The Pesky Diner

The purveyors of the fried goodness that is the subject of this post may be surprised to read that I’m not writing glowingly about their most famous dish. The University Library Cafe at 3506 University Ave in Des Moines may be known for their homemade nachos, however it is their french fries that truly steal the show. We’ll get to the fries in a bit.

Full Court Press, owners of some of the greatest eating and drinking establishments in our fine town, purchased the nearly 20-year-old University Library Cafe from its founder at the beginning of this year. Although I never once stepped in the place before new ownership took over, anyone who drove by on busy University Avenue was able to see that the nachos served there had won many awards. The new owners knew not to mess with something so popular, and from what I understand, not much changed.

The Library Nachos, one of five nacho dishes on the menu, is the only version sans-meat. While they don’t disappoint, I wouldn’t call them a show-stopper either. The Library Cafe’s take on nachos are made in house, flour tortilla chips and all. They are unlike any other nachos you have likely encountered, and not half bad. The chips are airy and greasy in a good way, and take well to the standard toppings of beans, cheese, cheese sauce, pico, salsa, sour cream and mild banana pepper rings. At the Library it’s about the chips, not the toppings. This is a meal in itself, or goes over well when splitting with your dining partner.

Searching the menu for other suitable kosher-ish dishes will leave you with one: grilled cheese. Here again, I remain a bit underwhelmed. Slices of cheese are melted between two massive hunks of Texas toast. This sandwich is all about the delicious and beautifully grilled bread while the Havarti/American cheese mix seems like an afterthought. It all depends if you go into lunch craving toast or cheese, I guess.

While the nachos and grilled cheese may have left me wanting, the Library fulfilled my desires when it came to sides. Although my doctor may take me to task on this one, I am going to have to say that this place is worth a visit solely based on french fries and onion rings. A side of either will set you back $1.95, and trust me, you’ll be happy to trade a few precarious steps toward a clogged artery for a few minutes of bliss.

While I’d give the rings 7 out of 10 on the flavor scale, the giant portion size surely increases that to an 8.5+. The fries, although a bit smaller in scale than the order of rings, come in at about 20 on that 10 point flavor scale.

I remember a certain local chef claiming that there are few things more important than consistently perfectly cooked fries. They must be: Served hot. Crispy on the outside. A bit potato-y on the inside. Seasoned just right. It’s unfortunate to say, but I am mostly disappointed when I eat that local chef’s fries. The Library, however, gets it right. Every time and on every account.

So would you go to a restaurant based on a side dish? I sure would, and I do. And hey, it doesn’t hurt that they have quite a beer selection to boot!

Postscript: The Library Cafe offers breakfast on the weekends, including fried potatoes. I hope to try them soon.

When it comes to brunching in Des Moines, I have been of a single mind for more than five years: go to Waveland Cafe to order the veggie skillet or don’t bother. Baby Boomers Cafe has some major fans among my friends, but I always seem to end up with more grease than anything else. Cheesecake Factory does have some wonderful options, but it’s not exactly my cup of tea on a weekend morning.

Americana, across from the downtown sculpture park on Locust, opened its doors last year promoting an all you can eat weekend brunch buffet. Having been there several times for lunch and dinner, I recently took the opportunity to take an out of town guest there for a late morning brunch. Given my mixed experiences on previous visits, I wasn’t sure what to expect other than the eclectic menu promised on the website.

In my buffet dining experiences, it is rare to find a restaurant that prepares a wide variety of menu items well. Americana succeeds where even most Vegas buffets fail: over the top deliciousness for the Pesky Diner-style crowd.

When you go, here’s a list of kosherish items you can choose from. Keep in mind that these options are all included in your “Bombshell Brunch” fee of $14. Add $8 and you get the all you can drink bloody mary and mimosa bar.

1) Waffle bread pudding – This dish came highly recommended by a friend who happened to be dining at the same time as my group. It did not disappoint. I could make an entire meal of this.

2) Mascarpone Crepes – These mini crepes, folded in quarters and filled with mascarpone cheese, were near perfect once a dollop of sauced strawberries were added.

