The Hunt for Dubuque’s Best Burger Leads To Paul’s Tavern
With temps skyrocketing into the low 90s and humidity to match, I found myself in a pickle trying to find a place to have a late lunch.
Being 2 pm on a Tuesday, it was more challenging than one might imagine to find a restaurant open and still willing to serve me some grub. I looked online, but there has been a trend for places to close during the transition from lunch to dinner, which sometimes leaves me in a lurch regarding getting lunch.
Nonetheless, I felt the gravitational pull of the longtime Dubuque favorite known fondly as Paul's Tavern.
I wish I could recall the first time I entered Paul's. It may have been a hot summer day during my early teens when I would sometimes work delivering ice to the area taverns and gas stations.
It was a bit of a flashback yesterday as I remembered the air-conditioned respite such pubs like Paul's provide on hot and muggy midwestern summer afternoons.
Typically, there's a ballgame playing on TV in a cool barroom with beer bottles getting sipped slowly by a cast of regulars seeking a reprieve from the heat.
Such as it was yesterday when I wandered into Paul's Tavern seeking a cold brewski and one of their classic $4 cheeseburgers.
Any longtime Dubuquer will tell you that Paul's is a one-of-a-kind find, complete with the glass-encased collection of big game taxidermy and a no-nonsense, unpretentious tavern that hasn't changed in my lifetime.
You don't come to Paul's for fancy craft beers. Instead, it's for the comfort of knowing there are still places to chill, drink a cold one, grab a burger and watch a ballgame on a hot and humid summer's day.
Paul's Tavern is located at 176 Locust St Dubuque, IA 52001
Hours: 11 am to 2 am Sunday & Tuesday - Saturday. Closed on Monday.
No Website, but you can check in on Facebook.