Brazen Open Kitchen Is One of Iowa's Best Restaurants

Every time I dine here, I appreciate this Dubuque restaurant even more.

Review of Brazen Open Kitchen
955 Washington St #101, Dubuque,
(563) 587-8899
BrazenOpenKitchen.com

Any travel destination I seek must pass one test: it must offer a distinct sense of place—that feeling that you’ve landed somewhere that’s like nowhere else in the world. I also love it when a restaurant taps into a distinct sense of place as well. Brazen Open Kitchen, in Dubuque, Iowa, does just that.

Interior of Brazen Open Kitchen, Dubuque.

Brazen is the anchor restaurant in Dubuque’s Millwork District, where character-rich brick warehouses have been transformed into offices, living spaces, galleries and dining/drinking establishments. I love how the area hasn’t been overly tarted-up; while impeccably tidy, the solid, workaday buildings—complete with rail spurs intact—never let you forget the area’s rough-and-tumble, hardworking past.

Inside Brazen, the brick, steel and well-worn wood also hint at the grittiness of history, but in comfortable and contemporary ways, with modern lighting, banquette seating and sleek leather chairs. Tapping into the fusion between yesteryear and today, the focal points of one dining room include an imposing antique lithograph of cattle breeds and a view of the flashy open kitchen itself.

And the food?