Hurricane Grill and Wings opens third Iowa restaurant

The island-inspired full-service restaurant Hurricane Grill and Wings recently opened at 3340 Westown Parkway in West Des Moines. It is the third location for franchisee Darin Beck, CEO and founder of Barmuda MMC. Hurricane Grill is known for more than 35 signature flavors of fresh jumbo wings, ranging from buffalo sauces to specialized options such as sea salt and vinegar and honey chipotle BBQ. The West Des Moines location offers other entrees including seafood, salads and sandwiches. Hurricane offers local craft beers from Peace Tree, Exile, Backpocket and Millstream Breweries. The first two Hurricane Grill locations are in Waterloo and Cedar Rapids. The West Des Moines restaurant is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday through Thursday; and 11 a.m. to midnight, Friday and Saturday. Call 561-931-1075, visit www.hurricanewings.com or find it on Facebook.

Baru 66 to incorporate 3D food printing

David Baruthio, chef and co-owner of Baru 66, is changing the way his restaurant serves food. He will be incorporating a 3-D food printer to his kitchen to add decorative touches to plates. The new device will mostly be used to create designs out of chocolate or to carve vegetables into patterns. The $1,200 printer is from Natural Machines and comes with five stainless steel food capsules that can be loaded with fresh ingredients. The concept of 3D printing has been developing for several years and currently only prints the food, but developing models would be able to print and cook food items. Officials at Natural Machines predict the printers will someday become as normal in home kitchens as the microwave.

Ingersoll Square filling up

The Ingersoll Square development continues to grow, with the latest addition being another location for the Veridian Credit Union in June. The space has 4,640 square feet inside and 5,000 outside, including four drive-up lanes with video kiosks to communicate with tellers inside. That leaves one more retail space, a 1,700-square-foot bay east of Veridian. The space will likely be transformed into an upscale wine bar to be owned and operated by the group that operates Gusto Pizza Co., which is located nearby. Negotiations are ongoing, but the wine bar could open as early as this fall. Ingersoll Square has been in development since 2007. The residential and commercial development has 180 apartments and retail space.

Blonde Genius opens a mobile boutique

Mobile boutiques have been popping up in other parts of the country for a while, but Iowa is just starting to see its first wheeled shops. Erin Eischeid, owner of the Blonde Genius boutique in West Des Moines, opened a mobile boutique version of the shop, which is currently parked next to Arnolds Perk coffee shop near Okoboji. Eischeid’s mobile store is her parents old RV, which she and her husband remodeled with faux wood flooring, white paneling, crown molding and a deck near the entrance for clothing displays. It has 300 square feet of space and a good mix of customers so far, according to Eischeid. The outside is painted with an image of jeans and the shop’s logo: Fashion on the Fly. Eischeid said she will move the store south for the Iowa State Fair and then travel throughout the state. A few other mobile boutiques have been spotted in the area, including Jodi Hamilton of Boone, who owns the Diva Inside mobile boutique instead of having a brick-and-mortar store.

Blackbird Investments plans apartments for downtown

The 98-year-old Clemens Building, which used to house Raccoon River Brewing, could hold apartments in the future. Blackbird Investments has a contract to purchase the building, located at 200 10th St. in Des Moines, with hopes to close the purchase in mid-July. The company is partnering with T.J. Jacobs, a broker with CBRE-Hubbell Commercial, and together they plan to transform the Clemens Building into 44 apartments and retail space. This would be part of the overhaul 10th Street is seeing now as a developer plans to renovate the neighboring Hotel Fort Des Moines. CV