Bandit Burrito

Thanks to my Chuck a Puck luck  skill at the DM Bucs game, I won a $10 gift certificate to Bandit Burrito. It is essentially a Pancheros/Qdoba style place. I always wanted to try it and if you give me free money to any place that serves food, I am there.

One disappointment I had was it appears they use the same Mission brand tortillas you can buy at the store. Due to that, and the fact I was shooting for a lighter dinner, I went with a custom made chicken salad.

http://www.banditburrito.com/

Chicken, Cheese, Black Olives, Corn Salsa, Pinto beans on lettuce & Spinach

I do like that it is locally owned and my food did taste good and decently fresh but it really wasn't anything special. If you live near there and really like this type of food, it might be worth trying but I don't live near here and I think Qdoba and Pancheros taste better. It pains me to not support a chain but just didn't seem worth it for me. Anyone else have a better experience?

Buddyz Pizza - McHenry Illinois

When in Chicago (or a 2 hour radius of Chicago), you have to make a stop for Chicago style pizza. A group of us trekked to McHenry, Illinois for just that at Buddyz Pizza.

http://www.buddyzpizza.com/menu.html

After another day of athletic activities and boating, we were famished. Being hungry doesn't always mix well with the long wait times associated with ordering Chicago Style pizzas (45 mins) so we got an order of their onion rings (not pictured) which were awesome. I also had to take the recommendation of their locally brewed root beer which is made with 10% alcohol--holy hell it was good. It tasted exactly like a good root beer and you don't taste a bit of alcohol in it; but it is definitely in there.

There was 8 of us so we ordered 3 different specialty pizzas (only 2 of them pictured before). Chicago Fire, Wrigley Field and the Lake Shore Drive.

Hidden in this root beer is 10% Alcohol - not sold in stores

Chicago Fire- (Buffalo Chicken on Regular Crust)

Wrigley Field - Chicago Style

The Chicago fire is a buffalo chicken pizza. The regular crust was good quality but very crust/dough heavy for me which I didn't think melded well with a slightly bland topping combinations. I didn't think they packed much chicken on the pizza and the buffalo sauce didn't seem too strong. I do hold Buffalo Chicken pizzas at a high standard as I make it all the time, but I probably wouldn't order this again.

The Wrigley Field on the other hand was pretty awesome. Their Chicago style sauce is chunky tomato style as you can see in the picture above. It tasted exactly how it looked, delicious. Their sauce has so much flavor and all the toppings taste pretty quality. My only regret on this visit is not having a bigger appetite to put down more Chicago style pizza--I would go there again today if it weren't 5 hours away.

I love Chicago style pizza and really like Felix and Oscar's in Des Moines. I would still like to check out Lou Malnati's in Chicago, which has been featured on a couple Food Network shows. What's your favorite pizza in your city?

Royal Mile - Guinness Stew Edition

I am way late in posting this but I finally took a friend's recommendation and got the Guinness stew. The Royal Mile is suddenly turning into one of my favorite places to eat. I have so many more things to try there but I finally knocked this one off the list.

http://royalmilebar.com/menu

Guinness Stew

sirloin tips, potatoes, peas, carrots and pearl onion simmered in a broth made with Guinness stout.

So I grew up loving soup. my favorite were Alphabet Soup and Vegetable Beef. This soup is basically a grown up version of Vegetable Beef with some really good meat and throw on some cheese. I also grew up eating chunks of roast beef and not really liking it but the way they do beef, is amazing. The broth isn't runny but it isn't too thick, it's perfect. I would definitely would order this again. This is as Winter comfort food as you get.

Hessen Haus - Hunter's Pizza

Many people don't think of the Hessen Haus for more than boots and beers but they have a decent menu. Even more strange is that they make pizza and it is amazing. This was the first time I tried their pizza and I went with..

http://www.hessenhaus.com/hessen+haus_6_13_12.pdf

Hunter’s Pizza

golden crust topped with a unique combination

of duck, wild boar sausage, roma tomatoes,onions and

mushrooms, arranged on a base of spicy alfredo sauce,

topped with muenster and asiago cheeses 12.99

Lots of unique ingredients but they go so well together. I don't have the most sophisticated palette so it is hard to identify the duck vs boar but I felt like you mostly taste the boar of the two; which is great because it tasted awesome. The pizza had great texture and the right thickness of crust. The tomatoes added the right amount of acidity with all the creamy flavors. I would definitely order this again. What do you order when you eat at The Haus?

