Diving for Dive Bars
Des Moines
06
It was Mother ’ s Day weekend . Judy and I decided we could use a getaway . We booked a room in Des Moines and some tickets for the Iowa Cubs game on Mother ’ s Day . We arrived Friday night , checked into our hotel and got comfortable . We all had a good nights sleep . Saturday , the girls wanted to do some shopping , so after visit to the farmers market and a wonderful breakfast while walking up and down Court Avenue and purchasing some very nice things at the farmers market , we went back to the hotel . The girls were ready and out the door we went in search of their favorite stores . Thrift stores are high on their list and today they wanted to go to a Goodwill Outlet store . It was clear across town . They went in and decided that they had found a gold mine . Apparently , they fill bins with used clothing and then they change them out every hour , so there lots of items and new ones come up every hour . The girls told us go get something to eat and find something to do for a while because they had a lot of shopping t o do . We located a dive bar to on the GPS called the Angry Goldfish . It was a neighborhood bar with a crowed parking lot . Usually a good sign .
I parked in one of the few available spaces and ran for to the door in a light rain . Inside , we found the bar to be very inviting . It was rather dim lit and comfortable . Busy but still plenty of seating options . We found one by the window and sat down . The waitress arrived and was very friendly . She took our drink orders right away and I noticed as I glanced at the cooler they had bottles of Grain Belt . Naturally I ordered one , Judy ordered a Deep Eddy Lemon and water . We looked over the menu , it all looked good . We don ’ t eat a lot so we decided to split the fish and chips . While we waiting and the waitress came back and started a conversation about Grain Belt since I was wearing a Grain Belt T shirt which started a conversation about the beer . That led to a good five minutes discussing the brand and the Schell ’ s Brewery and what they ’ ve done with the brand and beer . She took our order and went and put it in with the chef and we sat there and enjoyed our drinks . The food started coming out for people around us and my oh my there was some good looking food coming out of that kitchen . Big old burgers . People were getting a pot roast dinner that just covered a massive plate and dark rich gravy on the beef mashed potatoes . It all looked wonderful .