3) Smoked Salmon Parfait – The parfait I took contained salmon that tasted more cooked than smoked, but I can’t complain too much. Think of this as a deconstructed bagel sandwich minus the bagel. This treat included crème fraiche (I think), red onions and capers on top of some shredded salmon. A nice small treat, but feel free to go back for more.

4) Veggie Egg Muffins – Think of this an omelet shaped like a mini-muffin. These were tasty and much, much better than the tray of scrambled eggs found on most breakfast buffets.

5) Scalloped Potatoes – I feel like these would be great with dinner, but I would have rather seen hash browns or a take on potatoes O’Brien.

6) Cornbread Muffins – Filled with onions and peppers, these were a pleasant surprise.

7) Tortillas & Egg Fajitas – Take a warm flour tortilla, dump on some grilled veggie scrambled eggs and smother with fresh made pico de gallo to get a pretty great dish.

Custom Grilled Cheese – Are you serious? How does this end up on a brunch buffet? Take a bite and you will understand. After choosing from a pre-determined list of sandwiches or a custom build, write your order on a slip and hand it off to the grilled cheese cook. Return a few minutes later to find your masterpiece awaiting. My veggie version contained tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and peppers in addition to a nice square of cheese melted between thick-cut bread.

If you are unable to fill yourself on the above eight dishes, you still have more options to choose from: fruit & yogurt parfaits, mini cheesecake, mac & cheese, fresh fruit, and assorted pastries. The two most important rules when attending the Bombshell Brunch are to come hungry and leave yourself plenty of time to enjoy your downtown surroundings. If you opt for the unlimited beverage option, make sure to bring a designated driver. The accoutrement choices to deck out your bloody mary, by the way, are plentiful.

Americana’s Bombshell Brunch is a must do, and an amazing choice when entertaining out-of-town guests. Don’t show up too late, however. We arrived at 10 and had our choice of tables. By 11:30 the place was packed and a line was forming.

So does Americana beat Waveland when it comes to brunch? That’s a tough call given their substantial differences. I’m just happy to have another place to experience great morning dining.

What’s your go-to brunch spot and what makes it special?

Although it has only been around since 2008, Django feels like a Des Moines classic. This should be no surprise to anyone familiar with George Formaro’s chef-ing talents or Orchestrate Management’s restaurant management skills. This restaurant is a class act, but how does it stand up to the Pesky Diner’s limited menu? Astoundingly well for a French restaurant (but not so shocking if you know anything about Chef Formaro’s penchant for veggie cuisine.)

Each section of the somewhat ambitious menu has something a semi-kosher diner would be pleased to have on their plate – other than the steak and shellfish sections that is. What follows is a recap of what I’ve tried. Or you can stop reading after the following sentence: If you haven’t been here yet, it’s worth your while to make reservations.

House Caesar with Salmon: A decently sized, perhaps slightly overdressed Caesar with a perfectly broiled filet of salmon placed on top. I have ordered salmon main courses at restaurants where the piece of fish was smaller. Here you get that nice piece of fish and the salad for $9. Such a deal! The croutons are pretty amazing too, which isn’t surprising considering they are made from South Union bread. The Manchego cheese is a nice touch, but the fresh black pepper the server so nicely cracked on my salad came out finer than the contents of the shaker on the table. Try loosening the screw at the top, bub.

Tuna Nicoise Salad: A classic dish done well. Perfectly seared tuna with all the fixings. You can’t go wrong ordering Django’s classic preparation of this dish.

Grilled Salmon: This place knows how to cook their fish! The whipped potatoes are pretty magical here, and if you’re lucky enough to visit in early spring, you’ll get some fresh, locally grown asparagus to boot!

(Not surprisingly I haven’t tried the) Beef Bourguignon: Lil has tried this and gives it high marks, along with the freshly made egg noodles it’s served on. They are able to make this dish without bacon, so just ask. If you ask really nice, I bet they’ll serve you a plate of egg noodles.

Wild Mushroom Crepes: Three mushroom filled crepes, just like mama used to make… if you grew up in Paris. Ok, so none of you had this childhood experience I’m guessing. The closest I came were the crepes served at the French restaurant my friend’s family owned while growing up. They had just moved from Spain by way of France and the crepes starred prominently at their brasserie, Café de Paris. Django’s are just as good and are topped with a beautiful roasted red pepper béchamel. Oh and filled with goat cheese. You can’t go wrong with goat cheese.

