Have been wanting to try this place for some time, but wasn’t sure what to expect and whether it was worth a drive just to visit. We had the opportunity while returning home from a Winterset trip to enabled our friends visiting from France to see some covered bridges and the John Wayne Museum.
We each tried a Wine Flight (see picture) and also enjoyed a flight of different chocolate medallions from Chocolaterie Stam (see picture). The quality of the wines came as a bit of a surprise to me, as I wasn’t expecting a lot from a smaller community in the middle of Iowa.
If you enjoy relaxing at a table with a great glass of wine, you will enjoy a stop at the Covered Bridges Winery in Winterset, Iowa.
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We had just finished a trip to Winterset to see a covered bridge and the John Wayne Museum with friends from France and were looking for a place to stop for a drink. The Drift wasn’t quite open (it was 10 minutes before 3:00), so we took a walk to kill some time – and then found this quaint little coffee and dessert shop.
While the lady who greeted us was admittedly loud and borderline obnoxious, she was quite friendly and encouraged us to stay even though it was just a few minutes before closing time. We decided to have coffees here rather than alcoholic beverages at the Drift…and were quite pleased with the coffees that they served.
My wife ordered the Cafe Au Lait (Milk Coffee – see picture) and I went with the Caramel Macchiato (see picture). My wife and I are admittedly a bit on the ‘coffee snob’ side, with an expensive fully automated espresso machine at home – and we both found these coffees to be very good. A solid, quality cup of coffee with great flavor and nice creme on the top – and at a reasonable price. I look forward to having something to eat here during a future visit to Winterset!
For a quality ‘big city’ cup of coffee at small-town Iowa pricing, you’ll love a stop at Anything Sweet & More Cafe in Winterset!
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We had friends visiting from France and when asked what type of food they wanted for dinner, they suggested seafood – so we thought a return trip to Waterfront would be just the ticket!
For an appetizer, my wife ordered the Mini Chuck Roll and Mini Godzilla Roll (see picture) on the waiter’s recommendation – and really liked both of them. My wife ordered the Seafood Scallops (see picture) with New England Clam Chowder (see picture). I sampled both and we each thought they were both delicious. I ordered the Rock Shrimp Basket Dinner to save a few dollars for our friends who were paying and although it was a more typical mass market-type fried food dish, I found the rock shrimp to be quite tender and tasty and also thought the sweet potato fries were very good.
Our friends ordered the Halibut Basket Dinner (see picture) and the Coconut Shrimp Dinner (see picture) – and they enjoyed both of them (although it was way more food quantity-wise than they are used to eating in France).
If you are looking for a solid seafood restaurant with a lengthy ‘fresh-catch’ Market Entrees list in the Des Moines area, you will enjoy a stop at Waterfront Seafood Market.
2/26/2022
Food: 5*
Atmosphere: 5*
Value: 4*
Service: 5*
Our neighbors suggested this place and took us there last night…and oh what a treat it was! If you enjoy good, fresh seafood – you’ll love this place, with your biggest challenge being figuring out which dish to order. As a bonus, you can also buy fresh seafood to take home at the adjoining market – or watch your sushi being made in another area.
Our dinner started with the complimentary sourdough bread and butter – served warm with whipped butter, smelled and tasted great. Next, on the recommendation of our waiter, we shared an order of Bacon Wrapped Sea Scallops. As you might expect with these two great food items combined – they were delicious and I highly recommend them.
Next, my wife enjoyed the Creole Seafood Gumbo, while I opted for the New England Clam Chowder so that we could try both. The menu says the Clam Chowder was voted the Best Soup in Des Moines and while I haven’t tried enough soup to confirm that – I can tell you that it was some of the best Clam Chowder that I’ve ever had.
For the main course, my wife ordered the Shrimp and Scallops, while I opted for the cajun Halibut and Salmon. We thoroughly enjoyed everything, with my lone exception to the 5* rating being the preparation of the salmon – as it was overcooked to my liking and was rather dry as opposed to soft and moist when it is cooked less. It was definitely a great experience for my wife and I and I highly recommend it for the lively atmosphere, fresh seafood and great service.
