Posted August 10, 2016in Food Dude
After 29 years of weekly columns in Cityview (and its sister publications), this is my first monthly column. I chose Chef’s Kitchen because it represents what is best about both the old and new in Iowa restaurants — neighborly, small-town service and a third millennium emphasis on fresh ingredients. As
Read More →
Posted July 27, 2016in Food Dude
With a new and improved Cityview coming soon, this will end a streak of more than 1,300 straight weeks in which I have written about a local restaurant. It seems like a good opportunity to review 25 years of observations on this beat. Much has changed. When I began this
Read More →
Posted July 20, 2016in Food Dude
Arthur Koestler’s “Act of Creation” suggests that all great inventions are part of a Hegelian dialectic in which an antithetic idea is applied to an existing one. Blaze Pizza is such an idea. Elise and Rick Wetzel had the brilliant idea to apply the “build your own” style assembly
Read More →
Posted July 13, 2016in Food Dude
I have been writing a lot this year about good places in Waukee — Jethro’s Jambalaya, Kue’d, H Pho and India Tadka. Hot new joints sometimes obscure the memory of the tried and true. Recently I was reminded about one such place after rediscovering its dishes at a graduation
Read More →
Posted July 06, 2016in Food Dude
Soon after the last snow melted this spring, two of the most reliably excellent services in my life changed for the worse. Almost simultaneously, my postman stopped setting my mail either inside my porch door or in my mailbox; it’s now left on the doorstep, even if it’s windy or
Read More →
Posted June 29, 2016in Food Dude
Mexican is the new Italian. Just as Italian chefs dominated the local dining scene after World War II, Mexican chefs are running the kitchens of many restaurants today. Not just Mexican restaurants, either. Many of the city’s best fine dining spots are dependent on Latino line cooks. This is the
Read More →
Posted June 22, 2016in Food Dude
Twenty-some years ago, American sushi joints began opening outside Japanese neighborhoods in California and Hawaii. Soon after that, a sociologist published an infamous study determining that, at age 41, Americans crossed the “adventure line” — the point in life when one stops being interested in trying new things. The
Read More →
Posted June 15, 2016in Food Dude
The building at 1261 Eighth St. in West Des Moines peaked several incarnations and one nefarious lawsuit ago. As Eighth Street Seafood, it featured live jazz, fresh seafood and a vibe that said “this is the place to be.” Owner Jimmy Lynch, who also owned Jimmy’s American Café, Cabo San
Read More →
Posted June 08, 2016in Food Dude
Suburban strip malls are far less predictable than they used to be. One of the greatest restaurant cities on Earth is Monterrey Park, California, where almost all its many great restaurants are in strip malls. Across America, restaurateurs are taking chances locating in aging strip malls with lots of parking.
Read More →
Posted June 01, 2016in Food Dude
Each time I visit Bistro Montage, I see several of the same people. One of them explained that recently by saying, “Hey, it’s the neighborhood café.” Indeed, it fits South of Grand like a velvet glove. Enosh Kelley’s French bistro has shaken things up during his 13 years
Read More →
