Lu-Lu’s Landing brings life back into Oakland Mills

MT. PLEASANT — Just one year after Butch’s River Rock Café was torn down, Macy Davis welcomes visitors to the well-known spot at Oakland Mills for a different kind of dining.

Following the demolition of Butch’s Davis had big plans to open her own restaurant and bait shop in the location, but after facing various obstacles, the dream morphed into Lu-Lu’s Landing.

“We had a big plan to have a stilt building because of the flood plain level went into effect,” she said.

At this stage and age of life, however, Davis and her husband Steven decided the financial burden for that endeavor did not make a lot of sense, so, they pivoted.

“We decided I was going to have a food truck, and we were going to make this down here for my food truck, which is Lulu's Dam Grill,” Davis explained.

Life, yet again, threw Davis a curve ball as she tried to start something new.

“Then in February, my daughter gave birth to my granddaughter, and she had open heart surgery on Valentine’s Day, and we had to revamp our idea again,” she said. “The open hearts surgery went well. She's just missing her thymus. She can't fight off diseases and infections that easily. Until she gets older, we're not sure of any other repercussions.”

As Davis and her husband focused on supporting their family, the idea of opening Lu-Lu’s Dam Grill became overwhelming.

“There was just a lot of time going up to the PICU in Iowa City,” she said.

So, Davis talked with her husband about how she felt they just weren’t going to be able to make it happen.

“There’s no way we’re going to get this around,” Davis says she told her husband. “We’re not going to get that food truck ready in time.”

According to Davis, Steven responded with an idea to open the landing area but simplify the idea by inviting other food trucks to rent space at the landing and offering a variety of food truck options.

“I said Hallelujah!” Davis said. “Hallelujah, that took this big amount of pressure off me.”

With that, Davis began to get excited about the opportunity to “give Oakland Mills a lot of variety, a lot of different foods at different times.”

Now, Lu-Lu’s offers a variety of food trucks on the weekends and occasionally during the week along with a shaded pavilion lit with solar powered mason jar lights.

Davis’s husband and son built the pavilion with reclaimed metal from Butch’s and an old barn.

“We want to keep the river feel,” she said.

She networks with many different food truck vendors explaining to them the amenities available at the spot including 30 Watt and 50 Watt hook ups, water, a restroom, and a seating area.

According to Davis, Lu-Lu’s has hosted nine different trucks so far this summer and she has others booked for the weeks to come.

“Low N’ Slow BBQ was my first food truck at Lu-Lu's Landing,” she said. “They have been back three times since!”

“Everybody likes having food. Down at Oakland Mills, it's something that hasn't been here for quite a while,” Davis said.

While Davis says the food trucks are well-received, she has not given up on her goal to open her own food truck for the landing.

After running into some technical issues, Davis anticipates launching Lu-Lu’s Dam Grill by August before she closes the area for the season in the fall.

“Lu-Lu’s Dam Grill will have fried oysters, poutine fries with my fennel sausage, gravy and cheese curds,” Davis described. “I have a ceviche that I make with scallops and shrimp. I also have a smoked salmon fish dip that we think is going to rock everybody's world. It's a little spicy, but it's really addictive.”

“Then I have a fried bologna sandwich with thick German bologna, thick slice of American cheese, Texas toast, stone ground mustard, and pickles,” she said. “I have smash burgers, fish and chips, of course, catfish, and a Nashville chicken sandwich that I'm going to be serving with slaw. It's a good menu, I think it appeals to a lot of people.”

Davis doesn’t plan on stopping with the launch of the food truck, however.

“We plan on working on the old bait shop starting this fall,” Davis said. “We have to raise that due to the 100 year flood plain. So, it's going to be raised about 3ft. There's going to be a little market in there and a bait shop, ice machine, vending machines, a little porch on the front.”

“We’re trying to give Oakland Mills back what it used to have,” she said.

As Davis continues to dream of the possibilities for the future, she hopes to some day add other features such as a smoker, woodfire pizzas, Friday night boils and perhaps even live music.

“This is just the start of a really big dream,” Davis said as she looked around the picnic tables under the pavilion. “My husband Steve and I have had this dream about 2006. We've wanted to have some kind of enterprise that we both can do together and something that we enjoy.”

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com