The Des Moines Register du lieu suivant : Des Moines, Iowa • Page 81

Two for $20 General Store fills a niche Not much has changed during the Valley Junction deli-style restaurant's 40-year run OUR RECEIPT Italian sandwich and soup $7.50 turkey sandwich and soup $7.50 Soda $1.95 Total with tax: $17.97 feel just as at home with a soda fountain. It's the kind of charm that makes the General Store an obvious fit for historic Valley Junction. The menu features a standard base of deli sandwiches with predetermined ingredients and breads, a departure from other, faster made-to-order sandwich shops that essentially offer menus a la carte. The General Store Eatery also offers daily soup specials, as well as homemade desserts. ERIN RANDOLPH Special to Juice The General Store Eatery has been serving deli-style food in Valley Junction for more than 40 years, and it doesn't appear that much has changed.

The restaurant still does not accept credit cards, and the historic space is filled to the brim with antiques, such as the rusty tricycle that sits up against a wall and aging hutches that line the walls. A few middle-aged women dole out made-to-order sandwiches from behind a display counter that would I tried a soup and sandwich combo with half of an Italian sandwich, which arrived with a healthy portion of ham, salami, provolone, crispy lettuce, green pepper and tomato on a soft hoagie. It was garnished with a zesty Italian dressing, which gave it a much-needed and tangy kick to the taste buds. Despite being served with soup, it still came with a standard bag of plain potato chips. My dining partner also ordered the soup and sandwich combo, but with a turkey and Swiss sandwich on pumpernickel.

It was served with basil mayo, sprouts, roasted red pepper, onion and tomato. The basil mayo was the real star, giving flavor to otherwise A The General Store Eatery Find it: 206 Fifth West Des Moines (in the Valley Junction neighborhood) Hours: 11 a.m. -3 p.m. Monday through Saturday Info: generalstore eatery.com; 279-6828 lf v.sv the soup of the day and potato Eatery, eric rowleyjuice photos added ingredients. But despite that criticism, we did not have a difficult time finishing off every last drop in our soup cups.

The General Store is not reinventing the delicatessen in fact, far from it but it's offering simple and fresh meals while filling a lunch-hour niche in Valley Junction. The Italian sandwich with chips at the General Store tame sandwich ingredients. Both combos came with cups of cheeseburger chowder soup, offered every Monday, which had a loose cheese base with scarce amounts of hamburger and hash brown shreds. With "chowder" in its name, we expected it to be a bit thicker in both base and The General Store Eatery in West Des Moines' Valley Junction has been locally owned for more than 40 years. LUNCH BUFFET MONDAYS AND FRIDAYS 11:00 AM IrOO PM (URBAN DALE LOCATION ONLY) mmmvm.

6101 tiraadAvtf 45M ttb Si i 235-2J8 31I-29JJ vntbhambtcun (BAt OPLN LATTT Established 2004 ALL OF THIS AND A SALAD BAR FOR ONLY 750 dmJuice.com Wednesday, December 14, 2011 39 I I.