We're wrapping up our Road Trip posts with a great little place we found on the Illinois side of the river, Jimmie Lee's. We decided to take a little drive across the Mississippi and see what we could see over to the other side - the river isn't very wide by Le Claire, and we could see there was a little town just across the water. We found several fun little spots for a beverage on our drive, and Jimmie Lee's was one of them.
Located in Port Byron, Illinois, Jimmie Lee's Bar & Grill is one of those places that have been there forever, or at least since 1919. We stopped in to check it out and ended up staying for lunch.
One of those tall, long buildings like you find in river towns, Jimmie Lee's has a nice big bar with all of your favorites on tap, too. Food specials printed up on paper were stuck to the wall everywhere and made it especially hard to pick something to eat!
The menu has several appetizers and sandwiches, the usual suspects. Most everything is homemade by the owner, Diane, and she was gearing up for a busy Friday lunch.
How cool that they use an old stove and half a canoe for their soup and salad bar!
Grant couldn't pass up the broasted chicken - 2 thighs and 2 legs plus a huge serving of mashed potatoes and gravy and he was pretty happy.
I just had to try their tenderloin - actually, it was listed as a half pound pan-fried tenderloin on the menu. Talk about happy! This was a huge tenderloin, juicy and tender as all get out. I got through about half of it and I was about to bust. Soooo good.
We had been leaning toward trying the Smoked Brisket Basket special - always love to try BBQ. Our bartender, Jami, who just happens to be Diane's daughter and has worked at Jimmie Lee's for 14 years, said it was the best. So even though we were stuffed, Diane brought us out a sample of her brisket. And they were right - it was awesome.
We stumbled out of Jimmie Lee's in a full stomach stupor, off to more adventures on the river. So if you should find yourself in Port Byron, Illinois, we highly recommend a stop at Jimmie Lee's Bar & Grill. But make sure you're hungry!