I brought my mother to Newton's yesterday after hearing about it on IPTV. What a delightful spot in downtown Waterloo!
First things first. I like the decor and atmosphere at Newton's ... a little bit diner, a little bit bistro and a little contemporary with some cheery, yet warm furnishings and decorations. I could see myself being comfortable here for pretty much any meal of the day and I love the big windows that enable you to watch the street happenings.
Tyler, our server, warmly greeted us and took our drink orders .. just hot tea for moms and water for the both of us. My mother and I are both fans of the tenderloin sandwich so of course, we zoned in on Newton's $9.99 sandwich. We're always hesitant about ordering them at restaurants because sometimes you get a sandwich with a lot of filler. Based on the menu description that their tenderloins are "breaded fresh daily", I felt confident that I would get a quality sandwich. And Tyler, who had an excellent command of the menu, further assured us that the sandwich was made with pork from a local locker, pounded, seasoned and breaded each day. Pork tenderloin sandwich it is, with a side of onion rings.
The food arrived quickly and I couldn't believe what was put on the table. Based on Tyler's description and suggestion, we ordered 1 sandwich to share and holy crap, thank goodness we did. That sucker was huge .. really, enough to feed a small family. I was expecting to get one big sandwich that we would cut in half ourselves, but that's not how they do things at Newton's. They actually cut the tenderloin in half and fix two sandwiches. two buns with two pieces of meat plus some pretty greens, sliced Roma tomato and some very thinly sliced onion. And speaking of onions .. Newton's onion rings are JUMBO .. wide slices with the same crispy breading (Panko, I think) that they use for the tenderloin, and served with a side of Chipotle dipping sauce. That sauce was the only thing that was a little off for me. I think it was prepared with just some sour cream and a little minced chipotle chili with adobe. it lacked something and that thing is just a touch of mayo, which was added to the leftover sauce after I got home.
The food was hot and delicious. That tenderloin was probably one of the best I've ever tasted. Not in a state fair concessions kind of way, but prepared with a bit more care and attention to detail. Although the loin was pounded quite thin, it was very juicy with no dryness whatsoever. The meat was fork tender, seasoned perfectly and beautifully crispy, fried to perfection. My only minor complaint is with the bun. It's really such a good sandwich in every way possible, but the buns we got were pretty tired and wrinkly. A homemade, or at least a little more fresh bun, toasted would have taken the sandwich to an even greater level of ZOMG! But again, minor, and the sandwich was still spectacular. And, how 'bout we got 4 meals out of it.
I've been in Atlanta for the last 29 years and have only recently returned to Iowa for good. I'm really excited to start exploring and trying some of the local food spots, and I'm very happy that Newton's was one of my first tries. I highly recommend it and am looking forward to returning. read more