Legal Limits Pub & Grill- 702 Allen St. Boone, Ia.

  There I found myself on a sunny Saturday morning, too lazy to cook breakfast but starving and sure I would perish into the oblivion of past no-name food bloggers if I didn't find some food soon. My wife and daughter were completely indifferent to this grave scene unfolding before their wandering eyes. Not only did they not want to go out for breakfast, they wouldn't even help me stagger to the car. After much effort, I was able to make it to my vehicle and drive to Legal Limits Pub & Grill. I parked and struggled to keep my balance as I meandered down the sidewalk toward the entrance. I was almost there. I could feel the perspiration building on my forehead and my heartbeat increase slightly at the idea of survival. Eggs would be mine! I crawled through the door on my hands and knees. A few people glanced at me but paid little attention. This must happen a lot there.

  I was able to make it a seat at the bar with no assistance and was greeted by the friendly wait staff. They had no idea how glad I was to see them. I was sure that I was going to have eggs, sausage, hash browns and toast. Before I could say anything, they told me the special was Country Fried Steak. It came with hash browns, two eggs and toast. She sounded pretty convincing so I ordered it.

  The decor of Legal Limits Pub & Grill is not fancy. Plain tables and chairs, a couple of pool tables, neon beer signs and a television behind the bar. There is really nothing more to add to that. They're fairly busy for breakfast though so I doubt if anyone is there for the stunning elegance of the place.

  My order was served and I had to chuckle a little. The food is served on Styrofoam plates. This joint just DOES NOT give a <insert favorite profanity here> what you think of their house China! It didn't matter anyway because the entire plate was covered in food. In my starvation-induced semi-conscience state, I didn't care what the food was setting on as long as that object was setting on the bar in front of me.

  There it was! A generous serving of whatever questionable processed meat-like food that was under all that gravy. The eggs were cooked to my liking and the hash browns were steaming. Everything was served hot. It was one huge, greasy heart attack. By that, I mean it was perfect. It was exactly what you would want and expect from the proverbial greasy spoon diner. Just keep an eye out for the little brown flakes at the bottom of your coffee cup. It doesn't ruin the coffee because you only notice them once the coffee is almost gone.

  I was stuffed when I left and that meal hit the right spot just when I needed it. Catastrophe narrowly averted! I can't speak for their lunch or dinner but I give the breakfast at Legal Limits Pub & Grill 4 pints (out of 5 possible). Great job but seriously, clean the film out of the coffee pots. You can't just rinse it out. You need a sponge or rag. Maybe some soap. Apply said sponge and soap to the inside of the coffee pot and move your hand in a circular manner. Rinse, repeat as necessary. Problem solved. I will definitely be returning for breakfast.

Open Sesame-313 E Locust St, Des Moines, IA 50309

  Open Sesame is a hidden gem. A small place in the East Village which you could easily pass and not see. I last visited Open Sesame on a Saturday. They open at 5:30 pm on Saturdays and we arrived early so we decided to walk around the East Village until the restaurant opened. We returned at exactly 5:36 and there was only one table left with additional seating at the bar. The place is nearly full in 6 minutes?!? There are 2 reasons for that. The first is that the food is outstanding. The second is that it's a fairly small place. Only 8 or 9 tables and the bar.

  You will enter this Lebanese restaurant through the red curtains guarding against the outside world. Inside, you will find what you might expect for Mediterranean decor in a restaurant. It's simple and adequate. The music in the background adds to the relaxing vibe in the room. On one of the walls behind the bar there is a framed projector screen (about the size of an average television screen). On this visit, it was showing an old silent film called The Thief Of Baghdad which was actually fairly amusing to watch while eating. On many occasions you will be greeted by the same manager who always remembers you as an old friend or, at the very least, does a good job of faking it. He seems to take time to visit with all of the customers personally and make sure you're happy with your experience.

  We started out with the Hummus because the hummus at Open Sesame might be the best in Iowa or maybe even Utah. It's the kind of hummus that makes a strict carnivore uncomfortable and causes him to question his dietary identity. Besides that, it was hummus and there is only so much more you can say about it after the last sentence.

