Investigating the Menu: The Daily Grind
Living up to the history of a old restaurant as a new tenant seems like a momentous task. Especially for a cafe like The Daily Grind.
Residing in what used to be the Donut Boy, it's near Beechers and my least favorite intersection in all of DBQ. Seriously, I've been saying for years that they need to put a light or a roundabout there. Keeping it an all-way stop when it's the intersection of two very important and heavily driven streets is foolish. If anyone on the city council is reading this, the money that will be used on that ugly overpass planned for 14th Street could be used on literally any other road construction project. I mean any road. Next meeting, take a dartboard, tape a map of Dubuque on it, and fix the road the dart lands closest to. Who is asking for another overpass?
Anyways, qualms with roads aside, I had a lot of memories with the Donut Boy in DBQ. As a kid, me and my father would always go there to get donuts for my grandparents. Bear claws for my grandma, long johns for my grandpa, and of course, sprinkles for me. There would always be an older gentleman sipping on a black coffee and reading the newspaper who'd know my father or his father and strike up conversation. It always had that sense of community to it that I didn't yet see much of in DBQ. When I moved back into town from college, I was saddened to see it had closed.
In comes The Daily Grind. I hadn't thought much of it at the time, just glad that there was still a coffee shop there for the people who lived close. Once I started my graveyard shifts, I was dying for a place to get food right after work.
This might be a hot take, but coffee shops shouldn't open at 8am. Who does that work out for? Absolutely no one on first shift or night shifts, arguably the people who would benefit most from caffine. If they're accounting for people who work 9-5, then what, you're giving yourself an hour to get everyone (who needs to be on time for work, by the way) their coffee? That just sounds like putting unnecessary strain on your baristas.
It seems that I'm full of rants today. Either way, I appreciate that The Daily Grind opened around 5:30am.
Walking in, the layout is very similar to Donut Boy's. Large counter for displaying pastries and lots of seats. I don't believe they kept the large donut display behind the counter that I remember. There's a small fridge by the entrance for stuff like energy drinks, lemonades, and other bottled things.
They have a very solid menu, accompanied by pastries from local bakeries. One of those pastries just so happens to have my favorite baked good of all time. Millwork Bakery's chocolate chip scone. Me and this pastry have a long history, spanning multiple years and almost ending in tragedy. I won't get into it today but let's just say I love this scone. Unfortunately the first time I went, they only had the blueberry ones.
I ended up getting their waffle biscuit with the classic bacon, egg, and cheese combo. They had a surprising amount of options for cheeses. As a true American patriot, I can appreciate a nice cheese selection.
It's a surprisingly good breakfast sandwich. The waffle biscuit was very reminiscent of Wendy's maple chicken biscuit sandwich bread. I love that sandwich so I very much enjoyed the waffle biscuit. Bacon, egg, and cheese are the only constants in this crazy world so nothing much to say on those aspects of the sandwich. Pretty solid.
Their drink menu was very good. Had a lot of options and had one drink that caught our attention. The Silly Juice. It's apparently a lemonade mixed with some of their fancy syrups. I was intrigued and so we got some. I got the raspberry flavor, and my partner got the desert pear flavor. My drink was pretty alright, but the desert pear flavor? Weirdly incredible considering the simple ingredients. It had a strangly complex flavor profile that we both enjoyed greatly. For less than 4 bucks for a large, it's definitely worth it.
They also have the usual coffee pickings, with some fun looking drink combos for sale. It looks like their staff gets to make their own special drinks which I think is super fun. There's also energy drink concoctions on the menu that look really customizable.
Their pastries also look incredibly good. I appreciate them offering a box of day old donuts for $6. It doesn't waste food and gives you a pretty good deal. Got one of their cake pops and a donut and they were pretty good. The donuts are donuts, nothing too groundbreaking. The cake pop was nice and moist, with a real good flavor. Very comparable to Starbucks cake pops, in terms of texture and taste. I love Starbucks cake pops but the corporate union-busting aftertaste sours it a bit. Have yet to catch them when they have my chocolate chip scones in stock, but there's a million different places to get Millwork scones in DBQ.
The staff are very nice and welcoming. They keep the place clean and have fun music playing in the dining area. We were greeted when we came in and they have a fun punch card rewards system. I cannot tell you, dear readers, just how many punch cards reside in my wallet. It's probably in the double digits now. I'm a big fan of punch card rewards because apps and phone numbers take too long. If you are a fan of apps, they also have one.
Final Thoughts:
The Daily Grind is a cute place with a lot of love in it. The menu offerings are great, the customer service is great, the prices are very reasonable.
Does it hold up to what Donut Boy was? I believe that's an unfair question to ask of Daily Grind. I think that it's improved on what Donut Boy was as a coffee shop, but I don't think it has the same community feeling. I believe that's due to the obvious focus on younger folks. The place looks updated with fun matcha lavender drinks on sale and Alani's in the fridge by the door. I'd be a fool to say it's the same. Not saying it's a bad thing, focusing on fun drinks is a smart business decision. Especially with the proximity to UD.
There's a larger underlying problem with younger generations and community that is too complex to get into for a coffee shop review. It makes sense why it doesn't feel the same. It's like if a playground replaced a YMCA. Totally different atmospheres. But I don't think that's fair to expect of Daily Grind. It'd be impossible to live up to Donut Boy's nostalgia.
Memorial Day happened recently, so I decided to get a long john donut in memory of my purple-heart recipient grandfather. I decided to go to Daily Grind because of the memories I had of fetching donuts for my grandparents. Even though it doesn't feel exactly like Donut Boy, sitting in the same building, eating the same donut that he loved, and enjoying it just as much was a surreal feeling. Made me appreciate that this building that holds memories for many other people was still standing. Even if it looked a little different.
I do believe that not enough people have given it a chance. It's a wonderful place with a lot of charm and passion put into it. It has a ton of potential to stay around for a while, maybe even as long as Donut Boy did.
The Rating:
Space: 8/10
Service: 10/10
Price: 10/10
Food: 8/10
Drinks: 8/10
FINAL RATING: 8.8/10
*Never sponsored, always authentic reviews at Midnight Snack DBQ*
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