A place that I'd been wanting to get to for quite sometime is a concept restaurant just south of downtown Des Moines by the name of Mullets. It's part of the Full Court Press restaurant group, the same people who oversee restaurants such as the High Life Lounge, Essen Haus, Buzzard Billy's, Fong's Pizza and El Bait Shop, many of these I've eaten at over the years. But Mullets was a place that I had been by many times, but had a chance to get some lunch there on a recent visit to Des Moines.
Mullets opened in the summer of 2010 and is located near the confluence of the Raccoon River and the Des Moines River just south of Principal Park in Des Moines. (see map) It's fashioned after an old-style river house and pulls a lot of people from the bike path that runs along the Raccoon River. It has a two-tiered outdoor deck that is open in the summer time that offers great views of the downtown Des Moines skyline.
But the joke of the place is, of course, the celebration of the mullet haircut, that 80's phenomenon that took its toll on many young guys who thought they looked cool with short hair on top and the sides with a long mane of hair in the back. As you walk into Mullets there are a number of snapshots of guys in mullets that people have tacked to a board. And there are some pretty funny ones, too.
But one picture jumped out at me - it was of a friend, Mark Lambert, who was pictured with his 80's-style mullet alongside his late wife, Deb. (Above right) I had to take a picture of this one and keep it for posterity. Well, and to post it on the Road Tips blog, of course!
The interior of the restaurant is heavy with pine wood paneling, some beer signs, and a number of funny and interesting photos on the wall. The bar area wasn't very large, but it was roomy enough for people waiting for a place to sit if the dining room was full.
The dining area was similar to the bar - not all that large, but big enough to hold dozens of diners. In addition to pictures, a number of old license plates were tacked to the beams. A corrugated tin ceiling gave the dining area sort of a Louisiana roadhouse feeling to the place.
The menu at Mullets features appetizers, burgers and sandwiches, and a large number of "Po Boy" sandwiches with choices such as breaded shrimp, catfish filets, popcorn chicken bites, and brisket sirloin. Entrees include jambalaya, breaded blue gill filets, and shrimp Rockefeller pasta where the shrimp is sautéed with spinach, bacon and chopped tomatoes and then served on spaghetti with a parmesan cream sauce.
But one of the favorite items on the Mullets menu is breakfast which is served through the week from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. (7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.) I've heard about the breakfasts at Mullets and have wanted to go in and try the breakfast meatloaf - pork sausage meatloaf made with bacon, red peppers, mushrooms, potatoes and onions served with two eggs and topped with a Monterey cheese sauce. But the breakfast taco also sounds delicious - scrambled eggs mixed with potatoes, cheese and a hot sauce combined in a hand-pressed tortilla shell and topped with either a red or green salsa. For a couple bucks more, you can add brisket to the egg mix. Yuh-Uh-Uh-Mmmm!
Since it was lunch time, I was thinking about getting a burger. (Mullets gets most - if not all - of the beef and pork they serve from Northcote Meats in Melcher, IA.) But then I saw that they had an Italian grinder sandwich on the menu. I'm a sucker for good Italian grinders and I hoped the one they had at Mullets was pretty good.
And I have to say that it was. The Italian sausage was finely ground and cooked in a tangy sauce that had a bit of a bite to the taste. It was served on a soft hoagie roll and had a bit of mozzarella on top. I should have ordered it with some banana pepper rings that would have added 75 cents to the cost of the sandwich, but it was fine the way it was. It had a great taste and while I didn't think it was the best grinder I've ever had, it was still very good.
For a side, I got the housemade potato salad that is mixed with chopped bacon. The server highly recommended it over the Cajun corn and the fries that I contemplated getting. And the potato salad was fine, nothing special, but it was a nice change from the usual sides I normally get with a restaurant sandwich.
While I do want to go back to Mullets for breakfast at some point, I thought my lunch was fine for what it was. The Italian grinder sandwich fit the bill for what I wanted and the service at the restaurant was quick and efficient. Mullets is nothing fancy, the food is fun and somewhat interesting, just like the atmosphere. It's a nice place in a fun - in a harmless way - setting.
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