CABCO - Reuben

Decided to take my dad out for an early Father's day dinner, his choice was Court Avenue Brewing Company. Crafted beers and solid pub food so you can't really go too wrong. I ordered the...

Black &Tan Reuben

Double decker sandwich, with corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss & 1000 island. 10.99

http://www.courtavebrew.com/documents/filelibrary/documents/Dinner_Menu_012012_9039A1A790ED1.pdf

This was the first time I'd ever ordered a Reuben...ever. It was pretty good--very much like my favorite sandwich in Des Moines (The Earl of Sandwich at Royal Mile). They both have awesome corned beef and a nice soft warm gooey sandwich taste to them. The sauerkraut isn't overpowering which is awesome so there was a nice balance of flavors between all the ingredients. Something that was surprisingly awesome was the side of Crispy Red Potatoes. Holy hell those were good.

The service was good and they have a patio so you can't beat that this time of year. I go back and forth as to whether I like CABCO for food. I never leave unhappy but it isn't in my first 3 choices when I am choosing a place to eat. It is definitely a solid place though. What's your favorite thing from CABCO?

The Rooftop - BBQ Chicken Flatbread Pizza

The Rooftop is a patio bar that opened up a year or so ago on top of House of Bricks. I've been there a couple times for drinks and it is an amazing setting for a drink. Some friends and I were checking out the EV and needed a snack. Little did I know, they serve food there so we stopped in.

We knew we were going to have an early dinner so 4 people split two of their flat bread pizzas. I chose the BBQ Chicken Flat bread...

It was really good. Of course, a flat bread pizza isn't going to be the same doughy/filling pizza we've grown up with so you cannot compare them to normal pizzas. I haven't ordered a lot of flat bread pizzas but this one was definitely tasty. Perfect crispiness and the toppings were amazing--especially the chicken. Very light and perfect for what we were looking for.

The big knock on our trip was the service was really slow (and there wasn't very many people at the restaurant) and the food took a while to get to us. I've never served food at a restaurant so I try not to be too hard on servers as I am sure it can be a tough job. The fact of the matter is, we conversed more about how bad the service was than the awesomeness of the food. Hopefully, it was just a fluke instance because this is a really cool place that I want to continue to support.

I didn't find a website for them but they have a Facebook page and an entry on this site...
http://www.eatdrinkdesmoines.com/restaurant/downtown/american/the-rooftop.html

Buzzard Billy's Cajun Club

It had been a while since I last stopped over to Buzzard Billy's (my first ever food related blog post was about there and that was the last time I visited) so I was long overdue. It was a humid first day of summer but a great one to sit out on their patio and relax with a couple beers. We even tried their Buffalo Ranch wings. They weren't bad but not spicy nor ranchy and very messy.

Buzzard Billy's has a really nice selection of indoor seating with some nice TVs to choose from. I received pretty good service both times I've been there. For this trip, we had one of the coolest servers ever, especially compared to the really terrible service we received for lunch that day. Their beer menu is huge and so is their food menu. I went with the...

Cajun Club

8.49

Shaved ham and Cajun turkey, Swiss and American cheeses, jalapeno bacon, Cajun aioli, lettuce, tomato, and onion on toasted jalapeno bread.

http://www.buzzardbillys.com/des-moines/menu/#specialty-sandwiches

After I got my order, the waiter said I probably got their best sandwich. It was pretty good with the seasoned bacon and bread. The bread was definitely grilled with an ample amount of butter on it and had a perfect soft sandwich texture to it. It had a little gooey-ness that I like from the cheese and aoili. I feel like I should have liked this sandwich more but it wasn't bad. It came with a side of wedge fries which are really crispy and seasoned (awesome) and hush puppies. The hush puppies weren't bad but the only other HPs I've had were from Long John Silver's and these tasted pretty different. Then again, I am guessing LJS isn't the source for the best HPs in America.

So the food was solid and the service was great. The menu has so many things I want to try on it so I definitely plan to go back. I recommend checking them out but skipping the wings. What are your recommendations for Buzzard's?