  I ordered the Phoenician steak. It comes with asparagus and potatoes. Aside from it being a high quality steak, they season it with their own secret blend of Mediterranean spices and that really sets it apart from similar dishes at other establishments. I know it's a secret blend of spices because I asked what they used and they said it was a secret blend of Mediterranean spices. Attempting to bribe the server to see just how secret the secret really is didn't feel like an idea that was beneath me but yet didn't feel appropriate either. If any of you are just slightly more uncouth than I am and can pull that idea off.....I'll give you $5 to tell me the secret. Until then, the Open Sesame is the only place that I know of to get a steak like that.

  So there we are, enjoying our meal, talking and watching the silent film when the music gets louder and a belly dancer makes her way into the room! She was beautiful and very talented. I say belly dancer but to be fair...she was equally talented at making the rest of her body dance too....but let's not split hairs here! Almost everyone in the room was amused except for one lady. There's one in every crowd. Yeah, that's right, lady! Just sit there and eat your hummus and pretend that you don't see what's going on! There was also one toddler who was mesmerized by the dancer. You and me both, kid! I just have had the time to develop the self-control allowing me to keep my lower jaw closed and force myself to blink every few seconds or so. You'll get there. But seriously, she was very good and definitely added to the authenticity of the dining experience. I wonder where one learns to dance like that.

  Others in our party had the Gyro as well as the Falafel Salad. I tried both and kind of wished I had ordered the gyro. Not because one dish was better or worse than the other but just because the gyro was awesome and I haven't ordered it at Open Sesame yet. For this trip, I have to give a 4 pint (out of a possible 5) rating. Open Sesame is a 5 pint home-run hitter any day of the week but this time they forgot the asparagus with no explanation. I didn't notice right away because of the dancer but I can't give a 5 pint rating if you forgot part of the order....unless....you were out of asparagus and called in a belly dancer to distract the patrons so they wouldn't notice. That would be brilliant and call for 5 pints!

+39 Restaurant, Market & Cantina, 2640 Stange Rd, Ames, Ia. 50010

  I'd like to start by saying that I've been to +39 my fair share of times. I've had varying degrees of satisfaction but overall I've obviously been satisfied enough to continue to dine there. This isn't going to be about my collective experience though. This will be about my most recent experience and only that.

  +39 is in a great location with plenty of parking available. It's in a new building with a very well thought out floor plan. The decor is sharp and the staff is friendly but not overly sappy. It's the kind of place you might expect to see everyone drinking wine, which is good because they have a lot of it.

  One thing I never appreciate is feeling like you need to know another language to order. Either that or you need to read all of the descriptions to find out what an item actually is. If you are the kind of person to smugly and in a slightly nasal voice, tell me that everyone knows that Pappa al Pomodoro is tomato soup with basil and olive oil....please stop reading this now. This blog is probably nowhere near sophisticated enough for your tastes. While I don't think the menu should simply list the dish as tomato soup, I also don't want to read the ingredients of one dish after another to find what I'm looking for. It's not classic literature and should not be required reading.

  We started with the Cavolini. Wait....you don't know what Cavolini is? Seriously? Everyone knows Cavolini is Brussels Sprouts, pancetta, parmesan, and truffle aioli! How have you lived this long without knowing that? But really....joking aside, the Cavolini is incredible. We order it every time we are at +39 and I credit that specific appetizer for Brussels Sprouts becoming one of my favorite vegetables. The dish will stretch for 4 people but easily feed 2 people as an appetizer. I think I could go there by myself, order just the Cavolini and something to drink and leave feeling satisfied with what I had. Too bad I didn't do that last time I was there. This review would have ended differently.

  One thing I've never ordered at +39 is the pizza. I guess I just feel like I can get pizza at plenty of other places and that's what I should have kept in mind on this visit. I should say that I love pizza. I've had all sorts of different varieties at places all over the country. I looked forward to comparing the pizza at +39 to other outstanding pizzas that I've enjoyed. It was a short-lived comparison.

