Hanson Brothers Review Village Inn Breakfast

4-year-old Bo's review of his breakfast at Village Inn on Euclid Ave./E. 14th St. in Des Moines, Iowa:

King of the Restaurant, Best Food! 
I had that, like, awesome thing with bacon. It was like a happy face with like a bacon mouth. And it taste so good and awesome. When I was almost done, I disappeared to the other side of the couch. Under something. And then I keeped disappearing there and disappearing there and that's when I was done. The end. That's my story. The end, I said!

And I was just checking out food on the menu I brought home. For all of you. I had a restaurant. And that's how my story is complete. I'm done. The end.

 Bo and his happy face breakfast. 

 Bo actually ate his scrambled eggs. The first time he has ever willingly eaten scrambled eggs in his life.

 The smiley face pancake meal

Almost 8-year-old Mazy's review of his breakfast at Village Inn:

The Medieval Village Inn with Dragon-Tale Soup!
We went to the Village Inn and I got something that everybody likes -- I got bacon, scrambled eggs, cottage cheese and a waffle! And the waffle tasted strange because I put a little too much butter and a little too much syrup on it so I gave it to my dad. And the eggs tasted like normal scrambled eggs. The bacon was hickory smoked bacon and I liked that about it. I don't know what hickory smoked means but I liked it. The cottage cheese was just like normal cottage cheese and I liked it.

I got a hot chocolate to drink. It was good. It was just normal hot chocolate with whipped cream.

It was a good restaurant. I want to go there some other time. We could go for lunches. Or for dinners. And there are some pies there I really want to try.

Village Inn is a very good restaurant and you should go to it anytime you can. And that is the end. The end, I said. And I am the king so you have to do what I say. The end! Just kidding!

Oh, my birthday is coming up this weekend! December 8th! And I'm going to have it at the wildlife shelter. I'll have an awesome cake that I will pick out what goes on it and it will be very fun! And I want to be a football player when I grow up. Not a scientist. I was fascinated in science but then I wanted to get money because I thought I would be rich if I was a scientist but then I found out I would just work on stuff all the time that would be really hard to understand. And I just got fascinated by football. And football sounds really cool. That's why I want to do it. My favorite football team is the Green Bay Packers. And if you can, please send comments that tell me your favorite football team. I already know my Grandma Katy's and my Uncle Troy's favorite teams. And that's basically all I know. And I know my friend Cooper's already. He likes the Green Bay Packers also. This is my persuasive piece. I am persuasing you to go to Village Inn. The end.

 Mazy's "Pick Four" Breakfast choices

He ate one piece of bacon before we could get a photo.

 Mazy pouring too much syrup on his pancakes.

 Little sister Violet eating some cantaloupe.

 Reading a book after finishing their breakfast.

Noodles and Funky Drink Dispenser Place

Today we went to Noodles and Company and I got a spicy cesar chicken wrap and chicken noodle soup. The sandwich was really good. The sauce was really good, and the chicken tasted good. And it had crunchy stuff in it. It wasn't on bread, it was on a tortilla or something. Oh, it was on a pita wrap. It tasted good with the sauce and the ingredients, like the grilled chicken, lettuce and Parmesan. The Parmesan cheese has a strong taste because it is an "aged" cheese whatever that means.

The soup had chicken and noodles because it was chicken noodle soup. The soup tasted strong and it tasted good, but my favorite was the noodles. I liked them better than the chicken and the soup. The noodles were big, swirly noodles. And they tasted good!

And I got a drink from a funky drink dispenser. I liked it because it was funky-looking and it was like a Kindle Fire touchscreen! There was a button that said "ice" and you put your glass there and the ice came out. And then you pushed another button and all the kinds of pop came up on the screen. Then you picked the pop you liked and it came out. I got a pop that was Diet Dr. Pepper with Cherry Vanilla. It was good.

I liked Noodles and Company because I like noodles and I like their drink dispenser and their sandwiches. I'm going to go to that restaurant again and try to get a cesar sandwich. The other thing I wanted on the menu was a MMMeatballs sandwich! I'm going to get it next time I come. 

