Minervas

Posted on June 3rd, 2013 in Restaurants by Matthew

Four our last class of May Term, we ate at Minervas. Hands down this was my favorite restaurant. Because we let Heidi drive we were five minutes late because we got stopped by a train, but even that couldn’t put a damper on this lunch.

When we walked in we were seated at the table of our class and I was informed by the waitress today was a “drink on Elder day.” I had her grab me a drink menu, and at the recommendation of Elder himself, I ordered a Mojito. I have never ordered a “girly” drink at a restaurant before and definitely never had a mojito before. When it came out in the very tall glass I couldn’t put it down. The fruit and the alcohol was mixed perfectly together with some mint leaves to set it over the top.

Since today was the last day I thought to myself, “self, you should get a couple more drinks.” So I took my advice and for my second drink I conferred with Heidi to get a woman’s opinion and she recommended I go with the Ocean Breeze. This one was just as good if not better than the mojito. As Heidi said, “I looked over one minute and it was full, and the next it was empty!” That is how you can tell a good drink.

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Once I finally got settled down with my drinks we went around and all ordered appetizers. I went with the chicken quesadilla. I figured this was a good spin for me to get and would compliment my Chicago Dip well, which is what I ordered for my main entrée.

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This was a little longer wait for our food then usual but I was not complaining because it was the last day and I was socializing with my class and teacher a lot. But when our food finally came out it looked delicious. I have never ordered any kind of dip before even though I’ve always wanted to try one. This was a well put together sandwich too. Usually when people make dip sandwiches they have issues staying together, but this one was perfectly crafted from hand and placed gloriously together.

Once my meal was there my drink was empty again, so I had to order one more. This time I went with the Sangria. This was hands down my favorite one. It was a mango taste to it and went down the fastest of them all. The presentation of these drinks were spectacular. I have never had more perfectly mixed drinks.

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She handed out dessert menus next and I didn’t know what to even look at. Heidi has a pretty sweet tooth so I decided to double hers cause I knew I couldn’t go wrong there. We got the dark chocolate torte. It was like a rich creamy chocolate cake. It was drizzled in cherries and cherry sauce. The sauce and the cherries made this thing melt in my mouth. I was so impressed with this place that the next time I am lucky to get a date, I will bring her here. (And hopefully it turns out better than Elder’s in high school)

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Bev’s On The River

Posted on June 3rd, 2013 in Restaurants by Matthew

Today we ate at Bev’s on the River. This was by far the fanciest place we had been so far. Located just off the River on the west part of town, this place looked good from first sight. The wait staff was very friendly when we walked in. Even though our teacher was sitting at a different table today, they still took care of us.

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I ordered an iced tea and she also brought out a tray of sweetener, which was so clutch.

I had looked at the menu online when I was trying to find the place and saw how many good foods they had. I noticed that they had some pretty good appetizers and like usual I ordered one. I decided I wanted to go with the jumbo shrimp. This was brought to me very quickly.

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I noticed that online their guarantee is to get you back to work over lunch in an hour. Being downtown this is very important. Some of the other restaurants we went to were not so good about the speed of service.

After we got our appetizers she took our main entrée order. I decided I wanted to go with the country fried steak. This caught my eye the night before on the internet and I had a craving for it so I decided to go with it. The entrée came with a choice of soup or salad for a side, and I went with the salad. Promptly after our appetizer was gone she brought us our salads. I had honey mustard with mine. The salad was one of the best salads I have ever had in Sioux City. The best part was the breadstick. I have never had a breadstick taste so sweet and so perfect. Those made me want to keep eating breadstick after breadstick.

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Finally the main course comes out. I see a hot steaming plate of country fried steak and my mouth started watering immediately. I dug in and took a bite and was just put in shock of how good this was.

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For dessert, of course I got dessert, I got the fried apple dumpling. I had forgot to order fried ice cream the day before so I had a craving in my sweet tooth. This was also highly recommended by the waitress. Once that came out I was completely full. The apples were so hot and steaming that I had to wait a minute before I could dig in. The soft ice cream was the perfect compliment to the hot apples. I have always liked hot apples and these were really good.

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Overall this was probably one of my favorite places of May Term. The service was extremely fast and they were so friendly that I wanted to come back. It was also pretty busy at lunch hour so I know that their reputation was fantastic. And plus- who doesn’t like that beautiful view of the Missouri River outside the window? Bev will definitely see me again.

