Datebook Diner: Court Avenue brewpub offers tasty food, atmosphere

Currant Pork Medallions: $18.99
(Credit: Bill Neibergall/The Register)

My first thought while settling into a comfy booth on one of two recent visits to Court Avenue Brewing Company was, “I’ve forgotten how nice this place is.”

In fact, it’s nicer than ever.
 
Ambiance: A server informed me that a little over a year ago, they revamped the space. The most noticeable tweaks include a fresh coat of paint in rich, contemporary hues and fascinating historical drawings of long-gone Iowa breweries that loom large throughout the vast rooms. The resulting décor successfully melds a warming nostalgia with an energetic urban edginess.

Menu: You can go high or low here, with plenty of sandwiches, salads, pizza and pasta on the inexpensive to moderate end, and entrées such as steaks, prime rib and seafood on the higher end.
Fortunately, one of the best sandwiches in Des Moines remains on the menu: The CabCo Sandy, a one-of-a-kind French dip with red peppers and grilled onions. But since we already know this is good, I tried a few other items.

Best bites: I thought nobody did better potstickers than Star Bar, but these babies won out. Crisp yet 100-percent greaseless, they’re served with a chili sauce and, better yet, a fresh and heady Thai basil sauce.

Next time I visit, I’ll kick off dinner with an order of those, and split the excellent barbecue chicken pizza, with its sweet-tinged Blackhawk stout barbecue sauce, red onions, peppy cilantro and judicious sheen of mozzarella cheese.

Add a couple of beers, and two of you can get out of there for less than $30 (not including tip).

With tender, rosy-pink meat rimmed with bacon and contrasted by a sweet currant sauce, the currant pork medallions proved equally successful. Also of note were the perfectly cooked green beans and zucchini colorfully accompanying this entrée. Even the mashed potatoes — a boring standby in many midrange places — had a freshly handcrafted appeal.   
    
Less so: The fish and chips brought moist, flaky fish, but I was hoping for more crispness in both the fish and the chips. Skip the steak de Burgo — the flavorful but chewy meat simply was not the tender cut I was hoping for, and the non-plussing white sauce lacked the intense garlic-fest I crave in this classic.

Bottom line: Mostly reliable food in a great downtown atmosphere.