Posted February 13, 2013in Featured Story, Food Dude
Readers frequently ask questions that begin, “Who makes your favorite…?” Answers, being a matter of taste, can start arguments. That’s why I appreciate tips from folks who believe they’ve discovered a new favorite of anything. Recently I received a tout for Hong Kong’s Chinese buffet. Most Chinese buffets here seem
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Posted February 06, 2013in Featured Story, Food Dude
The 20th-century Italian restaurant culture in Des Moines was sustained by a mythic cult of personalities. Many cafes went by first names only — Babe’s, Vic’s, Rocky’s, Noah’s, Chuck’s, Gino’s, Gianni’s, Johnny’s. Everybody knew those owners because they all greeted their customers every night. Restaurateurs Linda Bisignano (Chuck’s) and Jerry
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Posted January 30, 2013in Featured Story, Food Dude
Bacon Week is Des Moines’ Lupercalia, or more literally, our Fastnacht — a series of pig-outs preceding the fasts of Lent. Iowa celebrants are more apt to wear hog costumes than goatskins, but the soft underbelly of this state’s most plentiful mammal provides inspiration for a week of excess and
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Posted January 23, 2013in Featured Story, Food Dude
Andrew Meek makes a short list of people responsible for turning the local culinary scene into a source of civic pride. At the turn of millennium, Meek and John Ross’ Sage brought the public a level of service and fine dining that had only been available at private clubs. That
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Posted January 16, 2013in Featured Story, Food Dude
For Latino restaurants in Des Moines, the last 20 years brought the best of times and the worst of times. On the latter part of that Dickensian paradox, three different restaurants named Margarita’s have all come and gone. On the positive side, hard-working individuals have parlayed taco trucks and bare-boned
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Posted January 09, 2013in Featured Story, Food Dude
In greater Des Moines, new national chain restaurants debut amidst a barrage of hype. Openings last year of Twin Peaks, Whole Foods and Chick-fil-A became publicity circuses attracting campers and live television news reports. Even smaller Iowa companies like Pizza Ranch and The Other Place attracted huge crowds here from
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Posted January 02, 2013in Featured Story, Food Dude
In this post-New Year’s season of diets, resolutions and purges, even a meat-eating sinner such as I figured it was time to try out New World Café, Des Moines’ first all vegan restaurant. What’s that? Vegans avoid eating all the things that vegetarians refrain from eating plus any foods derived
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Posted December 26, 2012in Featured Story, Food Dude
The three great cuisines of classical history — Chinese, Roman and Ottoman — all developed as spoils of empire. From Zheng He and Marco Polo to Ibn Battuta and Columbus, history’s greatest adventurers trekked around the world seeking new foods as much as anything else. From Bistro 43 and Sage
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Posted December 19, 2012in Featured Story, Food Dude
The local restaurant scene seemed oblivious to any economic slump this year. The number of openings tripled the number of closings in 2012. New additions ranged from the spectacular (Exile) to the ubiquitous (fro-yo’s), from the reborn (Buzzard Billy’s) to relocated (Bambino’s) and from first-course specialists (The Standard) to desserts-only
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Posted December 12, 2012in Featured Story, Food Dude
The year 2012 brought the water dragon. For Iowa that meant far more dragon breath than water. The hottest, driest summer in decades resulted in a 4 percent drop in major agricultural production. Iowa wine growers, though, reported bumper crops. Restaurant news was similarly ambivalent. Many of the best new
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