JV’s Downtown Bar & Grill has served barbecue, bread pudding and other comfort foods for more than 30 years. Jeff Vogt has a simple explanation of how he got into the restaurant business.
“I was the oldest of six kids, and I got to cook a lot,” says Vogt, who grew up a block from his Waterloo establishment. “We had a garden, we canned, we butchered and all six of us were encouraged to learn how to do these things.”
These days, Vogt still does the cooking at JV’s Downtown Bar & Grill. He and his wife, Denise, opened the restaurant in 1985 in a former brewery. The 1847 building still has three fermenting cellars below street level. During biannual architectural tours of historic Waterloo, Jeff takes visitors downstairs to view the old cellars.
The rest of the time, however, he’s in the kitchen. Baked beans are homemade, fans rave online about the chili and the chicken wings, and fish is on the daily specials’ menu every Friday.
If You Go
JV’s Downtown Bar & Grill
117 N. Main St., Waterloo
Hours: Wednesday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Tuesday, 4 to 8:30 p.m. Bar open until 11 p.m. daily. Closed Mondays.
(618) 939-7127
The JV’s specialty, however, is barbecue, from ribs and brisket to chicken and turkey. Top seller? The pulled pork.
“I was barbecuing before it was a fad,” Vogt says. “I did pork, ribs and chicken forever, but I had to learn how to do brisket and burnt ends because people kept asking for it.”
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Vogt also taught himself how to make JV’s signature dessert. For Denise’s 50th birthday, they traveled to Savannah, Georgia, and tried bread pudding at several restaurants. “I can make it better than this,” Vogt thought. So, he returned to Waterloo and began experimenting.
When Stumpy’s Spirits Distillery opened nearby (see previous page), Vogt started using their Old Monroe Pecan Pie Flavored Whiskey in his bread pudding.
“The alcohol cooks out,” Vogt explains, “but you’re left with the flavor. And it was a way for us to support these young people going into business.”
JV’s is that kind of place – a Waterloo institution where folks look out for each other. The Vogts treat locals and travelers like family. Most of the time, Jeff Vogt gets around to greet every table and thank diners for coming in.
“Waterloo and Monroe County have been good to us,” he says. “We try to be good back.”
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