This restaurant is in Des Moines, Iowa. It's close to my school and Blum Family Chiropractics. Warning: If you get the MMMeatball sandwich don't you dare tell me what it tastes like. Bye!

Miso Restaurant

Tonight I went to Sakura Hibachi Express. It is a Japanese restaurant that's very close to McDonald's (on Euclid Ave., about a block west of E. 14th St.), which is weird because McDonald's is fast food and it's not that good for you and Sakura is local food and it's good. All Japanese restaurants are good if they have sushi. Cause sushi is my favorite food. You already knew that.

So I got a spicy crawfish sushi roll, which tasted really good and pretty spicy, but really, really, really good. It tasted so good that I wanted to eat all of it but I ate only two pieces so Keesia could have two and Shawn could have two.

Then I got a small steak hibachi. Their steak was really good tasting. It tasted tender and juicy, and I liked that. It tasted kind of rich but really, really, really good.

Hibachi is a food with rice and a kind of meat, and it has zucchini, broccoli and onions. Hibachi is often cooked in a big table in front of you and I've seen people do that in front of me. And that was fun. But at this restaurant they just made it in a kitchen and sold it to you like if you were going to Zombie Burger or other local places.

The pricing was pretty good! It was one of the best $7 meals that you can get in Des Moines. Well, what I mean by $7 is that it's pretty cheap. And it came with miso soup. It was really hot when I got it, steaming hot, boiling hot! Volcano hot! That kind of hot. Well, really hot. So I took a little sip and it was still hot, so I kept blowing and sipping and blowing and sipping and when I got done I felt full because it was so much miso soup. And then I started drinking it out of the bowl and for some reason it made me burp. And then my stomach felt full, and it felt really gooey and so I went to the bathroom. And then I felt better. It was just a lot of miso soup I guess.

Warning: Never get too much miso soup at this place. Because their bowls are huge and hot!

Make sure to go to Sakura Hibachi Express because I really like that restaurant. Get steak hibachi and their crawfish sushi is very good. You should also try that. Now make sure to catch the next segment of Food Adventures with Mazy Hanson!

My Own Food Review Festival

On Sunday I went to the World Food Fest. We had to walk down a big hill and it was a long way. And the very first thing I had was a jalapeno wrapped up in bacon. It tasted delicious because there was cheese inside the jalapeno. It wasn't really spicy and the bacon tasted good because it was wrapped around a jalapeno. Two things that are pretty weird together but that taste really good. Who would sell a bacon-wrapped jalapeno at the store or make them at your house and sell them at a lemonade stand?

There are pretty unusual foods at the food festival. Then I tried the Bacon Explosion -- it was awesome! It was sausage with bacon around the edges and it tasted so awesome because the sausage tasted really good, I don't know what kind it was. And the bacon was cooked really crunchy and I liked that a lot.

Then we started walking around and we went up to the front and went to a stand with something that was called Chocolate Soup. It was a Philippine restaurant. I got a yummy kind of noodles. I don't remember all the ingredients, but I think it had chicken and peas and little noodles, like stringy noodles. Pretty thin. They tasted good. I tried a bite of the "Chocolate Soup" and my mouth started catching on fire because it was so hot, not spicy hot, just hot hot. Mom should have told me before I had it! So I almost spit it out, but I kept chewing and swallowed it. And it turns out that it was not even chocolate soup at all. It was pork blood soup!! What an evil trick my mom played on me. It didn't taste that good but the only part that I really liked was the rice with it. The marriage rice? Oh, the jasmines rice. It tasted good. I don't know why they would make blood soup. To be unique or something? It's not like something at a hamburger place. Well, that's why I'm an adventurous eater. I will not be having blood soup again. Just to remind you, it could burn off your tongue.

 Then we went back to the bacon place again. Because Bobo, my brother, wanted to get a bacon explosion again. Or "exploding meat" as he calls it... I wanted one, too. So Mom got each of us one. Should I tell them about how you left me? (Mom's note: I did not leave them. I could see them the entire time I was in line for their marshmallows!)

