I seldom do posts about food or restaurants any more, but Brandy and I went to Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse for an anniversary dinner on Saturday and I was moved to write this up.
After Brandy landed at Des Moines International Airport, I scooped her up and we headed straight to Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse mere minutes from the airport.
We got there just before the dinner rush so parking was ample and we pretty much had our choice of seats.
The restaurant is themed after old Hollywood. There are pictures of stars from the latter part of the Golden Age of Hollywood. One piece that particularly stood out to me was a large print of this image of Sammy Davis Jr and Marilyn Monroe from the set of How To Marry a Millionaire.
In the men’s room were more prints of Marilyn and the chandeliers throughout were styled after the late art deco style of the time.
We were seated and given menus. After pondering, we decided to start with the Little Italy Combination – Portion of the calamari marinara, sausage bread, toasted ravioli and bruschetta.
Driven to the mood by the atmosphere, I ordered a sidecar, a classic cocktail make with cognac, orange liqueur and lemon juice. Then we ordered our entrees.
Brandy ordered the Chubby Cut Top Sirloin – A steakhouse classic, combining marbling, tenderness and flavor, and I ordered the Filet Oscar with a loaded baked potato and a cup of loaded potato soup on the side:
Filet topped with a Johnny’s crab cake, asparagus and béarnaise sauce
Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse Menu
The appetizers arrived on two large serving plates- we immediately knew we were going to have to take food home with us.
After putting down about a third of the appetizers, our entrees came. At this point, I really wish I’d taken a picture of the dish. It was presented beautifully with the crab cake topped steak nestled into a ‘V’ of asparagus. The bearnaise was nice and creamy, the steak was wonderfully tender, and the whole plate absolutely magnificent.
As I was taking the last bite I was going to take, our server asked if we wanted to see the dessert menu. Brandy answered ‘no’ but I chimed in that I wanted a crème brûlée. Shortly after it was ordered, the dessert arrived with two spoons. But I ate it by myself.
The creme was fine, but the crystallized sugar top was a little thin so there was barely a faint snap as it was broken. The Crème brûlées I’ve had in the past had nice, stout crusts on them that made a hefty k-chunk sound as you broke through them.
It was fine though, I still enjoyed it.
At the end of it all, the total for two meals, the appetizer, the dessert, my cocktail, tax and tip was just over $160. That’s a lot more than we typically spend on a meal, but, to celebrate our second anniversary, I’d say it was well worth it.
Will we go back?
Absolutely.
-Phil