https://www.nwestiowa.com/sentinel/it-s-all-about-family-at-archie-s-waeside/article_7e7fbd19-88f3-46f1-8c99-f89707cc8634.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawKAmSlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFYc3dEc2U3Qk5HWEFHaUFVAR5BkivWaa1cNmT_uxvtQgV3RYfPHTQoR5b4kh-H2OmWsQKdKfE54F4v2rWmQQ_aem_h7jz42vhg6qVWDBjBGSe6QIt’s all about family at Archie’s WaesideLE MARS — Archie’s Waeside in Le Mars has long been a destination for those who enjoy steaks and fine dining.
Archie’s got its start in 1949 when Archie Jackson purchased a restaurant that was started in November 1931. There was a constant change of ownership in the 1940s before Jackson became the owner in January 1949.
Now, just over 75 years later, Archie’s is on its third generation of family-member ownership bringing the finest steaks and dining to northwest Iowa.
Jackson’s grandson Bob Rand, owns the business now. Both he and his sister, Lorrie Luense, are active in the day-to-day operation at the restaurant, and are there each evening to greet customers, following in the footsteps of their mother, Valerie Rand.
“My grandfather died in July 1973, and to be honest, it was kind of a crazy time and our mom didn’t know how it was going to play out,” Bob Rand recalled. “She was just tough, went to work every day. She treated people great, and like Lorrie always says, we’re family here at the restaurant.’ I don’t care of you’ve worked here a week, you’re part of the family. That’s how we operate this place.”
Bob Rand purchased the restaurant from his mother in 1994, and he and his wife, Dana, still own the restaurant today.
The restaurant was quite a bit smaller in 1949.
The Waeside underwent building expansions in 1957 and 1963 to increase the size of the kitchen, coolers, and dining area.
“I think in about ’55 or ’57, our grandpa added on the back room and added more booths,” Rand said.
“My grandfather wanted the biggest and best walk-in cooler to dry age his beef,” Luense said. That was added in 1963. At that time, the bar went all the way back to the end of the back room.
“In 1977, the year I got married, we ran out of room, so my mom added the lounge out front (south side) of the restaurant,” Luense said.
That got the bar out of the dining area and opened up the back room for more parties and others events hosted by customers, according to Rand.
“Adding the bar made a nice place for people to wait, along with new restrooms,” Rand said. “It was a game changer for us. My mom told us, ‘yeah, I didn’t realize what a stress on the kitchen, gaining 100 seats, would do.’ The growing pains were painful,” Rand said.
Later, another remodel on the north side created a smaller room for meetings. In the late 1990s, a smaller, intimate dining room was created off the large back room.
When Jackson died in 1973, daughter Valerie took over the business, carrying on her father’s legacy.
The story of Archie JacksonArchie Jackson was born in 1908 in Perm, Russia, where his father Antone was a Russian Cossack who served as a high sheriff in Siberia and was also a meat buyer for Russian Czar Nicholas, according to Luense.
During the revolution, Antone escaped from the country in a false bottom wagon being loaded on a ship and came to the United States through Texas. He saved enough money and arranged for passage for his wife Alexandria, and two sons Archie and Bill to come to the United States. Archie was just six years old.
The family found their way to Sioux City, and like most Russian and Polish immigrants at the time, settled in the South Bottoms, where Antone worked in the packing houses. He was very successful and actually became the first Russian to be a landowner in the city, Luense said. Within a few years, he purchased a farm north of Sioux City, When Archie was 12, he and his father were in the fields working. They were sickened from food poisoning from their lunch and Antone died. Archie then went to the packing house to work. In the evenings they had boxing matches in the cattle pens.
Archie went to Los Angeles in the late 1930s and early 40s and worked as a meat cutter, boxer, and professional wrestler. He learned the art of cutting and dry aging beef.
He came back to Iowa in 1946 and lived in Remsen, and owned the Remsen Recreation Parlor with his brother Bill. This included a bowling alley, two bars and a lunch room.
“In January, 1949, Archie’s mother Alexandria called him and told him the Waeside Inn was for sale and he should buy it. My mother Valerie was 19 then and she came up from Sioux City to work with him,” Luense said.