OK, so she told us to stay on the sidewalk while we were eating and she went over to Tammy's Tarts, or something like that. She came back with some marshmallows. Some awesome-tasting marshmallows! Bo got banana flavored. Mom got Kahlua flavored. And I got raspberry. I asked to taste the Kahlua-flavored one and it tasted like chocolate and sweet and good, very awesome. I wish I could have had all of it. And the raspberry was also awesome. It really tasted like raspberry, kind of like the dentist's raspberry fluoride. It was pretty good. The marshmallows were served two on a stick and they heated them. I even thought that I saw a guy with a cowboy hat on at the tart place. Oh, Mom just said the marshmallows were not at the tart place. They were next door to it.

 

 Then we went to the Ethiopian place for my dad's wot. Then we went over to Taco Loco and we got some $1 taste tacos -- they were awesome! They had chicken, cilantro, which I like, and onions, which really added flavor. They were awesome! So I got two of them. And they have this kind of pop called Jaritos and Bo got Mandarin and I got Pineapple. I still have my Pineapple, it's not gone.

Whispers: Mom, let me go look in the fridge. It might be in there. Mom, do you know where it is? I think it's on the porch. I'll go check. 

The drink tasted (takes a drink) good. It was 100 percent natural sugar so it was all natural sugar. And the pop is pretty good. I'm going to have my mom have a taste. And then you say if you like it. Mom: "Yeah, it's pretty good. Very sweet."

So do they mean 100 percent sugar? Or 100 percent natural sugar? Or is it 100 percent azucar natural? That's what it says on the Spanish side. Instead of pineapple it says "pina" and "hecho en mexico" instead of "made in Mexico."

My mom got my dad a burrito at the Mexican place and then we went to get dessert. Bo got kettle corn and I got a Snickerdoodle Ice Cream Sandwich. It tasted good. The ice cream was vanilla and the cookie was sweet on the top. They had some different flavors. I think I should have got the spicy chocolate chip. Hopefully they will have it at the farmers market so I can get it there.

And then Superman came and pushed the earth sideways. Oh just kidding. If that happened then we'd probably turn and fall into space because if we were sideways we'd fall up. I mean we'd fall sideways and trees would go by you and then you'd go into the Indian Ocean and then you'd go by it and into space.

Anyway, back to the review. Then we made our way back and we bought a caramel apple from Stam's Chocolate Place. We ate the apple tonight. And it tasted good, very good. It was a green Granny Smith apple -- the best kind for a caramel apple. That's what the original ones were anyways. I think I know why they make it with them, the sour apple goes good with the sweet stuff.

I think that's about it. Oh wait, one more thing, the caramel apple had chocolate on it too, which really added more sweetness which isn't really good for you. I asked my mom to peel off the chocolate and the caramel part so I could just eat the apple. I like sour a lot but not everyone does. That's why I'm not a picky eater and that's all for today.

*****

Mazy's 4-year-old brother Bo had this to say about the World Food Fest:

Q: Can you describe the different foods you ate?
A: Popcorn. The one at the food festival. It was da-lishus.

Q: What else did you eat?
A: The jalapeno!! It was da-lishuss. It had all this meat and jalapeno right in it. And bacon. It was good because it had all the crunchy part in it. We need bacon, right now.

Q: What else?
A: Uh, exploding meat! It was kind of weird. It tasted ... Funky. And it tasted da-lisshus too! Mom, where's the "f" in funky? I want it to be a big "f"! I ate ice cream sandwich. I'm just joking. Mazy ate that. I ate marshmallows! Mine were banana. They were so da-lishus! I want to say stuff I did NOT eat. I wanted the bacon to eat! I ate bacon. And it was so kind of, awesome. I got orange pop.

Q: Tell me what else we saw at the food festival?
A: Umm, tell me what letter it starts with.