Mushroom Faux Poivre: This vegetarian take on Steak au Poivre, peppercorn steak, was fantastic. Two seared Portobello mushroom caps are slathered in a creamy peppercorn sauce atop sautéed vegetables. Order this dish and you will understand how one can increase their girth whilst being a vegetarian. Served with dauphinoise potatoes – translation scalloped – this meal proves you can be fully satiated on vegetables (and full-fat dairy) alone. Django also serves a sandwich featuring the mushroom and sauce, which I can only imagine is also a goodly choice.

George’s Veggie Burger: Why would you go to Django and order this? Order basically the same sandwich at Gateway Market’s café and save a few bucks. It is nice to see it though, I guess.

Grilled Cheese (for grown-ups): To be honest, I have yet to order this. I recently enjoyed a similar dish at Centro, which is also driven by Chef Formaro. If they are at all similar, this is well worth ordering. I know, it’s weird going out to a fancy shmancy restaurant and ordering the grilled cheese, but dang it was good at Centro.

Other notes:

• Check out the cheese plates, as they are pretty stellar.
• No corkage fees, ever. Hop on down to Trader Joe’s, pick out one of their 5 kosher wines, and save $30+. Or, if you choose to go with one of Django’s wines, you can use the restaurant’s iPad to match your meal to the perfect in-house wine.
• George Formaro knows how to make French fries. They’re better here than they are at his new Zombie Burger joint across the river.

Step right up boys and girls, it’s time for the greatest state fair there is: The Iowa State Fair! While the fair is known for its treif delicacies (see tenderloin sandwiches the size of a car, foot-long corndogs, and hot beef sundaes), there are plenty of high calorie, deep-fried , and other cardiac arrest-inducing foods for the kosherish crowd to indulge in. This post will give you the run-down of my state fair food experiences so you can help plan your time at the fair. Check out the Iowa State Fair website’s food section if you want more details on where to find these items.

Favorites

Hard-boiled egg on a stick: The Iowa State Fair is of course known for its foods on a stick and my favorite is the hard-boiled egg. Found in the Agriculture Building, this free treat can be sprinkled with seasoning salt. After you grab your egg, wait in line to see this year’s Butter Cow.

Deep-fired candy bars: The deep-fried candy stand by the grandstand features Oreos, 3 Musketeers, Snickers, and Twinkies. Of these I can only truly recommend the Snickers and the Twinkies. Both hold up surprisingly well, whereas the Oreos turn into deep-fried cake.

Veggie corn dogs: Just north of the Varied Industries Building you’ll find the Veggie Table. This stand sells a vegetarian version of the state fair staple food on a stick, corndogs. These dogs are tasty and worth the hugely marked up price. Trader Joe’s sells an outright amazing veggie corndog, but it’s not possible to eat one of those while standing in the Iowa State Fair Midway. To round out your meal here, order some deep-fried veggies and marvel in the way that man has turned one of G-d’s healthiest creations into a death warrant. Mmmm.

Frozen chocolate turtle mousse on a stick: This was a new one for us last year. Lil and I decided we needed a quick cool down, and relief came in the form of this chocolaty dessert. Our shared mousse lasted about 90 seconds.

Honey lemonade: Ready for another cool down? The Iowa Honey Producers Association booth on the top level of the Agriculture Building sells one of the best honey lemonades I’ve ever had for just a couple bucks.

Mini chocolate chip cookies: If you’re with friends, go for the bucket. They’re tasty, but trust me, you’ll want to eat these when they are fresh out of the oven rather than after carrying them around the fairgrounds all day (the chips will melt and the cookies will turn stale).

Almost Favorites

Tater ribbons: I like my fried potatoes crunchy whether they come in chip, fry, or ribbon form. I’ve ordered these three times and each occasion left me wondering why. Order these and you’ll have a basket full of soggy, oily, potato-y mess that even a gallon of Heinz couldn’t help salvage.

Giant pickle: My favorite mass-produced pickles are made by Claussen. They’re crunchy, tangy, and most important, tasty. The giant pickles sold at the state fair tend to taste like the ocean. If you’ve ever swallowed seawater, you’ll know that’s not a compliment.

