of Dan and his sous chef as they cooked and filled scores of plates to feed more lucky customers that Sunday morning.

And I marveled that, once again, we’d received great advice from a bartender who shared his favorite breakfast spot with us…Dan & Jami’s Railway Grill and Bar in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

(Thanks again Foz…!)