Sunday, November 18, 2012

Eat: Review: Jesse's Embers

 The other weekend we actually had a "date" night. R had seen an advertisement for Stomp. So he woke me up and asked what we were doing to make sure we could go. We've sorta been waiting for a while for it to come to Des Moines so we could go. I had seen shows similar but not the official Stomp before. Randy has seen it a couple times.

Regardless, the show is fantastic and if you get a chance to go, I highly suggest you take advantage of it. It is not like other musicals or shows. It is very audience engaging. Even though there is no dialogue, a story is being told. And the main performer gets the audience to interact. Everything from trash cans to barrels, to pots and pans to lighters to tic-tak boxes and even the kitchen sink are used as instruments. By the time the audience walks out the door, the sounds that may have been annoying when walking in were now part of an on-going musical in our heads.  Daily R and I are like "we could be in Stomp!" when we're making some noise.

Anyways, since we were going to be in Des Moines for supper, I decided to look for some where we hadn't been to eat. I wanted somewhere close to down town so that we would be able to get to the show in time.  Some light research led me to find Jesse's Embers. It was ranked I believe #4 on Trip Advisor for top restaurants in the area.

If I had not done the research to find it, driving by we probably wouldn't have stopped. It is a little hole-in-the-wall. The parking lot holds maybe 20 cars, and the dinning room space is limited too. So I suggest you get there early. Walking in, it feels like you are walking in the backdoor to the kitchen.

 The menu consists mostly of steaks grilled on their "Open Pit" grill which is part of the dinning room. We both ordered steaks. I thought they were very good. Moist and tender. Along with the steaks, bread is served, and we got a salad and baked potato. All of which were very good. I have heard to get the house dressing though, we were unaware that this existed so we ordered our regular french on them.

Overall it was a very good meal, I am sure that the atmosphere is what they are going for but for me, it wasn't what I was expecting or looking for. It was very crowded and I felt as though I was intruding on the neighboring table, who were somewhat rude. Not exactly what I wanted for our 'date' night. The pricing is very reasonable and the location is not far from down town so it made for a good choice before going to the show at the Civic Center.

We might go back, but R is pretty partial to Texas Roadhouse steaks.   :)


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