First Look at the Restaurant at Wilson's Orchard & Farm in Cumming
For now, it's all about the pizza. But that's plenty reason to get down to Cumming and get a sense of what this groundbreaking spot is all about.
Wilson’s Orchard and Farm—including the restaurant—opened on Wednesday, April 10, outside of Cumming. I drove down that day for a look around.
Last week, I gave a sneak-peak preview to paid subscribers. Today, I’m opening this up to everyone (paid and unpaid). If you’d like to be the first to read some of my premium content, be sure to become a subscriber!
P.S.: If you don’t know what Wilson’s Farm + Orchard, a potentially game-changing spot, is up to, check out my article from last autumn—it gives an overview of their vision.
A First Look at Wilson’s in Cumming
When I arrived at Wilson’s Orchard and Farm near Cumming, it was mid-afternoon; they’d already served 50 for lunch, and they were all set up and ready for the first-night rush. And yet, there was a calm I didn’t expect. Perhaps it was due to the team’s vast experience—opened in 2017 and sometimes seeing up to 1,000 people on its busiest days, the original Wilson’s Farm & Orchard is now a mainstay in Iowa City.
Or, maybe standing in a beautiful structure made of reclaimed barn-wood has a way of making you feel grounded and able to weather anything.
A few photos of the grounds as well as the interior space, which has a delightfully rural-yet-modern feel throughout:
I was greeted by culinary director Matt Steigerwald, who gave me a quick tour of the kitchen and made me a pizza. Normally, I don’t accept freebies, but when Matt Steigerwald offers to make you a pizza, the answer’s going to be yes—journalistic ethics be damned.
Steigerwald became a pizza kingpin when he opened the Lincoln Winebar, a pizzeria (and little-sister up the street from his famed, once-upon-a-time Lincoln Cafe in Mount Vernon). He describes his pizza at Wilson’s as “Neo-Neopolitan” — or perhaps simply “artisan.” They’re fired in a state-of-the-art Pizza Master oven that I could tell he was pretty stoked about.
“I’m glad to be back to pizzas,” he told me. “I got away from it since I sold the Winebar. There’s something about getting a really beautiful pizza out of the oven—I could do it all night.”
His joy came through in the pie. It is a beauty, a delight—thin crusted on the interior, puffy on the rim, with a nice char on the bottom. Toppings did that Steigerwald trick where they tasted both creatively inspired yet timeless, too—in this case, Castelvetrano olives, chunks of unctuously soft mortadella, pickled piparra peppers, and Manchego, all finished with olive oil and Maldon sea salt.
I also got a chance to meet the new Des Moines-based chef, Lenny Trapane. Though just 27, he’s spent his working life in some of Iowa’s most renowned kitchens, including Rodina and Cobble Hill (both in Cedar Rapids), as well as in the Iowa City location of Wilson’s. Chefs from all three of those restaurants have been James Beard award semifinalists.
Along the way, I met general managers Katie Goering and Jacob Goering, daughter and son of owner Paul Rasch. While they must have been extremely busy on this opening day, they were great hosts. Joyfully showing me around, both seemed to exude a kind of elation—tinged with dreamy exhaustion—that one gets when in the midst of doing something difficult, exciting, and immensely rewarding (like building a pioneering orchard/restaurant/cidery/farm/market in an equally trailblazing agrihood).
I will say it’s hard to find online information about what’s going on at Wilson’s. Yet it’s also hard to blame anyone this busy at doing something this admirable for not updating social media and websites with things like hours and menus. So, I’ll post the details for them. Here’s what you need to know.
Menu: For now, the kitchen will focus exclusively on pizzas and appetizers—and you know something? That’s easily worth a drive to Cumming.
Hours: The restaurant is open Wednesday through Sunday, nonstop, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Reservations?: Yes! Here’s where.
Address: 3201 15th Ave., Cumming.
Phone: Sorry. They do not have one set up yet.
To drink: Wilson’s cider, of course, plus beer, wine, and cocktails.
Note to paid subscribers: Again, thank you for supporting this work. Driving down to Cumming, taking photos and notes and writing it all up takes time. I couldn’t do this without your support. Feel free to forward this email to anyone you think might be interested.
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
I’m proud to be part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, a curated group of independent writers across the state. For an easy way to find out what everyone has written about recently, check out this roundup of last week’s columns.
That pizza! Mama mia!! Thanks this great information. I thought it was months away. Love the Iowa City location and here's one just down the road.... Spring and summer just got a whole lot better.
I love Wilson's hard ciders, and that pizza looks delicious! We will be going there for sure. Thanks for letting us know they're open.