Matt "Broodwich" E.'s Profile

If you're in downtown Ames pass on Subway and JJ's and give this locally owned an operated deli a try.  You won't be disappointed.  

It's operated like a well oiled machine where they build your sandwich to order, including slicing your meat of choice.  One of the few places in Ames you can get a pastrami sandwich.   Fresh ingredients and superior meat selection.  The help is kind and can really crank out quality sandwiches quickly.  The only disappointment is that they don't take credit and/or debit cards.  Make sure you have cash (it won't take much) on hand before arriving and avoid the $3 fees of the surrounding banks.  $6 got me a fairly large sub style sandwich and a deep "cup" of homemade soup.

Superior sandwiches and soups with an eye-brow raising low price.  If you're in the mood for a sandwich for lunch on the eastern half of Ames, this should be the first place you try.

We visited Gates on Main after hearing a strong recommendation from one of the locals in the area.  Our visit was for a late dinner around 9pm. "May I Help You?" followed by a passive-aggressive attitude at the front counter.

Back to grade school I guess, as they won't help you unless you have a tote-tray in hand. Buddies and I grab the only available trays, they are sticky and one has a large piece of highly-recommended BBQ meats stuck on it and my hand finds some sauce around the edge.

My two friends order "turkey on bun with fries." I order burnt ends and wait for a while then discover that they are out, and order the "turkey on bun with fries."  The first to order in our party has a heaping mound of turkey, the second to order one slice, and mine was one slice of turkey meat on bun.  The patron after me orders the burnt ends, and they've forgotten already that they don't have any.

We move out to the dining area which is filthy.  Trays on nearly every open table with crumpled up napkins soiled with BBQ sauce, bones, and cold fries. We cleared our own table, and again my hand found some sauce on the edge of a dirty tray.

BBQ Sauce bar was fun.  Strawberry Soda was refreshing and different.

School lunch quality single-piece of turkey on white bun with fries.  World-class sauce bar.   Delicious large soda.  Filthy seating area and rude help.

I enjoyed the apartment/condo style layout with direct entry.  The room was full-featured and spacious. Prices were a little high for what we recieved, but it was a busy weekend in the area. Good location between the Plaza and the P&L area. Complimentary breakfast had a nice selection of hot items.

We left the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness famished at the end of August. During the 30 mile return to civilization on the Echo Trail gravel road, several Minnesotans who were a part of our outing revealed one of the key aspects of any Boundary Waters trip, enjoying a pizza after emerging from the bush.

We headed in to Ely with a tomato pie as our goal.  A unanimous decision to by-pass the Pizza Hut franchise  in pursuit of a locally operated business was egged us further down Highway 169.  Upon the recommendation of a gas-station attendant we settled on Sir G's which was fortuitously placed less than a block away from the gas station.  

The restaurant itself is immersed in cheesy hand painted italian landscapes.  We didn't look that deep in to the menu.

The pizza was a marvelous thin crust in the party-cut (squares) tradition.  The crust was amazingly delicious and crispy and was deceivingly light.   I thought that the crust would not be able to hold the hefty toppings of our Sir G's Special of pepperoni, sausage green peppers and onions under an ample portion of provelone cheese.  The pizza in conjunction with the Dorothy Motler Root Beer (an indigenous soft drink with a storied connection to the Boundary Waters) left us extremely satiated and smiling on the way out the door.   Prices were within what to be expected.  The service was friendly and helpful, but slow in taking our orders and retrieving our bills during an afternoon lull in business.

If you are in the area, or emerging from the wilderness with hankering for some superior pizza I would encourage you to make a foray in to Sir G's for some exceptional small-town pizza.  It was what we were hankering for and much more.

My first Kansas City Chiefs' game was coupled with some of the best barbecue I've ever had.

I knew when we pulled off of I-435 and there were what looked like DOT produced street signs pointing the way that we were in for something special.  

Around a winding bend in the road could be seen the billowing smoke.  Not more than a few moments later I could smell the hardwood smoke from within.   Take my word for it, at LC's the food is the star.  There are bars on the windows.  The interior is grimy and worn.   The menu is presented on one of those Pepsi boards with the snap-on red lettering, and the smoker is front and center to allow patrons to watch the magic happen.

