Iowa Food Blogger Dinner at Hotel Pattee

This past weekend I was invited along with 6 other food bloggers to attend a chef's tasting at the beautiful Hotel Pattee in Perry, Iowa.

From left to right: Sheryl from Eat, Play, Love Des Moines, me, Matt & Lissah from Iowa Food Blog, Kelli from The Sustainable Couple, Wini from All Things Food Des Moines and Chez Bonne Femme and Kristen from Iowa Girl Eats.

Such a FUN group!

{Sorry, the photo is so small!}

This hotel is unique in so many ways - first off it is settled in a small Iowa town that supports it fully.  It is housed with a spa, two restaurants, a bowling alley and has 40 rooms, each designed and themed differently. Live music fills the hotel on Friday and Saturday nights and fireplaces surround all the rooms, making it cozy and comfortable.

Now under new ownership, we will treated like royalty.  They believe in treating their clients with the best service.  It was awesome.  We were treated to a 5 course dinner and drinks all on behalf of the restaurant. Even though everyone else enjoyed wine {I only shedded a few tears}, they did serve me two fruity non-alcoholic cocktails that hit the spot perfectly.

The chef that is now working with the new owners was wonderful!  He claimed he was beyond nervous to serve us and had been working on the menu all week.  If he only knew we were just happy to be there!

Since you all know my love of chocolate I thought I'd show you the last course first.  {Please ignore my puffy face, I'm really starting to feel swollen in this pregnancy...}

The combo of dark chocolate, raspberry gel and macadamia nuts was AMAZING.  I could eat a plate of this every day.  No joke.

Right before this dish, was an asparagus and mushroom cream soup covered in puff pastry. My absolute FAVORITE dish of the night.  And guess what?  My photo turned out extremely blurry.  Sorry!  But please know it was heavenly.

Then we dove into this deconstructed BLT plate.  Toasted bread, fried pork belly, roasted tomatoes, and romaine with an avocado cream.  My love for BLT's is huge so I was excited to have this dish, and I had never had pork belly before - so good!

Our next dish was fish {forgive me I cannot remember what kind}.  It was nestled in a lemony broth on top of soba noodles.  Very light, fresh and flavorful.  

This dish would be a perfect lunch - although I might skip it for a dinner entree as I just know I would still be hungry.  What can I say?  I like my meals a bit hearty!

And finally for all our meat lovers!

Braised short ribs with roasted vegetables and a potato puree.  Hands down my second favorite dish of the night.  I am also imagining if my husband would have been there, this would be his favorite.  The short ribs just fell apart and literally melted in your mouth.  No knife required!

And an up close look at dessert.  Pyramids of pleasure!  The perfect bite was a spoonful of chocolate, raspberry gel and some crunchy, toasted macadamia nuts.

It was not overally sweet - just perfect.

Throughout the night we were also serenaded by their music act of the night - a woman duo from Algona, Iowa.  Their style was a bit funky, folky, yet still classic.  Their harmonies were wonderful.  The hotel encourages locals to come in for the live music, have a drink and just relax and you could tell by the crowd they were enjoying it.

Finally, a HUGE thanks to my friend Kristen at Iowa Girl Eats for inviting me and some of our fellow blogging friends to this dinner.  It was a great night out and the food service was top notch!

A quick look at upcoming posts....

I have some crispy oven sweet potato fries, a fun dessert and another giveaway!  Some free coupons for a fun product and a gift card will be up for grabs.

Stay tuned!