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My wife and I had stopped here several years ago after moving to the area given its history as the original king tenderloin. This time I had just picked up friends from France at the airport, they were hungry and they wanted to eat something unique to Iowa.
I ordered the Breaded Tenderloin (see picture) and we shared some Onion Rings (see picture). The food and atmosphere were each average with the tenderloin served on a common high volume commercial bakery bun and the building showing its age. The flavor of the tenderloins was good and I liked that it was not greasy. The breading seemed quite dry, almost as if it wasn’t even fried at all…or was re-breaded after frying. There wasn’t much substance to the onion rings as is shown in the picture – they were very thin and had minimal breading.
The food and ambiance reminded me of many of the small town ice cream shops I frequented as a teenager. If you are looking for value and a small-town diner experience, you will enjoy a stop at Smitty’s.
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We were killing time walking down Ingersoll and waiting for our dinner reservation when I saw a sign for Crème. If you follow my posts, you know that I have a strong sweet tooth – so had to stop and check the place out…even though I wasn’t supposed to eat dessert before dinner.
What could possibly be wrong with a stop at a shop advertising both delicious desserts / snacks as well as cocktails! I couldn’t resist eating one of them immediately (even before dinner…), so opted for the Hot Chocolate (spicy) cupcake (see picture). Unfortunately, I was so eager to taste it that it was already unwrapped before I remembered to take a picture. My wife was a little more sensible…opting for the Salted Peanut Butter Honey Chocolate Torte to go. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of it.
We both sampled some of each others and found them both to be delicious. The cupcake had just the right amount of spicy kick to go along with the sweet chocolate and frosting – and the torte was every bit as good as you can imagine.
If you are in the area and looking for a great sweet treat, snack or cocktail (even late in the evening), you will definitely want to give this place a try.
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We hadn’t heard much about this place, but met some great new friends from Brazil here when they recommended it. The building was quite impressive as we walked up and the inside lived up to the promises on the building’s exterior – this was truly a memorable dinner!
We started with drinks and some wine – see the attached menu pictures and you’ll understand how difficult of decision that in itself proved to be in the end! We then ordered appetizers to share – the Soppresatta Pizza (see picture) and Spinach & Artichoke Dip (see picture). The pizza was excellent and similar in taste to pepperoni and the spinach and artichoke dip was also very good.
For our dinners, my wife ordered the Lemon Garlic Shrimp (see picture) and I ordered the Salmon BLT (see picture). Our friends ordered the Italian Stuffed Tenderloin (see picture) and the Frutti Di Mare (see picture). We shared tastes of the dishes and all of us really liked all of these dishes – I’d highly recommend them all. My wife also ordered the Seafood Bisque (see picture) as she had heard some great things about it from her coworkers – and it also lived up to the hype.
This is a top-notch wine bar and restaurant in our area and although you might find it a bit pricey, our experience tells me that you will leave happy customers. If you go – say ‘Hi’ to Jacob S. from The Food and Drink Guy – he was a fantastic server, so consider yourself lucky if he is your server also!
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This place has been on my Want to Go since sampling their catering in a factory near their north Des Moines location. The BBQ is top-notch and in my opinion in the top tier in the Des Moines area. The atmosphere, value and service are all above average and worthy of a stop to try for yourself.
We had a beer at the bar before dinner and ended up staying there to eat our dinner. I really like their snowy/ice rail to set your tap beer on – as it does do a great job of helping to keep your beer colder! A friend and myself shared the BBQ Sampler Platter (see picture) with brisket, burnt ends and chicken – and really enjoyed all 3 of them along with the ribs.
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We stopped here for dinner after reading positive reviews and enjoyed our meal. The chips and salsa were good and plentiful (an expectation at Mexican restaurants) and the Margarita was very good.
I ordered the white fish Ceviche and found it to be some of my favorite in the area. I really like a strong lime flavor and this definitely had that. The white fish was firm and tasted great.
The only negative was the service. We wanted to order a 2nd margarita, but couldn’t get the waiter’s attention – and an attempt to ask another server to have him stop by was also unsuccessful.
