Flying Mangos and Fruited Beer

For those of you who know us well, then you know that Wednesday night is "date night". If we could offer any words of wisdom to couples, it's to never lose the romance and always find time to go out on dates. This past Wednesday night found us at our new favorite restaurant in Des Moines, The Flying Mango.  This family-owed restaurant, which is nestled in a residential neighborhood, was voted #5 in the top 100 restaurants in Central Iowa in 2011 and had been on our radar for awhile, but we didn't visit until several months ago. We have now been there twice and it's everything a great restaurant needs to be. This time we asked to be seated in the little nook they have that looks out on the street. It's one of the most intimate tables we have ever been seated at. The Flying Mango specializes in barbeque and Cajun dishes and they do them well. The prices are pretty reasonable and the service is amazing.

Bloody Mary lover's delight. 

The owners are Sue and Mike and they are there to make sure things run smoothly. Steph started with a Bloody Mary with two asparagus spears (which invariably lead to a discussion of what asparagus does to us later) and a grilled shrimp and Andouille sausage skewer.  A meal in itself!   I had an Anchor Steam Porter. This is one of my favorite beers to come out of Anchor Steam, Fritz Maytag's old brewery. The entrees we chose were prepared perfectly and owner Mike checked on us as we were finishing and he talked us into their Heath Bar bread pudding dessert. He also threw in two Mike's Special Coffees for free which included hefty shots of Bailey's Irish Creme. It was the perfect way to end a wonderful meal. We will be back again.  Reservations recommended.

Since this is a beer blog, I want to take a moment to discuss my feelings on "fruiting the beer". This involves inserting a piece of fruit in the bottle neck or on the rim of a draft beer. It usually involves a wedge of a lime, lemon or an orange. The cynical part of me believes the fruit is involved to cover up the taste of subpar beer but the fun side of me says otherwise. Summer beers can be greatly enhanced by citrus fruit. A ice cold Corona or Landshark with a wedge of lime or a Bell's Oberon draft with a wedge of orange on a brutally hot humid summer day is truly one of life's little pleasures. And if you don't like it, you can always throw the fruit at your friends.