A Marion County establishment is the winner of the Iowa’s Best Burger contest for this year. The Iowa Beef Industry Council made the announcement Thursday of the honor for the Halftime Bar and Grill in Pleasantville.
Co-owner Tyler Deheer is excited to win the award. “I would say it’s it’s a great feeling, really, honestly just, you know, being a small town, being in a small town like Pleasantville. and just being a family owned restaurant to receive an honor and bring recognition to the town and to the restaurants is pretty awesome,” he says. DeHeer, his wife Amanda, dad Kevin, and mom Kathy have owned and operated Halftime Bar & Grill for just more than two years. Kathy worked in the same building when it was called Frosty’s, and they decided to adopt the sports theme to take advantage of Pleasantville’s interest in high school sports.
Their burgers include the classic bacon cheeseburger, a sriracha bourbon burger, and the beer cheese burger. DeHeer says the ingredients make their burger special.
“Well, they’re. They’re fresh and they come from a local meat locker in Melcher, Iowa, and they’re they’re never frozen. So everything’s fresh. So you’re getting the best, the best tasting burger you can get,” DeHeer says.
Past winners of the best burger contest say their business picked up quite a bit. DeHeer says being a finalist has already helped. “Even in the top ten, it’s been pretty busy and this should definitely be even busier. Other nominees were in Polk City, Waterloo, Spirit Lake. Cresco, Oskaloosa, Cedar Rapids, Knoxville, Sac City, and Iowa City. The award to the Halftime Bar and Grill coincides with the start of Iowa Beef Month.
(Pat Powers of KQWC contributed to this story)