  I ordered the San Daniele which is described as "Tomato sauce, Prosciutto, mozzarella, arugula, Grana Padano". Basically, it's a thin sliced Italian ham pizza with arugula on top. If I thought there was anything wrong with that I wouldn't have ordered it. 50 minutes later, the pizza arrived. I could have understood the delay if they were waiting for the arugula to finish growing or they were having trouble getting the cheese imported and through customs. I'm going to guess that wasn't the case though. We finally got our pizzas and they looked big. They were bigger than the plate and looked very artistic. I understand that the look and presentation of a dish is important. I also understand that some people see it as an art. I don't think, however, that the pizza crust should literally be looked at as a canvas. Therefore, you might want to consider using something besides a paint brush to apply the tomato sauce. It was as if the "sauce" was painted on in a layer just thick enough to color the crust orange but thin enough to still be able to see the crust through it. That meant almost no tomato sauce. There really wasn't very much cheese either. There was a respectable amount of prosciutto unevenly distributed and plenty of arugula to draw away from the fact that there isn't much on this pizza. The crust was very thin, soft and under-cooked. Each slice was a respectable size but what toppings there were all slid off the limp crust. The good news is that you could put the toppings back on, roll everything up and pretend you were eating an Italian burrito.

  This pizza was bland and boring. It seemed like a lot of thought was put into how it looked and not much thought into how it tasted. My dining companion had a different pizza. She was satisfied with the overall taste but agreed with me on the other points. I ate 2 of the 6 slices and considered not even taking the rest of it home. I did decide to take it home with the idea that it may be better cold at a later time. I was right. It was better the next day because it firmed up. I ate 1 of the remaining 4 slices and threw the rest in the garbage.

  The only redeeming experience of this particular meal at +39 was the Cavolini. I actually like this restaurant a lot and expect better from them. That and the Cavolini are the only reasons I'm rating this dining experience at 2 pints (out of a possible 5) instead of 1 pint. Of course, I will go back but I highly doubt I will order any of their pizzas again.

2014 World Food And Music Festival-Des Moines-Walnut St. bridge-Sept. 19th-21st.

  To start with, I've been on a hiatus from 515food because I decided to completely stop eating since my last review just to see what would happen. I'm still alive and even weigh a bit more so I must be invincible and my reviews therefore infallible. That and the desire to defy the will of most of the online community convinced me that my blue-collar opinions of eating establishments are woefully needed to irritate some and guide others away from wasting money on garbage. The 2014 World Food And Music Festival seemed like the perfect opportunity to resume caloric intake.

  The festival featured 50 different food vendors, 30 beers, international wines as well as plenty of music. This review will focus mainly on the food. Each vendor has samples as well as entrees. I thought the festival was well planned and executed. The lay-out was ideal for avoiding human traffic jams. It was clean, affordable and very diverse. The one thing I would have liked to have seen more of was shade. Most of the event area was completely open and the Sun was beating down hard.

  I'd like to say that I wish I could have tried something from every vendor but I don't wish that. I was actually kind of surprised that a few of them were even allowed as serious vendors. I expected the food to cover the spectrum of the Universal Crappy Food Scale, from very bad to incredibly awesome (yes, that scale is a real thing). I was partially wrong but we'll come back to that. Almost everything I tried was, in fact, pretty good.

  What did I try? Here is a short list of some of the foods I tried based on what I could record with a limited cell phone battery, limited memory and a paper and pen with the pen only having about 17 1/2 words worth of ink left. I scratched my notes into paper with the pen after that point. The following vendors are named simply by what they called themselves on their banner. These were not the only items available but I'll save the best for the last (that doesn't mean the first ones suck...it just means that last few are awesome).

  The Ethiopian Association Of Iowa offered a dish called Tibs which consisted of beef or chicken with green peppers, onions and garlic served over rice. Not bad at all but it isn't something specific to only Ethiopia. We might have something like this next week in our own home.

