Birthplace of John Wayne

For those who know their history of American Film, "The Duke", aka John Wayne, was an icon. He was born in Winterset, IA and only spent the first few years of his life here. However, the Birthplace of John Wayne is dedicated to this man's life. For fans of the actor, there is a ton of memorabilia in the house to view. However, the majority of the house is there to show more than just his films with plenty focusing on his family. Even if you are a bit too young to really know his movies, as we are, it's still an interesting experience for about 30 minutes of your time.

Jethro's BBQ

After reading a "Best of Dining" in Des Moines website, we decided we needed to try Jethro's in the Drake neighborhood. The restaurant has a very hip feel for a barbecue restaurant.

Our waitress recommended for the two of us that we order the BBQ dinner for two - the half slab of ribs and two meats dinner, which is served with four sides and corn bread. We ordered brisket and pulled pork as our two meats and for our sides, we ordered, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, green beans, and onion rings.

All of the meats were served dry with four different barbecue sauces on the table. The ribs were incredibly fall off the bone tender. They were amazing in the Jethro's original sauce and the Jethro's Hot sauce. The pork and brisket were also incredibly tender.

The creamed corn was smokey and delicious. The green beans were crisp-tender. However, the highlight of the sides were the onion rings. They are house battered and fried, making them crispy, flaky, crunchy, and perfect onion rings.

Bridget's Steakhouse

We enjoyed Bridget's Steakhouse in Ambler during Ambler Restaurant Week. Our foursome of diners all enjoyed dinner, and the pre-fixe menu for Restaurant Week had a wonderful selection for everyone. (The pre-fixe menu is also offered all night Monday and every night from 5 pm to 6 pm).

We ordered the Mixed Greens Salad and the Grilled Flatbread (a margherita pizza). The salad was a nice size, with dark greens and a tangy balsamic dressing. The flatbread was cheesy and light, a perfect start to a meal.

All four of us ordered the filet. A 6 oz. cut that is served with a shitake and sake reduction, which was sweet, savory, umami, and all around delicious. The mashed potatoes on the plate were also very good in the sauce. The steaks were sprinkled with sesame seeds and topped with green onions. The came out perfectly cooked, tender and juicy.

For dessert, we ordered the caramel cheesecake, the bananas foster, and the mint chocolate chip ice cream. The cheesecake was rich, with caramel swirled through it and topped with a dollop of whipped cream. The bananas foster was sweet, with big pieces of bananas and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

We were very impressed with the service from our waiter. However, being seated in the dining room, it was very loud and difficult to hear each other and the waiter.

Continental Mid-Town

By Leann Pettit

We dined at the Continental Mid-Town in Philadelphia for dinner. The restaurant is tapas inspired, with dishes inspired from around the world. Being tapas, we ordered four different small plates to share.

We ordered the cheese steak egg rolls with sriracha ketchup, the chicken tikka marsala, french onion soup dumplings and the brisket bao buns.

The french onion soup dumplings came out first. Because the restaurant is tapas style, items come out as they are ready as opposed to in courses. The dumplings were hot, and the doughy dumpling was filled with what tasted exactly like french onion soup - oniony, with the beef base. They were delicious.

The chicken tikka was brought to the table second. The dish was big enough for more than the two of us, and very light on the curry taste. The sauce was creamy with just enough spice, while the chicken is still moist. It is served with rice.

The brisket bao buns and the cheese steak egg rolls were brought out together. The bao buns were served as a three-some. Unfortunately, because there were two of us dining, it was hard to split three of them (a complaint I have at most tapas restaurants). That said, the beef on the sandwiches was tender and in a sweet sauce. The buns themselves were soft. They were a perfect handheld snack.

The cheese steak egg rolls were a favorite at the table. Traditional cheese steak wrapped in and fried egg roll wrapper. We had a total of 2 (very large) egg rolls, each of which were cut into three pieces. The sriracha ketchup was tasty, but not overly spicy.

We also ordered two desserts, the Limoncello Tiramisu and the Liquid Chocolate Cake. The tiramisu was fantastic - light, fluffy, lemony, and perfect. The liquid chocolate cake was a typical lava cake, nothing terribly special, but still very good.