Family, Friends and Food! These are my passions. #1 Love God and #2 Love others & I'd like to add enjoy good food while loving on others:)
Here's our families list of good food spots in central Iowa. I'm sure there are a ton of other places as well but these are our favorites. We tend to prefer local places instead of chains, most of the time. Please let us know what your favorites are.
Adong (Vietnamese food) located on 5th and High
Pho (soup- we typically order chx or beef) (when we get sick we want chx pho-it's amazing) add sprouts, hot sauce, lime and yum.
Egg rolls-yum and Shrimp Spring Rolls (rice paper- not fried spring rolls)
Lemon grass chicken (I believe its #59)
7C is a delicious vegetarian dish
Centro downtown
Centro salad! Pizza is good, any bread they serve is delicious! Our kids like the kids Alfredo. The Kill Bill is Matt's go to dish here (It could serve 3 people) it's served with portabello fries- these are AMAZING and served with a delicious dipping sauce.
South Union Bakery (next door to Centro, only open for lunch, owned by the same guy)
Any sandwich. The bread is GOOD
Nut Pob (Thai Food) South side
Chicken Laap (diced chicken with jalapeno's and cilantro)
Good egg rolls, spring rolls and crab rangoon
Also popular here are papaya salad (I don't like papaya) and Angry fish
Manhattan Deli On Ingersoll
This place is delicious! Order any sandwich! The Manhattan is amazing. Great prices and I usually split the sandwich with someone although theres no need to with these great prices. (My favorite deli- sadly I just found out about it several months ago while I was back in January but it's been around a long time)
Smokey Row Coffee Shop
Great atmosphere! Good coffee, tea, shakes, desserts... They even have games set out so you can hang around and play.
Ohana's Valley West area
dinner and a show. Scallops, steak and chicken are all delicious. The sauce served on the scallops is scrumptious.
Georgio'z in Colfax
Our all time favorite pizza! Supreme is Matt's favorite (it might be called something other than supreme though) The girls and I like a pizza that has skinny in the name- it has chicken, tomato and feta on it- YUM! Cute place too.
Smoky D's BBQ right off of 80
The nacho platter, you choose what bbq meat you top it with, is enough to feed a large family. Their sandwiches are good- I'm partial to the turkey. Matt loves their mac and cheese side. The ribs are good. We would go there after church and get a large sandwich and one kid meal and it would feed us all!
Latin King east side but fine dining
Chicken Spidini! Get either the Chicken Spidini Salad or Dinner. The dinner comes with a side of pasta:)
Green Briar Johnston
fancy atmosphere. Matt loves the gun powder crust prime rib, says it's the best prime rib ever.
Van Dee's Ice Cream Johnston
Cutest little ice cream stand with great ice cream- different flavor every week!
Cactus Bob's BBQ (next door to Van Dee's Ice cream stand)
Just about everything on their menu is good. Again, I'm partial to the turkey sandwich.
Nick N Willy's Jordan Creek area
good pizza
Bravo Jordan Creek
This is a chain but their food is good! I'm a sucker for a good salad. Pasta, fish, bread and salad are good here.
PF Changs Jordan Creek
Again, another chain but you can't go wrong with Chicken lettuce wraps and the Great Wall of Chocolate.
Noodles in Valley West Mall
While we're on chains I'll add Noodles. My brother had us eat here in Colorado several years ago, we were hoping one would come to dsm. We moved away and Noodles moved into Dsm.
El Chisme Valley Junction
I think everything here is good. Mexican food plus pizza and stellar calzones. Sauces are amazing.
Chef's kitchen
I love the kids cheeseburger, and yes they will allow adults to order the kids burger (at least they did).
Be sure to get a cookie from the cookie jar on the bar before they're gone!
Flying Mango
Good BBQ but I think the restaurant is a little cramped. Worth it though.
Nick's by Valley West Mall
Consistently good food
Goldies in Prairie City
Voted Best Tenderloin in Iowa. It's a cute small town dive.
CJ's bagels in Ankeny
Berry bagel and cream cheese frosting! My mom bought me a dozen of these the day I had Trinity and brought them to me at the hospital. I have such a sweet mom!
The Radish in Grimes
YUM! Matt and I have only ordered a few dishes here- once we had them we had to get them the next time! The lasagna-served with both red sauce and alfredo sauce-AMAZING!
My favorite: The almond encrusted Chicken Finger Salad with Honey mustard and Ranch (both homemade) on the side. YUM! Wish I was in Iowa right now to go get dinner. GREAT DATE SPOT!
I'm sure I'm leaving out some amazing places but here's the list Suzanne:)
