Posted January 04, 2017in Belly Up To...
“If you don’t vote, you can’t bitch,” says comedian Bill Blank from the stage of the Funny Bone Comedy Club. Blank was born in Iowa, and he attended North High School. His act balances Iowa-style common sense with logic, and he combines the two while driving a bulldozer down the
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Posted November 30, 2016in Belly Up To...
When the Chicago Cubs won the 2016 World Series, much of central Iowa joined in a long-overdue celebration. After nearly 100 years of torment since the team’s last crown, it was a jubilant time in the city. One business —1908 Draught House — was faced with a dilemma. Its very
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Posted November 02, 2016in Belly Up To...
The pulse quickens under the heat of the bright lights. The man with the hot mic is elevated on stage. The vocal chords quiver. The pupils dilate — it’s go time. “I had a heart attack six-and-a-half weeks ago, so I’ve had to tone it down,” says Frank Munch, a
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Posted October 05, 2016in Belly Up To...
With more than 100 martinis on the menu, The Stuffed Olive, located in the historic Court Avenue District, is a unique place with a unique name that is sure to have your new favorite drink on its menu. Brendan Kelley, the owner, general manager and the man generally in charge
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Posted August 31, 2016in Belly Up To...
“Obviously, you’re a moron.” That’s what potential investors, lenders and even friends told Anne Mathey and her business partner, Erik Brown, two years ago. The duo planned to put a new music venue into an old refurbished bar and name it after a three-legged dog owned by Mathey. Lefty’s Live
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Posted August 10, 2016in Belly Up To...
Gas Lamp is an old-school music venue in the Western Gateway portion of downtown that recently finished some redecorating. “There are no more nudes,” said Antonio Javier Manilla Rodriguez IIV. “It’s the end of an era.” Rodriguez is speaking of the iconic Playboy centerfolds that used to line the restroom
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Posted July 27, 2016in Belly Up To...
It’s nearly the end of July, and there aren’t any coats hanging from the Ducati motorcycle that’s been transformed into a coat rack, which hangs from the wall at GT’s, a neighborhood lounge on Ingersoll. The bar is decorated in a racing theme in which helmets are arranged in various
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Posted July 20, 2016in Belly Up To...
“The best bloody Larry in town.” That’s the claim of Quijano’s Bar and Grill on Southeast Sixth Street. “Larry” isn’t a typo. The drink might look like a bloody mary, and it might taste like one, too, but according to the bar’s co-owner and namesake Larry Quijano, there is something
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Posted July 13, 2016in Belly Up To...
The sign above the white gravel parking lot shows two frothy beer steins poised to clink together. The old school, lounge-looking watering hole sits low on the corner of McKinley Avenue and Southwest Ninth Street. From the outside looking in, the place looks quaint. Inside, the floor is carpeted,
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Posted July 06, 2016in Belly Up To...
Jim Besler didn’t plan on owning The Thirsty Sportsman — in fact, he never planned on owning any bar. “I thought I was going to go to work in an office every day,” he said. But that’s not how it worked out. Instead, Besler, who studied accounting in
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