Q: Well, just try to remember some stuff we saw. 
A: There were no like, french fries at the food festival. Why they not have any french fries? Cause they don't like french fries. Someday I will be a french fry. What would happen if you ate a french fry instead of a bomb? You would explode!

Q: Is there anything else you want to tell people?
A: I did not eat the zombie hamburger. Because it was just, expensive. I didn't eat the blood soup, but I ate the rice.

From the Archives: This Could Be Interesting ...

(This is the one that started it all! The first review!)

Originally published February 13, 2012

Today we went to El Rodeo. It's a Mexican restaurant. I picked to go there because I love Mexican food. Me, my mom and my younger brother went. When we first got in, we waited at the counter. All of us except for my younger brother Bo. He ran away. Then the waitress took us to our table.

We relaxed there. Then our appetizers came. It was chips and salsa, like all Mexican restaurants have. I usually get cheese dip but today I didn't because my mom said I couldn't. We ate the chips and salsa -- the chips were corn chips. They were fine. And the salsa tasted like a jalapeno because salsa always has tomato sauce and they put in cilantro and onions and that's what makes it really spicy. I loved the salsa.

Then our drinks came. I got a Diet Coke, that's what I usually get at restaurants. I always get that because it sounds like the best pop in the world to me. It is always fun to get pop at a restaurant.

 Me (above)

Then we ordered our food. I ordered a cheese enchilada with Mexican rice and a burrito. And my brother ordered two tacos. And my mom ordered fajitas. The correct way to spell fajitas is f-a-j-i-t-a-s. You pronounce it like this "fah-he-tah." I know it's strange that the way they spell it has a "j" in it. Just like how you spell "night". Night sounds like "n-i-t" but that really spells "nit". But the correct way to spell it is n-i-g-h-t.

 Bo, my younger brother (above)

Now I will tell you about how it tasted. When I first tried the rice, I definitely knew that I had had it before. Because I mostly order rice at Mexican restaurants. So that wasn't new. But I still liked it. It tasted hot when I first ate it because it just came out of the stove or oven. And it tasted like normal rice, except they added vegetables and more taste to it. Next, I ate my cheese enchilada. It was very good because I tasted melted cheese inside it. The sauce on it also tasted like a jalapeno. Next I ate my burrito. It was very big. And I only ate half of it. It had meat and beans in it. It tasted like beef mixed up  with beans inside.

 Cheese enchilada (above on the left corner), burrito (above in the center) and Mexican rice (above on the right corner)

And I didn't eat all of it, but I was still hungry so I asked my mom if I could have a fajita. And it had onions, green peppers, tomatoes, beans, and chicken and steak inside. Those flavors were much more tasty than the flavors that were in my main meal. Because those foods were just white and brown. And the foods in the fajita were much more colorful and that's why I liked it so much.

By the time I got done with that, my brother Bo had only ate the meat out of his taco. And he didn't eat the shell. Or the lettuce. And we decided that we'd only give him one taco from now on at restaurants. And that's it.

From the Archives: Culminating Event Lunch

Originally published March 8, 2012

Today I had my culminating event at school. I did great. A culminating event is where I share a project from the subject I was learning about with parents, grandparents and other people who come to see us. And it was about restaurants. My project was how the CNC makes chili. (CNC) is short for Central Nutrition Center. That's the place that makes all the food for my school.

After that my mom and dad and me went out to a restaurant. We went to Abelardo's Mexican food restaurant. It looked small and interesting. When I walked in, we went up to the place where they serve you their food. I picked two burritos and Mexican fried rice. And for a drink I picked some Mexican pop, Tamarindo. A tamarind is a fruit. Then I picked out a table and took the pop there. The pop tasted interesting. It tasted like dried fruit and melon. But I really didn't like it and that was OK. I ended up giving it to Keesia and she traded her lemonade with me.

 Tamarindo Mexican drink

We waited for 10 minutes or so and then we saw our food. We went over to the table where they serve the food and got it.

And then we went to the salsa bar. I picked out two kinds of salsa. Shawn got avocado salsa. It looked like gooey sauce but it was really good.

