Django moves on, Lzaza welcomes all
February brought us one of the rarest weeks ever for culinary celebration. Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras, the first week of the Lenten Fish Fries and Bacon Fest [...]
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Posted February 28, 2018in Food Dude
Posted January 31, 2018in Food Dude
Range redefines the sports bar
This is the best sports bar food ever in central Iowa The word “redefine” is usually overstated in restaurant parlance. Once in a great while, someplace truly deserves the verb. [...]
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Posted January 03, 2018in Food Dude
Hilltop still sits on top
The family-owned, traditional Italian Des Moines café has anchored its neighborhood since 1950. For west side patrons such as I, Hubbell Avenue seems to end at Tursi’s Latin King at [...]
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Posted December 06, 2017in Food Dude
Cowboys and Indians and chickens
Common poultry made extraordinary at local restaurants To some, Cowboy Chicken is a brilliant bird rising from the ashes of an American legend. To others, it’s an intelligent business lesson in [...]
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Posted November 01, 2017in Food Dude
Heavenly Asian is well named
Getting straight to the point — greater Des Moines is now served by a San Gabriel class Chinese restaurant. San Gabriel, California, is the first U.S. city with a majority Asian population, [...]
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Posted October 04, 2017in Food Dude
Marlene’s new chef
Jacob Demars is a New Englander who comes to town via Denver, Chicago and Charleston Until the first freeze, October is the best month for food in Iowa. The overlap [...]
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Posted September 06, 2017in Food Dude
Centro
For more than a century, downtown culture has been driven by one particular restaurant or another. Younkers Tea Room was the bomb up until World War II. National radio shows [...]
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Posted August 02, 2017in Food Dude
Conversion succeeds the wrecking ball
Old Thresher’s Reunion is the most nostalgic recurring Iowa event. Held each year in Mount Pleasant on Labor Day weekend, it attracts a large number of former Iowans who moved [...]
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Posted July 05, 2017in Food Dude
Lucca finds its niche
Des Moines keeps turning out new restaurants at a pace that old timers think is unsustainable. The city also continues to support a number of traditional old restaurants where newcomers [...]
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Posted May 31, 2017in Food Dude
A new path
Six flavors of southeast Asia Since I began writing about the dining scene in Des Moines in the 1980s, most innovation has come from immigrant restaurants. A Dong, India Star, [...]
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