CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — More than two months after giving customers a sneak peek, Horseshoe & Hide has announced its official opening date in the former Sykora Bakery in Czech Village.
The restaurant and bar, 73 16th Ave. SW, had a soft opening in mid-May 2026 during Houby Days weekend, but has only held open interviews and open houses since then — during June and July — as it searched for line cooks, bartenders, servers, dishwashers and management.
Related: Soft opening for new Czech Village bar
Horseshoe & Hide, in the former Sykora Bakery, is seen in May 2026 during Houby Days. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Horseshoe & Hide recently announced on its Facebook page that it will officially open Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Doors open at 4 p.m.
Regular hours have not yet been posted and a menu will be available after it opens.
A special menu during Houby Days — the annual Czech Village festival that celebrates morel mushrooms — offered a prime rib sandwich, Czech goulash and other plates, along with a variety of drinks, including the Smoke Signal bourbon from Cedar Ridge Distillery in Swisher, Iowa.
Described as an “upscale saloon where excellent food and bourbon pair together,” the bar brings the building full-circle from its opening in 1900 as a saloon called the Dew Drop Inn.
The former Sykora Bakery building was originally a saloon called the Dew Drop Inn.
In the adjoining part of the former bakery, LoKey Hat Co., a custom hat boutique, opened its doors in November 2025.
Candy Nanke, owner of LoKey, and her husband Kory Nanke, own the historic Sykora building. Kory Nanke said Horseshoe & Hide would offer higher end dining, a whiskey and bourbon bar and patio seating.
A few touches of the iconic bakery remain, including a 1930 oil painting high on the wall, traded for food by a Bohemian immigrant artist during the Great Depression, which the couple had restored and reframed.
Read more: Painting restored inside Sykora building
A Depression-era oil painting was restored and reframed inside the former Sykora Bakery in Czech Village. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
After the Dew Drop Inn, Charles and Anna Kosek opened the first Czech bakery at the site in 1903 as the C.K. Kosek Bakery. Joseph Sykora, who worked for the Koseks, bought the business in 1927.
Sykora and his wife, Clara, owned and operated Sykora Bakery for nearly 40 years, and lived above the bakery. The couple had four children: Ernest, Elsie, Lumir and Lester, with the latter three following in their parents’ footsteps.
Elsie worked the front, while Lumir and Lester, who assumed ownership after their parents died, baked in the back. Lester continued operating the bakery after Lumir died in 1969. Elsie Sykora Elias died in 1993.
Don and Sheila Janda purchased the landmark bakery in December 1993 from Lester Sykora, followed by John and Sue Rocarek, who bought Sykora Bakery in 2001. The Rocareks had planned to sell the business to Craig McCormick, who temporarily reopened the bakery in September 2023, but they then decided to sell the building, rather than lease it out.
The Nankes purchased the building in December 2023. An online auction of bread pans, baking sheets, mixing bowls and more was held in February 2024.
More: See photos from Houby Days 2026
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