I worry that eating in Vietnam may forever have spoiled me and that no Vietnamese restaurant in the U.S. will have anything near the great food we had. So far, that’s been true. I’ve visited two Vietnamese restaurants in Des Moines and both fell far short of Vietnam. But maybe that’s too high a standard.
Pho 515 is in a corner of a huge Asian supermarket on Des Moines’ near north side and I’ve meant to go there for ages. Finally made it and at lunch the place was packed, mostly with Asian diners. My crispy pork with turned out to be large moist chunks of pork with an almost burnt orange crispy rind that was very crunchy. The dish itself was bland but the quality was good. A friend had a pho with supposed crab cakes but we never figured out if/what they were. It did have some tasty tofu. I’ll definitely give the place another try — there was a great selection of banh mi sandwiches. (Pho 515, bills itself as the “ONLY Artisan Style Banh Mi bakery in Iowa.”) I also want to do some wandering around the supermarket which looked full of interesting things!
Finally got back here about 10 years after my first visit on a tour bus, visiting farms (a peach farm, lavender farm, winery) with some Iowa farmers. This time I had a rental car so I could zip off to fairly out of the way places on roads with names like Farm to Market, although not as many places as I wanted to hit. Need more than one day for that. Next trip I’d like to go to: Gruene, Comfort, Welfare, llano.
Blanco was almost my favorite because it seemed like a normal place almost, with more ranchers than tourists. I did stop at the gift shop next to the Rosebud Cafe where I found good local pottery to buy as gifts and expensive Mexican embroidery. The town square reminded me of Winterset, Iowa, with its limestone courthouse, but the Texas courthouse is smaller… It too has been a movie set (True Grit) as has the Winterset courthouse (Bridges of Madison County).
Sad to leave Austin and return to cold snowy Iowa but feel lucky we made it here. P.S. Austin is trying out a new approach to Uber pickups at the airport. The pickup is a line akin to a taxi line, a specially designated ride app pickup area in the garage where the rental cars are, a short walk from the terminal. Worked well. You order an Uber and then stand in a fast moving line and get the next Uber in line, taxi style except an Uber attendant emails your driver enters your pin/reservation number. Beats landing at a chaotic airport arrival area and trying to figure out which car is your Uber.
Tex-Jap sounds bad (unlike Tex-Mex) but Kemuri Tatsu-ya is a restaurant that fuses Texas and Japanese fare. Interesting idea and sort of worked. The restaurant designer must have had fun, mixing good ole boy Texas and Japanese izakaya (informal pub) decor, think cattle skulls and lanterns. Perhaps the most natural mashup we had was well-grilled smoked pork ribs with gochujang hot red chili paste. The corn with crema and chilis tasted almost Cuban. The ramen dipped in a broth with brisket bits was tasty but unwieldy.
East Austin seems to be the place for inventive food by young chefs, maybe because they can afford the rent, although that may be changing with gentrification.
Our friend Art recommended Antone’s, a blues club that turned out to be a block from the Hilton (where we have a great view from the 17th floor). Antones was sold out Sunday but almost empty Monday with no cover and we lucked out with the Brad Stivers band. Brad plays a mean guitar– rockabilly and blues — and sings well too. Realized he’s my son Noah’s age. Only 28. We hoped to see his drummer Lindsay Beaver’s band Tuesday but Brad filled in for her. Bigger crowd. Lindsey is booked at the Des Moines Marriott downtown on feb 15 so maybe we will catch her there. Didn’t know the Marriott has live music. Turns out it’s the annual Des Moines bluesfest!
I rode all day on a bike around Austin’s Lady Bird Lake before noticing the name of the bike I’d rented was the same as my grandson’s (aka Linus). Fitting end to a fantastic day. Coming from subzero Iowa, Austin was glorious — in the 60s, flawless blue skies, breeze. I may have gotten a sunburn. I’ll take it.
The trail system along the narrow Lady Bird Lake and on passageways between huge skyscrapers downtown is impressive and I felt safe sharing the trail/bike lane with pedestrians, scooters and cars. My rental from Austin Bike rental and tours got off to a rocky start when I walked past the place three times before realizing it located in a metal storage container plopped down in a food truck court in a small pocket of undeveloped surrounded by glass high rises. (How very Austin.) And the container was locked. eventually some nice girls arrived and I was on my way with a very comfortable and sturdy 7 speed “Linus” bike, a helmet, lock and pack to carry stuff.
There’s a very cool new protruding ramp known as “the EMC overlook” at MacRae Park on Des Moines’s south side offering dazzling views of downtown. We also took in some new views from the new Chris Coleman bridge in Gray’s Lake Park. Looking good Des Moines.
Wow, it’s 63 degrees and sunny on Christmas Day in Chicago. Perfect for a walk along the 606/Bloomingdale trail, Chicago’s answer to NYC’s High Line. Much less crowded and a little less refined. Not as much public art or enterprise, which is fine. We walked above some gentrifying neighborhoods west and north of downtown, starting in Wicker Park/Bucktown and then west to Logan square and Humboldt Park. There was a respectable trickle of people, many walking dogs or with little kids, a few bike riders and runners including one shirtless guy and a tank topped woman. (Again, this is Chicago in late December!)
Last night, on Christmas Eve, we joined a lively crowd at Imperial lamian, a Chinese restaurant downtown for dinner. The food (ribs, noodles, a fun dessert that looks like a giant ostrich egg and dissolves into cake and ice cream when hot fudge is poured over it) was good, nothing amazing but it was a fun scene and perfect for the occasion. We also took in the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Art Institute, which was more interesting than expected.
TakeBetsywithyou 