Deep fried pepper jack on a stick: I’m a major pepper jack cheese fiend, so I was excited to taste this last year. You might want to consider spending your money elsewhere. Although the cheese was nice and stretchy, it had no peppery bite and tasted like I was eating hardened oil. What’s another name for hardened oil? Oh yeah: fat.

The Future is Now

The 2011 Iowa State Fair will feature a bevy of new food items to tempt even the most audacious eaters… and these three will soon be in my belly.

Fried butter on a stick: “Butter dipped in a honey flavored batter and fried golden brown on a stick,” according to the state fair website. This might be a ticket straight to the hereafter, but I have got to try at least a few bites.

Chocolate covered fried ice cream on a stick: My favorite part about going to Garcia’s growing up was the fried ice cream. I wonder how the fair version will fare?

Red velvet funnel cake: If you just read that and didn’t have the sudden urge to drive to the East Side for a sample, have someone check your pulse.

What’s your favorite veggie state fair food? What did I miss that you think I need to try (do not say salad on a stick). What did I get wrong? And most importantly: when is deep-fried beer coming to Iowa?!

Did you know Des Moines is known for its tacos? Ok, maybe it’s not, but this California native has enjoyed some of the best tacos around, right here in the heartland. Among my favorites are the vegan chorizo tacos from Tacopocalypse, El Bait Shop’s fish tacos, Dos Rios’ fish tacos, and the topic of today’s post, fish tacos at Taqueria Sonora.

What? You’ve never heard of Taqueria Sonora? They’ve been around for just over a year at 800 First Street in West Des Moines. I remember reading about it in the Des Moines Register when they opened, but not until a few weeks ago did I finally drag my downtown living tush to West Des Moines for dinner.

These all look about half empty because I took this picture 2 minutes after it arrived to the table instead of right away.

But first, the salsa. My lovely wife Lil judges Mexican restaurants solely on salsa. Her favorite Mexican restaurant in the world is Pancho Villa Taqueria in San Francisco, and it is mainly because they have an all you can eat salsa bar. We heard rumors of Taqueria Sonora’s five varieties and were pleased to see six! While Pancho Villa still wins over Lil’s heart and soul, I have to say both do an amazing job. In addition to the five salsas shown in the picture, there is a standard “table salsa” which doesn’t disappoint. All six are homemade, and all six are free with dinner. These salsas run from mild to a heat-filled habanero, so make sure you have the waiter explain each salsa for you.

Beyond the salsa there is of course the food. I ordered two fish tacos (one grilled, one beer-battered), and a cheese chimichanga. Other than these three items, I think I was limited to a veggie burrito and maybe ordering fajitas without meat. The rest of the menu is treif city, with less traditional-by-Iowa-standards parts (tongue, head) and animals (goat) featured. From non-kosher-esque reviews I have read of the place, these items are pretty good. Let’s stick to my order though, going from worst to first.

Yes, there is a chimichanga hidden beneath the lettuce.

I was pretty excited to see a cheese chimichanga on the menu. I think the last chimichanga I ate was at Garcia’s, probably celebrating a family birthday 20 or so years ago. Not as good I as I remember, and probably because it’s just a deep fried cheese burrito. I ended up being upset that I ordered this because it was too filling, taking away the possibility of ordering more of what was to come.

I ordered a fish taco in both preparation styles mainly so I could write about both here. I was more in the mood for grilled fish but I took one for the team, I mean blog. The grilled fish was ok. Not spectacular, not really memorable, but better than most. I would order it again. I’d write more, but remember I just said it wasn’t really memorable?

Again, I couldn't help but take the first bite(s) before taking the first picture.

Here’s what was memorable: the beer-battered fried fish taco. Wow! Have you ever sunk your teeth into something that was crisp but not crispy, firm but not too firm, and wrapped in goodness? It was that good. I’m praying that when I go back, my first experience with this taco does not turn out to have been a fluke. How to make this better? Order a side of guacamole like I did and spread a little in the delicate tortilla they server these up in. The next time I go to Taqueria Sonora, you can bet I will be ordering three or four of these, a side of guac, and extra rounds of salsa. Ok, and maybe a margarita.

