11/15/2025
Congratulations to Brad Waldron, of The Rusty Duck in Dexter, on being named the Iowa Restaurant Association's 2025 Rural Restaurateur of the Year! The Rusty Duck has been a long time sponsor of the RCC Run the Woods Race!
Brad Waldron didn’t buy a destination restaurant—he built one. In 2004, a friend tipped him to a little place down a road he’d never driven. The bar was covered in blue s**g carpet, the building needed everything, and the price was high. Brad countered, kept the heavy old flat-top (which he still uses today), and went to work.
Twenty-one years later, diners drive from hours away—and even from Japan, Australia, and Saudi Arabia—for steaks, burgers, and exacting, warm hospitality. Waldron is the Rusty Duck’s keeper of details. Now with his son by his side, he cuts his own steaks from fresh, choice boxed beef and grinds trimmings for hand-patted burgers.
In 2011, his business trajectory was set when he earned “Iowa’s Best Burger.” Later that year, he added Top Ten Tenderloin honors. The rush grew; the old school standards didn’t budge. Salads go out on chilled plates and hot food hits the table the moment the bell rings.
For building a rural institution on craft, discipline, and heart, the Iowa Restaurant Association and award sponsor the Iowa Egg Council present Brad Waldron of The Rusty Duck the 2025 Rural Restaurateur of the Year.