“We just love to celebrate American success stories on this program, and we’ve got one for you right now,” Varney proclaimed. “Bob Rand is the owner of one of the top-rated steakhouses in the world, and the restaurant is in the middle of rural Iowa. What’s so good about your steak?”

Rand, who owns Archie’s Waeside in Le Mars, didn’t hesitate. “The greatest cattle in the country are raised right here in northwest Iowa and northeast Nebraska. That’s where we source all of our beef every day.”

Archie’s Waeside is known for selecting top-end choice and prime cuts. This beef is put through an aging process to tenderize the meat over a period of days. Every steak served at Archie’s Waeside is cut by hand in the restaurant’s cooler, which is kept at 35 degrees Fahrenheit. While the restaurant seasons its steaks with high-quality garlic and its own blend of fine ground peppers and salts, the seasonings are simply an enhancement. The beef is the star, Rand said.

“I’ve been here 41 years and have never seen so much excitement for beef,” said Rand, 57, who noted it’s not usual for customers to order a 42-ounce Porterhouse steak or a 40-ounce tomahawk steak. “People’s appetite for high-end steak continues to grow.”

-Photo by Darcy Dougherty Maulsby
Steaks served at Archie’s Waeside in Le Mars come from beef raised in northwest Iowa and northeast Nebraska.

The restaurant’s roots reflect Russian heritage

While people love the food at Archie’s Waeside, they also appreciate the heritage of the restaurant and the family who has owned it for 71 years, starting with the late Archie Jackson.

“My grandfather Archie was born in 1908 in Perm, Russia,” said Lorrie Luense, Rand’s sister who helps run Archie’s Waeside. “His father, Antone, was a Russian Cossack who served as a high sheriff in Siberia and was also a meat buyer for Russian Czar Nicholas.”

After the family escaped Russia around the time of the Bolshevik revolution, which led to the eventual rise of the Soviet Union, they made their way to Iowa. Like most Russian and Polish immigrants who came to Sioux City, they settled in the South Bottoms area, where Antone (and later his son Archie) worked at the packing houses.

Archie Jackson eventually headed to Los Angeles in the late 1930s and early 1940s, where he worked as a meat cutter and learned the art of dry-aging beef. He returned to Iowa in 1946 and lived in Remsen, where he and his brother, Bill, owned the Remsen Recreation Parlor, which included a bowling alley, two bars and a lunch room.

In January 1949, Archie Jackson’s mother, Alexandria, called to tell him the Waeside Inn in Le Mars was for sale and encouraged him to buy it. “Under Archie’s ownership, the Waeside’s business flourished,” Luense said.

Many a night, the restaurant didn’t close until dawn. Archie’s Waeside expanded in 1957 and 1963 to increase the size of the kitchen, coolers and dining area. “My grandfather wanted the biggest and best walk-in cooler to dry-age his beef,” said Luense, who added that Jackson and his daughter, Valerie (Val), also created the salad-dressing recipes and sauces that are still served at the restaurant today.

During her tenure, Val Rand added the current bar and lounge area (which retains its late 1970s vibe) and expanded the menu at Archie’s Waeside.

She also instilled in her five children a strong work ethic and taught them the restaurant business from a young age. Her youngest child, Bob, embraced this legacy and took over the ownership of Archie’s Waeside in 1995, following his mother’s retirement.

Rand has played a key role in putting Archie’s Waeside on the map. “My phone and email blew up after the Varney show,” said Rand, who added that a man from Tampa said he’d pay any price to have steaks from Archie’s Waeside sent to Florida. “We don’t ship meat. You have to come here.”

Worth the drive

Through the years, the steaks at Archie’s Waeside have won raves from celebrity chef Rachael Ray to famed food writers Jane and Michael Stern. The restaurant has been featured in the New York Times and won the prestigious 2015 James Beard Foundation Award for Excellence.

Foodies love stories like the “Benny Weiker,” a delicious, dry-aged beef tenderloin served at Archie’s Waeside. It all goes back to a beef salesman from the Sioux City stockyards in the 1950s and 1960s named Benny Weiker, who thought the beef in northwest Iowa was the greatest in the world.

The claim was that all the beef Weiker bought went to posh restaurants in New York and the like. “Benny was legendary in the yards,” said Bob, who has been the principal meat cutter at Archie’s Waeside since he was 14 years old.

Stories like this, combined with exceptional food, motivate customers from Omaha, Nebraska, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and beyond to dine at Archie’s Waeside, which has become a destination for foodies and locals alike. “People are becoming more sophisticated as they travel the world and learn more about food,” said Rand, who estimates he has cut nearly 2 million steaks during his career. “When people dine out, they want the greatest eating experience possible.”

Rand thinks back to the day he received a call from a man who had just boarded a plane at LaGuardia Airport and was preparing to fly home to Minneapolis.

“He said he and his wife love great food experiences and wanted to know if we were open that evening,” Rand said. “When he landed in the Midwest, he and his wife drove to Le Mars, stayed two nights and ate at Archie’s Waeside.”

While some customers drive hours to eat at the restaurant, others live nearby and have been dining at Archie’s Waeside for generations. Each customer can expect a deliberately old-school steakhouse meal that begins with a relish tray and continues on to salads with homemade dressings.

“It would be easier to serve pre-made foods, but when you have a hand in making it, the food just tastes better,” Rand said.

The employees of Archie’s Waeside value this attention to detail. “Our employees are dedicated,” said Luense, who has worked at the restaurant for 45 years. “Our head cook, Kim Staab, has been with us since 1979, and we have waitresses who’ve been here as long as 20 to 35 years. We are one family here.”

This spirit is reflected in the food, Rand added. “We prepare each meal like we’re going to serve it to our own family. If something’s not right, we start over.”