Nick’s finds its niche
Is it possible to move a restaurant without altering its character? Iowa café owners have been mulling that question for decades. In Des Moines, both Full Court Press and Orchestrate [...]
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Posted June 11, 2014in Food Dude
Posted June 04, 2014in Food Dude
G. Mig’s short order bliss
I recently participated in a “restaurant nomenclature” project for a food association. Among the distinctions discussed was that between a “bar and grill” and similar things such as a pub, [...]
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Posted May 28, 2014in Food Dude
Cityscape solves the traveler dilemma
Hotel restaurants operate with conflicting ambitions. On one hand, most travelers want consistency and seek familiarity. But there are also an increasing number of travelers who want to taste the [...]
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Posted May 21, 2014in Food Dude
Golden Triangle is something special
New noodle shops are dancing to the tunes of musical chairs. Embassy Club executive chef Michael Bailey has opened Noodle Boy downtown in the Riverwalk Hub specializing in pho (beef [...]
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Posted May 14, 2014in Food Dude
New Paradise Biryani is well named
I spent a year in India during the 1960s. That was a popular thing to do then. The Beatles, Jackie Kennedy and a few thousand hippies seeking enlightenment also tried [...]
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Posted May 07, 2014in Food Dude
The Bass Pro Shop of steakhouses
“Don’t sell the steak, sell the sizzle.” That phrase, coined by Elmer Wheeler in the 1920s, urges salesmen to focus on the experience around a product rather than on the [...]
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Posted April 30, 2014in Food Dude
New café charms Orchestrate’s restaurant lineup
A basic tenet of good messaging is rarely heeded in these days of abundance and excess: What’s left out is as significant as what’s included. Malo, a new Hispanic-American-themed restaurant [...]
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Posted April 23, 2014in Food Dude
Eatery-A, the new star on Ingersoll
When I began writing about the Des Moines’ food scene in the 1980s, Ingersoll was dominated, west of Noah’s, by fast-food franchises and dive bars. A comeback began with the [...]
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Posted April 16, 2014in Food Dude
‘Iowa’s largest buffet’ at China One
During the reign of Louis XIV, buffets reached decadent heights of conspicuous consumption. Alexandre-François Desportes painted a few of the Sun King’s more lavish party spreads before Louis’ gold and [...]
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Posted April 09, 2014in Food Dude
Dining in the ruins
American restaurant history spins many tales of blind luck. In 1929, Malcom Nichols, the prudish mayor of Boston, Mass., banned Eugene O’Neill’s infamous play. “Strange Interlude.” Promoters moved the five-hour [...]
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