Restaurant Reviews

See, this is me playing catch-up.



First: Zuzap



I adore Thai food. The complexity and freshness of it just calls to me. It's like my eating life was just in black and white before diving into my first dish of pad thai. But now, I just about know the menu by heart at my favorite place. It seems just a bit too familiar.



Enter Zuzap- also owned by Liam Anivat who opened and operates Cool Basil and Thai Flavors bring us something new to the Des Moines Thai scene. Wonderful curries and noodle dishes await. Frankly, it's been a while since we ate there- but my dish was wonderful. I didn't like too much the type of noodle I selected- a wide rice noodle, but since they have 5 or 6 different types- no worries next time. My only complaint- it's too far away from my house.



Next: Fong's Pizza



Yes, an asian themed pizza joint. How can you not be excited?



Well, it was their first week. And we ended up with a mishap in the kitchen. The table next to ours got our pizza instead- and we ended up with theirs later (at no charge- but we wanted ours!) and got our speciality like 45 minutes later. We had crab rangoons to start, which were quite good. They were wrapped in egg roll wrappers for a different twist. The mistake pizza was the happy family, which wasn't really my thing- fake krab just grosses me out after a while. Our pizza was the vegetarian with the hoisin bbq sauce, which was good.



The drink menu is worth a look see- it brings that tradition of Trader Vics to Des Moines. I had a Singapore Sling, a classic. Angel had a sip and remarked that at first it didn't seem there was any alcohol in it and then said "Oh wait there it is." Yep, and that's why froo-froo drinks are deceptively deadly and you end up wearing the tropical umbrellas in your hair by #3. And the Sling was the reason I wasn't too upset about the kitchen mishap- whee!



We'll try again- am very intrigued by the homemade pizza rolls. Totino's pizza rolls were a childhood treat, nice to see a homemade version of them. (Hey, why don't I do that?) http://www.fongspizza.com/

But not last: Sweet Binneys

I got an invitation to their Spring open house and tasting. WOW! We sampled a chocolate mousse cake with a cheesecake filling, white chocolate & apricot cheesecake with oreo crust, plum and almond tart, raspberry bavarian cream torte, and a cherry & almond cake which was enrobed with marzipan. Sugar rush, oh yes. My favorite was the chocolate- but of course, I love chocolate- within a group of equals, it always outranks them just by the virtue of being chocolate. The plum tart was my second fave (I love plums) and next was the white chocolate apricot cheesecake.

And since I was there on Wed. night, I have had peanut butter pie on the brain. They had it in the pastry case and it was singing to me. Maybe next week...

I love this bakery so much- everything I've ever gotten from there was been scrumptious, and I know my pastry. Angel is quite amused by the fact that I can spot a pastry shop from six blocks away- no fooling. I love their individual desserts, just the right size for a special occasion or just because it's Friday.

http://sweetbinneys.com/