Horrible drive last night on I 80 from Des Moines east to Le Claire, with nonstop rain and episodic bursts of rain so intense we could hardly see the road. Then there were the trucks, oblivious to the ordinary driver’s challenges, zooming past us in a blur of metal and water, spraying even more water onto our already challenged windshield wipers. Enough. We aborted plans to arrive in Chicago in time for our son’s commencement ceremony this morning and checked into a brand new Comfort Inn on a bluff above the Mississippi. Now we are on the road with better, if not totally clear, skies and will meet our son for lunch snd tomorrow’s convocation, the real event where he walks across the stage. (Today’s is the full university and some speeches and celebrities honored (Stevie wonder, Des Moines native Cloris Leachman. Would have liked to be there but glad we stopped.)
Much better burnt ends: Oklahoma Joes in Kansas City
We thought at 2 pm on. Monday there might NOT be a line at this super popular (for good reason) BBQ joint in one half of a gas station in an out of the way corner of Metro Kansas City . Think again. But at least the line wasn’t as long as last Friday’s 1 1/2 hour wait. After a half hour of standing in line, ogling other diners’ plates, we had our very own slab of ribs (meaty, juicy AND crispy) and burnt ends (succulent chunks of BBQ beef – still not the chewy shards I remember fondly, but from where? Bryant’s?) Also good spicy slaw, fries sprinkled with some magic spices, rich tangy beans. Worth the wait!
Filed under DINING, Kansas City
Casa Alvarez and Jalisco: good Mexican in dodge city
D and n at Doll ancestral home in Wright, Ks
We had excellent fajitas at Casa Alvarez in downtown Dodge City – the steak and grilled onions and peppers were packed with flavor. Next time we will stick with just the steak and skip the pork which turned out to be a thin dry slice of meat. Down the street, the pork tacos and flan were a good choice at Jalisco, which has order-at-the-counter service vs. table service at casa Alvarez.
Filed under Kansas, Kansas misc
Shelter from the dirt storms: ad Astra Books and coffee in Salina, ks.
Yes it really is blowing dirt here in the Smokey Hills of central Kansas, with brown clouds above the pale green and tan wheat fields, the occasional wind-whipped tree and wind turbine farm.
But in downtown Salina we stumbled upon a little oasis of alternative-ness, Ad Astra Coffee and books. Cozy wood and stone interior with old sofas and sun drenched plants, Good coffee, not-so-great bagels (but can’t fault them for trying), interesting book selection including tomes by resident world famous (no joke) Agriculture visionary Wes Jackson of the Salina-based Land Institute. very welcome after a grim night in a musty room at The Days Inn along I-70.
Filed under Kansas misc, Uncategorized
Bummer Burnt Ends at gates BBQ in KC
Not sure what happened to the crispy shards of BBQ beef that used to be served as burnt ends at Gates on Main Street in downtown Kansas City but tonight it looked more like hash or ground beef with the odd bit of fat. Blech. But pleased to report that the ribs remain fabulous.
bring back the real burnt ends!
Filed under DINING, Kansas City
British breakfast (what else? Scottish breakfast?) at The Royal Mile in Des Moines
On a bike ride Sunday through Des Moines we were looking for a place to stop for brunch downtown after finding Mullet’s oversubscribed (perhaps it’s because there was a Cubs game happening soon at the stadium across the river from Mullets’s.) We chanced upon The Royal Mile and glad we did – the brunch menu had a wide selection (“American” and “British” breakfast) and the cozy pub interior was busy but not packed so we got a table for five easily. My poached eggs with Guinness roasted potatos and banger sausage was hearty, tasty. The Bloody Mary, a muddy brownish-red was spicey and good – it came with a little chaser of beer (never seen that before) that I gave to my coffee-drinking husband. The corned beef hash came with cubes of corn beef – I prefer shredded bits (aka “hash). The breakfast pastie – sort of cross between a Cornish pastie and an omelet – was heavy but good flavor. So we’ll be back if we’re in need of brunch. We rode an extra 5 miles or so (we’re not exactly sure since our speedometer is broken) on the Great Western Trail south of Cumming (Iowa) to work off, we hope, some of our brunch.
Filed under Des Moines, DINING
Fairfield Loop Trail, Istanbul Grill, Everybody’s Whole Foods, Snake Alley/ Burlington
On the Fairfield Loop Trail
We completed (almost) the other half of the Fairfield Loop Trail heading south to two pretty old 1910 barns and very rural landscape past pastures and farmsteads during our last day in Fairfield, Iowa. Would have been perfect if not for the gravel surface which I find nerve wracking, especially going downhill where at least once we came upon an even thicker pile of gravel, poorly marked with a sun-faded orange flag. It could have been a disaster if we’d been riding fast. The trail to the north also had irritating speed bumps. (A friend in Des Moines just broke her collarbone riding through a small patch of gravel on an otherwise-paved trail here.)
We ended up taking a “short cut” of sorts through a very wooded trail in Jefferson County Park, riding on red pine needles atop packed earth and hoping we didn’t run into a deer or contract Lyme Diseast. It’s as close as I want to get to mountain biking.
