“When oneth haseth a gift cardeth, oneth must spendeth it.” – Old Shakesperian Proverb That I Made Up
As you can tell, we had a nice little gift card to Americana in Downtown Des Moines. And what better to spend it on than your mom’s birthday dinner? We went on a Thursday evening for a filling – and fried – dinner. Unfortunately, this place isn’t based on the novel Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (which i’m in the middle of). Whoops.
Americana is located off Locust in Downtown Des Moines, right across from the sculpture park. It wasn’t very crowded as we got in, some of the happy hour/bar crowd was heading out. We easily got reservations at a nice booth for 7:30. They feature a menu of about 10 different shared plates and sections for burgers, salads, pastas, and steaks. Its a pretty meat-centric menu, but they’re pretty flexible with menu substitutions.
We ordered the Truffle Fries, the Seared Tuna, the Loaded Nachos, and the Hummus Plate. All were definitely shareable portions, not like the baby tapas you get at a fancy place that really only feed one person. At Americana, four plates for four people was definitely enough to satisfy a hungry crowd.
The seared tuna featured strips of Ahi Tuna drizzled with Tamari Aioli and sesame seed, served with pickled ginger, seaweed salad, soy sauce, and marinated lotus root. This was a great combination of flavors! I absolutely loved the lotus root, a unique element that was a natural fit with the Japanese flavors. The tuna wasn’t as buttery as I would have liked it, but its Iowa…so not too surprised.
Next was the Hummus plate. I was expecting more from this hummus, as it featured some green herbs in the mix, but I didn’t get too much flavor. The variety of vegetable pairings was great, the dish had pickled red onion, olives, peppers, artichokes, cucumbers, and toasted pita. Actually glad it didn’t have any baby carrots, I subsist on too much of that in my dorm room!
Onto the fried stuff! First are the loaded American Nachos with a base of house-made ranch potato chips instead of tortilla. I was a little apprehensive at first, but these were great! Not too oily, just the right amount of crunch, and easily soaked up all the toppings. The chips were covered in goat cheese sauce, pieces of sun dried tomatoes, blue cheese, and scallions. My critique? Needed more toppings! Loaded and complex flavors is what makes nachos good, and there was an entire bottom layer of chips that had no sauce. They were great, but really could have used either more layers or more vegetables.
Saving the best for (almost) last – the truffle fries! These were amazing, the right amount of oil and crispness. Good thin cut, topped with shaved parmesan, fresh parsley, and black truffle sea salt. They were even served with a warm pot of goat cheese dip! This was the table favorite!
As if we didn’t have enough food, we ordered dessert to top off the meal. There wasn’t a lot of creativity with their dessert menu, the standard cake, creme brûlée, and brownies. We ordered the flourless chocolate torte, which was topped with raspberry sauce and a strawberry. This was a really rich torte, perfect to share with a few people. Really yummy, but could have been paired with a fruit sauce instead of just one fruit to provide more balance.
Overall, this is well-done upscale American food at good prices, with good portions. Lots of cheese and meat choices, but they’ve really done dishes you’d find at a boring ‘ol Cheesecake Factory 20x better. Its a nice atmosphere and the food is pretty decadent – you’re not going to get a fresh-tasting meal unless you get a salad. However, if you’re really hungry and in the mood for some carbs, this is your place!
The Bottom Line
Hearty and cheesy American food -better than a chain!
Cone Rating: 
Price Range: $$-$$$ (10-30 per person – depends on what you get)
Location: Downtown Des Moines, IA
aditi eats 