Road trip destinations
Road trips are for all seasons but winter. But without a truly special destination, why would we bother? Two places, one less than 40 miles from downtown, the other less [...]
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Posted May 31, 2023in Food Dude
Posted May 03, 2023in Food Dude
Brazil, Bosnia and state-of-the-art sports bar
Because soccer and Caitlyn Clark are best appreciated with a crowd, this writer ventured out to many new sports bars since autumn became spring. The owner of Terra Grill and [...]
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Posted April 05, 2023in Food Dude
DZÔ Korean BBQ
What’s in a name? Would a dzo, by any other, not taste the same? In Des Moines, it would not because this Korean steakhouse uses beef, not the offspring of [...]
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Posted March 01, 2023in Food Dude
Sprockets – not attached to a chain
Hospitality management colleges, like the highly rated one at Iowa State, teach that names are a first essential step toward restaurant or resort success. A name should appeal to a [...]
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Posted February 01, 2023in Food Dude
Tullpa – an experiential café
Whether intended or not, Tullpa Restaurant’s name conjures up “tulpa,” a term used in theosophy, paranormalism and mysticism to identify a corporal and sentient body that was previously only imaginary. [...]
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Posted January 04, 2023in Food Dude
Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant
The Cooper’s Hawk is a marvelous-looking bird that preys on robins and chipmunks and such. It was not named for James Fenimore Cooper, who created the character Hawkeye in “The [...]
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Posted November 30, 2022in Food Dude
Stroganoff, eggplant and nostalgia
Marcel Proust translated the memory of a grandmother’s madeleine cookies into the 3,000-page novel “Remembrance of Things Past.” Ever since, taste and smell have been the senses of nostalgia. The [...]
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Posted November 02, 2022in Food Dude
Thanks given, 2022
It’s hard as ever to open a new restaurant these days with labor shortages, high-interest loans, and customers stressed by inflation. Yet people keep doing it, and doing it well. [...]
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Posted October 05, 2022in Food Dude
Destination Grille
Restaurants on the outskirts of town have been development pathfinders. When Eddie Webster’s opened in 1970, it was miles of cornfields away from the houses. It introduced central Iowa to [...]
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Posted August 31, 2022in Food Dude
Irina’s Steak & Seafood
National chain restaurants are true believers in templates. They don’t deviate much from one store to another in menu or floor plan. Des Moines restaurant groups take a different path [...]
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