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El Tapatio

Posted on May 30th, 2013 in Restaurants by Matthew

For lunch today in our last week of May Term, we went to El Tapatio. This was the first full-fledged Mexican place that we went to. It was one of the closer restaurants to campus, just down on Gordon Drive across from Hy-Vee.

I am a huge fan of Mexican restaurants and every time I go to a new one I have to try the chips and queso. They had chips and salsa already on our table when we got there so I made sure she brought us some queso as well. The waitress was very nice, but must not have understood me because I clearly ordered the large size of the queso but she only brought the small. Nevertheless, the queso turned out to be pretty good. It wasn’t as hot as I expected but it wasn’t cold either. This is usually how I base whether or not I choose to go back to Mexican places. Keeping a glass of water is also a big plus for Mexican places because the salsa can be spicy at places and that is a good way to piss off a customer. They did a good job of keeping our drinks full.

After a bit of a wait she came to get our order. I ordered the enchiladas rancheros. That consists of three cheese enchiladas with a side of rice and beans. This is the typical dish I order at Mexican places because enchiladas are one of my favorite foods. Instead of the rice I wanted to substitute fries and she said that was okay. I know that’s not very Mexican but I haven’t been to a Mexican restaurant in America that doesn’t serve fries.

We got our food here pretty fast. When mine came out it was steaming and was missing the fries. The waitress asked if everything looked all right and I had politely said that I was missing my fries and she would bring them out. After a little while had passed I still hadn’t gotten my fries and a classmate, Codey, had received a side of fries, so I was a little confused. I wasn’t terribly hungry because the enchiladas filled me up pretty well so I wasn’t tripping. She did finally bring them out towards the end of the meal, and I had her bring me a box so I could take them with me.

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The presentation of my meal was pretty good. The enchiladas were coated in a dark red sauce, which is always a house specialty, which I enjoy. The beans also had a little bit of shredded cheese spread on them, which gave them a little extra taste.

This place was a pretty good Mexican joint. The owner was there and looked like he kept a pretty tight business. The service was good at best but nothing special. If I were to compare this to a chain Mexican restaurant I would compare it to Carlos O’Kelly’s. I have been to that place a lot of times and El Tapatio is pretty similar. I would definitely choose El Tapatio over Carlos O’Kelly’s not only because it is locally owned but the food quality was a lot better and the sauces were delicious.

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Indigo Pallette

Posted on May 30th, 2013 in Restaurants by Matthew

Today we went to Indigo Pallette for lunch. It is a coffee shop located downtown Sioux City. Indigo Pallette is a coffee shop that also has a restaurant and an art gallery. The main purpose is a coffee shop and art gallery and the restaurant isn’t the main attraction, so I wasn’t expecting too much from them, but I was wrong.

The wait staff here was simply amazing. We has a short wait at the beginning because they had just opened, but were seated immediately and greeted by a nice waitress. She grabbed our drink order, and since today Elder bought rounds, I got a glass of Berringer White Zinfandel.

Their menu says that they don’t serve appetizers until after 4:30PM so we didn’t know if we would be able to order one. We asked our waitress and she okayed it with the chef and they let us order some appetizers. I’m not sure what it was called that we got, but it was tomatos wrapped in mozzarella cheese with balsamic vinaigrette dressing drizzled over it. The texture was a little weird, but I love all kinds of cheese and this was a different but very enjoyable taste. It also had a couple slices of garlic bread on the side that really set it off.

After that for our meal I ordered the house signature, which was the Indigo Burger. This was a half-pound burger with cheddar and pepper jack cheese inside it. She let me know that it would be a little bit of a wait because it was such a huge burger, but that was no big deal since we had our appetizers to keep us occupied.

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When it finally came out I was overwhelmed with how big it was. For the side I had fries, which were cut thick. I added the tomato, lettuce, and onion that it came with and I had a whopping sandwich. I wasn’t quite sure how to approach it so I turned it upside down so the insides wouldn’t fall out and it was barley able to fit in my mouth. These are the types of burgers I live for.

I would say I finished my burger before some of the other people at my table got halfway through their meals. I am typically a faster than normal eater, but this was so good that I didn’t put it down from the time I picked it up.

To top off the huge burger, I had to order a dessert. I ordered a scoop of ice cream with a baked good that was filled with cream. The ice cream combined with the cream from the pastry was over the top good and made me want to keep eating it even though I was extremely full.

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My experience at Indigo Pallette was very good overall. This may not have been the healthiest meal (not living by the blog) but it sure was a tasty meal. The meal with the array of coffee, beer, and an art gallery to gaze at while dining here will surely have me coming back, hopefully with a girl!

