Dmitry Iakovlev at Irina’s Steak & Seafood

9/30/2026

Dmitry Iakovlev owns Irina’s Steak & Seafood in West Des Moines with his wife, Irina Khartchenko. Since the restaurant is now 20 years old in Des Moines, we asked him to lunch to reminisce and talk about changes in the restaurant business and the couple’s long, strange trip to Iowa and citizenship. He suggested we meet at Irina’s, which opens daily at 3 p.m.

Twenty years is amazing in one of the toughest of businesses. Less than half of all new restaurants last five years. It must have taken a lot of scrambling and adjustments? 

“We opened Irina’s on 50th in West Des Moines in 2006. I remember her saying ‘Keep an eye on that weird guy in the red sneakers. I think he’s taking notes.’”

That would have been me. The first thing I remembered then was the extravagant flower arrangements. To this day, Irina’s does flower presentations and lighting better than anyone else in town.

“That’s all Irina. She loves flowers. Sometimes, we collaborate now with Boesen’s. They are great, and a local company.”

Irina’s today is a nearly isolated local independent in the midst of international brand names of the Jordan Creek hood. How is that working?

“Twenty years ago, that was important. People liked supporting locals. It helped us on Hickman when we moved there in 2008. Today, in this neighborhood, I don’t think people care one way or the other whether you are local or not. They just want to go somewhere they can have a good time.”

Dmitri and Irina have probably done more renovation work than any other restaurateurs in Des Moines. They moved Irina’s to Hickman in 2008 and then opened the current place on South Prairie View Drive in 2022. Which job was bigger, turning Razamatazz Bar on Hickman around, or transforming Bonefish into the present restaurant? 

“The place on Hickman was a mess. The previous owner left in a hurry. There was an abandoned safe, and when we opened it, we found white powder. We just threw it all away. There was so much water damage that we had to tear off the drywall. We found contraband in the walls.”

Then a few years later, someone sawed through the ceiling, probably looking to saw through the drywall? 

“That was one theory. That was a crazy place back then. Here, when Bonefist left, they took everything. The bar was just a wall. No booths were left, nothing in the kitchen. It was a complete rebuilding job.”

Since opening in Jordan Creek, several new, all-prime steakhouses have moved into the neighborhood. The competition must be brutal?

“When we opened here, there was only Fleming’s, then came Ruth’s Chris and Prime & Providence. Plus, Oak Park opened in Des Moines. All those places appeal to our customers. We pivoted more to the high end. Our beef is Australian wagyu; they are 51% Japanese. In Japan, I think they take marbling too far. Look at this (he shows me photos of supermarket beef counters in Japan), even among the cheap cuts, the marbling is all above what would be USDA Choice here and you never see anything close to USDA Select, let alone USDA Good there.

“We spent months developing our gunpowder seasoning after Morton’s quit selling it. We do other classic treatments. (I love Irina’s black garlic jus with Bearnaise.) We found our ager in Germany. It can dry age 350 days, but I don’t think Iowans want anything more than 30 days, sometimes 40. We only use King salmon and true Patagonian sea bass. And King crab. They are considerably more expensive, but I think people go out to taste something special.”

Have dining habits changed much since COVID?

“Definitely. They are different in West Des Moines than in the city, too. People here today go home after work, change clothes and then go back out. 6 o’clock is the new 5 o’clock. We extended Happy Hour following COVID to 7 p.m. Also, customers go out less frequently. We have fewer customers who go out three or four times a week than we used to. Probably because of social media, there is a fascination with new places. I think more customers today try more different places. To stick around 20 years, you must adjust.”

What adjustments has Irina’s made?

“We don’t have Russian dinners anymore. We used to book over 200 reservations for them but after the war in Ukraine began, we didn’t want to be associated with them. Also, we used to be well known for our European vodkas, vodka flights and vodka shots. Not so much anymore. Some Russian vodkas are banned or effectively banned by tariffs. We used to supply rides for bachelorette parties doing vodka flights, not anymore. We still have some rare vodkas, but that’s not part of our identity anymore.”

The couple spent 10 years chasing the American Dream across Canada and California before moving to Iowa to start their family. When they first arrived, in Montreal, they were broke. It took all their savings to get to Montreal. Neither spoke English or French.

“We were young. We could sleep in a car and live in garages. A lot of people in Southern California live in garages. But when Irina became pregnant, we needed a more peaceful place. We had friends in Postville who invited us there so we moved to Iowa. 

“We only lasted a short time in Postville. Immigration raids and factories were shutting down, so we moved to Des Moines and loved it immediately. Irina worked at Homemakers, and I worked at construction while studying graphic design. When we saved enough money, we opened the first restaurant.”

They both have restaurant blood.

“I was raised in a restaurant in Sochi. That’s a Black Sea resort town. Because it’s circled by the Caucasus mountains, it has a winter season, but its climate is mostly like middle Florida. Irina grew up in Moscow. We met when she moved to Sochi.” 

Dmitri is a chef himself, but he leaves the kitchen all in the hands of Chef Gabe Grugello now. We think Gabe is the best chef in Des Moines that no one knows about. He came to Des Moines to open Mondo’s in 1996. That was the first restaurant here to feature fresh and local product, before Bistro 43, Sage or Daniel. 

“He’s influenced Des Moines dining ever since. He’s been with us eight years. He added a lot of Southwestern touches. His Southwest octopus with chorizo is the best treatment ever.” ♦

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