At first I ate my fried rice. It tasted really good because you know how much I like fried rice because on my first restaurant review I also got fried rice. Next I ate my humongous burrito! It was almost as big as my plate. There were two of them! I ate one of them. It tasted cheesy, meaty and salsa-y and crispy because of the tortilla. The tortillas were big! Keesia's was bigger than her plate, literally. The tortillas tasted good also.

Then it was getting pretty late and I had to get back to school fast. And I got back there just in time! The end.

Restaurant rating:  Thumbs Up!

You should go to the restaurant called Abelardo's. It is near Central Campus in Des Moines, Iowa. You should try their burrito, fried rice and beans. It is great!

From the Archives: What the Heck Is That?

Originally published February 16, 2012

Today for lunch we went to the TNT Vietnamese Restaurant in Des Moines, Iowa. We were just out exploring to find a new restaurant to go to. I thought the name was interesting. I thought it would be super small inside, but it actually turned out pretty big.

It had a TV on and it had people on the news that did not like Barack Obama. My mom said they are republicans and they just try to fascinate people and freak you out. It was station Fox News.

We picked our table out. I set my hat on the chair beside me. We got our menu. It was bizarre because one of the meals had organs and heart and tongue and stomach in it! I did not pick that. There were two pages of drinks on the menu. I ordered Fresh Iced Lemonade. Keesia ordered Fresh Lime Tea. I didn't get my regular drink today because I wanted to get an adventurous drink instead of a rot-your-teeth drink.

Our drinks came. I tasted mine. It was the best lemonade I have ever tasted because it had a whole bunch of sugar in it! Keesia thought her drink was awesome too.

For appetizers, I picked Vietnamese egg rolls -- sauce, vegetables and meat were in the eggrolls. I've had them before so I remember the taste. It wasn't anything new. The sauce was good -- it was sweet, spicy and it had raw carrots in it. It was also sticky.

For lunch I ordered combination fried rice. And Keesia ordered something that had something else. Mine tasted like normal fried rice except it had a lot of seafood in it. It had scallops, squid, crab and shrimp. It also had pork, beef and chicken. It also had peas and carrots. It tasted like white rice except it was fried, which added more taste to it. It was a very colorful plate. The crab meat had pink stripes on it. I thought that was interesting.

Keesia's plate was also colorful. I advertised to try out the soup. When I tried it, I wasn't that big of a fan of it so I gave it back to Keesia. I didn't like it because I felt like it had vinegar and salt in it. And it wasn't a colorful dish. It was green and brown, not very colorful. I also tried Keesia's egg pie. I loved it! It had lots of egg in it. I liked it because it was different colors and the flavors were good. 

I was not able to eat all of mine because there was too much. We asked the waitress if we could have a box to put the rice in. And that's all.

Restaurant Rating: Thumbs Up

You should go to the TNT Vietnamese restaurant in Des Moines, Iowa. It has some very bizarre foods, like one dish has organs and heart and stomach and tongue in it! I thought the food was great, especially the drink.

From the Archives: Just Add an "A" to American

Originally published February 17, 2012

Today we went to Americana. I went there for a fieldtrip one time. I learned that the cooler was gigantic. They keep big products in the cooler. They had a Justin Bieber sign to keep you company when you are having a bad day. The building used to be an old cars dealership. This is a kid-friendly restaurant because they handed out magic sketchers to kids when you get there.

Our seats were upstairs. I wanted to be upstairs because I thought it was interesting up there. I picked out my drink -- it was Diet Coke. I didn't try something new this time, just my old drink.

I tried my drink, it was good. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger. When it came, it was gigantic! The reason it was gigantic is so you get filled up. It had onion rings, cheese, bacon, hamburger and I did not like the chopped tomatoes on the bottom. I smooshed it down so I could eat it. I took a bite. It was good. I took more and more bites. It was awesome.

