Maggie’s Farm Wood-fired Pizza in Iowa City is founded on family and the freshest ingredients.

It all began on Maggie’s Farm outside of Oxford, Iowa, where the restaurant’s founders, Jerry Zimmerman and Carolyn Brown, refined recipes for Neapolitan pizzas with vegetables they grew themselves. In 2017, Maggie’s Pizza, named after the couple’s labradoodle, opened in its current west side location.

In recent years, the restaurant has pursued emphasizing other menu items besides pizza — especially beverages.

Reina Matsuura, Maggie’s catering and beverage manager, has been influential in helping expand the restaurant’s beverage menu from its original staple cocktails, one of which is the Bottle-Aged Manhattan.

Served in a simple Nick and Nora glass, the amber Bottle-Aged Manhattan is poured over a Luxardo cherry in front of guests from a jar of pre-mixed Old Forester bourbon, bitters, and Cocchi di Torino vermouth.

“Before I got here, and actually at the beginning of when I was here, we didn’t really have a formal bartender, so because of that, none of the servers prepped all the drinks,” Matsuura said. “So, this was one way to batch something in a way that’s still presented beautifully.”

The Bottle-Aged Manhattan is a delicious stiff drink, each warm sip exploding with sweetness on the tip of the tongue, followed closely by the tartness of the bitters.

A lighter drink to contrast the intense flavors of the Bottle-Aged Manhattan is the Hugo Spritz, a refreshing and bubbly spin on an Aperol Spritz.

During a period of time when Aperol was not among the selection of alcohols offered for purchase to establishments by the state, Matsuura sought out other options for the cocktail.

Her research led her to the Hugo Spritz, which is made with St. Germain elderflower liqueur instead of Aperol.

Matsuura adapted the recipe, which traditionally includes leaves of mint, to include basil to better complement food items like a Margherita pizza.

After laying the leaves at the bottom of a hurricane glass, Matsuura added a pour of St. Germaine, a splash of Prosecco, club soda, and ice. She topped the rim with a
simply yet classy slice of lemon to complement the flavors and add an aesthetic touch.

The longer the drink chilled, the more infused it became with the sweetness and brought flavors of the basil, which paired well with its hint of elderflower.

The final drink Matsuura prepared was a specialty cocktail called Porch Water. She began by filling a mixer with ice, a pour of Bacardi rum, coconut milk, a splash of Triple Sec, lime juice, and lemongrass syrup.

Maggie’s lemongrass syrup is made with lemongrass grown by a server’s father, testifying to the restaurant’s roots in family and community.

Matsuura gave the concoction a few good shakes, emptied it into an Old Fashioned glass rimmed with Tajin, added ice, and finished with a few drops of sassafras bitters — Matsuura’s “special ingredient.”

The Porch Water has been described by other customers as a rum margarita, according to Matsuura. This holds true, as the rum’s notes of vanilla enhance the tropical taste of the coconut milk and citrusy tang of the bitters.

Matsuura intends to continue experimenting with cocktails to identify ideal food and drink combinations, as well as to provide a richer array of nonalcoholic options.

“If I were to have a fourth cocktail for you today, it would have been a nonalcoholic cocktail,” Matsuura said. “That is something I’m really excited to roll out.”

Along with expanding Maggie’s menu of beverages, Matsuura hopes customers will branch from pizza to other food items, like pasta dishes and salads.

“We get customers who are very loyal to us or very regular. We know what they’re going to order, so they don’t actually have to tell us,” she said. “I think everyone cares for each other.”