Where’s the best fish taco you have ever had, and what made it good?

Many restaurants struggle to provide creative meatless options, however pizzerias tend to be different. It is pretty easy to skip the pepperoni and sausage when it’s now common to find toppings like artichoke hearts, fresh basil, and even goat cheese gracing pizza menus. Des Moines has seen a pizza renaissance lately with joints opening up like Flour, Bagni di Lucca, Fong’s, and most recently Gusto Pizza Co. All four of these restaurants provide delicious kosher-ish (remember they still have treif in the kitchen) options that are out of this world good. This post will focus on Gusto.

Before I get too far into this, I will let you know that I am friendly with Gusto’s part-owner Anthony Lemmo, Chef Sam Auen, and marketing whiz Phil James. You’ll just have to trust me when I say that my relationship with them had no influence on this review.

Since its opening on January 31, I have been able to make it to their trendy location on the corner of Ingersoll and MLK thrice. Although you can take your order to go, this pizzeria has the kind of comfy modern feel that will make you want to grab a table. Gusto is a fast-casual place where you order at the counter and have your food delivered to the table.

Enough about the location though, you’re here for the food! Do yourself a favor and scope out the menu. Gusto’s pizzas are thin crust, maintaining their crisp texture even when piled high with toppings. The culinary team has figured out a way to deliver crusts that are not only crunchy on the outside, but just a tad bready on the inside. The best of both worlds for my style.

Although I will never be able to try such inspired pies as the Thai Kwon Dough (there’s no point in getting this without the chicken in my opinion), or the brisket topped Duke, I have tried both signature ‘zas that come meatless by default.

To be honest, I am not a huge mushroom on pizza fan; the Mona Lisa started to change my mind. Rosemary olive oil, garlic, cremini mushrooms, tomatoes, kalamata olives, and two cheeses come standard. I went ahead and added artichoke hearts and garlic roasted peppers for good measure. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Frank's Special

The other veggie, the Formag-A-Trois, added garlic, red pepper flakes, and basil to the three cheeses insinuated by the name. One of the best things about Gusto’s pizzas is that you can actually taste every ingredient. Try ordering the veggie pizza at a typical pizza place and you’ll know this is something special.

Custom order your pizza and things start to get interesting. I won’t bore you by naming the traditional veggies, but check these out: garlic roasted peppers, banana peppers, carrots, giardiniera, cilantro and bean sprouts. With the exception of banana peppers, I don’t think I have seen any of these ingredients at any pizza place before. Stellar.

Believe it or not, there is a non-pizza menu too, and the star of those selections happens to be vegetarian! I’ll get to that soon, but on this menu, I was able to choose from two sandwiches, a pasta, two salads, and homemade cannoli. For the kids, you can even get a PB&J calzone.

Back to the star: the Frank’s Special sandwich. How often do you see something on the menu that says special – and it’s meat free? I don’t think I even saw that when I lived in San Francisco. Frank’s special starts with a chewy garlic focaccia that has just enough crunch. Add fried eggplant, basil pesto, provolone, red onion, and tomato and you’ve got one of DSM’s finest sandos. Like the pizzas above, you can clearly taste each ingredient. The sandwich comes with choice of salad, pasta salad, or soup. The night I ate there, the soup happened to be a vegetarian sweet onion and arugula; I had to try it. Despite the hoity-toity sounding name, the flavor was on the money.

Gusto Pizza Co. is a great addition to the Des Moines pizza scene. Despite the apparent heavy competition, the pizzas and sandwiches are unique enough to stand out from the crowd. Give it a try for an experience of what Tony and team call “Divine Pie.”

What’s the best pizza you have ever had and what made it so good?

As my friend and fellow food blogger Sam Auen tends to say, welcome back (tens) of readers. A few Pesky Diner-worthy restaurants have opened since I last wrote: Flour, Taste of Thai, and Big City Burgers and Greens. A fourth, Gusto Pizza Co. will be opening on Thursday. (EDIT – Gusto’s opening date is not set in stone. It will likely be next week) This post will focus on Big City Burgers and Greens.

Side note: Did you know that since my last post another blogger tried to tear me to shreds? Apparently I am not good enough to be critical of a restaurant. I won’t bother linking to that blog, but needless to say, it hasn’t deterred me from pressing forward. I feel honored to be hated so fiercely!