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Diamond Thai

Posted on May 26th, 2013 in Restaurants by Matthew

One Wednesday after I missed two of the Asian culture food restaurants I made it to Diamond Thai. This is the most authentic Thai food you can find in Sioux City. When we arrived parking was a little iffy because we had to walk a block away. Right when we walked in the door I could smell the Thai culture in there.

The walls were decorated very authentic and made me feel like I could be in the middle of Bangkok somewhere. A lady who looked like she was an important person in the business structure greeted us and took us to our seats. She came and got our drink orders. They had coke products but they served them straight from the can. This was weird for me at a restaurant but I went with it.

She was a very friendly waitress and came back to check on us a lot of times. A couple people ordered some appetizers but this is the most skeptical I’ve felt ordering at a restaurant thus far that I decided to pass on that. When she came to take our orders I went with the sweet and sour chicken because I knew it was a safe bet, I mean how can you mess up sweet and sour chicken?

A lot of people ordered the traditional Thai dish of curry, but what it was described to me was not sounding too appetizing and I also didn’t want to be wasting any money or food. When we got our food she was a little confused on who got what because she handed me a plate of noodles, which wasn’t what I got.

Finally when we got everything sorted out I got my food. I was fairly pleased with the presentation until I dug into it. I was expecting a lot more chicken in it. I basically got a plate with a bunch of veggies and a couple small pieces of chicken and some rice. I ate all of my chicken and most of the rice but there was still three quarters of my plate that was full.

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I wasn’t too surprised that I wasn’t completely satisfied with this meal because like I said before I was pretty skeptical about it. When I order sweet and sour chicken I can usually get a judge on how a restaurant is. If you can’t get one of the most basic Asian dishes down to satisfy my then I can’t fathom ordering anything else off your menu.

A lot of us got desserts here, as usual, and I went with fried bananas and ice cream. Now this is something that can be pretty hard to mess up as well, and thank goodness that they didn’t! This was the highlight of my meal by far. There was about four or five clumps of bananas and a huge scoop of ice cream. I believe the batter for the fried bananas had a hint of coconut in it, which really set it apart.

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If you are a Thai fan then I would recommend this for you but I think for me it’s just the food not the restaurant that wasn’t doing it for me.

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Rebo’s

Posted on May 26th, 2013 in Restaurants by Matthew

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For Friday, we decided to go to Rebo’s instead of La Juanita’s. It is a restaurant and bar downtown right on 4th street. This place had me really impressed from the minute I walked in. It was on the corner and had a big sign on the outside that would be visible from a lot of directions.

We had got seated right away and the staff came and got our order very promptly for drinks. I decided to get a beer here since it was a bar, and I went with a Coors Light, which is my favorite beer.

By this time in the class we figured out that we should start getting appetizers and sharing them with each other. I ordered the chips with 3-salsa sampler platter. A couple other people got the Caribbean chips and salsa and a hot cheese dip as well. These made me pretty full before my meal even came.

I wanted to try and stay with the healthy kick and ordered shrimp. Although it was bacon-covered shrimp, it was still pretty healthy decision. The side was some rice and some grilled veggies.

The food came out very promptly and was steaming when it got to me. This is probably the fastest I ate a meal throughout May Term so far and there’s good reason for that. This is probably the best meal that I’ve had so far in this class. The shrimp was cooked to perfection and was coated with just the right amount of bacon. The rice was a perfect addition to the shrimp and complimented the appetizers very well.

The presentation of this meal was very professional and you could tell this wasn’t their first rodeo. Their plates all matched a Caribbean theme that they have been trying to go with throughout the whole restaurant and it complimented it good. The portion size was also very nice. It wasn’t skimpy but it also wasn’t overwhelming. It is a meal that you can eat all in one sitting and feel full. The service was pretty good too. I noticed towards the end of our meal there was a long line at the front door, which tells me that this place is very well known and a lot of people like to eat their.

For dessert, I got bananas fosters. This was just the topping on the cake to a great meal. It came out right after I finished my meal and was steaming. The bananas were perfect. For anyone who enjoys a good dessert, this is one that you should reward yourself with.

Overall Rebo’s really made me want to go back. Whether it be for a business lunch or for some drinks at dinner, it was very welcoming and the food was great. They offered a nice variety for someone who is trying to find a nice healthy meal in Sioux land but isn’t to the point where you have to shove the food down your throat to swallow it. You will catch me at Rebo’s in the future.

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Wiener Houses

Posted on May 26th, 2013 in Restaurants by Matthew

Today we visited two local hot dog restaurants here in Sioux City. They were called Milwaukee Wiener House and Coney Island. The first one we stopped by was Milwaukee Wiener House.

