Ferrari's

I was so excited to have a group of friends join me over Spring Break for this installment of the restaurant tour!  The decor here is modern and upscale with a beautiful aquarium behind the bar.  Speaking of the bar, we started with a Ferrari Martini and Crab Stuffed Portobello. Yummy!  I chose the Three Meat and Cheese Cannelloni.  The blend of sausage, prosciutto, and beef with two sauces was tasty, but not heated through.  I took some home and it was really delicious at the right temperature.  The bread served with the cannelloni was perfect!  A lot of foccacia is hard, but this was soft and chewy with great flavor.  And they included a fresh slice in my 'doggy bag'!  My favorite part of the meal was the cannoli for dessert.  Absolutely perfect!  It was probably the best cannoli I have ever eaten - and I've had cannoli in Little Italy, NYC.

East Bremer Diner

I visited the small town of Waverly, IA, just about 20 minutes north of Cedar Falls, for the E restaurant. East Bremer Avenue is the main street through the historic downtown area. The interior has been modernized and has an industrial, urban feel - definitely not your typical roadside 'diner'! The bar in particular was a masterpiece of hand-welded ironwork. I ordered the Soup, Salad, and Cheese Frenchy combo. When the waitress first set the salad down, I was a litte disappointed - just a bowl of shredded lettuce with some random shredded cabbage and carrots. But then she described the homemade dressings, and I realized the lettuce was just a vehicle! I tried 3 of the 4: thousand island, creamy garlic, and french. The thousand island was definitely my favorite! Next came the baked French onion soup and Cheese Frenchy. Tons of onion and cheese in the soup! A Cheese Frenchy is two one-inch pieces of french bread with cheddar cheese in between, all deep fried. I had to try it since I had never heard of it before, but it wasn't worth the calories. More cheese inside would have made it better. East Bremer Diner has an extensive dessert menu with pies, bread pudding, and ice cream creations. I chose the Malt Shop Pie which is a frozen ice cream pie with graham cracker crust, malted milk balls, and marshmellow cream topping. It was not too rich and the perfect ending to my meal.

Doughy Joey

It was suggested that I go the the Waterloo location, but I chose the Cedar Falls instead, primarily because I wanted to try the calzone, which they only have there. I love the atmosphere here - basic, but modern sports bar with lots of big screen TVs. I know I can catch the Titans here even when the CFU cable line-up doesn't carry the game. The calzone, however, was a disappointment. The 'innards', as we say down south, were tasty, as was the marinara dipping sauce, but WAAAAY too much dough. Half of the calzone was gone by the time I cut away all the excess crust. That wouldn't be such a bad thing if it was seasoned or tasty, but it was just, well, doughy. Carsonie's in Columbus has definitely set the bar high for calzones and I haven't found one to come close anywhere else!

Cu

The name of this upscale restaurant in downtown Waterloo comes from the periodic table. Cu is the symbol for copper. My friend Christina was in town from Nashville and accompanied me on this installment of the tour. I started with a Cosmopolitan in a wonderful frosted glass. I like my drinks fruity and slightly sweet and this was perfect! Then on to the soup course: the French Onion soup was a delicious and Christina enjoyed the seafood bisque, topped with the restaurants moniker. My entree was the seven spice shrimp with hoison noodles and asian slaw. As you can see, I dug right in before pausing to take the photo! The spices complemented the shrimp and noodles without overpowering them. All the portions were of just the right size so that you were satisfied and definitely got your money's worth, but were not uncomfortably full. Definitely room for dessert! The creme brulee was light and creamy, again with a caramel Cu signature.

Bourbon Street

The decor here is fun, but classy. A New Orleans feel without going over the top. I had the chef's special for the night - a grilled cajun chicken breast on a bed of pasta alfredo with mashed sweet potatoes as a side dish. My waiter was wonderful and kept my water glass full while checking on me just frequently enough without hovering. The food was very flavorful and served at the perfect temperature. The chicken was not overly spicy and had a slight lemony taste - very fresh tasting. The sweet potatoes were just-right spicy and sweet. The garlic bread had an unusual taste that I did not particularly like, but everything else was more than enough. Great value for great food!

Amigo's

My first stop on the alphabetical tour of restaurants was Amigo's. Unfortunately I needed to study in the afternoon so I did not have a margarita! The service was fast and friendly and the food was fresh and hot. I ordered a combination platter of enchilda, tamale, rice, and beans. I was especially pleased with the rice and beans. These can be bland in a lot of Mexican restarants, but these were very flavorful.