100 things to eat...Stop #26

Some call them taverns, others Maid-Rites, but those hungry for loose-meat sandwiches in Ottumwa are more likely to ask for a canteen instead. Stop #26 was at Ottumwa’s Canteen Lunch in the Alley to see how the secret sauce and seasonings would set this super sloppy sandwich apart from the rest. Canteen Lunch in the Alley has been around since the 1920s, serving up loose-meat sandwiches on wax paper (no plates here!), rich milkshakes, and homemade pies to hoards of hungry patrons at noon.Walk in the front door and you are instantly face-to-face with a small group of women chatting around the large meat steamer like folks around a fire. With only a dozen or so stools lining the horseshoe counter, eating here feels almost like a family dinner, as conversations float across the room and quickly engage anyone who wishes to participate. This is the type of place that you visit as much for the atmosphere as you do for the food. Although the Canteen has always been a local favorite, its notoriety spread beyond the boundaries of Wapello County when it served as the model for Roseanne’s Landford Lunch Box restaurant on the ‘90s sitcom (Tom Arnold grew up eating loose-meats in Ottumwa).