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I picked up my wife here after a post-work party and have since wanted to stop back to try some of their food. I got the chance while doing some ‘R&D’ for HappyHourDesMoines.com recently and found it to be a solid stop for Happy Hour.
Since they advertised $3 Guinness pints and I enjoy Guinness, I started with a pint while perusing their food menu. Since it was Monday and their Daily Special was $12 Appetizers, I settled on an order of wings (see picture). I opted for half Jalapeno Honey Lime Sriracha and half Mango Habanero and would recommend both of them – moist, juicy wings with just the right amount of ‘kick’.
While nothing stood out as outstanding enough to warrant a 5* rating in any of my categories, all aspects of my visit were well above average and deserving of 4*s across the board. As far as my experiences with Irish Pubs, this is in the upper tier and worthy of a stop when you are in the mood for a Pint and some solid bar food.
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Admittedly, we were in town to try the Flight Bar and Grille’s award-winning burgers…but I couldn’t help but notice this beautiful ice cream shoppe on the other end of the building – and I DO like ice cream! This was such a cool place – I just loved the decor (see pictures) and really wish I lived closer to stop back some morning for coffee!
My wife and I split a scoop of Ripe Raspberry Chocolate Chunk and Pirate’s Treasure (see picture) – both were delicious, but I really liked the Ripe Raspberry! If you like ice cream, you won’t go wrong with a stop here. The hand-dipped ice cream is delicious and the store is just beautiful!
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We liked this place so much, we made an extra 20 minute drive the next day after a meal with our neighbors for some ice cream dessert! This time we shared a Banana Split (see picture) while our neighbors shared a Butterslinger (see picture). As expected, both of them were absolutely delicious (and plenty for us to eat).
08/05/2023
My wife loves buffalo and saw a Free Bison Day Family Festival at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City, IA so we took in the event. Coincidentally (and given my passion for all things ice cream…) I noticed an Ice Cream shoppe prominently showing in the middle of Prairie City, so had to stop and try it out on the way home. Boy, was it a find – I loved the open atmosphere, extremely friendly service from the moment you walked in the door and selection of delicious ice cream desserts!
We decided to split the Peanut Butter Panic (see picture). Vanilla ice cream, peanut butter, peanut butter cups and Butterfinger – WOW was it delicious!! We were glad that we decided to share the medium…as that was plenty for the both of us to enjoy. Lastly, we saw the signs of them winning Iowa’s Best Breaded Tenderloin from the Iowa Pork Producers in 2009 – so now we need to plan another trip for a meal and give it a try.
If you are in the area make sure you stop for delicious ice cream treats – there are so many great options including some with a piece of pie blended into the ice cream!
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This place’s Italian Beef was highly recommended by a reviewer on another site and finally got the chance to try it today. This is definitely a neighborhood bar – as several other patrons / regulars asked us how we liked our drinks and dinners. Granted, the area looks a little on the rough side as you pull up but the service and food were both great – all handled by one lady behind the bar.
On the recommendation of another patron, we started out with Bloody Marys with pickle vodka and I highly recommend them – not too salty or thick. For our meals, my wife ordered the Italian Beef (see picture) and I went with the Chicago Dog (see picture). As always, we each shared tastes and found both dishes to be very good. Our neighbors ordered the Italian Beef with Cheese (see picture) and Chili Dog (see picture) – and both of them thought they tasted great, commenting especially about how good the chili was.
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Italian Beef with CheeseChicago DogChili DogItalian Beef
My personal radar is always scanning for Ice Cream or Gelato stops…so when the ‘OPEN’ sign turned on at noon after our brunch at Boxed and Burlap – I had to give it a try.
The atmosphere is average but the ice cream selection and other unique and authentic Mexican sweet options were great! I ended up going with a scoop of Tequila Almond ice cream – sounded intriguing and the taste was great! My wife went with Chocolate and friends opted for Pistachio – both of which were also delicious.
For great ice cream and authentic Mexican sweets, you will enjoy a stop at La Michoacana Ice Cream Shop in Delavan, Wisconsin.
