During our summer vacation at Lake Panorama, located about an hour west of Des Moines, we stayed at my sister's fiancé's lake house. He called me up about a week before we were going to be heading up and he said, "Hey, I was wanting to check with you to see if it were OK if your sister and I came out for the weekend when you guys are there." I told him, well, sure! After all, it was his place that he was letting us stay at, for god's sake. They joined us on Friday afternoon and we talked about dinner options for the evening. My sister's fiancé said there was only one option - a restaurant/bar in nearby Guthrie Center called Prime Time. My sister was like, "Oooo, the prime rib at Prime Time. Yes!" Later that evening, we headed over to Guthrie Center for dinner at Prime Time. (see map)
Actually, we had been in Prime Time a couple days before on a trip over to Guthrie Center for my wife to check out some shops. I was bored and I ended up splitting off from her to go have a late morning bloody mary and a beer at Prime Time. I think I took the lady behind the bar aback as I ordered a bloody mary and a bottle of beer at 11:30 in the morning with a number of people in the place having the lunch special that day - fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans. The phone rang steadily with people inquiring about the lunch special. I asked the lady if that was an every day occurrence, people calling to find out what the special is that day. "Pretty much," she said. "But when we have chicken, we usually sell out pretty quickly. That's why it's a little more busy than usual in here today." When my wife finally showed up to drag me out of the place, she was remarking about how busy the place was and it wasn't even noon yet.
Since Guthrie Center isn't all that large - and dining options in the immediate area are limited - a place like Prime Time is extremely popular with the locals. Open since 1996 and owned by Randy Rhodes, Prime Time was recently named as one of the 99 places to eat in the state of Iowa by Travel Iowa. And just like when we were in there a couple days prior, prime rib nights - Friday and Saturday - at Prime Time are a big deal.
From the outside, Prime Time's yellow stucco facade with fabric awnings give it the look of a Mexican restaurant. But inside, there's a comfortable dining room with booths along a faux brick wall with faux arched windows attached above the booths. Tables in the middle of the room were adorned with table cloths with muted lighting accenting the area.
The bar area is much more lively than the dining room. Beer signs and sports memorabilia adorn the walls. A couple three flatscreen televisions were turned on to baseball games, and tables on step up platforms were in the front windows. One of the ladies behind the bar instantly recognized my sister and her fiancé as they go to Prime Time on a regular basis when they stay at the lake. It was early enough that the big crowd hadn't come in yet, so she sat us at a table next to the bar. Drinks and beers were ordered and I took a look through the menu even though I was going to get the prime rib.
Most other nights when they don't have the prime rib special, Prime Time features a number of entrees including a ribeye steak, pasta dishes, and a number of salads. They have sandwiches on the main menu including a hot beef sandwich, a Philly cheesesteak sandwich, and a pork loin sandwich that you can get either grilled, breaded or Cajun-seasoned. Burgers, appetizers, salads, and breaded seafood baskets are also available. And along with the prime rib specials on Friday and Saturday nights, they also feature a walleye platter, chicken fried chicken, a Jack Daniel's-marinated grilled sirloin and a grilled peppercorn sirloin that is marinated in Italian dressing.
My sister and her fiancé always order the large prime rib and share it. They love the au jus and they always ask their waitress for extra tubs of the au jus. I also ordered the prime rib, the smaller cut, and I asked our server if she could have the chef find the rarest piece in the kitchen. And the chef did a good job with his search because the piece of prime rib she served me was pretty pink. I had my choice of potato - my sister and her fiancé got the loaded baked potato, one each at an extra price - and I found out that they had tater tots. I was happy about that. Except they only had Tabasco instead of Cholula for me to put on my tots. But that was all right.
My wife isn't much of a prime rib fan. At least she wasn't that night. She ended up getting the steak de burgo special they had that evening. It was a 12 ounce sirloin topped with a creamy de burgo sauce. She got the loaded baked potato along with her steak. A bread stick came with all our meals.
The prime rib was very good. It had a great beef flavor, it was very juicy and easy to cut. The au jus that my sister's fiancé was raving about before the dinner turned out to be a little too salty for my taste. But they really liked the au jus. I just don't put a lot of salt on my food and when anything has heightened amounts of salt in it, my taste buds really pick up on that. Still, it wasn't a deal breaker. I was able to get some fresh ground horseradish to go along with the prime rib, but it didn't really need anything else to help the wonderful taste.
My wife was happy with her steak de burgo. It was a big cut of meat and she was able to finish about half of it before having our server box up the rest to take back to the lakehouse. But we went out for steak the next evening and she had to end up taking it back home in our cooler when we left on Sunday.
My sister and her fiancé certainly didn't steer us wrong with their choice for dinner at Prime Time that evening. It's a nice little place. People were friendly, the food was very good - pleasantly surprisingly good - and I thought it was a good value, too. Prime Time is one of those out-of-the-way, under-the-radar kinds of places that I like to find and tell others about.