Back to business. From the moment I saw the press release announcing BCBG in October, I knew I’d love it. I had recently returned from a trip to LA where high-end, uber-customized burgers are quite the trend. My friend took my wife and me out to Twenty Five Degrees in Hollywood and we were impressed. 13 different kinds of cheese! 13 different sauces to top burgers with! Hell, you even have your choice of green chili or Hatch green chili!

What did Des Moines’ incarnation bring? Nine kinds of cheese! More importantly for this pesky diner, two very different veggie burgers and a tuna burger. Oh, and six amazing looking salads, plus dozens of ingredients and dressings to custom build your own. Impressive.

Unfortunately BCBG is only open for lunch, otherwise I think I would have eaten there about a dozen times by now. It’s tough going out for lunch these days when I have to make it home in time to walk Wilbur, by far the cutest puggle in the world. At this point I have been lucky enough to escape for two meals.

My first time out I enjoyed the Tuna Burger. This seared tuna delight comes with red and green chilies, along with an orange ginger vinaigrette jicama slaw. I know, sounds awesome. And it was. This meal will set you back $7.50, or twice the amount of a standard burger, but boy was it delicious! This sandwich is inventive – where else in town can you get orange ginger vinaigrette jicama slaw?

The Tuna Burger. Official Photo from http://bigcityburgersandgreens.com

I had to try the Big City Fries, as they are a house specialty. These fries feature asiago, white truffle oil, and Italian parsley. Here I was slightly disappointed, but it wasn’t BCBG’s fault. The asiago came off a little strong for my taste buds. I am sure that is a big draw for some. I like to douse my fries in ketchup for the most part, but the Big City Fries were not designed for this purpose.

My second time out I was tempted to go for the tuna again, it was that good. How could I pass up two different veggie patties though? While in line I talked with a BCBG employee about which veggie patty was better. She liked both, but warned me that the Metro Veggie Burger patty was a bit susceptible to falling apart. That’s not a big deal to me, but I decided to go for the Garden Burger instead (I’ll try the Metro next time).

The Garden Burger is a portabella cap with sautéed peppers, onions and goat cheese. There’s also grilled tomatoes, lettuce, and chipotle mayo in this sandwich. It is tough to go wrong with this set of ingredients, but I decided to one-up it by adding avocado. The result was delicious! I also decided to get a side of giardiniera. My wife and I agreed that it wasn’t that great. All of the great giardiniera I have had before provides a nice layer of heat. This version was bland. Lesson learned.

The Garden Burger. Official photo from http://bigcityburgersandgreens.com

Given my prior experience with the Big City Fries, I decided to tone it down with just the French fries. I know, plain Jane. It ended up being pretty tasty, actually. In an attempt to try more of the menu, I got sides of the house-made Big City Sauce and Big City Steak Sauce for the fries. While both sauces were good, I am now a devoted fan of the Big City Sauce. It’s heavy on the garlic and mayo, and reminded me of my favorite French fry dip from my trip to Belgium nine years ago – garlic mayo. I’m sure my officemates appreciated that stench after lunch, but it was worth it.

So what is this review missing? Salad. I have not yet had the opportunity to try the salads, but I am excited to do so. Topping options include fried onions, jicama (Mexican potato as Hy-Vee calls it), scallions, and seasoned marinated tofu. The Pesky Diner will return for this, along with dressings like Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette, Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Garlic, and Orange Ginger Vinaigrette.

Here’s the low-down: I will be back and often. If you work downtown, this place is a no-brainer (they even offer online ordering). If you work in the burbs, this is well worth the 15 minute drive. My wishes: stay open for dinner and offer custom sliders so I can have the two veggie burger options and the tuna in one sitting.

Have you been? What are your thoughts?

Remember, don’t be afraid to be pesky

El Salvador. It’s a country most people only think about a handful of times in their life. Somehow, miraculously, El Salvadorans have found their way to Des Moines. If you are a connoisseur of prepared foods at the Des Moines Downtown Farmers’ Market, you have likely stopped by, or at least seen a line in front of Papusas El Salvador. (By the way, I love the name of this business. It’s like opening a restaurant in El Salvador called American Hamburgers.)

