Posted May 20, 2015in Belly Up To...
The telltale sign of an overpriced, pretentious meal is one served on a large white plate, the food taking up only the smallest amount of space in the center. In our humble state of Iowa, seeing the arrival of such a dish will more often than not leave customers saying,
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Posted May 13, 2015in Belly Up To...
When it comes to beer connoisseurs in the central Iowa area, most know about the rustic bar with the rusty tin roof nestled in a corner of downtown Des Moines near the Des Moines River. El Bait Shop is not the biggest or shiniest bar around, nor is it even
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Posted May 06, 2015in Belly Up To...
When the first warm days of spring appear and give us hope that “the longest winter ever” is finally coming to an end, the roads and sidewalks are filled with runners, joggers, walkers and cyclists who have been itching to hit the pavement. And where better to watch all that
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Posted April 29, 2015in Belly Up To...
When you look around and see every other person texting, face-timing, blogging and taking selfies, you realize how much you miss the simpler times of previous decades. There’s no denying the positive impact all this technology has made on our world, but wouldn’t it be nice to unplug and step
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Posted April 22, 2015in Belly Up To...
Cradled by the booming arms of Des Moines, Snusville is a homey town where everyone knows everyone. It’s like when you call a friend to tell him or her about your new promotion on the way home from work, and by the time you arrive, people are already celebrating your
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Posted April 15, 2015in Belly Up To...
The key to reopening a new bar in a city filled with competition is to be different. Otherwise, why would anyone leave his or her comfortable favorite to try out a new place that might have higher-priced drinks and worse service? Cory and Chelsea Steiner bought the old Fat Tony’s
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Posted April 08, 2015in Belly Up To...
To some outsiders, living in Iowa might seem dull, lackluster and full of corn. To those of us who live here, however, Des Moines has a great mixture of small-town simplicity and big-city extravagance — with some cornfields in between. When people come here from other cities, the locals’ love
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Posted March 31, 2015in Belly Up To...
The struggle of being an adult is real: you have kids, but your friends want you to go out and grab a couple of drinks. The problem is that the babysitter is sick, and Mom and Dad are out of town. So weekend after weekend, you have to tell your
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Posted March 25, 2015in Belly Up To...
With bold makeup, big hair and bigger personalities, drag shows provide entertainment for countless Des Moines residents. Man or woman, gay or straight, you’ll find all types of people gathered to watch the shows. The View club has opened in the former Le Boi location, and it’s new and improved
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Posted March 18, 2015in Belly Up To...
As a kid, it’s safe to say that, for many of us, our favorite part of dinner was the dessert that followed. Whether it was a piece of cake, a bowl of ice cream or even just a regular chocolate chip cookie, that sweet promise of sugar gave us the
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