 It tasted like a normal cheeseburger except it had bacon. The cheese was white -- it tasted like normal cheese. It was a better than a cheeseburger at McDonald's because it was much gooder. My side was grilled pineapple. I had a giant knife to cut it. I thought the pineapple was good. The reason it wasn't like normal pineapple is because it was grilled. I picked that side instead of french fries because it was healthier and gooder. Then I got full and we went home. And that's all.

Restaurant Ratings: Thumbs Up!

You should definitely go to Americana. It's in Des Moines, Iowa, by Central Campus (my school). They hand out magic sketchers when kids come. The food is much healthier and more delicious than other restaurants like it. See you next time!

Burger 'Apopcalypse'

Zombie Burger is a restaurant. It is nothing like Smash Burger, even though Smash Burger is a local place. So is Zombie Burger. Zombie Burger is maybe my favorite restaurant. It's probably my dad's favorite restaurant. It's located in Des Moines on Grand Avenue in the East Village.


Zombie Burger looks like zombies infested it a million times! There is zombie stuff everywhere and there is even a picture with barricades over the walls with zombies.

The first time I went to Zombie Burger I got a burger called Planet Terror and I got fried pickles for the appetizer. Plant Terror is a burger that has barbecue sauce, bacon, cheddar cheese, caramelized onions and ranch. It tasted good. I liked it because it had ranch and bacon, and a lot of other things I liked. But I didn't eat it all. It sounded the best.

They name the burgers zombie-friendly names. That's cool. It's cool because it's a zombie restaurant and no other burgers are named liked that. Plus, they also have outer space names, like Project Nemesis or something like that.

I've been there three times, I think, and gotten take-out two times. I try a new burger every time. The other time I've got the Zombie Burger, the same name as the restaurant. It has American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and zombie sauce. And I got the fried pickles for appetizers. Fried pickles are big pickles they cut lengthwise and dip in breading and fry. They taste awesome!

Fried pickles 

Recently, we went to Zombie Burger and I got the best burger I've had so far. It was called the Fulci. You say that: ful-chee. I don't know what Fulci means. "Dad, what does Fulci mean?" My dad says Fulci is the last name of an Italian zombie movie director. Strange, isn't it?

The Fulci tastes awesome!! It was the best one I've had because it has a mix of flavors and tastes so good. It has prosciutto, which is like Italian bacon; brie -- it's a strange cheese that tastes good if it's melted, I think that's a good flavor. It has caramelized raw onions, which I think I remember tasting and it was pretty good. And it had truffle mayo. That's just mayo with truffles, and it tastes good. I asked my mom and truffles are mushrooms that are in the ground and they use pigs to sniff them out and you have to pay $100 to get them because they're rare. And some people make it into mayo!

We always get the fry basket. Their fries are fresh, and fresher is better. Not like some McDonald's fries. They serve a hot sauce with their fries and it tastes good. Last time we also got fried cheese curds and fried brussels sprouts with some strange-tasting mayo. Well, it tasted fine. And some hot sauce that was awesome! Between the fries, fried brussels sprouts, the crispy fried pickles and fried cheese curds, my favorite is probably the fried brussels sprouts because they taste SO good in each of the sauces!

French fries basket

Fried Brussels Sprouts

Fried Cheese Curds

I like the zombie art in the restaurant. It's cool. In the front of the restaurant they have a whole bunch of zombie pictures from different movies. One is "Toy Gory" which is supposed to be like the movie "Toy Story." There's another one called, "Bleak to the Future" and it's from "Back to the Future" movie. Anyways, my favorite one is Toy Gory because all the toy characters are there but they're all super bloody and gross looking!

Final Thoughts: This restaurant is awesome! You should go there anytime you have a chance, and try anything you want! I'll suggest one thing to try: the fried brussels sprouts. Next time I'll probably try The Boomstick -- it sounds good because my dad had it and it was like fried chili on it! And that tasted good. Make sure to go to Zombie Burger and read my next review. And leave message soon. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Photos from previous Zombie Burger adventures:

  First visit to Zombie Burger, January 2012

 The Boomstick burger

Dead Moines burger