Des Moines Restaurant Week 2012: Sbrocco

Des Moines Restaurant Week is one of my favorite weeks in Des Moines. It is a great opportunity for restaurants to get highlighted and for us foodies to get a taste of Des Moines’ finest eateries. For $25 one can experience a 3 course meal. Each course usually has about 3 or 4 options. It’s an outstanding deal, and if you haven’t experienced RW, DO IT!

I’ve participated the past 3 years and I’ve been to Dos Rios, Centro, and this year, Sbrocco.

My best friend, Jordan, and I decided to meet up for dinner since he is leaving for Germany for 4 months. What’s not a better way than to spend time downtown eating good food and chatting up for a couple hours?!

Since I am ‘the Des Moines Foodster’, he wanted to leave the choice up to me. After I called around to four different places, I finally found Sbrocco had a reservation time for our liking. Called him up and said looks like it’s Sbrocco.

Sbrocco is located on Court Ave.

It’s one of the last buildings before the Court Ave. bridge. They have a really neat signage that you will be able to easily find.

When we walked in, we were greeted right away and were really impressed with the atmosphere. It fit Jordan and I pretty well. Urban, wine, and class. They have a really impressive bar and really cool seating.By the way, Sbrocco serves 47 wines by the glass, 100 wines by the bottle and The Wine Shop has an additional 150 wines. Their walls (at the bar and around the restaurant) are lined with wine crates, and bottles, as well as glasses.

It was Restaurant Week so I had already planned out what I was going to eat.

I went with:

• First course: Carolina Caviar
• Second course: Braised Amish chicken quarter
  • This was outstanding. The chicken had great flavor and it pulled right off the bone. One reason why it caught my eye was the ratatouille. I really enjoy that dish, as well as the movie. It’s one of my favorites – back to the food – A top of the ratatouille was this really good, almost like, cheese croquette. It wasn’t fried though. It was a perfect match with the chicken and ratatouille.
• Third course: Tiramisu
  • They had run out of the Profiterole so they replaced it with Tiramisu. That was outstanding. This description I found is funny, yet sums it up. (Here)

My friend Jordan went with a social plate: Pan seared New Bedford scallops – cauliflower puree, caramelized Maui onions, watercress, apple cider syrup. I’ve never tasted such a delicious scallop before. It was full of flavor and you can easily taste the apple cider syrup. It’s great with scallops. I would have never guessed!

I’m so glad I decided to eat here. I’m definitely going to go back again and have appetizers and some wine. I highly recommend this place for a group of friends looking for a nice evening in Des Moines. The atmosphere is what I love the most (besides the food).

Happy eatings!

-NL.