The Encounter Cafe

The Encounter Cafe is a locally focused café in Iowa City known for homemade pastries and coffee, with cinnamon rolls, soft pretzels, muffins and chocolate chip cookies baked from scratch each day. The menu also includes breakfast items such as omelettes and pancakes, and hot and cold drinks, with the café sourcing eggs, milk, lettuce and coffee from nearby Iowa suppliers.

The café is open Monday through Saturday from early morning until mid-afternoon and is closed on Sundays. Guests can ask for baked goods to be warmed, and gift cards can be sent digitally. The café is run as a for-profit restaurant, with profits directed to humanitarian aid and inner city missions, and it has a quiet, peaceful atmosphere on South Clinton Street downtown.