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We stopped here for brunch after Mass with our friends from Lake Geneva before heading home Sunday morning. I really liked the unique modern decor, friendly service, coffee and food (see pictures)! The Art Class area was another very unique and quality aspect to the building (see attached video).
The coffee was delivered in a timely manner and was great…this is a great place to stop and relax with your morning caffeine fix. The food delivery (slow, at the counter with a confusing tag identifying whose it was and the order wasn’t complete) was the reason for the 2* rating in Service. They really need to get this figured out if they want to be successful, as there was a waiting line of clearly frustrated customers trying to figure out which was theirs, when the order might be coming, etc. If you don’t want to deal with that frustration, just stick with the coffee and pastries in the display case.
For our lunch, my wife ordered the Mediterranean Salad with Chicken (see picture) and I went with the Cilantro Lime Mango Salad (see picture). Both of these tasted fantastic – I really liked the Cilantro Lime Mango Salad and the warm tortilla on the side was a great complement! Our friend ordered the Turkey Club (see picture) and really liked it also. His came out much earlier than the rest of the order without a person’s name on the slip…so we believe he picked up someone else’s sandwich as another was delivered later and sat on the counter unclaimed for quite some time.
This is a top-notch place for coffee and the food options are unique and delicious. Be forewarned though that the counter food delivery is slow, confusing and frustrating. Once they get this fixed, this place will compete with top coffee and sandwich shops in much larger cities.
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Cilantro Lime Mango SaladTurkey ClubMediterranean Salad with Chicken
We have been to the Kilwin’s on the strip in Clearwater Beach, Florida and really enjoyed the stop…so definitely wanted to try it when we saw it in Lake Geneva.
As the pictures and video show, this is a modern, upbeat, classy and lively place that always seems to be a beehive of activity that will catch your attention. It is always fun to watch the fudge being made in real time (see attached video) and the energetic and friendly servers are always a treat. Oh yeah…and the ice cream is really good also!
While there is almost always a line…sometimes stretching out onto the street, if you are looking for great ice cream, chocolate, candies or fudge in a lively atmosphere – this place is a must stop!
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This place was recommended to us by a great server (Scot) at Sopra Bistro when we mentioned that our next stop was for ice cream. It is our understanding that it opened relatively recently, but given the great flavors and taste…I’m guessing it will do well.
We ended up going with a Salted Caramel and a Pistachio for our choices and while we found each of them a little more salty than we’d prefer, they were both delicious! My apologies…as we started eating them too quickly and didn’t get pictures.
If you are looking for some great gelato in the heart of Lake Geneva, you will love this place!
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Our friends made reservations to enjoy this place during our annual trek to visit them near Lake Geneva. Boy, do they know how to pick restaurants to impress us during our visits (we never want to go home…)! From the moment that we were seated until we left (and introducing us to the owner in between), Scot took fantastic care of us! The portions are on the small side and the prices above average…but that worked for us, as it left room for an Ice Cream stop after dinner!
We started with a round of drinks – my wife going for the Cassandra (see picture) and myself going with the Smoke Break (see picture – a Kentucky beer and a shot of Mezcal). We both tasted each others drinks and both found the Cassandra to be delicious. I ordered the Smoke Break because it came with Mezcal and if you follow my posts or see the recipe on my site – I LOVE Mezcal Palomas in the summertime. I’m not a huge fan of sipping straight alcohol though (like it mixed so I can drink instead) and didn’t find anything special about the beer…so wouldn’t order it again, especially given the price.
The Table Bread (see picture) was delicious along with the spread. For starters, our friends ordered the Brussels (see picture) and my wife and I shared the Beets Me (see picture). Both of these salads were unique, fresh and delicious – so I’d highly recommend them.
For our dinners, our friends ordered the Sausage & Peppers (see picture), my wife ordered the Greatest Of All Time (see picture) and I ordered the NOLA (see picture). We all shared tastes of each others dishes and I assure you that there was a lot of “that’s delicious” after each bite! You absolutely won’t go wrong with any of these dishes!
We had our hearts set on Ice Cream up the street for dessert and Scot even had a good recommendation for a new gelato store just 2 blocks away (the next review…). You will love a stop here for dinner – just make sure that you make reservations…and say ‘Hi’ to Scot!
