1100 East 9th Street
We had a guest today - Neil Rodderick
brrrr rainy and chilly day - great time for some hot tea and soup!
We got to Pho' at noon - plenty seating available... They have gotten some new carpet and tables since the last time I have been - much needed and I am sure was first on their list of many!
Right away we were greeted by our waitress - gave us all the attention we needed and were seeking.
We got in and ordered right away -
Appetizers 3 orders of (2) spring rolls which must be super long to be cut up into so many - Goi cuon - Fresh spring roll, shrimp and pork - Goi Cuon thit nuong - fresh spring rolls, grilled pork, mint - Goi cuoan tin nuong - fresh spring rolls frilled jumbo shrimp, mint.
Neil - The #41 - Pho Tai nam - Sliced beef flank noodle soup - sadly Neil didn't think he would come back - but did enjoy his meal! We all enjoyed watching him eat!
Dawn & Erin - The #42 - Pho Chin - Sliced beef noodle soup
Lisa - #44 - Pho seafood - Seafood combination beef noodle soup
All in all - I think we had a great meal - I feel full 3 and a half hours later and still can taste the mint! I wasn't a big fan of the spring rolls, they were cut to big and a little spongey to try and chew - kind of got stuck to my teeth! I do love there soup and it would be easy for me to eat this a few times a week - great waitress!!
I have come to the conclusion that in the fastest of restaurants it is hard to eat in less than an hour.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Splash - April 1, 2010
http://www.splash-seafood.com/
Lisa used open table http://www.opentable.com/ to make the original reservations - and I added a few to the reservation - so Lisa called and left two separate voice mails earlier in the morning.
Splash lunch is located in the Oyster Bar - where there is the bar with 7 or 8 stools and 5 tables - so reservations are highly recommended when they can get them right!
We walked in and saw a table for 4 reserved so we told our normal waitress Kat, that we had called back and made a reservation for 6 - she immediately put us in the bar area because she didn't want us to be too crowded.
Lisa asked for a nutrition list and Kat said there was not one available.
The General manager came to help take our order and walked us through a more healthier order and other options to our favorites!
Lisa ordered a Smoked Salmon Cobb - with smoked salmon, bleu cheese, bacon, tomato and egg with mixed greens, she brought her own dressing - which was a salad spritzer -
Erin order the usual salmon Cesar salad and instead of blackened - she ordered it grilled with Cajun rubbed - to be a bit more healthier -
Dawn - the usual blackened salmon Cesar salad with an order of fries.
Ylonda - the special of the day - BBQ shrimp on cole slaw with the special Shrimp Stew
Linda - New York Strip Sandwich - Sliced smoked New York Strip Steak with caramelized onions, grilled portabella mushrooms and fontina cheese with an order of fries.
Missy - Blackened salmon Cesar salad.
where do we start... We all ordered through the General Manager and he did help with some different choices - but our meals did come all jumbled up - It took an hour for our meals to come and when the did - they were very sporadic - my fries came out about 5-7 minutes before my meal - I almost had them all eaten! Ylonda didn't get her stew for 10 minutes - which should have been first out right? Lisa was not happy with her meal plus it was missing the bleu cheese.
Erin had to be picked up by Neil - but who wouldn't want to be picked up by him - I wonder how fast she made it back to the office really!!! haha!
I got a freaking parking ticket because we were in there so long
I am not sure any one of us walked out of there satisfied!
Lisa used open table http://www.opentable.com/ to make the original reservations - and I added a few to the reservation - so Lisa called and left two separate voice mails earlier in the morning.
Splash lunch is located in the Oyster Bar - where there is the bar with 7 or 8 stools and 5 tables - so reservations are highly recommended when they can get them right!
We walked in and saw a table for 4 reserved so we told our normal waitress Kat, that we had called back and made a reservation for 6 - she immediately put us in the bar area because she didn't want us to be too crowded.
Lisa asked for a nutrition list and Kat said there was not one available.
The General manager came to help take our order and walked us through a more healthier order and other options to our favorites!
Lisa ordered a Smoked Salmon Cobb - with smoked salmon, bleu cheese, bacon, tomato and egg with mixed greens, she brought her own dressing - which was a salad spritzer -
Erin order the usual salmon Cesar salad and instead of blackened - she ordered it grilled with Cajun rubbed - to be a bit more healthier -
Dawn - the usual blackened salmon Cesar salad with an order of fries.
Ylonda - the special of the day - BBQ shrimp on cole slaw with the special Shrimp Stew
Linda - New York Strip Sandwich - Sliced smoked New York Strip Steak with caramelized onions, grilled portabella mushrooms and fontina cheese with an order of fries.
