Random Bites of Detritus: Graziano Brothers, Walnut Café, B-Bop's, Capes Kafé.

This sign below at Graziano Brothers suggests that “Pasta makes you sterile”, but they still sell tons of it off their shelves. A recent snack I purchased at Graziano’s comprised of delicious Campofrio cured Spanish chorizo with oak smoked paprika, paired with Laack's Double Jalapeño cheddar. With the natural casing intact the chorizo was quite chewy. After stripping off the casing, the cubed chorizo was tender enough to make soup with.

A recent daily lunch special at the Walnut Café in the Neal Smith Federal Building featured a “Graziano” grinder. It tasted like a 50/50 blend of Italian sausage with ground beef. Its an okay build, but Something Italian just down the street offers a far superior lunchtime grinder [see blog post] for about the same price. What I much prefer at the Café is the cheap steam table breakfast offerings, like the cheesy eggs with crisp bacon, below right. On Wednesdays they top the eggs with ground breakfast sausage, otherwise its accented with cubes of ham.

Poor judgment on when and where to have breakfast on a Sunday morning compelled me to seek out the B-Bop’s in Altoona for a burger to get me thru the midday hours. The half-pound BBQ Bacon Cheddar burger would have been more enjoyable if it weren’t for the syrupy barbecue sauce that dripped off of it. I should have played it safe and ordered the chili instead. While enjoying my usual double Americano at Capes Kafé inside the Des Moines Social Club, I was privy to the baristas making a Cup O' Kryptonite milkshake, made with mint chocolate ice cream, espresso, and squirts of milk, dark, and white chocolate syrups, A wee taste of the remainder left in the blender was delicious.

UPDATE: Capes Kafé closed in Sept. 2018.