  The vendor from El Salvador offered Casamiento. It's more or less rice and black beans with some spices. It's not fancy and the rice was under-cooked.

  Papilon Bosnian Food offered their Sarma. It was a beef and bread entree with a thin red sauce. It was  definitely worth trying.

  There were a few Mexican vendors and one that I chose was Taqueria 3 Hermanos. Their sample was their Chicken Quesadillas. I was a little reserved about this choice because I'm not a huge fan of simple quesadillas. I was surprised with this item and I actually considered going back for more and I didn't only because I had other places to move on to. But this was a very tasty quesadilla.

  There was also Heart And Seoul....a Korean food vendor. They had their Bolgoli Beef Taco. I had that early and wondered if I would be able to give them a fair shake since it was so good but so early. The good news is that I didn't forget about them or their quality. They were outstanding and memorable even after such great food after them.

  With all of that out of the way, I will now bring it down to the last three. These are the three I strongly suggest checking out.

  #3....New Oriental Food Store. Food from Laos and Thailand. I only had their eggrolls but I love eggrolls and eat them often. These are some of the best eggrolls around....period. I wish I could have ate 5 of them.

  #2.....We're getting into heavy hitters now. Afiyet Olsun. Mesopotamian food. They offered their Tabsi Tayok which is marinated chicken with lime and vinegar, cooked with tomatoes, green onions, onions, garlic, parsley and flavored with various spices. I ate a lot of things today and this is exactly the second best thing I ate all day! It was perfect and would have easily been the best thing I had if it weren't for.....

  #1...Andulusia and their Andulusian Mushroom Soup. Just like it sounds. Andulusian....mushrooms....some onions and some other awesome secret stuff.  I don't know what's in it or if such a place even exists. But I do know that their soup was the best thing I tried all day and I hope to find a recipe to try at home.

  So these are some of my favorites from the festival. You may notice that there aren't any American dishes on my list. That didn't go without notice on my part either. In fact, I didn't even bother trying a single dish from an American vendor. I saw a few of them but they were almost embarrassing. The first one was selling doughnut holes. Seriously? The rest of the world is selling incredible food and the Americans have freaking doughnut holes? We also had cup cakes, "loaded fried potatoes", burger bites and plenty of other items I avoided. We even had an American BBQ joint and guess what their sampler was.......cupcakes!!!

  I thought it was a great event. You should all get out there tomorrow. I give it 5 out of 5 pints for a rating but I think I'll stick with the Andulusina and Mesopotamian food if I have the choice. I think they clearly came out above the others on this particular weekend.

New World Cafe--223 E. Walnut St. Des Moines, Ia. 50309

  I must admit, when I agreed to visit New World Cafe I wasn't sure if I would regret it or not. I agreed to go and to be open-minded. New World Cafe is a vegetarian and vegan restaurant and coffee shop, though at the time I decided to visit I was under the impression that it was strictly a vegan restaurant. Even though I have been a vegetarian for a while in the past, my experience with vegan dishes has not been very memorable and I feel the same way about a few of the vegans I've met too. It reminds me of a joke "How do you know you're having dinner with vegans? Oh...don't worry. They'll tell you." I realize that's a stereotype but it's still funny because it's definitely true about a few people I've known. In all fairness, those people probably annoy the rest of the vegans as much as they annoy non-vegans. If somebody was going on and on about how awesome their meat loaf and potato chip diet was I probably wish they would shut up too. But I agreed to go and be open-minded and I was happy to give it a try. After all, who can say "Oh...I don't eat vegan food?" Yes....you probably do but don't think much about it. It just occurred to me that most of what I ate today would be fine for vegans and/or vegetarians to eat.

  When you walk into New World Cafe you will place your order at the counter and then take a seat to wait for your food. The menu for the week is written out in chalk on a black board. The restaurant orders food in small quantities designed to last about a week as to minimize waste and the menu changes based on availability of items. Everything is organic and I believe local sources are used as much as possible. The prices are reasonable and there is even one dish with a "suggested donation" of $6. Pay what you can for that one. I'm under the impression that if someone has less than $6 they will still be able to eat. I think that is pretty damn cool and kind of them to do. But let's not get too carried away with rainbows and unicorns just yet. We don't even know what passes for life sustaining nourishment in this place at this point. So let's get to that part.