When I saw the sign for the outside of this place I knew I was in for a good time. It was old and had some old school logos on it, which gave it some ambience. When we walked in I instantly felt like I was in the 50’s or 60’s going to grab a hot dog after school. Hot dog places are very particular with what they have and I know some place for example you might not want to say the word ketchup or you might get slaughtered.

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It is like a cafeteria line sort of which you go down and tell them what you want. I saw a couple people order and I decided what I wanted. I ordered two chili mustard dogs. I probably would have ordered more if we weren’t going to the second wiener house. The man who was serving the line looked like one of the two owners and was very friendly.

Once I got to the register I also ordered a root beer to go with it and strawberry malt. They had a couple flavors but this is what the cashier recommended to me when I asked him. Near the register was a photo of the two owners and the host from Diners, Drive-In’s, and Dines off the Food Network channel. When I saw that, I knew I was in for a good meal.

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We walked over to the next place on the list, which was Coney Island. This place apparently is the oldest running restaurant in Sioux City running since 1921. When we walked in we were greeted by the owner who was an old man working the line and his wife was helping him run the register. This place had a little bit of an older feel to it, but I also felt like I was walking into a hot dog place from the 50’s or 60’s.

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From here I ordered three chili cheese dogs with onions on top and a side of fries. When I put one of these hot dogs in my mouth it was one of the best tasting hot dogs I think I’ve ever eaten. They made my moth water not wanting to wait another second to take another bite. I liked the hot dogs from the first place too but these ones just had that after taste of making me want more which the other place didn’t exactly do.

I wanted to grab a malt from the second place to compare those as well, but they didn’t serve ice cream. I wasn’t going to let that ruin my day though because I was thoroughly impressed with both places.

For presentation I would give it to the first place, it looked a little bit more kept up and professional, but for the taste I would give it to Coney Island. I will definitely be visiting that next time I go downtown.

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House of Q

Posted on May 26th, 2013 in Restaurants by Matthew

I have lived in Sioux City for three years and had never been to the House of Q. One of the main reasons that I haven’t been there is because there is no way of knowing that their building is their restaurant. They have no sign on the outside of their building. Besides that fact I had a fairly enjoyable meal here.

They have a little different setup here than a traditional restaurant. When we got there we were seated in the far dining room. We were given menus and told to go to the window at the front of the place to order. The guy was very helpful when I got up there. I decided to ask what the healthiest thing on the menu was and they suggested the baked chicken.

I ordered the baked chicken and for the side I ordered sweet potato fries and macaroni and cheese balls. It was a pretty regular wait time, which I was pleased with because we had a rather large group. The food came out and was very hot and the portion sizes were very large. I think they gave me an extra side because I had sweet potato fries; mac and cheese balls and they gave me potato wedges as well.

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They had a pretty nice selection of bar-b-que sauces being that that is their specialty. They had spicy, chipotle BBQ, chipotle mustard, honey mustard, original, and honey BBQ. I had to try all of these of course and my favorites were the honey mustard and the honey BBQ. They were perfect additions to my baked chicken.

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The House of Q has a very large bottled beer selection, and me being the man I am, I decided to get a couple. I am a huge Blue Moon fan so the first one I got I got an original Blue Moon. It complimented my meal extremely well. After that I thought to myself it would be nice to have another one. So I went back up and this time I ordered the seasonal Blue Moon with the green label. This one was pretty darn tasty as well. I had never had a seasonal Blue Moon and this one hit the spot. It was a little sweeter than the original and complimented the meal a little better than the original.

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Overall I would say I had a decent experience at House of Q. The service was very friendly and the food was pretty good. I am more impressed with the service here than I am with the food, but the side dishes that they served were extremely delicious. Putting one of those mac and cheese balls up to your nose can make your mouth water. The only downfall I think still is the fact that they don’t have an actual sign outside their building and to me that is a terrible business decision because for someone like me you can easily miss this hidden Siouxland gem for over three years.

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Red Bones Cafe

Posted on May 16th, 2013 in Restaurants by Matthew

Being a critic of food can be dawnting sometimes. I feel like one of the responsibilities of being a food critic is to be honest. So this post will have a lot of honesty in it. I went to Red Bones Cafe today. It was on the west side of town.

First to start off lunch i was about 5 minutes behind the group but wasn’t terribly late. When i got to my table i was greeted by the waitress and she asked what i wanted to drink, i asked for a Pepsi. A couple minutes after she brought me out a lemonade. That did not make me very happy. I figured what the hell, i’m with a big group and i’m not going to complain about a drink. So she came back to grab our orders.

