Eastern Iowa Restaurant Makes List of Top 50 Pizza Joints in the U.S… Again!
For the second year in a row, a small town Iowa restaurant has made a prestigious list of the top 50 pizza places in the entire United States! Congratulations to Lincoln Winebar, one of the '50 Top Pizza' picks for 2026.
About Lincoln Wine Bar
Lincoln Wine Bar is located in Downtown Mount Vernon at 125 First St W, its home since it opened in 2000. But, Lincoln Wine Bar didn't always serve their popular pizzas. According to their website:
"In 2012, local chef Matt Steigerwald purchased the space and had the brilliant idea to bring in the Italian-made, wood-fired oven and started providing delicious Neopolitan-style pizzas to the corridor. In 2016, current owner Jesse Sauerbrie purchased LWB and has continued the tradition of making the best pizza in 99 counties."
The menu at Lincoln Wine Bar is pretty simple. They offer seven "Classic Pies," a few pizza specials that rotate seasonally, house-made meatballs, salad, breadsticks, burrata, and tiramisu. They also use locally-sourced ingredients whenever they can. In addition to the food, Lincoln Wine Bar offers a carefully curated wine menu.
According to an article from the The Cedar Rapids Gazette, Lincoln Wine Bar was number 45 of the 50 pizzas to make the list in 2026, which is one spot higher than it was last year! That's a big deal, because this isn't a list where they choose one restaurant from each state. In fact, there are a lot of states that aren't represented on the list at all, especially in the Midwest! In a post on the restaurant's Instagram page, Lincoln Wine Bar owner Jesse Sauerbrei wrote about the honor of making the list for the second time:
I visited Lincoln Wine Bar for the first time last summer, and the experience was everything I had expected! We ordered the Burrata appetizer to start (pictured below), and then shared the Smoked Margherita Pizza. I recommend making a reservation if you want to give them a try - the place is small, so it fills up fast!
By the way, Lincoln Wine Bar also made another list last month! They were one of the restaurants on Midwest Living's list of '11 Hidden Midwest Restaurants That Are Worth the Drive for Date Night.' You can read more about that honor HERE.
Other Midwest Picks
After looking through the list, I was surprised to see that only ONE other Midwest restaurant made the '50 Top Pizza' list in 2026! That's Coda di Volpe in Chicago, which came in at number three. The article says that Coda di Volpe is known for its "excellent traditional Neapolitan pizza, made according to the European brand standards." You can read more about it HERE.
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