If you haven’t tried a papusa yet, let me give you the brief overview (thank you Wikipedia): thick hand-made corn tortilla filled with meat, cheese, slaw & salsa.

Although I have had a papusa at the farmers’ market before, I generally think of this dish as lunch. The Catchfire Media crew recently took the D Line to the World Food Festival in the East Village, and I was happy to see Papusas El Salvador as a vendor. Lunch = Decided.

As the Pesky Diner, I skipped on the meat options and decided on the spinach and cheese. After all, who wants a mouthful of melty, ooey, AND gooey cheese? Oh, that’s right, me. I went with the spinach and cheese anyway.

Here’s what you get:

The tortilla is more like a thick corn pancake. This is a good thing as a normal corn tortilla would not hold all the weight of this dish. On top of that you have about a pound (ok not really a pound, but a heck of a lot) of cheese. The cheese, as I stated above, was melty, ooey, AND gooey all at once. Get a load of this!

A decent amount of spinach was mixed in, but not too much. After that you have your slaw, which according to Wikipedia, is called curtido. This was actually one of the best parts of the dish, and I think next time I’ll ask for extra. Imagine shredded cabbage (which I’m not normally a big fan of), mixed with shredded carrots and onions, and pickled with citrus juice. Very good indeed. On top of that you had some salsa, which was actually quite hot – another good thing. I was worried that this papusa would not be enough of a lunch for me, but boy was it ever. This thing was weighty and delicious.

In full disclosure, I did get some crappy baklava for dessert at the food festival. Honestly I was just trying to support more than one vendor. Instead I supported my own gluttony. That was an overpriced mistake.

Do you have a favorite food today that you hadn’t even heard of until you were an adult? This is one of mine. I’d love to see yours below.

Before we get to the review a big thank you needs to be given to the folks at Juice. Brianne Sanchez and Eric Rowley gave me some amazing exposure and I hope to live up to the coverage. Thank you!

After planning to write a new post this weekend, I was reminded by my colleagues that tomorrow is the monthly #CIB (Central Iowa Bloggers) get-together at Panera on University in West Des Moines. I’ve had a few blog worthy, meals since The Pesky Diner’s last post, but I will start with my most recent: a celebratory lunch at Dos Rios.

It has now been just over a year since Abby/ @iowastyle and I started working at Catchfire Media and today Katie/ @kmillersmith, our director, took us out to celebrate the occasion at Dos Rios. I noted to my dining partners how big a deal Dos Rios was to downtown Des Moines when it opened. Sure Des Moines had Centro and a handful of other great downtown dining venues when Dos Rios opened, but this urban-chic Mexican restaurant set a new standard for downtown dining. I’ve been to the restaurant a half dozen times and I’ll admit that what started with an expensive bang quickly fizzled to an expensive, nice-looking, ok place to get a bite to eat.

In its short life, Dos Rios has gone through a few chefs and many menu changes. After this afternoon’s dining experience, I am happy to say they have found their groove – at least from The Pesky Diner’s perspective.

As this was a celebratory affair it was decided before entering the place that ‘guacamole mashed tableside’ was in order. I hate to be critical here, but this is the third time in a row I have dined at Dos Rios where the guacamole was not mashed tableside. If you’re going to charge $10 for guacamole, I better get the Benihana-style experience. Either that or charge $8 and call it guacamole. In either case the end result was delicious, but I wouldn’t mind an explanation in the comments section. The seasoned chips, which in the past have either been over-seasoned or under-seasoned, were on the money today.

There's actually more guacamole in there than this picture appears to show.

My lunch time choices were limited to salad, fish or mushroom tacos, veggie quesadilla, or the fish of the day. I decided to go for the two fish tacos, which for $9, came with a small side salad on the same rectangular plate.

As you can see in the picture, the seared mahi-mahi was cubed and plentiful. I’ll admit that I am not used to the cubed presentation of the fish, but it didn’t make too big of a difference. The fish was prepared perfectly and powered the dish. I would have liked to have tasted more of the cabbage slaw, but the cumin-lime crema Latina nearly made up for that. I feel weird writing that because I hate cabbage in most preparations. In the case of fish tacos, it’s a necessity. The salad was great, mostly due to the citrus vinaigrette.

