Bump’s gets a barbecue reboot in Iowa City at Finkbine Golf Course

IOWA CITY — Bump’s Restaurant is getting a reboot.

Under a new executive chef and general manager, the restaurant inside the Nagle Family Clubhouse at the University of Iowa’s Finkbine Golf Course has a catchy new moniker: Bump’s BBQ, Burgers & Beer.

“I would not call this a golf course restaurant,” general manager John Cafarelli said.

That endeavor is nothing new for the restaurant, which first opened in 2020 and reopened in 2021 under a previous chef. But this time, the barbecue focus may give it a new momentum.

The new undertaking, an initiative under Cafarelli and executive chef Dan Naso, has shown promise with a 41 percent increase in revenue this year. Although Iowa is the top pork producing state, barbecue options in the Iowa City area are growing slim with recent and upcoming closures.

With the revamp, they’re using barbecue to bring a new sense of approachability to the course as they try to increase its visibility.

“Barbecue can be elevated to a higher tier of food. A lot of people don’t think of it that way — they think of it as cheap, low brow food,” Naso said. “But it takes a lot of knowledge to cook these meats to different temperatures, different times, different smokes, different seasonings. I think barbecue is good, quality food — it’s approachable.”

The new menu features a Midwest-tailored style of barbecue that weaves influences from all around the country. Wet-curing from northern Georgia, dry rub from Memphis, hickory smoke from Kansas City, vinegar tang from the Carolinas, smoked sausage from Louisiana and sweet sauces from St. Louis all converge on Iowa-raised pork.

“In the realm of barbecue, there’s so many different options. Being able to start with this barbecue menu from scratch, I wanted to take the best things from all these different regions and put them together to create something people want to eat,” Naso said.

Pork is brined in a salt-sugar mixture for tenderization and moisture. Pork and beef are rubbed with a mustard and spice rub for a crisp layer of flavorful bark after smoking.

Brisket is hickory smoked for 12 hours, pork is smoked overnight for 12 to 14 hours, and ribs are smoked for about 5.5 hours. Their wet-curing technique, a less common style sourced from northern Georgia, gives ribs a more tender texture, the manager said.

“Not everyone has a weekend to devote to pork butt, so we try to do it the right way so they don’t have to,” Cafarelli said.

A standard Kansas City sweet sauce joins tables with their Bourbon Carolina Gold with a molasses and a mustard base, next to unique sauces like pineapple habanero and the Alabama white sauce with horseradish, vinegar and a mayonnaise base.

Diners can pick from platters ranging from a choice of two meats to the Legendary Sampler big enough for four.

The new menu has swapped out old features like the Herky Hot Chicken Sandwich for smoked chicken drumstick lollipops. Old favorites like the Walking Taco Quesadilla and pork tenderloin remain, with new twists on other dishes, like ranch onion rings and jalapeno-cheddar cornbread.

In addition to sandwiches and clubs, Bump’s maintains a robust burger menu with namesake plates for Iowa sports legends and beefed up options like Hawkeye Black and Gold burger featuring Carolina Gold barbecue sauce and fried onion rings.

Craft beer from local breweries like Iowa Brewing Company, Backpocket and Big Grove now dominate the drink menu, displacing most previous wine options to better complement the new barbecue menu.

Bump’s Restaurant is named after Chalmers “Bump” Elliott, legendary director of men’s athletics at the University of Iowa from 1970 to 1991 — an era when the Hawkeyes won 34 Big Ten and 11 NCAA championships.

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