CEDAR FALLS - Jim and Jodi Landau didn't know what they would find when they opened the doors to their North Cedar restaurant for the first time after the floodwaters receded.

Homeowners were already reporting more than 6 feet of water on the main floors of their homes. The Landaus feared the same fate for their beloved Brown Bottle. Amazingly, they got only 11 inches of water on the ground floor, higher than they had ever seen, but much lower than they had prepared for.

"Even in the worst floods before this we only got 2 feet in the basement," Jodi Landau said.

The Landaus briefly contemplated closing up shop but ultimately decided they couldn't walk away from the restaurant they had owned since 1985, when they purchased it from Jim's parents.

"This place has a special feel about it and so many memories," Jodi Landau said.

"It's hard to duplicate," Jim Landau added. "… What do you do? Just lock the doors and walk away? That would have been tough, too."

When the restaurant reopens either later this month or early in August, it will be "like a whole new restaurant," Jim said.

The old, golden-colored walls have been ripped out or covered. The bar had to be rebuilt and some kitchen and server areas will be moved to make service more efficient.

"It's a wreck right now, but it has to get worse before it gets better," Jodi Landau said from the second-floor dining area. The room, stripped to the drywall, was jampacked with tables, high chairs, desk chairs and decor all pulled to the upper level as the owners prepared for the rising waters.

"It was even more full, but we had to move some stuff out to the semi to get to the walls."

Loyal patrons said they are happy to see the restaurant reopen. Zac Timmerman was moving a gas line near the restaurant in the days following the flood. He happened upon the Landaus, who were taking a break in the restaurant's parking lot. They started chatting, and Timmerman told them just how important this restaurant was to him.

In November 1998, Timmerman proposed to his then-girlfriend, Sandy, during a romantic dinner. She, of course, said yes. Now, the couple tries to make it back about once a month, he said.

"It was always kind of known as the upper end of the restaurants before the downtown got going," Zimmerman said of his decision to pop the question in public. "It's a special place to me. Even if they would have moved somewhere else, we still would have gone, but it wouldn't be the same."

Though the Landaus are taking the forced renovation in stride, they say the experience has been overwhelming. For about 24 hours, they watched and worried that their livelihood - they also own Montage on the Parkade - would float downstream with the Cedar River.

"I really feel for the people of North Cedar. They had it so much worse than we did, and it was in their homes," Jim Landau said.

"At least we get to go home every night," Jodi Landau added.

Contact Emily Christensen

at (319) 291-1570 or

emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.