Nom nom.

Seeing how all of my posts have been obscenely long, I am going to cut this one off here. Lunch at Dos Rios = good. That’s pretty much all you need to know. My menu was limited, although I’m quite certain I could have ordered any of the meat focused dishes minus meat at full price and been satisfied. I’m looking forward to coming back – especially with the deal I took advantage of on restaurant.com. I’ve got some great reviews coming up, so stay tuned!

I know there are a number of vegetarian readers of this blog, so I’m sorry folks, but this post is an ode to meat. The next post will be more up your alley, I promise.

As you know, if you’ve read the About section, I’m not a vegetarian. I love steaks, brisket, pastrami, etc. As long as that etc. doesn’t include pork, shellfish, or a few other choice meat products, I’m all over it. When I eat a meat meal, however, the meat has got to be certified kosher. The one restaurant in Des Moines where I can eat meat is the subject of this post: Maccabee Glatt Kosher Deli.

It’s a shame that most people in Des Moines have never heard of Maccabee’s. The location isn’t very fancy, but if you’ve ever had a meal at the Waveland on University (subject of a future post), you were about 25 paces away from the deli. This is as traditional a New York deli as you’ll find in Des Moines.

Let’s clear this up right now. Manhattan Deli is not a New York deli. Does Manhattan Deli have matzah ball soup? No. Do they have pickled herring? No. Half sour pickles, latkes, knishes? No, no, and no. The only thing that makes Manhattan Deli a deli is that they serve sandwiches. Hell they don’t even have Dr. Brown’s soda. They are definitely not a legit deli in my book. A deli is more than a step above a Subway. Real delis, as it happens, are in need of being saved.

Here are the basics on Maccabee’s:

• Owned and run by Rabbi Yossi Jacobson, the local Chabad rabbi and director of the Jewish Resource Center.
• Most of the place is actually a grocery store. Besides Costco and the forthcoming Trader Joe’s, this is the only place to get kosher meat in Des Moines other than Hebrew National franks at the big name grocery stores.
• Need some kosher wine? You’ll find much more variety here than anywhere else in Iowa. Israeli wines are pretty good, too. Did you know, wine has been made in Israel for a few thousand years? That’s a bit longer than California.
• Want to try Israeli snack food? Here’s your chance. Check out the bamba (vitamin enriched, peanut butter flavored corn puffs) and the bisli (deep fried, crunchy goodness in various flavors).
• Oh, and the deli, which is why I’m writing this post.

As you will soon find out in this week’s Juice (and welcome new reader if that’s how you found me!), I occasionally like to go big at Maccabee’s. What does this mean? The Whole Megillah! It runs a bit steep, but you don’t have to follow my lead to enjoy yourself.

For $20 you get a sandwich loaded with 2/3 pound of your choice of deli meats (mix-n-match if you so choose), two scooped sides, and a drink. My recommendation is either straight up pastrami, or a mix of pastrami, corned beef, and roast beef. Other sandwiches run between $6.50 and $9. If you don’t want to take my word on whether they’re worth it, ask Todd Razor. His unbiased, journalistic ethics infused persona will give you the scoop.

Sandwiches come on regular rye, marble rye, challah, or focaccia. White bread? You’re in the wrong place, bub. Cheese? You’re definitely in the wrong place. Mayo? Ugh. You can get it if you want, but why ruin a perfectly good sandwich! Seriously, you go to a deli for the meat, not the mayo. Bread, meat, bread, with some deli mustard… maybe some onion, and lettuce. Tomato only if you’re getting turkey. Yossi will then lightly steam your sandwich so that it gets to the perfect texture, and then it’s chow time.

Yeah, this has been a pretty glowing review. I could be overlooking some downsides just because I get a little giddy every time I order a pastrami sandwich. The only downside to this place is that sometimes it can take a bit of time to get your sandwich. Much of the time it’s just Yossi running the place. Either be patient or order ahead online or over the phone. Just FYI, this place doesn’t roll on Shabbes. That means they close up shop at 2:30 on Friday and don’t open again until Sunday. They’re also closed Monday. Work this place into your schedule. You won’t be sorry.