Restoration of The Latin King

5/6/2026

The Latin King is an Iowa legend. Begun in 1947 by Rose and Jimmy Pigneri, its name comes from New York City’s Latin Quarter in the days when “Latin Americans” there, and here, were mostly Italian. 

The restaurant then was limited to what are now parts of the “Pink Room” and the bar. In 1983, Bob and Amy Tursi bought it from his cousins. The Tursis added a “best in town” lobby with a revolving door, church pews, a rocking chair, historic photos, tables and a large pile of CITYVIEW magazines. The status of that lobby grew to mythical levels because Bobby ran the place from there. He was the last of a great line of Italian restaurateur-hosts that included owner hosts of 20 local restaurants. They dominated 20th-century dining in Des Moines by sheer force of their personalities.  

A temperature-controlled wine cellar and two additional dining rooms — the Blue Room and the Main Room — were added one at a time. In 2021, the Tursis sold the restaurant to Kansas City’s Vin Zant group, which also owned Louie’s Wine Dives, Fresko, and 11 other chains.  

The Latin King’s personality was lost in the enormity of it all. Worse, Vin Zant sold the real estate that The Latin King had assembled under Tursi, including the largest parking lot of any locally owned restaurant. Selling one’s real estate and leasing it back is the strategy that destroyed Red Lobster, among others. We suspect it financed Vin Zant’s relentless expansion, including his purchase of Sonoma vineyards sold at The Latin King, and the settlement of a lawsuit employees brought for withheld wages. 

In the last year, the corporation sold managing partnerships to Matt McCartney and chef Mathew Schmeisser, former employees when Tursi owned it. Current employees, including several with more than 20 and 30 years of service, told us that customers had complained about the quality of ingredients that the corporation had degraded. 

The two Matts have restored things from kitchen ordering on down. Among the restorations is longtime chef Pat Morris’ bone-scratch chicken and egg noodles with mashed potatoes, for the first time since his death in 2022. Morris used to announce its availability on an elite email list. Now it’s the star of the menu every third Thursday of the month. 

Other dishes have attained icon status. The chicken spiedini in amogio sauce is referred to as “the million-dollar dish” in the kitchen. McCartney says it accounts for nearly 30% of orders. Spiedini is Italian for what Arabs call kebabs, Argentines call parilla, Vikings named skewers and Indians call tikka. The chicken is breast meat. Bobby Tursi discovered the dish at Garozzo’s in Kansas City. It has always been served there with marinara. Latin King serves it with amogio — olive oil, butter, herbs and spices. 

Fried chicken is scratch made and fried in lard, as the Roman gods ordained. All dressings are homemade. Schmeisser says the creamy Parmesan is by far the most popular. Herby focaccia is the house bread, complimentary here. 

Ravioli, boiled or fried, can be stuffed with lobster. Meatballs are from a Pigneri recipe. Among the scratch-made side dishes, American fries are made again the original way, very crisply crusted with melt-in-your mouth tenderness. Fried potatoes do not get better than these, with or without green onions and cheese options. They are generously plated, yet my waiter recently observed my enthusiasm for them this way. 

“Thanks, we might not even need to use the dishwasher.” 

Desserts include homemade cannoli, famous carrot cake, and tiramisu which I first saw in Des Moines at The Latin King. A recent Saturday visit was pumped up by scores of high schoolers in prom attire. 

The Latin King is again a royal option for special occasions. ♦

Jim Duncan is a food and art writer who has been covering the central Iowa scene for more than five decades.