Missy - Blackened salmon Cesar salad.
where do we start... We all ordered through the General Manager and he did help with some different choices - but our meals did come all jumbled up - It took an hour for our meals to come and when the did - they were very sporadic - my fries came out about 5-7 minutes before my meal - I almost had them all eaten! Ylonda didn't get her stew for 10 minutes - which should have been first out right? Lisa was not happy with her meal plus it was missing the bleu cheese.
Erin had to be picked up by Neil - but who wouldn't want to be picked up by him - I wonder how fast she made it back to the office really!!! haha!
I got a freaking parking ticket because we were in there so long
I am not sure any one of us walked out of there satisfied!
Sakari - Sushi Lounge
2605 Ingersoll Avenue - Des Moines
We arrived shortly before noon and had no problem getting in - which is always nice for us - but not the best for the owners!! :)
Right away we were greeted by our waitress - she then brought us 3 iced teas - which turned out to be fountain - big NO NO!
The order - 3 squid salads -
1 Godzilla Roll (GR)- crunchy shrimp tempura, avacado, cream cheese topped with spicy tuna mix -
1 Beef Roll Up (BRU) - Seared prime beed, shrimp, cream cheese and avacodo
1 Lobster Roll (LR) - Mixed greens, Sprouts, cucumber, avacado and spicy lobster.
The GR had the best flavor - that cream cheese adds so much - I do have a love for cream cheese... It is topped off with the spicy tuna mix and it added a hint of spice and the after taste.
This will most likely be a re-order - although the rolls were huge and thankfully I have a big mouth to get past that!
The BRU was super yummy - it will definately be another re-ordered
The LR - is always an all time favorite!
I'm hungry now!
The bill was a little steep - we ended up paying $20 a piece - but understandable - not like we live next to the ocean!
It's been so long that I think we need to go back and have another!
We arrived shortly before noon and had no problem getting in - which is always nice for us - but not the best for the owners!! :)
Right away we were greeted by our waitress - she then brought us 3 iced teas - which turned out to be fountain - big NO NO!
The order - 3 squid salads -
1 Godzilla Roll (GR)- crunchy shrimp tempura, avacado, cream cheese topped with spicy tuna mix -
1 Beef Roll Up (BRU) - Seared prime beed, shrimp, cream cheese and avacodo
1 Lobster Roll (LR) - Mixed greens, Sprouts, cucumber, avacado and spicy lobster.
The GR had the best flavor - that cream cheese adds so much - I do have a love for cream cheese... It is topped off with the spicy tuna mix and it added a hint of spice and the after taste.
This will most likely be a re-order - although the rolls were huge and thankfully I have a big mouth to get past that!
The BRU was super yummy - it will definately be another re-ordered
The LR - is always an all time favorite!
I'm hungry now!
The bill was a little steep - we ended up paying $20 a piece - but understandable - not like we live next to the ocean!
It's been so long that I think we need to go back and have another!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Open Sesame
Friday, March 12th we headed to the Lebanese Cafe! Lisa called and made reservations for noon. We got a cozy little table by the window!!
There were red long velvety curtains to walk through when you first came through the door.
There were probably about 8 total tables plus a full bar in this dark restaurant!!
We started off with the Lebanses Iced Tea - which is black Ceylon tea infused with fresh mint. Ohh man was this good - but not the best part of the meal!! Thank Gawd!!
Dawn - ordered the traditional Gyro with the house salad - which was a Greek salad
The only flaw about my meal was the onions over-powered my pita - excellent Gyro all in all, salad was wonderful!
There were red long velvety curtains to walk through when you first came through the door.
There were probably about 8 total tables plus a full bar in this dark restaurant!!
We started off with the Lebanses Iced Tea - which is black Ceylon tea infused with fresh mint. Ohh man was this good - but not the best part of the meal!! Thank Gawd!!
Dawn - ordered the traditional Gyro with the house salad - which was a Greek salad
The only flaw about my meal was the onions over-powered my pita - excellent Gyro all in all, salad was wonderful!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
First Stop - March 5, 2010 - Jasmine Bowl
2128 Indianola Avenue - Des Moines - http://www.jasminebowl.com/
It wasn't out first outing - but more like our first official outing!!
We got to the Jasmine Bowl about noonish on Friday - very small setting - kind of like hanging out in a basement! There were 4 round tables and 1 small table - plus seating at the "bar"
At first we felt like we had to whisper - but as more people came we became our normal loud selves!!
