Augusta Restaurant hopes to expand

By Pat Shaver

Nestled in the small town of Oxford sits a restaurant serving foods from two different worlds.

Homemade Iowa favorites and traditional dishes from New Orleans attract customers from all over the state — and country —to Augusta Restaurant.

The restaurant is owned and operated by Jeri and Ben Halperin, who met while working in restaurants in New Orleans. Mr. Halperin worked at Bayona with award-winning chef Susan Spicer.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina brought wind speeds as high as 125 mph and severely damaged New Orleans; Mobile, Ala.; Gulfport, Miss., and countless other towns along the coastline.

“We stayed up until the last minute,” Ms. Halperin said. “But we heard how strong the winds were.”

They packed enough clothes for two days, their cat and went to stay with a friend in nearby Covington, La., as the storm destroyed everything in its way, including most of their belongings.

Eventually, they drove to Chicago, to stay with Mr. Halperin’s parents.

“We thought we would be back in two weeks,” Ms. Halperin said.

Storm damage was extensive. Power was out for a portion of their drive to Chicago, so they had no idea the severity of the disaster.

“It wasn’t until Arkansas that we saw what the rest of the country was seeing,” Mr. Halperin said. “The power was out in such a huge radius. We really didn’t know what was going on.”

While deciding their next move, they settled in Chicago and found jobs. They married in 2007 and three days later Mr. Halperin was laid off from his job. A friend of theirs had moved to Oxford with his wife, who was attending the University of Iowa. That’s how they heard about a vacant building there.

“After he was laid off, we thought let’s go check it out,” Ms. Halperin said.

The couple jokes they took their honeymoon in Oxford, a town of 700 people located 16 miles northwest of Iowa City.

Coming to Oxford

The ability to secure low rent for a restaurant and a home was intriguing to the couple.

“We didn’t decide to leave New Orleans and we didn’t decide to be in Chicago,” he said.

They opened Augusta Restaurant on Jan. 16, 2008. Opening day, though, wasn’t ideal.
They experienced another one of Mother Nature’s disasters: an Iowa blizzard. Later that year, floods blocked roads around their business.

“It has its ups and downs and were still learning after five years,” Mr. Halperin said.

Taking the leap to open a business was nerve wracking, but didn’t hold the couple back.

“We had the confidence in the New Orleans flare,” Ms. Halperin said. “It has a New Orleans feeling with the music and the food.”

The restaurant’s interior is filled with New Orleans panache.

“Nothing matches. It looks funky, kitschy, I like it. But the most important thing is the food  and service,” Ms. Halperin said. “I think people appreciate homemade food. We do  absolutely everything from scratch.”

Augusta serves fresh baked bread, hand cut steaks, fresh ground beef, hand cut fries and chips, as well as homemade pickles, mayonnaise and salad dressings and fresh baked pies. Menu items include: chicken and andouille sausage gumbo, jumbo lump crab cakes with  white remoulade and the Po-Boy, a traditional New Orleans sandwich served on fresh-baked French bread, dressed with shrimp, catfish, or fried oyster mushrooms. Augusta’s tenderloin was named The Best Pork Tenderloin in Iowa by the Iowa Pork Producers  association.

Iowa beers are on tap from Millstream Brewery in Amana, Backpocket Brewery in Coralville and Toppling Goliath out of Decorah. The restaurant is popular for its Sunday brunch, served from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. weekly.

The business offers turduckens during winter holidays. A turducken is a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. It can feed 12 or more and is about 12 pounds. The chef  debones each bird then brines, smokes and layers them with andouille sausage and cornbread stuffing.

The restaurant can seat 48-50 people and employs seven workers. The Halperins said they are continuing to increase their catering operations and cater events such as weddings and University of Iowa events.

Augusta attracts customers from nearby communities such as Iowa City and Cedar Rapids and people driving through the area on Interstate-80, toward Des Moines or the Quad  Cities. Since the restaurant is a destination stop, the owners don’t see much local  competition.

“We consider our competition Mom’s cooking at home,” Ms. Halperin said.

The Halperins would like to expand and find a spot for a commercial kitchen, where they could produce items to sell to other restaurants, for example. They recently bought a house with commercial space on the first floor they are considering turning into a bakery.

The restaurant hosts events frequently, such as the annual Mardi Gras party from 5-10 p.m. Feb. 12. It will feature a buffet of red beans and rice, fried chicken, jambalaya, etouffee, shrimp boil, king cake and a Hurricane drink for $40. The party will feature live music from Big and Easy. To RSVP call Augusta at (319) 828-2252.