New restaurateurs bring Harold’s Chicken fried recipe back to Iowa with Cedar Rapids opening

CEDAR RAPIDS — A pair of new restaurateurs are bringing a Chicago favorite back to Iowa.

Harold’s Chicken, which opened in February for the first time since it left the Corridor eight years ago, is in a new location on the southwest side. The space, near Wawa Caribbean, was previously home to Highway 30 Diner.

But there’s only one new thing about this location: its customer service and dedication to making a comeback in the community. With a relatively simple menu, Harold’s continues to deliver the same favorites that have kept it going in Chicago for over 70 years.

“I want people to eat a meal and feel like they are home. Even if you’re not from the Chicago or Illinois area, it’s a home-cooked (type of) meal,” said co-owner Vaosa O’Meara. “For people to come and spend their hard-earned money … we want them to have good food and a good experience.”

The new location adds to a total of 45 locations across eight states.

The food

The menu matches the food in its simplicity: fried chicken and catfish are the stars of the show, supported by perch, shrimp, gizzards, liver and giblets.

How you order is up to you. Choose from chicken buckets as large as 12 pieces with a mix of breasts, thighs, wings and drum sticks, or from combo dinners as small as two pieces.

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The breading for chicken, like the restaurant’s popular wings, is made with relatively simple ingredients, such as pepper.

Vaosa, who has lived in Cedar Rapids for 22 years, says that’s a good thing: “Everything we do is original seasonings, original recipe. If it’s not broke, why fix it?”

And unlike other fast food competitors, its strength shines in how fresh it is. Everything is made to order.

“There’s always going to be a wait time for our food. It’s fresh, and that’s the thing — that’s what Harold’s is known for,” O’Mearasaid.

On the side, the spirit of soul food is accompanied by a sense of southern hospitality through okra, macaroni and cheese, hot peppers, mushrooms, fries and pizza puffs.

Each combo meal comes with fries, a creamy homemade coleslaw and a piece of bread on the bottom of the order to enjoy last — after it has soaked up all the seasoning and sauce from your meal.

“We’ve had a lot of requests to sell our coleslaw in a bigger container,” O’Meara noted.

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A mild sauce, in use since the restaurant’s inception, offers a tangy and sweet complement to the crispy skin of wings. For those who need to feel something more, hot sauce is available.

If you want it extra crispy, ask for your order to be “hard fried,” which adds a minute and a half to the fryer’s timer.

How it happened

The new opening from co-owners O’Meara, 38, and Tierra Long, 34, aims to give Harold’s a second shot in Iowa. After the last franchise left Cedar Rapids in 2017, this reopening is the state’s only Harold’s Chicken.

It's their first venture in restaurant ownership.

The duo hope to add to the diversity of Cedar Rapids’ food scene with a favorite of both entrepreneurs’ partners. Of the two couples, three out of four people grew up in Chicago or Illinois, where Harold’s enjoys robust popularity.

O’Meara, who grew up in Australia before moving to Cedar Rapids at 15 with her Cedar Rapids native father, has a background in business management. She previously worked as a property manager and helped adults with disabilities retain their independence.

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Here, she hopes to put a heart for people to use at the front of the house.

Long, who previously worked as a nurse, finds her magic in the kitchen.

“We both come from a life of serving. This fit really well with that,” O’Meara said. “This is our first baby.”

As they grow, they plan to add more tables for dine-in, a drive-thru for advance orders and delivery service.

As they reintroduce Harold’s to the community, they simply hope diners old and new will give it a second chance. So far, the restaurant’s return seems to be gaining momentum — a steady line of customers trickled through the door between meal rushes on Friday as O’Meara spoke to The Gazette.

Many of them, she said, are repeat customers. For some of them, preparing orders start right before they get to the register.

“Some people come back in the door, and we drop an 18-piece bucket, because we know that’s what they’re getting,” she said.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.

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