Des Moines bbq

I had the opportunity to venture to Des Moines, Iowa this past weekend for a Pampered Chef conference announcing the new products for the next season.  And I checked out foodiepie first.  A wonderful website to find out what restaurants have appeared on the Food Network and The Travel Channel.

There were two places in Des Moines that I hadn't been before Jethro's BBQ and The High Life Lounge.  So since there would be two chances to get something to eat while I was there I thought to hit them both.

Saturday when we got there - Sue Hicks was going to the conference as well so she got to encounter my two excursions as well.

We got to Jethro's about 7:30 pm and was greeted at the door by a couple friendly greeters.  It wasn't as busy as I anticipated it to be for a Friday night.  I had read a review online that the wait could be up to 45 minutes; but no wait this Friday.  Got a table right away and a sweet tea.  Nothing like a sweet tea; any sweet tea drinkers out there?  Don't you just love it when you ask "do you have any sweet tea" and the waitperson responds with "we have sugar".  HAHA - It is not SWEET TEA!

Anyways I had called earlier and had asked for the manager, identifying myself as a new food blogger, so they knew I was coming.  Not that I am any Zagat or Urbanspoon reviewer; but they never really know who is coming I suppose; and the famous ones probably keep their identities a secret.  But again as I am a newbie i don't quite know the rulebook yet.  So when I asked a gentleman (looked like a manager) his name and he said Marshall I think that he went back to Wes (the manager I spoke with earlier) and told them I was here cause out comes the other manager, Wes.  We were made.

Introductions made and got some wings coming and Wes was standing there in his Jethro's sweatshirt.  I remarked that I liked his sweatshirt and he asked me if I would like one - of course I said sure I would love to have one.  I am thinking this is great he is going to give this guy a free sweatshirt; he comes out with some brisket and wanted to know what color I wanted.  I picked pink for the sweatshirt.  That is the color of good smoke ring right?

The wings were smoked first and then fried.  I did try doing this feat at Thanksgiving but it is a lot of work so I only got them smoked and baked.  The wings were a bit bigger than the normal wing.  Not as big as the ones in Columbus, but bigger than most.  Make sure you ask for the Blue Cheese Wing Sauce.  It may have just been blue cheese with some wing sauce thrown in but it was really good.

OK - meal came I ordered the ribs and sausage with corn and waffle fries.  The sausage was a bit dry but throw some sauce on it it and is good sausage.  A myriad of secret ingredients made this sausage a step above the others.  When you cook a sausage in a 750 pound smoker it is hard to keep it moist.

THE RIBS THOUGH were spectacular.  A very moist meat (maybe they stole the moisture from the sausage - that is how moist they were) that came away from the bone with the slightest tug.  Not fall off the bone but the next best to it.  Fall off the bone ribs are hard to eat cause it is hard to keep them in front of your mouth as they fall off the bone (get it).  These were cooked to where they would stay on the bone until you wanted them to come off.  BTW I brought half of them home and they were just as great the day after.  I just wished I would have gotten an extra rack to bring home.

They had a few sauces on the table that you normally don't see in the midwest; Alabama White (a mayonnaise base), Hot (of course), Carolina (vinegar base), and a Georgia (mustard base); they were all good but the Jethro Sauce (obviously a house sauce) was untouchable.

The corn had a smokey taste to it and Wes shared that they smoke the corn to cook it.  O my was it good.  I don't get creamed corn at home cause my wife don't like it so it is even more of a special treat to get it but when it tastes this good it is even more of a treat and makes me remember it even more.  And the waffle fries were hot and stayed hot through the whole meal.  Didn't quite understand that, as normally the fries have to be eaten first so they are not cold at the end of the meal.  I brought some fries home first and they reheated well (fries normally don't).

Sue ordered brisket and the smoke ring on the brisket was 3/8 inch deep.  Very tasty meat and again with great moisture content and very tender.  I brought a pound home with me for a friend and they vacuum packed it for me.  She also got the slaw and it was a hot (temperature) and sweet and sour like sauerkraut.

Something that we noticed about the service here at Jethro's is that no matter what they were there to serve and accommodate us.  Whatever we asked it was "no problem" or "yes" or "certainly".  And as Sue and I were remarking on just that as we were getting ready to go I said to the waitress "can I take this bottle of bbq sauce with me and she said sure.  What a great place and I will be back.  I didn't take the sauce just wanted to see how far the accommodation went.

I don't normally check out my tab real well but I did see the bottom line.  And the next morning I am thinking to myself: "Self - that ticket was a bit more than it should have been".  So I pulled it out of my pocket and realized I paid for the sweatshirt that I thought I got free for being a famous food blogger.  Next time I will check out my tab a bit better.

That is ok Wes - I love the sweatshirt and I really did need one anyway.  See you soon!

High Life Lounge coming tomorrow - not quite the same story.

Thanks for reading - Please come back.

Chow and Chow Down
Blessings to Ya'll 
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Kevin

Breakfast with Hannah at Heartland Cafe

I would just like to say that I appreciate those of you that visit my blog.  It does mean a lot to me and it is very encouraging.  Sometimes I get disappointed when someone doesn't make any comments though, but again I do appreciate ya!  But feel free to comment away; it would make my day.  Wow that rhymed!! 