  The menu on the day I visited had items like the Walnut St. Burger which had a patty made of walnuts, veggies and quinoa. There's the A.L.T...just like a BLT but with avocado. There is the Curried Chickpea Melt and a number of other items. I decided to have the Mexican Bowl. The menu describes it as "grains, beans, roasted potatoes and yams, veggies, avocado, green herb salsa, smoky cashew "cheese" and pumpkin seed crumble." I also ordered a cup of the carrot dill soup and a ginger lemonade. I took my number and found a spot near the front window to wait for my order while crossing my fingers.

  I had been sitting for just a couple of minutes when the food arrived. The first thing I noticed was that the food looked great. It looked like something that should taste really good. I was not to be disappointed. The soup was kind of intriguing to me. I had never had that kind of soup and I liked it but I couldn't put my finger on exactly what I liked about it. I chalked it up to the dill. I could be wrong but it was worth ordering. The Mexican Bowl was great. There were different but complimenting flavors and textures. The prevailing taste can change from one bite to the next because of how the dish is made. The items are put together, not forced together. The ginger lemonade was quite good as well. 

  There are a number of eco-friendly practices taking place at New World Cafe but one practice that everyone will notice is how waste is disposed of. When you finish your meal you will find three bins to discard your waste. One is for recyclable items, one is for compost and the last is for garbage. When I first noticed this I kind of thought "Shocking! Of course this could happen here." But the food is not served in disposable bowls, cups, etc. The only thing I threw into the garbage bin was a single straw. That was it. I thought that, along with their other initiatives, was impressive.

  I have to say that I was very happy with everything about New World Cafe. I even looked for ways to play the devils advocate and lower my rating. The only thing I could think of was the lemonade was $4.00. Then I asked myself.....what do you think is a fair price? Maybe $2.50? For a place willing to give their food away? Would saving $1.50 have made the experience any better? The answer is no. It would not have made a difference at all and nothing I could throw at them would stick. That lemonade might be the best lemonade you will ever drink for any price. There was simply nothing about the experience that wasn't great.

  So my rating for New World Cafe is a perfect 5 pints (out of a possible 5). No...that is not a typo. The vegetarian/vegan joint gets a well-earned perfect rating and I think anyone should be able to find something they enjoy there. I absolutely will be back and my expectations will be high. Well done, New World Cafe!

  

The Mucky Duck Pub--3100 S. Duff, Ames, Ia. 50010

  As I've previously stated, I wish I would have started this blog a long time ago so I would have already posted plenty of other reviews before pulling one of my favorites out of my back pocket. Instead, we are going to mercilessly judge The Mucky Duck Pub much earlier than I planned.

  I've been to The Mucky Duck enough times to know exactly what to expect. If you're looking for a British themed establishment, this is the place for you. I don't think I know of another place quite like it in the 515 area code. Everything from the decor to the food is mostly British. You may even see a MINI Cooper or two in the parking lot. The Mucky Duck is also the place to find all of that hard to find British memorabilia you've always wanted. Behind the bar, there are shelves stocked with food brands that remind me of home and my melancholy, rainy and overcast youth back in London. The food that mum used to make! Ok, I've never even been there but I've heard it rains a lot and Pink Floyd is my leading source of childhood recollections of the U.K. but if you want imported British foods that you can't find at your local grocery store, this is a great place to look. Let's move on to the dining.

  If you want a burger, you can get a burger but why waste the visit on something you can get anywhere? Fish and Chips, Bangers and Mash and a few other dishes come to mind. On this visit I went with the Chicken Curry since I hadn't had that before and the menu called Curry the national food of Britain. It seemed like a fair and fitting dish for my first review of The Mucky Duck. 

