Date Night- Jethro's

When you share your life with a professional chef you don't often get to enjoy a lot of weekend nights out for dinner like everyone else. Sunday nights are the closest thing to Saturday we have- it's his first day off and my last day off. This Sunday we decided to take advantage of a gift card I received as a thank you for participating in a special promotion hosted by the Iowa Pork Producers Association and head to Jethro's for some delicious grub.

If you are a fan of Man vs. Food, Jethro's might sound familiar to you! Adam Richman and crew were visiting the Des Moines area back in 2010 and he attempted (and failed!) the Adam Emmenecker Challenge (more on that later) at Jethro's Forest Avenue location in Des Moines. Locally owned, Jethro's now has five locations around Des Moines and some of the best barbeque around. Jethro's was also a sponsoring partner in the IPPA pork promotion and provided awesome gift packages for the bloggers who participated to give away to lucky readers.

We decided to visit the Jethro's in the suburb of Waukee, Jethro's Jambalaya- a barbeque powerhouse with a Cajun twist. The menu is impressive, appetizers, barbeque specialties, sandwiches, burgers, chicken- and a whole menu of Cajun dishes. We are big menu researching people, and always like to check out a restaurant online before we even head out the door, so we knew before we got there what we wanted- the famous tenderloin.

Waiting for our food to come out, which took just a few minutes, we were able to browse the fun wall displays- the Hall of Fame and Hall of Shame...... the results of the many attempts to defeat the Adam Emmenecker Challenge. The challenge was created to honor former Drake University basketball player Adam Emmenecker, who was a regular at the original Forest Avenue location, and includes all of his favorite foods on one plate: cheeseburger, bacon, smoked brisket, fried cheese curds, white cheddar cheese sauce, buffalo chicken tenders, pork tenderloin, a bun, spicy pickle AND a pound of waffle fries. You have 15 minutes to eat it.......

Only 3 have defeated the Challenge at this location

but has three walls of those who failed.

The restaurant has been featured in many magazines and newspapers including being one of the Top Ten Manliest Restaurants on Mens Health Magazine. Articles and covers are proudly displayed. It's fun and exciting to see a local business have such an impact.

Our tenderloins arrived and all I can say is- wow. Just wow. They are HUGE! I couldn't even see the plate! The Chef got down to business right away but I knew mine was going to be a two-meal event. Every table at Jethro's has all of their sauces on the table, so there is no way I am going to go with ketchup and mustard. I set the bun aside for now and just did the fork and knife thing, trying all the sauces. Each one was very different and unique. I found myself going back to the Traditional and the Thick and Sweet sauce. 

I could only manage the outer "rim" of my tenderloin and a handful of the yummy waffle fries before I had to give up. Not a bad thing- just means I have another meal tomorrow!

The Chef however.......he wasn't messing around. Empty plate club lifetime achievement member!

Though we didn't actually try any of the barbeque, we left full and happy, and we know we will be back. Lots of seating inside and out means a short wait if at all, and the Cajun menu bring a whole new dining option for us in the future. We can't wait to try it everything! Now that we're back in the city we have all the Jethro's locations to check out, including the soon-to-open Italian-theme Jethro's in nearby Altoona. I can't wait!!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." A free giftcard was given to me as thank you for participation with the IPPA.

His and Hers Burger Night

I really love date night. When you share life with a chef you don't usually get weekends to go out and enjoy a nice dinner like everyone else. Instead he is cooking their dinner and I'm on my own. Date night for us happens on a Tuesday or a Wednesday and rarely includes things like prime rib and crab stuffed shrimp specials. It usually means a big juicy burger, and honestly, that's what we really like.

On a recent Tuesday night after my work hours we ran his and hers errands, and met up after for dinner, our version of date night. I keep a running list on my laptop of places in the area where I want to eat and check out the menu. Tonight's dinner spot isn't on that list. Shame. I might have explored it sooner!

Tucked away on a busy intersection in Clive, Iowa, sits a sports themed restaurant. Now usually I am not too impressed by places like this- hordes of loud and obnoxious sports fans swilling brews and chomping on wings and generally annoying me. Rookies Sports Bar and Grill is nothing like that. Sure televisions line the room- and I mean line the room completely, and a couple different baseball games were playing, with the volume on, but it was just the perfect volume- loud enough to hear the play by play and not having to yell at my date. I totally enjoyed that, and it's LOCAL. Locally owned, not a big nationwide chain with flashy commercials and cheesy gimmicks. I much prefer supporting a local business over throwing my money at a bazillionaire chain.

Rookies has two large dining rooms and a great selection
of brews and cocktails

The menu was classic American grill- a large selection of appetizers, many fried, but hand breaded and homemade, a great selection of sandwiches, just enough entrees to suit most peoples' taste, and a lineup of really really good burgers. Chatting with the owner was great- he was very friendly and knew the menu- obviously not a guy who sits at a desk somewhere and run the business from afar. 

Of course, we chose burgers. The Chef chose The Wisconsin Burger, a half pound of hand pattied beef topped with Swiss, American and Mozzarella cheeses and served on grilled garlic Parmesan bread. 

The Wisconsin Burger- I had to take a pic on the fly as The
Chef wasn't wasting any time digging in.

I chose The Steakhouse Burger- the same giant half pound of beef with American cheese, bacon, onion straws, lettuce, mayo and steak sauce on a great big toasted bun. Brew pub fries came with the burgers- nice steak fries tossed with seasoning. 

The Steakhouse Burger comes gored with a steak knife.
It was massive!!

Now you guys know how picky I am about salad dressing. It's always got to be homemade vinaigrette for me, period, and I am not a ranch dressing person at all- unless I'm eating fries. Then I must have ranch, and their ranch was really good- if it wasn't homemade it was a good mix!!

Needless to say........ I ate too much. We really needed to have Double Date Night with another couple so we could sample more foods, but I'm quite sure we will be back many times. Rookies has a pretty nice drinks menu and beer selection, with cocktail specials but they really focus on the food. Definitely more restaurant than bar, and that's the kind of place I like to hang out.

Rookies is located at the corner of Hickman Road and NW 156th Street in Clive, It's tucked behind a convenience store but not really hidden. They also have a website with their full menu and a Facebook page.