I had the opportunity this morning to have breakfast with my quasi-adopted daughter Hannah Burkdoll.  What a blessing she has been to me and I am looking forward to a growing relation with her and her husband Matt. Hannah and Matt go to church with us and they are a fun couple to be around, despite the fact that they have a Washington Redskins mailbox.  

I had the Midwest Breakfast of which you can see some of it still on my plate.  I normally take a picture before eating but I forgot until midway through.  As always breakfast at Patty's Heartland Cafe was really good.    This is one of my son Josh's favorite places to go for breakfast when he is in town.  My eggs were not done to the way I ordered them but I know, had I said anything that they would have fixed that problem.  I normally order over-well and these were over-easy.  Those reading this that have facial hair know why over-easy eggs are not a wise choice.  But I did just have my mustache trimmed so I didn't have to worry about carrying egg around all day.  Hannah gave her Western Omelet a 7 on a scale of 1-10 and she said it was pretty good.

This would be the booth seat.  

Patty has another location in downtown Topeka it is called Heartland Cafe Uptown, I think.  Same wonderful comfort breakfast food (you know the kind that Dr. Oz tells you not to eat) as the Pauline location.  And same hole in the wall atmosphere as well.  Worn out seats at the Pauline location made us laugh this morning.  Hannah asked me why here and I said I come for the worn out seats and the dog-eared menus... and to witness the waitress sleeping in the booth.

I would like to invite you to join us at the Souper Bowl at 5440 SW 37th Street, Topeka, KS.  Come and join in on the fun, fellowship, football, and food.  If you think you can cook chili bring a pot but it needs to be in the kitchen no later than 4 pm.  I am not entering any chili in the contest this year so your chances of bringing a winner's pot to the table are increased.

Thanks for reading - Please come back.

Chow and Chow Down
Blessings to Ya'll 
Share with your friends

Kevin

After Columbus - Heading home

Well doing a blog is kinda like reading the Bible in that if you skip a day then it is easier to skip the next day.  O and if you skip that day it is very easy to skip the next day - SOOO - I certainly apologize to those that have been following me for not sticking to my daily schedule. 

Well we drove a few hours after Columbus and stopped just west of Indianapolis for the night.  Trying to lessen the drive the next day to bring us on home. 

Of course the "I want to get home" syndrome was being felt by all three of us but moreso by Betsey and Josh.  I am not normally a gotta get home kinda guy - maybe it is the wanderlust left in me from my Navy travels.  However, I was itchin to get out of the car.  By the end of the trip it will have ended up being more than 3500 miles in 9 days.  That is an average of 388 miles per day and one day we didn't drive the car. 

We were going to go to Highway 61 Roadhouse in St Louis that serves up Louisiana fare (bbq spaghetti, andouille sausage, gumbo, etc).  But it was a little early for lunch and I took the north bypass across the Mississippi (first time for that - you don't see the arch at all) and Highway 61 is southwest of St Louis - looks like that might be another trip. 

Oh - Speaking of another trip - Betsey and I have decided that we will be doing some weekend jaunts to some places and continue this glutinous fried food excursions on a smaller scale.  So if anybody would like to join us on a day or overnight trip to some wonderful (hopefully) eating establishments please let me know. 

OK - back to the trip and where did we go for lunch.  Well - if you are a Mizzou Alumni then you are probably familiar with Shakespeare's Pizza.  The first time that we experienced Shakespeare's Pizza we were on our way to Caveman Zipline with Daniel and Tanner.  That was a fun weekend - I was a bit scared to do that but it was fun and I would do it again.

Back to the FOOD - Shakespeare's Pizza is great pizza and they have 3 locations around Columbia, MO.  So the next time you are traveling through Missouri and need a pit stop - venture downtown to Shakespeare's Pizza.  We ordered up a large meat lover's and their menu states that they will charge up the defibrillator just in case.  Complete with Pepperoni, Canadian Bacon, Italian Sausage, Lean Ground Beef (glad it was lean), and Breakfast Bacon (again as my friend +Wally Roberts says if it is bacon it is good.  Oh and there is a picture on the wall in the back room that looks like my brother Allen.
 
Back on the road - I had planned on stopping at Ozarkland on the way by but if you reference paragraph 3 above - you will know why we didn't.  Ozarkland is where you can buy the moccasins for yourself or for your granddaughter.  I think she liked them.   =====================>>>>>>>>>

Made it home on Sunday afternoon - +Joshua Litscher was able to watch a little bit of the Bronco game on the way home thanks to the spotty Team Mobile Hot Spot that I got for +Betsey Litscher before the trip.  The hot spot worked pretty good as long as we had phone reception - duh - I guess I expected it to be just a little bit better than my phone hot spot. 

Thank you to +Justin Gilstrap for holding down the homestead whilst we were away. 

After the trip will be on the next post.  Keep your eyes out for the picture of me in sunglasses for your free Pampered Chef gift certificate.  First one to spy me with my sunglasses on gets a GC. 

Thanks for reading - Please come back.

Chow and Chow Down
Blessings to Ya'll
Share with your friends

Kevin


PS - Seriously we will be making some day/weekend trips to continue this; so if you are interested in tagging along let me know.  OR if you would like to provide me some input on my blog please