Our second upscale dining for our May Term class was at another very popular Sioux City restaurant, Minervas. Having heard good things about this one, I was very hopeful for a great experience. Little did I know that this would be my most favorite restaurant we would go to during this class.

Exterior of Minervas

Before we left for Minervas, I took a peak at their website. Simply said, I was blown away. They had a great website for a restaurant, particularly one in Iowa. I had looked at the other restaurant’s websites, and all the ones that actually had a site could use some (or a lot of) work in my opinion. Minervas, though, was superb. It was cleanly designed, easy to navigate, had high quality images, and was very helpful for finding information. I could easily keep going on about their website, and about how it compared to the other restaurant’s, but this would turn into a book before I knew what happened. That said, I will mention this. In today’s society where everything and everyone is online, there is no excuse for a bad website, even more so for a restaurant. If you’re looking for something new or unfamiliar with dining options in a city, where are you going to look for answers? Online. And what happens if you come across a restaurant with a terrible website that doesn’t tell you anything about them or show you their menu? You’re probably not going there. A bad website is just as bad of a reflection as having no website, and a good website is only going to make you look much better to a potential customer.

Onion Ring Appetizer

The website on it’s own excited me, so I was very hopeful that they took good design into consideration for the rest of their things. Their logo is nice and professional looking.  I don’t have any major complaints about it except that I’m not a huge fan of how the ‘r’ and the ‘v’ overlap. All in all, it’s readable, unique, and can stand alone, all things that a logo needs to do. Looking at their menu, I was just as impressed as with the rest of the design work. Although this was the lunch menu, they still put quality time into designing it and it paid off. It was easy to navigate and read, and was interesting to look at on top of it all. They even had a “Summer Selections” menu that was well designed. You can tell that this was professionally done and adds to the class and quality of the restaurant itself.

The interior appearance of the restaurant was great too. It had plenty of seating and room, with a good variety of tables and booths. It was very clean and well kept, again adding to the classiness of the restaurant. The staff was all very friendly and knowledgeable, as well. The dining experience for these things was excellent.

Chicago Style Dip

For an appetizer, I ordered the crunchy onion rings. They came with two different sauces, horseradish Dijon sauce and red pepper aioli. Both were very delicious and enhanced the favor of the onion rings tremendously. Personally, I really enjoyed the Dijon sauce, as it had a lot of flavor and was really a unique taste. For my main dish, I ordered the Chicago Style Dip with fries. The dip was served on an artisan roll, with provolone, onions, and peppers. It came with au jus. Everything for this was delicious and seasoned well. It was a very flavorful sandwich and the fries were equally as good.

All in all, I would say Minerva’s was my favorite restaurant of them all. Everything that I looked for in my blogs was answered at this one restaurant. They cared about the design side of owning a restaurant as much as they cared about the quality of service and food. Anyone in Sioux City that’s interested in design needs to go to this restaurant to enjoy it as much as I did.

Upscale dining is not something that most college students get to experience while on a tight budget. So that’s where a May Term class comes in! Bev’s on the River was the first for our more expensive lunches. Anyone who’s lived in Sioux City in the past few years has heard of Bev’s, if not for the restaurant itself, then for the 2011 Missouri River flood in which Bev’s was forced to shut down temporarily. I guess that was the price to pay for their great location on the river. Today, though, Bev’s is back and thriving. I was excited to go try it out for myself and see if the price was really worth it.

Exterior of Bev’s on the River

Obviously, Bev’s is right next to the Missouri River, giving it an excellent background for fine dining. Arriving at the restaurant, which is right next to the Hilton Garden Inn, you’re welcomed by a great outdoor appearance. The structure of the building with it’s large sign and the river as a backdrop is a unique look for this restaurant. The logo for the restaurant is really interesting, too. It took me a minute to see the combination of a woman’s face inside a shrimp, but in the end, I do like it. It’s a unique take on a logo. I would, though, like to see it in a different color scheme, though. The black and red doesn’t sit right with the rest of the color scheme, particularly inside the restaurant. I actually like it much better on the cover of the menu. I’ve also seen the logo with a red glow around the edges used and I hope they retire that version. Readability becomes an issue with the red glow, and it just doesn’t look like something that belongs to a fancier restaurant.

The interior of the restaurant uses a lot of stone and woodwork. They use a lot of natural colors, greens, browns, etc. which is something they might consider for their logo. The interior goes well with the scenery outside their large windows overlooking the river. The restaurant is very large, with the ability to accommodate a large number of costumers.

Their menus were very nice. The thick covers and nicely printed materials added to the classier feel of the restaurant. They were easy to read and navigate. The colors (green cover and tan paper) went nicely with the rest of the restaurants interior as well. Because we were there at lunch, they gave us the lunch menu, so they featured mostly sandwiches and left most of their really expensive seafood items off for the dinner menu.

Chicken Fried Steak and Mashed Potatoes

As a group, we ordered a few different appetizers to try. The one that I really enjoyed the most was the spinach and artichoke dip. It was very good and we quickly ran out of the French bread and dip. For my main meal, I ordered country-fried steak with garlic mashed potatoes. I also got a side of asparagus because my family has an asparagus patch and I was curious to see how they made it compared to how we typically have it. The country-fried steak was excellent, with the breading not to thick. The gravy was also very good, and went well with the garlic mashed potatoes as well as the steak.  The asparagus was tasty as well, though I prefer my asparagus cooked a little longer so it’s less crispy, but it wasn’t bad at all. For dessert, I ordered the Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake. It was tasty as well, though I wouldn’t say it was the greatest chocolate cheesecake I’ve ever had.