I had the $10.95 Combo sandwich.   When I saw the prices, I was concerned.  I thought $11 for a BBQ sandwich was steep.  We got the food to go so I left worried that I had been taken on a high priced sandwich.   We toted our BBQ to Arrowhead Stadium and when I opened the box of styrofoam I grinned ear to ear.  It contained a sandwich that was no less than four inches high piled upon white bread.  The lower piece of bread succumbed to the heft of it's contents and was crushed under its' weight and saturated with delicious BBQ sauce.  This is less of a sandwich and a massive piece of BBQ Meat Pie.  The pork and beef was tender, moist and enhanced by the sauce, not overwhelmed by it.  

The handcut fries are what the English would proudly call chips and were delicious.   We also had a side of fried okra that were perfectly cooked, tender by not mushy with a hint of jalapeno.   Amazing.

Well George's has moved out to west Ames and now delivers! George's is my personal favorite in Ames for pizza. George's offers a great locally owned and operated alternative from those dense pizzas at Great Plains and Black Market that could double as a door stop.  Great toppings on a delicious thin crust that has no equal.

Their menu has been reduced but all of their classic specialty pizzas, homemade sausage, and Greek favorites are still on the list.  The new location is much, much smaller than their previous spot off of Duff Avenue and they now serve beverages out of cans.

I am racked with guilt that I have overlooked one of my favorite places to do business in Ames in my Yelp reviews.  

Dutch Oven Bakery has fantastic dutch letters and almond pastries.  They meet or exceed the ones that I have sampled in a Dutch dominated community like Pella, Iowa, Orange City, Iowa or Lynden, Washington.  I routinely like to pick of a box of these to share with my coworkers.

Even though the name brings raised eyebrows and laughs to my friends, they have the best doughnuts and pastries in Ames with genuine customer service.  Hands down. Premium quality pastries at a moderate price.

If this place was in the business of sustainability advocacy or activism, I would give them a strong review.  But they're not, they are in the business of feeding people who pay them to do so.  

The promotion of their fair trade coffees, recycled parking lot bricks & dining tables and participation in local food systems, while laudable takes the limelight over superior food and satisfactory service.

The service was a real disappointment. Ambivalent about our time, orders and our satisfaction. Our server would disappear for long periods of time.  This is one of those places that the servers don't write down your order. Only squares use a note pad, man. After we ordered, one in our party did some speculation on how our food end up at our table. Sure enough, there was a mistake. Our breakfast was on par with what I would expect at any of the nationwide chains that purvey  pancakes, bacon and eggs .  The sole exception being an oddly delicious beer-based syrup that went on a very large pancake.

We participated in one of the rare North Shore Scenic Railroad Dinner Tours along Lake Superior in July of 2009.   It was enjoyable to ride in the "upscale" section of this train that featured dining cars from the historic Empire Builder.

We had made plans on the assumption that the rail line ran along the shore, which is the case for the first third of the trip.  The rest of the way the train is nestled back in the trees which obscure the most impressive views of Lake Superior.    The dinner train consists of a $48 fee for the meal and ride.   We were a little disappointed with the one-selection fixed menu.   The food itself was very tasty, but I felt like we had spent nearly fifty dollars on a business model like a school lunchroom.   The dinner train is coupled with a "pizza train" and people in formal wear are thrust in the company of people in cut-off jeans and NFL Jerseys.

The dining car itself was an elegant way to waste several ours in the company of friends.  If I lived in Duluth, I would probably enjoy this as a fun way to spend an evening with my spouse, but if you are visiting the area there are much more impressive sights and meals to be had nearby.

I developed my taste for smoked fish after my folks left for the Pacific Northwest several years ago.  Even after sampling some of the esteemed smoked salmon of the Pac-NW, this hole-in-the-wall roadside purveyor of perfumed filets is now my personal favorite.   Large, moist, sweet and perfectly smoked chunks of heaven.

As we pulled in to the parking lot we knew that the large number of seagulls perched on the back of the smoked house were on to something. We lifted our noses hoping to catch a better wisp of smoke emanating from their smoke house along the scenic North Shore Highway.

We bought large pieces of King Salmon from Alaska, locally caught Whitefish and Herring.  After a short two days, what remains is a pile of bones.   If you are in the area, make a point to stop here and load up.  It was very reasonably priced.  There was a large number of patrons lined up, but the help at the counter was very fast at fulfilling our order and lending guidance in what would be best to try.  Now I've got to find out how I can get it delivered to the middle of Iowa to get my fix.