For lunch we split a delicious lamb kebab, hummus and falafal at Istanbul Grill, the first Turkish restaurant I have found in Iowa (although the food seemed more middle eastern than the Turkish food I remember when I was there in, um, 1982.) We stopped again at Everybody’s Whole Foods but no movie star sightings this time!
We also drove east to the old river town of Burlington, which has gorgeous restored brick homes atop a bluff overlooking the Mississippi. We made the obligatory drive down Snake Alley, the crazy curves street that rivals San Francisco’s Lombard Street. we just missed a nutty road race where cyclists bike up the narrow bricked Snake Alley. Yikes!
This morning at breakfast we learned a little more about Maharishi U from several other guests at our inn. One man had just earned his PHD, I think in management, (whatever the Marharishi version is of that) and another man, a police officer outside Chicago who is involved in community policing was in town for a TM course. Apparently people apply TM to their study of traditional academic subjects and to their everyday careers, as well as other aspects of their lives. (Just fyi: the student center at Maharishi U had some really nice clothes but I discovered after my purchases that they all smell heavily of incense.)
Burlington’s Snake Alley
Filed under Iowa
Where to stay in the Badlands – Cedar Pass Lodge.
Filed under South Dakota
Going Gothic, meeting a movie star in the grocery store: Southeast Iowa!
I knew this trip to southeast Iowa would be interesting but it was even more than expected. We stopped in the tiny town of Eldon Iowa and followed the occasional signs to the American Gothic house, made famous by Grant Wood who painted his famous portrait at this sweet little house with the Gothic window. The visitors center had costumes in all shapes and sizes for people who wanted to recapture the magic, so why not. I tried to produce my most dour face but not before cracking up.
We dutifully stood in line outside the house for some of the famous pile backed fresh by a woman who actually rents the house and decided to make and sell pies. The wait was ridiculously long but the pie was ridiculously good. Warm strawberry crumble pie wrapped for us in a brown paper bag with a pretty blue and white ribbon.
On to the villages of van buren county, pretty old tiny towns along the Des Moines river with stately red brick homes and mills, and then to our real destination, Fairfield. I was last here about 23 years ago and meant to return sooner. Interesting things going on here ever since the Maharishi Yogi’s representatives bought a defunct college here and made it into an internationally known center for peoplewho practice transcendental meditation. They are called “floaters” because apparently they levitate while doing TM in the golden domes on campus. There is also a Maharishi Business school here so the town’s pretty square is full of entrepreneurial efforts, ethnic restaurants (Indian, Turkish, Thai, etc) and galleries and shops. Plus there are lots of stately homes like the one we are sleeping in tonight, The Seven Roses Inn. We rode the gravel loop trail, which was fun and goes for about 15 miles. Stopped for a drink at funky cafe Paradiso, had so-so Indian food at the India cafe and went to check out the Raj spa and hotel here and the even more fascinating Vedic City, a brand new city built by TM-ers. Surprisingly lovely homes all facing east and with little nipple like ornaments on the roof in keeping with some mystic form off Vedic architecture.
Then I decide to go into the whole food grocery store at 9 pm because I always enjoy a good whole foods grocery store and there wasn’t much else to do and first thing I see: actor Jim Carey getting some of the areas famous Radiance Ice Cream (I think the cows do TM or some such). We heard he was in town today, giving the commencement speech at Maharishi U. But figured he was jetting back to LA. he couldn’t have been nicer and the day couldn’t have ended with a bigger bang.
van
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Filed under Iowa
Dining options during evening bike rides in Des Moines
Above is a rendering of what the Magnolia Kitchen & Grocery food truck will look like.(Photo: Special to th
In preparation for Ragbrai, we are trying to ride our bikes at least one weekday evening a week – often Tuesdays so we can eat at Tacopocalypse stand outside the Cumming Tap (in the small town of Cumming, Iowa.) But sometimes we ride on Wednesday or Thursday on the Great Western Trail south from Des Moines when tacos aren’t an option at Cumming Tap (Wednesday, we discovered last week, is steak night there, which is a bit heavy for us.)
So I was pleased to see other options available in Jennifer Miller’s latest excellent food column for the Des Moines Register. See below! They’re not in Cumming but they are along our bike route, which includes Gray’s Lake (where Confluence Brewing is located) and the trail at 63rd and Grand (where Pal Joey’s Lounge is).
Here’s the options:
TUESDAY Magnolia Kitchen & Grocery at Pal Joey’s Lounge; Tacopacalypse at Cumming Tap
WEDNESDAY Magnolia Kitchen & Grocery at Confluence Brewing
THURSDAY Magnolia Kitchen & Grocery at 515 Brewing on Friday evenings or The Levee, patio on the east end of Court Avenue. Woody’s Smoke Shack food, and Confluence beers. open 4 p.m. to midnight Thursday.
FRIDAY The Levee, patio on the east end of Court Avenue. Woody’s Smoke Shack food, and Confluence beers. open 4 p.m. to midnight Thursday.
SATURDAY The Levee, patio on the east end of Court Avenue. Woody’s Smoke Shack food, and Confluence beers. open 9 p.m. to midnight
Filed under bike trails, biking, Des Moines, DINING
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