Dockside Grill And A Trip To Nebraska For A Special Event – Day 1 to Cape Girardeau, MO And Supper At Top Of The Marq

Our daughter Kathy and her boyfriend (fiancée) have been together for several years and have now decided it’s time to get married in Sioux City, IA and since she wanted me to walk her down the aisle, I thought we should go.  We opted to drive rather than fly and go to their house in Hartington, NE first to have a look at their home renovations before going to Sioux City - about an hour east.  It’s over 1000 miles to their place and in our younger days we would have made it a two trip but not anymore so we decided on three days at about 350 miles each day.

But before leaving for the trip on Monday, we decided to eat out on Sunday to prevent a kitchen clean up and to have leftovers for supper.  Since it was Fathers Day, to beat the crowd, we headed up early to Dockside Grill At Tellico Marina which is a place we really like and I’ve blogged about before and it’s only about 10 minutes away.  We got there about 10 minutes after they opened and at least five tables were already full.  Since it is owned by the same person as Countryside Restaurant, I can go there and get my favorite, awesome, fried catfish which I did for this meal and the only protein side dish they had was baked beans so I got two of them.

That is two giant pieces of fish and I ate about ¾ of one and about ¾ of one of the beans so plenty left for supper and maybe for breakfast as well.  Can you believe they serve all of that food for $15 especially at a place like a marina.  Bev had a smoked, fried boloney sandwich with tater tots at $11 and Pat had the catfish PoBoy with mac & cheese for $12.

And now for the trip.  We took our normal route to the Northwest with the first six-hour leg taking us to Cape Girardeau, MO and since there was no reason to get there early and we were gaining an hour, we left home around 11am Monday and left Cindy, Pat, and the pups in charge on the home front.  The drive went smoothly except in rained for about 2/3 of the trip which lowered the temperature to 62F and we were both dressed for 80F – I didn’t bring any clothes with long sleeves but Bev said she may have a light jacket in the big suitcase if we can dig it out.

That first night of the trip, we stayed at The Courtyard By Marriott in downtown so we could just walk across the street and eat at the 4.7 star Top Of The Marq restaurant .  We got there shortly after five and it was pretty empty but by six, the place was humming. 

From this 7^th floor restaurant, the muddy Mississippi River could be seen out the window.

Bev enjoying a cocktail.

They specialize in Social (small) Plates and I went with one of them while Bev ordered an entrée.  She decided to get risky and order Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps: sautéed Thai chicken, carrot sticks, chopped cucumber, chopped cashews, green onion, served in romaine boats, sweet chili sauce, peanut sauce, $19.Turns out to be a worthwhile risk as she really enjoyed it.

I had the Hangar Steak: medium rare, sliced, marinated hangar steak with chimichurri and two bean citrus salad, $17.  I thought mine was very good and satisfied my desire for plenty of protein.

Photos can be slightly enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

6/22/25 event date