Eat part 3: Baru 66

After I finished my dinner at the recently opened restaurant Baru 66, the waitress came up to my table and asked how everything how was. My response was "I think I just found a new favorite restaurant." I'm not sure if the chef is single or not (or even what he looks like and if he has a nice personality) but I think I may be in love.

My first course was the potato leek soup and, before you start yawning, I must mention this was not your typical potato leek soup. The soup was a creamy bisque with salmon fillet in the middle circled by escargot and then topped with caviar. And yes, it was as good as it sounds. The second course was the Parisienne gnocchi which was wonderful. The gnocchi actually tasted like potatoes with a hint of chive making it kind of an upscale comfort food. The final course was a peach creme brulee. It had whole chunks of peach in it and was served in a long shallow dish which meant more sugar to crack on the top (if you've seen the movie Amelie, you know what I'm talking about.

This was my favorite Restaurant Week stop and I will checking it out again hopefully in the near future. You can check out some pictures at their facebook page.

EAT part 2 : Alba

First day of Des Moines Restaurant Week 2010! I started by trying the East Village restaurant Alba. My three courses were as follows - carrot and mint soup, pork cheeks, and apricot clafloutis. The highlight for me was the carrot and mint soup and I was lucky enough to get the last bowl. The carrot and mint complemanted each other and were a refreshing combination. Neither of the main ingredients overwhelmed the other. The pork cheek was quite yummy as well and came with a lovely succotash. The dessert was good but I wasn't wowed by it and the presentation wasn't as pretty as the other courses.

My guest had the salmon tartar with homemade crackers which was very enjoyable. The only downside was that the dish came with a small jar of pickled veggies which were apparently too sour and absolutely dreadful. I would recommend the dish as long as you don't eat you vegatables.

All in all though, I'd go back for the soup alone. I don't think this will be my favorite stop during restaurant week though.

EAT Part 1 : The Iowa State Fair

Ah, the Iowa State Fair - golden fried indulgence at its best. In fact if you asked anyone what there favorite part of the fair is they would probably start listing of forms of junk food of the fried on a stick persuasion. The worst/most life threatening thing I ate was the deep-fried candybar. I actually ate the whole thing this year. Most years I can only get through about a third before I have to stop. I'm crediting this to the fact that I had been fasting on cold cereal the two previous days in anticipation of my gluttony.

Other than the fried candybar of death, I also had a turkey wrap, lamb walking taco, pancakes, and chocolate milk. I also enjoyed an assortment of samples. I can't want for A&E's chocolate banana milk and sea salt cottage cheese to hit the stands.

I, of course, had to make several stops by the Butter Cow. Who could resist looking upon a cow sculpted entirely out of butter. Food as art!

Eat, Pray, Love for the Underprivileged

Unless you've been seriously not paying attention, you know that the new Julia Roberts film Eat, Pray, Love just opened in theaters. I have not seen the movie yet or read the best selling novel it is based on although I plan on at least doing one or the other. I have however read articles in Entertainment Weekly as well as online reviews and critiques. So that's basically where my expertise in this subject lies.

After being slammed with numerous ads, trailers, teasers, and promotions (and getting that awesome Florence + The Machine song stuck in my head), I decided to check out what others were saying about the phenomenon. This "journey" of mine lead me to an article from Bitch Magazine called Eat, Pray, Spend, Priv-lit and the new, enlightened American dream which criticizes the novel as being part of the costly enlightenment industry which for the most part seems to be focused towards women. Having of course not read the novel yet, I'm not sure if it does indeed deserve this criticism or not however I'm inclined to think that the Bitch does have a point. I would love to spend a year traveling to Italy, Indonesia, and India but alas I can't afford it.

So, I'm going to do this staycation style and over a shorter time frame...

EAT

My new journey to enlightenment will begin of course with Eat and I have have to say this is all perfect timing for the Iowa State Fair and Des Moines Restaurant Week are upon us. Last night I made my first stop at Stam Chocolaterie on Ingersoll. For those who don't know, this European candy store does have a hidden night life on the weekends. The patio/garden on the side on the shop has a stage for live music which is played every Friday and Saturday and there is a full wine menu which features Sangria's and wine and chocolate flights (samples of four different wines paired with four different types of chocolate). I tried the Chocolaty Dutchman - wine with Picket Fence Creamery chocolate milk garnished with a dark chocolate medallion. This sexy drink is as good as it sounds. I paired it with a small bag of chocolates. Not the best dinner but I not ashamed to say that it was very satisfying:)

To Be Continued...