Granite City Food and Brewery

My mom and I went to Granite City restaurant today for lunch and I LOVED IT!!! I have driven by this restaurant so many times only glancing at it thinking it was a tiling or countertop store because of the name. It is located on University in Clive. Well a few weeks ago Mitch was doing one of his rotations and they had their lunch catered by Granite City and he told me it was delicious. My mom and I ordered these yummy salads which were gigantic and they also have a relatively inexpensive kids menu. The entrees are gorgeous and as I looked around at everyone else's plates I thought everything looked delicious! It is kind of pricey but would make a fun date night if you are looking for a yummy place to eat. It was also very busy so that tells you it is well liked!

Click here for the Granite City Website, with their menus.

South Union Bread Cafe

If you like Focaccia bread, this place is a must!!

And if you don't, you will after you taste it here

This is such a fun, delicious place to grab a bite for lunch.

Their sandwiches are to die for and I hear their spicy potato soup is too.

And the bread, seriously.... I don't understand how they make it so good! 

Open Monday- Friday

10:30-2:30

Located right next to Centro Restaurant

1007 Locust Street

Downtown Des Moines 

Menu

Directions

Hope you love it as much as we did!!

The Machine Shed restaurant

We first heard about this restaurant from my nieces who claimed that on TV (in WA) they saw a restaurant near Des Moines with gigantic cinnamon rolls. We kind of blew it off at the time but then had heard from a few people that we needed to go and try this place out. The restaurant is called "The Machine Shed" and is located on Hickman Rd. right by the Living History Farms in Urbandale. We went for breakfast since my primary purpose was to try these famous cinnamon rolls I kept hearing about. The breakfast was great. The portions were quite large, but nothing compared to the gigantic cinnamon rolls. We are talking about probably 3 lbs worth of cinnamony ooey gooey goodness! If you go for breakfast go later because their cinnamon rolls are half off after 11am (only $1.50) or you could always just get a cinnamon roll to go after this time. Also while you are ordering your breakfast if you say the phrase, "AND I LOVE EGGS" they will add an extra egg to your meal for free.

(Sorry pic is blurry, taken with my phone, but you can see how big the cinnamon rolls are compared to Hallie)

Overall it was just a fun little place to visit. It kind of had a "Cracker Barrel" country restaurant feel to it, nothing fancy. We thought it was fun. Not sure how their lunch and dinner are but we did get to see a sneak peak of their salad bar and a few entrees as we were leaving that looked delicious! We will definitely be going back!

Click on the BOLDED words above for more information and for their menus.

Woody's Smoke Shack

Have you been here??

Well if you haven't, you must!! It is an AMAZING BBQ restaurant in Des Moines (close to DMU) that we can't get enough of!!

In case you don't believe me, here are a couple facts:

Woody's was awarded Best of the Best Barbecue Restaurants in America

and were in the top four best BBQ Restaurants on Good Morning America- 

Every time we have gone (yes we go there a lot) we get our food within 5 min of ordering- pretty impressive. The workers are ALWAYS so nice and are very flexible with little kids.

Did I mention they have all you can eat corn bread?? I am not the biggest corn bread fan but find myself downing 4 pieces before my meal comes (yeah that would be under 5 min if you remember ) it's so so good. Prices are pretty reasonable as well!

It is located in Des Moines- get directions here

Trust me, you should check this place out... and if you do please call us- we would love to have an excuse to go there!!

here is a recipe I just found if you wanna try to make some ribs on your own!!

Eating out

So I am just adding on to the list Mindy put up of yummy places to eat. We really don't eat out often so Mindy's list is probably more refined, but these are the places we go:
1. El Rey Burrito
This place is literally a hole in the wall. Matt and I came upon it while doing our laundry at a laundromat right next door to it when we very first moved here 2 1/2 years ago, and we have been going back ever since then. It looks iffy, the first time Matt went in he wasn't even sure if the people spoke english but it is sooooo yummy. It is AUTHENTIC mexican food, we always get the steak burrito. Mmmm. It is near Valley Junction, we always take it to go.

2. Shane's Rib Shack
This place is pretty good BBQ, my Dad approved and he is Texan through and through so that is a good sign, it is way close (off of University in Clive), we have never had to wait to get a table, very casual and kids eat for way cheap (I am talking less than it would cost for fast food). My favorite item is the Shack Sampler. Really good.

Eat. Out.

We love to eat out. If we had the money, that's probably what we'd choose to do for our date nights every week! There are a few places around that we absolutely love.

1. Rock Bottom Brewery (on University, by Barnes and Noble and Macaroni Grill). It's got a wide variety of tasty food

2. Red Rossa Pizza (also on University). Can't beat fire-grilled pizza. Yum! They even have gelatto for dessert, if you choose.

3. Bravo Cuccina Italia (By Jordan Creek Mall). I love Italian food, what can I say?

4. Centro (Downtown Des Moines). It's a little more pricey, and probably not somewhere appropriate to take kids, but it makes a wonderful date night to celebrate a special occasion!

5. China One Buffet. Kellen went there with some of the guys from the ward one day for lunch...and they all love it! He keeps telling me he needs to take me there.