Why eat at a chain Wednesday: Trostel’s Dish

When someone asks me what my favorite Des Moines restaurants are, Trostel’s Dish always makes it in the top few.  You have a huge variety of delicious small plates to choose from to eat, their martinis are seriously good, and they are one of the few non chain restaurants in West Des Moines/Clive.  For dining there so often in the evening, it’s funny how I often forget to think of them when it comes to lunchtime.  Fortunately, a friend recently suggested going there for lunch and much like my frequent dinners there, I left a happy customer.

I was glad that my favorite small plate-the tuna tataki-was on the lunch menu, but besides a portobello sandwich the options for a non meat eater like myself, the options were much more limited than the dinner menu offers.  I love their dinner menu, so I was disappointed to not see more of those options on the lunch menu.  Other lunch options included a variety of salads, sandwiches, and their much loved truffle mac n cheese with chicken.  Lunch service was friendly and prompt, and we got seated immediately.

While I will definitely return to Dish for lunch sometime, their dinner options are where it’s at.  From the havarti shrimp baked in brie cheese, to the pear and blue cheese cracker crust pizza, to the fried avocado (served with an optional shot of tequila!) the choices are unique, tasty, and memorable.  I like dining here as you can take your time with just a couple appetizers, or be super hungry and try a variety of things.  They bring out the small plates one or two at a time so you can linger over and enjoy each one, while sharing with others to try what they ordered as well.  Several dishes (and cocktails!)  change seasonally, so it’s always fun to see what new dishes and drinks come out each season.

Although sometimes on weekend nights it can be difficult to get a table, in my opinion it’s well worth the wait.  After all, why would you want to eat at a chain when you can eat a Trostel’s Dish?