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Sausage & PeppersNOLAGreatest Of All TimeBeets MeBrusselsTable BreadSmoke BreakCassandra
A co-worker visiting Des Moines was hungry for a salad bar and asked about Ruby Tuesday. He got me thinking about the salad bar, so I enjoyed that (way too much actually…left stuffed) along with a $3 Margarita (see picture). I absolutely love the dark bread buttery toasted croutons – especially when they have just been brought out and are warm! There aren’t as many salad bars around anymore, but this place has one of the best.
My friend had the Jalapeno Bacon Queso Burger (see picture) along with the salad bar. He loved the salad bar, but preferred his bacon more crispy and found the bun to be a little on the soggy side (possibly due to the queso).
It is tough to beat this place for value and it has a decent selection at the salad bar – all of which I found to be fresh. This is a solid stop for your budget, especially if you go with the Daily Specials.
12/2021
Met a friend for lunch just as they opened for the day and ordered the grilled chicken sandwich with grilled zucchini. The food was fresh, hot and tasted great, but was a little disappointed in how long it took to get it for after we ordered (about 15 minutes).
Overall, is very convenient to my work location and I will likely return – so don’t hesitate to recommend it.
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We have driven past this place many times and thought about stopping, but had usually already eaten and were driving home. This afternoon we had the chance and decided we’d give it a try over our old standby Hacienda Vieja just up the road a block. The thing that stood out the most was the lengthy food and bar menus (see pictures) – making it hard to make a decision on what to order.
We started with drinks and that ended up being a little frustrating, possibly attributable to a language / communications challenge. We asked several times if they served Mezcal, since we love it and finally the server said he would go ask at the bar. He returned and said that they didn’t serve Mezcal, so I ordered a Michelada instead. While walking to the bathroom I walked by the bar and checked out the liquor behind the bar and saw a bottle of Mezcal, so pointed it out to our server who happened to be standing there (later seeing that they show at least 5 different kinds in their bar menu – see pictures). With that information, I asked our server to change my order to a Mezcal Paloma (see picture) and my wife got a Watermelon Basil Shaker (see picture). The Watermelon Basil Shaker was very good and there was a generous quantity served, although we didn’t taste or see any basil in the drink.
The complimentary chips and salsa (see picture) were average – they tasted good but were very typical / standard for what you get at many Mexican restaurants. For our meals, we ordered the Pollo Mango Street Tacos (see picture) and Ceviche Al Gusto Mixed (see picture). The Ceviche was very good and while we received standard chips instead of the plantain chips mentioned in the menu, we really enjoyed it. The Pollo Mango Tacos were a little bland to both of our tastes, as we each commented about it and looked for hot sauce to give it some kick, but otherwise were hot, moist and tender.
Even though we were both very full from all of this food, I couldn’t help myself once I saw Tres Leches and Limoncello Cakes on the menu. We asked the server for a recommendation between the two and he suggested the Tres Leches Cake, so we ordered it and asked him to put it in a container to go (see picture). Of course we did have to open it in the restaurant and have a couple of bites – it was delicious. A little on the sweet side, but very spongy, moist and flavorful – definitely a great addition to finish your meal!
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Watermelon Basil ShakerMezcal PalomaChips & SalsaTres Leches Cake (asked for it in to-go container)
Several people have recommended Truman’s for lunch and we finally got a chance to stop by as a part of the Summer Stir in Des Moines. The first thing you see is that it is an old house that has been remodeled into a restaurant. You have to look closer at the sign to see the next item of significance – “KC” in the name of the restaurant. If you are a Kansas City Chiefs fan, you will love this place – especially, I’m told, during football season.
For our meal, we ended up sharing a Korean BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich (see picture) on the suggestion of the bartender as we weren’t that hungry and had eaten some at one of the other stops on the Summer Stir. As the bartender suggested, the Korean BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich was very good – moist, quality bun surrounding juicy flavorful pulled pork. The french fries were undercooked to my taste – barely crispy on the outside and mushy inside, but I kept the food at a 4* due to the sandwich.
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