recipes

Click on the “TV SHOWS” link above to see some of the “What’s Cookin… Atlantic?” locally produced shows hosted by Charlene Johnson. Great recipes ideas!!

Our PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE EXPLOSION PIE
won a blue ribbon at the 2009 American Pie Championship
in Orlando, FL.

Our CHILI was voted the #1 World’s People’s Choice Chili
at the 2007 World Chili Championship.

Our BREADED PORK TENDERLOIN SANDWICH
placed in the top 5 Best Pork Tenderloins by the Iowa Pork
Producers in 2005

From ESSENTIALIOWA.COM
Best Hot Beef Sandwich, Farmer’s Kitchen, Atlantic, Iowa
How many harvests have been fueled by a classic hot beef sandwich, piled high with tender pot roast between two squishy pieces of bread, topped with a ladle of mashed potatoes and thick gravy? If the pork tenderloin wasn’t Iowa’s classic sandwich, this would be it. Nobody does it better than the Farmer’s Kitchen in Atlantic. The beef here is fork tender and the gravy simmers for two days before making its debut.

From 500 THINGS TO EAT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE
by Michael & Jane Stern
The Farmer's Kitchen Sour Cream Raisin Pie is "the buffest sour cream raisin pie we've ever slid a fork into... the meringue is twice as tall as the filling, but the filling is so creamy-thick and packed with raisins that all the meringue simply melts into a halo around it."

                     Whether you’re searching for food “just like Mom used to make” or “that you wish Mom
                      had made,” Farmer’s Kitchen will fill your need for home-cooked food. Located in
                      historic downtown Atlantic, Farmer’s Kitchen may look like any other small-town diner
                      dotting the Iowa landscape, but it sets itself apart by the breadth of its menu, the warmth
                      of its staff, and its commitment to serving the finest quality meals around. Owner Mark
                      Johnson is a highly principled restaurateur who refuses to cut corners and still believes that
                      the best food is made from scratch. Read the entire review at

From the Iowa Pork Producers: When Mark Johnson heard recently that a couple of eastern Iowa restaurants had created student scholarships and were funding them from the sales of “Chicken Lips,” he wondered why he couldn’t do the same thing with pork at his Atlantic restaurant. Johnson started selling “Pig Lips” at his Farmer’s Kitchen yesterday and 50 cents of every order sold will go into the Pig Lip Scholarship Fund he has created. Read the article at

Our newest burger, CJ'S CY-HAWK BURGER won first-place honors in the WHO Radio Hawkeye-Cyclone Burger competition held prior to the 2009 Iowa-ISU football game. GO HAWKEYES!