Growing the WaesideUnder Archie’s ownership, the Waeside’s business flourished. Friends and customers love telling stories of him coming out to the front of the restaurant, sill wearing his bloodied meat coat, and telling stories of his earlier life. He would lead the dancing on the dance floor. Many a night, the restaurant didn’t close until dawn.
Archie was also known for his roast pig parties in the 50s and 60s. Dinners were held for weddings, fundraising efforts, etc. He also was a big supporter of the Le Mars Community and Westmar wrestling teams, and many men’s and women’s bowling teams.
“We always think about our grandfather,” Luense said. “He died at age 65. He had some health issues, part from being a boxer in the 20s and working in the stockyards in Sioux City. But he had ideas, and we keep thinking, what level he would have gone to had he lived.”
Luense said when her mother took over the business in 1973, she was a pioneer of sorts as well, a single woman raising a family and running a successful business.
“My grandpa demanded excellence,” Rand said.
Rand has also learned a lot about the business when he travels.
“When you look around, the people in this industry who are good at it are a small world,” Rand said. “Grandpa started this in 1949. A lot of the big places didn’t start until the 80s and 90s, or even 2000. As I travel and talk with people in the industry, they tell us our grandpa had these same ideas 30-40 years before they even began to talk about it. That’s pretty cool.”
“Grandpa had such beef expertise, being in the packing houses. He had great ideas. Mom had great ideas, too, a great artist’s mind. She saw something she could make out of it,” Rand continued. “She could see it, and that was the cool thing about her.”
Archie and Valerie created the salad dressing recipes and sauces which are still used today.
“A lot of it is all of us all together,” Luense said. “That’s what makes it run, and the food. Bob is very, very professional in buying food.”
“We live in the greatest beef-producing area in the country, and we are literally buying the best of the best every day. Grandpa was the same way,” Rand said.
Rand said another game changer came for the Waeside when it got into the wine making business.
Connections with the owners of Gateway Computers in North Sioux City, South Dakota, brought a new opportunity for Rand and the Waeside.
“All of a sudden we were dealing with people from all over the world,” Rand said. “We were really good friends with those who opened Gateway. They really opened doors for us, giving us a position in the wine business. We were trying to get into the market. They knew great wine, all over the world, and they placed on us on the wine map.”
Rand has cultivated numerous relationships with vintners in Napa Valley and currently sells his own unique Archie’s vintages of wine produced in Napa Valley.
“My family and I are now making five to six labels of wine. The latest, which just came off the bottling line, is a beautiful wine that honors our mother,” Rand said. The label feature a sketch of their mom from 1965.
I
n 2015, Archie’s received the prestigious American Classic Award from the James Beard Foundation. This award is given to independent restaurants who have longevity in their ownership and are known for quality food from their region. Archie’s was also named to the Final Four of best steakhouses in America by Rachel Ray in 2009 and featured on NPR’s “Splendid Table,” as well as receiving national recognition from numerous other publications and websites.
It’s about family
However, the story of Archie’s Waeside always seems to come back to family, and not just Archie, Valerie, Bob and Lorrie.
For them, the employees become family, and family works together.
Luense and Rand quickly point out head cook Kim Staab, who has been with the restaurant since 1979.
“She began in salads and she knows every position in the kitchen,” Luense said.
Their longtime bartender, Molly Boever, worked for them for 54 years before retiring.
“We are one family here. My brother and I try to be here every night working with the employees and customers. The success of the family business started by Archie Jackson in 1949 is due in large part to the traditions that have been conserved and passed down from generation to generation,” Luense said.
“We’re definitely very close here and our employees stay for a long time. I would say they stay until they have to retire,” she added.
The children of Rand and Luense all took their turns in working at Archie’s as well.
“Bob’s kids love it, they’re still part of it and are included in our conversations,” Luense said.
Valerie loved to shop, and the many Department 56 Christmas village houses and accessories remain a part of the decor today.
Valerie lived in the front house at Archie’s until her death in 2024. “One reason she lived until 92 was she loved to hear the stories of the night’s business we shared every night after we closed,” Luense said.