We ordered Crab Rangoon - best part of the meal in my (Dawn) opinion
Lisa ordered the Acapulco Pork (AP)
Erin ordered the Pak She (PS)
Dawn ordered the Legendary Chicken Pad Thai (CPT)
We split the entrees between the three of us -
Here were our thoughts on the food, service and atmosphere
Dawn - Holy tiny place to eat - don't come with a big party or if there are more than 6 cars in the odd parking lot. Don't come to the JB if you need to drop the kids off at the pool - you will ruin the tables food that is right next to the bathroom door - or don;t expect to go in there and let a huge fart out and not expect the whole place to hear you!!
AP had excellent flavor and tender pork - PS - ummm didn't care for at all there was too much spicy cilantro pesto in it - it was over-powering! CPT - added a little heat to it - and apparently - a little means a lot here!! My mouth actually burned for a little bit!! Good flavor - big chunks of chicken - would order it again, if I ever went there again.
All in all - I think it will be awhile before I head back to the JB!
Lisa -
Erin - I totally agree with Dawn on this one - probably not going to be returing to JB again. I truly felt like I was in an old basement and we should have been playing some sort of card game while waiting for our food. The wait staff (one person) didn't even go over the specials with us and we didn't even notice these specials until we were walking out to leave and noticed the small chalkboard near the front door. I thought that the portions were a little on the small side, but maybe ones stomach can only endure smaller amounts of spicy food. The Pak She sounded quite appetizing on the menu. I was very anxious to try this dish that included Jasmine Rice. The rice turned out to be nothing more than sticky rice that is typically served in a Chinese restaurant. I was expecting delicious looking rice with wonderful aromas of exotic spices. The beef dish itself was incredibly un-appetizing on the plate. It reminded me of an email I received earlier in the week about a colon cleanser. I truly believe that someone went to the JB and took a picture of the Pak She and then used it on the colon cleanser site. The beef in itself was not impressive. It was very chewy and appeared to be a very cheap cut of meat. The other two dishes were much better, but I do think my favorite was also the Crab Rangoon. If anything good came out of this lunch it would be the fact that I ate way less than I normally would have eaten at lunch, so I guess that helped out my diet that day!!
It wasn't out first outing - but more like our first official outing!!
We got to the Jasmine Bowl about noonish on Friday - very small setting - kind of like hanging out in a basement! There were 4 round tables and 1 small table - plus seating at the "bar"
At first we felt like we had to whisper - but as more people came we became our normal loud selves!!
We ordered Crab Rangoon - best part of the meal in my (Dawn) opinion
Lisa ordered the Acapulco Pork (AP)
Erin ordered the Pak She (PS)
Dawn ordered the Legendary Chicken Pad Thai (CPT)
We split the entrees between the three of us -
Here were our thoughts on the food, service and atmosphere
Dawn - Holy tiny place to eat - don't come with a big party or if there are more than 6 cars in the odd parking lot. Don't come to the JB if you need to drop the kids off at the pool - you will ruin the tables food that is right next to the bathroom door - or don;t expect to go in there and let a huge fart out and not expect the whole place to hear you!!
AP had excellent flavor and tender pork - PS - ummm didn't care for at all there was too much spicy cilantro pesto in it - it was over-powering! CPT - added a little heat to it - and apparently - a little means a lot here!! My mouth actually burned for a little bit!! Good flavor - big chunks of chicken - would order it again, if I ever went there again.
All in all - I think it will be awhile before I head back to the JB!
Lisa -
Erin - I totally agree with Dawn on this one - probably not going to be returing to JB again. I truly felt like I was in an old basement and we should have been playing some sort of card game while waiting for our food. The wait staff (one person) didn't even go over the specials with us and we didn't even notice these specials until we were walking out to leave and noticed the small chalkboard near the front door. I thought that the portions were a little on the small side, but maybe ones stomach can only endure smaller amounts of spicy food. The Pak She sounded quite appetizing on the menu. I was very anxious to try this dish that included Jasmine Rice. The rice turned out to be nothing more than sticky rice that is typically served in a Chinese restaurant. I was expecting delicious looking rice with wonderful aromas of exotic spices. The beef dish itself was incredibly un-appetizing on the plate. It reminded me of an email I received earlier in the week about a colon cleanser. I truly believe that someone went to the JB and took a picture of the Pak She and then used it on the colon cleanser site. The beef in itself was not impressive. It was very chewy and appeared to be a very cheap cut of meat. The other two dishes were much better, but I do think my favorite was also the Crab Rangoon. If anything good came out of this lunch it would be the fact that I ate way less than I normally would have eaten at lunch, so I guess that helped out my diet that day!!
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