Side of Asparagus

Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake

Bev’s on the River is a place that gains a lot from it’s excellent location. They can back up their more expensive prices with their location, excellent service, and tasty food. I hope to return to Bev’s one day, though that will have to wait until I’m out of college and in the real world so I can afford it!

Some of the previous restaurants we had attended during this May Term class had artwork done by local artists, but none of them displayed as much artwork as the Indigo Palette does. That’s really to be expected from a place that considers themselves an art gallery first, though. I was excited for the Indigo Palette, but not necessarily for the food. Like some of the other restaurants in this May term class, I had heard of the Indigo Palette, but had not been there. As an art student, I was planning on going there eventually, but this class arrived before I got the chance to go on my own. It’s safe to say I was more excited to see the place and the artwork than to actually eat there.

Indigo Palette Sign

Arriving at the Indigo Palette, I first stopped to check out their sign and the logo. I was a underwhelmed by their sign and really wished they had done more. The wood texture on a tin sign looked kind of cheesy, and there was simply too much going behind the words. The drop shadow was way too far away from the words, and the painting palette and paintbrush was hard to distinguish. The images of the alcoholic beverages and the fork and spoon around the palette are an unnecessary touch, as well. I also disliked the tagline in black with a white stroke around it. I don’t think it needs to be on that sign first of all, but the white stroke around the text causes a lot of readability issues. The logo had several readability issues against that wood texture on the sign, but it didn’t look good anywhere else they used it either. All this sounds pretty harsh, but to be honest, I expected more from a place that focuses on art. They have such a cool look and idea, I hate to see them use a poor logo on top of it all.

Interior of Indigo Palette

The inside of the restaurant had a great look and feel. The browns, blacks and indigo blue color scheme had a very artistic feel and went well with the environment. The walls were covered with various paintings, pictures, and artwork all of which were for sale. Right inside the entrance, there was a counter featuring jewelry and other smaller artwork for sale. On the other side, they had their bar. Tables spanned the entire length of the restaurant, with a stage for live music in the back. Again, the place just had an awesome look and is well worth going to just to check out the building and the artwork on display.

Moving onto the dining experience, the menus had a decent look. The cover was ok, except for the logo, and the typography used on the inside was ok. It could have done without the drop shadow under the headers and the font size was a little too large for my taste, but everything was still readable and you could easily navigate the menu.

Kickin’ Cajun Chicken

I ordered Kickin’ Cajun Chicken sandwich with a side of fries. The food actually exceeded my expectations. I didn’t expect the sandwich to be quite that good. The grilled chicken was moist and tender and tasty. The chipotle aioli sauce and pepper jack cheese added that nice kick to the sandwich. It wasn’t overly spicy, but you could definitely tell it was “Kickin’.” The fries were a nice side, as well.

In the end, I will definitely be going back to the Indigo Palette, but next time it will be equally for the artwork and the food. I hope the do something with their logo, but I hope they still keep their overall look and feel of the restaurant.

Anyone who plans to go out to a bar takes into consideration what kind of environment the establishment has. You could be looking for a cheaper college bar, a more expensive martini bar, or even a festive nightclub environment. Buffalo Alice has the reputation to fit under that latter category. More affectionately called BA’s, this bar has been a mainstay in Sioux City since 1976. It’s known for their pizza, beer, and fun environment. Having never been there before, I was curious to see what all the fuss was about and to see if they really lived up to the expectations.

Signage for Buffalo Alice

Upon arrival to BA’s, I first noticed their sign hanging outside of the bar. Their logo was painted on weathered wooden planks. I was really impressed with the look, it had a classic “western” feel to it between the paint colors, the wood, and the illustration of the buffalo. I liked the color choices, the blue and the reddish-orange, but both of the colors, particularly the reddish-orange, was a little hard to see on the wood background from a distance. I would have liked to seen the words “Buffalo Alice” in white to help with the readability. They had a several signs in the window that helped a customer figure out what this place was, but the sign would be tough to read if you were driving by. I am curious why the hearts and arrow illustration are in this logo. They don’t seem to belong. To me, it looks more like a tattoo drawing or something, but they just don’t seem to fit with the rest of the appearance of the logo. Perhaps there’s a story behind it, but I don’t know of it.

The Bar at BA’s

Inside, BA’s is separated into 2 different sections. The front part seems to be more of the bar side while the other side was more of the dining area. The “bar” side had a ton of signs hanging up all around, giving it a “festive bar” feel.  The “dining” side didn’t have hardly any signs, and was instead decorated with artwork. After a little research on their website, I discovered that they were all done by local artists. There was a very large mural of different musicians throughout musical history.  I liked this look for this side, perhaps even more than on the other side, but that’s probably because I’m an artist myself. Both sections of BA’s had a very large bar, with several beers available on tap.

Pizza and a Beer

We arrived at BA’s for their lunch pizza buffet, so in the back of the “dining” side, they had a buffet with about 4 or 5 different pizzas. On the closest table to the buffet, they had salad and a tray of brownies. I grabbed a slice of supreme pizza that had olives, peppers, mushrooms, pepperoni and sausage and another slice of sausage pizza. My impressions were that the pizza was simply OK. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad pizza; it was just pizza. There wasn’t really anything special about it and it didn’t live up to the expectations that I gained from others telling me how good it was.

In the end, I would say that Buffalo Alice isn’t a place I would advise going to for the food. To me, you would go to BA’s for the beer, the people, and the environment, and only if you got hungry and didn’t want to leave yet, would you get the pizza. Perhaps it was because it was a lunch buffet that it wasn’t all that impressive. I was, however impressed by their logo and aesthetic appearance. I really appreciated their rustic feel with their logo and the “festive bar” inside BA’s.