  As I do more reviews, you may notice that I put quite a bit of value on timing and promptness during the dining experience. I do not like having birthdays pass me by while waiting for service and I don't like being rushed. Luckily for all of us, that doesn't happen at The Mucky Duck. We were seated right away. Our server was attentive enough from a distance to be able to tell when we had decided on our order and she was prompt enough to be with us shortly thereafter. The order took approximately 17 minutes to get to the table. Very acceptable. I must admit that I was keeping track because I wanted to see just how much faster they were than a different place that I've dined at recently.

  The menu describes the Chicken Curry as "Juicy meat and potatoes in a rich sauce, served over Basmati rice with a poppadom on the side." The only somewhat negative thing I can say about this dish was that instead of it being served over rice, it was served next to rice and that rice was a little dry and clumpy. Once I mixed the rice in with the sauce, it was perfect. I think had the dish been served as described, I never would have noticed. It was absolutely delicious. It had a bit of a spicy zing to it and in the center of the dish was an unexpected half of a hard boiled egg which fit right in. I'm disappointed that I waited until now to try it. I'll be ordering it again in the future. Others in our party had the Fish and Chips which I also recommend but don't feel the need to describe. 

  The Mucky Duck has a very respectable selection of beer on tap and by the bottle but the only other thing that was not superb about this experience was.....they brought the wrong beer to the table. Oh no, Mucky Duck!! On this day, of all days, the dark day of reckoning? That has never happened to me there. It was just a mistake though. An unforced error. The good news was that they fixed the problem in no time but I'm pretty sure there is a commandment that says "Thou shalt not serve thy wrong ale or wine to thy parched patron." Maybe that isn't a real commandment but it should be. For this offense, Mucky Duck, I must dock a half a pint from your rating and issue a stern finger wagging. I still love you but I have to rate the experience on just that day. 

So The Mucky Duck Pub gets a solid 4.5 pints (out of 5). I don't expect to give a lot of 4.5 or 5 ratings so well done, as usual. I highly recommend this establishment. You may want to follow them online to keep up with events that they hold throughout the year such as the British Motorbike Festival and their outdoor celebration of and participation in the annual Maximum Ames Music Festival.

  

  

Boone Depot---Boone

  I wish I would have started this blog several months ago as I would have had much to say about many places I've been to recently. I've been meaning to do so but this dining experience finally convinced me. I've heard mixed reviews of the Boone Depot so it was time to check it out for myself.

  I'm just going to have to lay this out there and hope it wasn't the normal dining experience at this place. It was fairly busy when we got there but there were tables available right away. Get comfortable because you might be there for a long time. Maybe it was just our particular server but everything took forever. We probably sat for 15 minutes before we were even asked what we'd like to order for drinks. Once we finally got our drinks we had plenty of time to read over the menu. In fact, I probably could have wrote an entire menu in that time. Your drinks should not be almost gone by the time someone gets around to taking your order.

  There are a number of things on the menu that I wish I would have ordered instead of the Union Station Philly but the sandwich sounded good. I also ordered the Beer Cheese Soup. I love cheese soup so Beer Cheese Soup can not be a bad idea. I specifically asked for the soup to be brought out first since I was starving and I highly doubt that there is a chef in the kitchen hand preparing each delicate little bowl of soup. It's in some sort of crock, already warm. Put some in a bowl and serve it. Not very hard to do. But it was. In fact, the soup never came at all and neither did anyone to explain what was taking so long on the rest of our food. To be fair, they realized they forgot the soup when they brought our order to the table and by that time I told them to just forget it. The Philly was served with fries. Other sides are available. The fries were about room temperature and fairly hard. The sandwich was warm and I'd say it was just about what you would expect a Philly to be at any number of other places. Decent but pretty average. Others in our party enjoyed their food so I don't think the food is the issue with the Boone Depot. The food alone, I would rate at 2.5 pints out of a possible 5 pints. The prices were fair. The real problem was the service. I do plan to go back and hopefully this was just an off night for the server but I think the service was poor enough that another experience like that will most likely make me not return again. Get it together people!

  I'd give this overall experience 2 pints out of 5. There is a lot of room for improvement.