Galena, IL - Great Trip, Great Food

On one of my trips back to Iowa, our friends took us to Galena, IL. I had never been there but what a treat this was! It's the cutest little town (similar to what Madison IN used to be when more shops were open) FILLED with shops of all kinds! It's right across the river from Dubuque, IA. There were antique shops, specialty shops, restaurants, art studios, jewelry shops and so much more. 

Since all that shopping made us very hungry - we stopped at Vinny Vanucci's Little Italy on Main Street for some lunch. 

Vinny's has two locations, this one is on top of a hill and has a beautiful patio area outside. We didn't even consider going inside!

We got garlic bread and salad with our meals. The garlic bread smelled so heavenly - I forgot to take a picture first! This was seriously the best garlic bread I've had ever. It was crispy, thin, flaky and smothered slathered covered in butter and garlic. Melt in your mouth goodness. The salad was good too...but just not as much to brag about!

I got a pasta bowl with marinara and meatballs ($8.95) and it was delicious! The meatballs were huge and heavy but not too overwhelming. The marinara was great too - it was a nice combination of a fresh sauce but one that's been cooked a while - if that makes any sense. Sometimes marinara are bright red and you can tell they weren't cooked a long time. This had a deeper flavor than that.

Larry is always careful about pasta having eggs - and they said some of theirs did - so to be safe he got a burger and fries ($8.95). It was good as well...but the italian food is really what you go for!

Our friend wasn't all that hungry - so he got soup ($2.95) and meatballs - ha - he was shocked when the dish of meatballs ($5.95) came out! For being not hungry - I think he licked the plate! It was the same meatballs on my pasta but then they added a bunch of sauce and roasted peppers.

Why Should You Go? Well - it is a treck for my Cincinnati followers - but I have to say - a weekend in Galena is really a wonderful time. There's a Mississippi River museum across the river in Dubuque that our friends love to visit. There are so many great shops - we really loved Mangelsen's - definitely some of the most beautiful nature photographs we have EVER seen. They have ghost tours, skiing and so much more. It's a great little town. But oh yeah - the food - Vinny's was great! We all loved our dishes and it was some great Italian food - better than anything I've had in Cincinnati.