My Spin on this class is that i’m going to order the healthiest think on the menu that the waiter or waitress recommends. She recommended the catfish but i had to pass on that, haha, so i went with the black chicken salad. I also am trying to spend the $20 allotment each meal so i ordered two of the salads since they were only $6. In addition to that, I ordered a slice of sweet potato pie. So i would estimate my total was around $18 with my drink in that too.
After about a 40 minute wait I finally got my food. The rest of our class got their food about 20 minutes after they ordered. I was expecting a big plate since it was supposedly my “main dish” but it was a fairly small plate. I have had side salads at other restaurants bigger then these salads. I ordered one with ranch and one with honey mustard if they had it. She brought me out one with ranch and one with a really spicy honey mustard but also had a half full ranch on the second one as well. I ate the first one pretty fast. I always like to try and save about half my meal and i planned to take one of the salads home.
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The chicken on the salad was pretty good for grilled chicken. It wasn’t over cooked or burnt and had a good flavor to it. I decided to eat the second salad because I was still hungry. I liked the ranch just fine but I didn’t particularly care the honey mustard. It was pretty spicy and I don’t like spicy foods too much.
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After our meal was over I was expecting the sweet potato pie pretty soon, but it was about another 15 minute wait for that. Once it got there i was expecting a little bit more whipped cream but it only had a little dab on it. It tasted like pumpkin pie to me, I had never had it before that’s why I ordered it.
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For a lunch time break I feel like this wouldn’t be the place to go. We were the only people in the restaurant for a long portion of our visit there. I feel like you should be able to handle the capacity of your restaurant in a timely manner. I did notice they had a TO GO area and I wonder how well that would work.
I think it was decently priced for what you got, because what you got wasn’t very much. If it was up to me, I probably wouldn’t go back to Red Bones. I didn’t feel very welcome there, and was really not impressed with the service or the quality of the food. This is just of course my opinion, and I am sure some of my fellow classmates had a good experience there, but if you’re looking for a healthy option for food in Sioux City, Red Bones might not the place for you.
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Bob Roe’s Point After

Posted on May 13th, 2013 in Restaurants by Matthew

Today for our first class of May Term we went to Bob Roe’s Point After. I have been to Bob Roe’s a couple times before so i was familiar with the environment. It is a stand alone building in a pretty good location on the corner of Transit and Vine. When I walked in I could see sports memorabilia all over the walls. It definitely is a sports bar and grille.

When we got to our seats we were promptly greeted by our waitress and were offered a variety of drinks. We all ordered Dr. Pepper and a couple of us got a couple beers. I ordered a three topping medium pizza and a 6 piece wing appetizer. The wings were $6 and the pizza was $14.70 so my total was a little over $20 minus the dr. Pepper.

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On my pizza i chose pepperoni, Italian Sausage and Canadian Bacon. They loaded it up with the toppings. When i got the box it was steaming and when i picked up a piece of pizza the meat would fall off the top because there was so much of it. The wings are what Bob Roe’s is mainly known for. They are very tasty. I ordered the regular as opposed to the Homey Mustard ones, and mine had a good kick to it. They make their own wing sauce in house, and they serve it with a sour cream and ranch mixture.

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Overall I would say I had a positive experience at this restaurant. Service is one of my biggest pet peeves at restaurants. I always go through my drinks faster than a normal person so the amount of times my glass gets filled is above normal. When I tip, I mainly base it on how full the waiter/waitress kept my drink.
The price was very fair at Bob Roe’s. I had more than enough to eat and still had a half of pizza left to take home. The beer was $2.25 for a jar of tap beer, which is a very reasonable price. Anywhere where I can get two beers for less than $5 is a steal in my book. At a dollar a wing that isn’t A bad price, for the 6-piece. On Wednesdays they have a special on wings and e place gets packed.
The Atmosphere made me feel very welcome there. The fact that I attend Morningside and they have Morningside insignia there made me feel a little bit more at home. They had a nice array of Nebraska, Iowa, and Iowa State memorabilia also. Being from Lincoln, I am a huge Husker fan, Sioux City’s central location should call for equal size of a collection to each team, not just an Iowa school overpowering.
If i had a choice, I would come back to Bob Roe’s Point After. The food was good and the service was fantastic. I had a good lunch for a great price. I would recommend this to any one of my teammates to go to after one of our football games. On football Saturdays it is sure to be poppin in Bob Roe’s.
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