We had a great time at the latest installment of the Des Moines Dishcrawl. This time we were crawling around Ingersol Ave in Des Moines. We hit up three popular area restaurants and then had cupcakes catered by a newer bakery in town.
We started at Noah's Ark. We've been to Noah's Ark before and enjoy it a lot. But we had yet to try the pizza there. I'm so glad we had the opportunity to try it! It was pretty awesome. Crispy thinner crust with quality ingredients made for a great pie. The Bayou pizza was the hit of the table with fire roasted creole tomatoes, prosciutto and goat cheese. Yum! They also offer gluten free pizza. We'll be back for pizza here!
The second stop was Palmer's Deli. They had a selection of sandwiches and pasta salad. They were good, but not sure that they showcased the awesomeness of what Palmer's is capable of. It was nice that we had the party room all to ourselves and were able to hear about the charity that was supported by this particular Dishcrawl, Bidwell Riverside. A portion of each ticket sold for Dishcrawl events go to a selected charity.
We crawled over to Wellman's Pub for the third stop. We started off this meal with chicken tortilla soup. It got some mixed reactions at the table. One diner mentioned that it was similar to a Velveeta party dip and I would agree. Tasty, but not too noteworthy. The next course though was their signature wings which were delicious. The sweet chili sauce was very good and the buffalo was pretty spicy. They also served a breaded porkloin sandwich with the thin and crunchy onion rings that we love so much from Wellman's. Very good.
Tuesday night at 8pm is trivia night at Wellman's and Mandi (The Dishcrawl Coordiantor) made sure we hit it just right to get to play. Really good prizes and a fun host. Check it out! Prizes after every round and Wellman's gift cards for the winning team.
The highlight of the evening for me was the dessert. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Rogue Sweets specializes in Vegan and Gluten Free cupcakes. Their signature cupcake is a Gluten Free/Vegan Puppy chow cupcake and it was delicious! They also brought Vegan Maple Bacon cupcakes! Yes...Vegan. No one could tell it wasn't real bacon until they told us. They also brought tipsy turtle cupcakes which were a hit as well. "Like" them on facebook and tell them we sent you for free delivery on your next order!If you are sad now that you missed this installment, no fear! There is another event coming up on June 17th! 7:00pm! You can buy tickets here. Use code: eatplaylovedsm5off for $5 off each ticket you buy! Hope to see you at a Dishcrawl soon!
My wife and I just participated in the June 23rd Des Moines dish crawl - very disappointing. We will not be back for the following reasons:
ReplyDelete1) portions were too small, and by and large, the "restaurants" were not ready to receive everyone (most places were not restaurants BTW - rather, hippie book stores with caterers, or small baking LLCs operating within).
2) the ticket price (we had the 50% off groupon priced at $20), was waaay too much, for the amount of product you received. Also - the only decent food choice was the 1st stop, for the 3 inch pizza square. I've had larger portions sampling food at Hy-Vee and Costco!
If I had to do it all over again...my wife and I would go get a great meal for the same $40 (with drinks, as this price of $40 did NOT include drinks - those were extra).
Thanks so much for your honest review. They can only make the events better if they get constructive criticism. Thanks.
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