Posted May 31, 2023in Food Dude
Road trips are for all seasons but winter. But without a truly special destination, why would we bother? Two places, one less than 40 miles from downtown, the other less than 113, are drawing diners from near and far because they offer exceptionally good versions of two of Iowa’s favorite
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Posted May 03, 2023in Food Dude
Because soccer and Caitlyn Clark are best appreciated with a crowd, this writer ventured out to many new sports bars since autumn became spring. The owner of Terra Grill and Churrascaria generously hosted watch parties of Brazil’s World Cup games. A new Brazilian Café has since opened in the same
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Posted April 05, 2023in Food Dude
What’s in a name? Would a dzo, by any other, not taste the same? In Des Moines, it would not because this Korean steakhouse uses beef, not the offspring of a cow and a yak that is its namesake. Too many years of watching Andrew Zimmern’s “Bizarre Foods” made me
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Posted March 01, 2023in Food Dude
Hospitality management colleges, like the highly rated one at Iowa State, teach that names are a first essential step toward restaurant or resort success. A name should appeal to a public sense of comfort (Cozy’s, Fireside), pride in history (Iowa Machine Shed, Proudfoot & Bird), romance (Open Sesame, Zanzibar), clever
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Posted February 01, 2023in Food Dude
Whether intended or not, Tullpa Restaurant’s name conjures up “tulpa,” a term used in theosophy, paranormalism and mysticism to identify a corporal and sentient body that was previously only imaginary. The restaurant’s logo is “Ritmo, Color, Sabor (pulse, color, flavor)” which are certainly sentient qualities, so let’s imagine that is
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Posted January 04, 2023in Food Dude
The Cooper’s Hawk is a marvelous-looking bird that preys on robins and chipmunks and such. It was not named for James Fenimore Cooper, who created the character Hawkeye in “The Last of the Mohicans.” Do not go to Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant expecting to find taxidermic hawks, which are
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Posted November 30, 2022in Food Dude
Marcel Proust translated the memory of a grandmother’s madeleine cookies into the 3,000-page novel “Remembrance of Things Past.” Ever since, taste and smell have been the senses of nostalgia. The holidays bring out the tastes and aromas of les temps perdus more than any other time of the year. This
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Posted November 02, 2022in Food Dude
It’s hard as ever to open a new restaurant these days with labor shortages, high-interest loans, and customers stressed by inflation. Yet people keep doing it, and doing it well. In this month of thanksgivings, we salute daring new places that made the local food scene much better. There is
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Posted October 05, 2022in Food Dude
Restaurants on the outskirts of town have been development pathfinders. When Eddie Webster’s opened in 1970, it was miles of cornfields away from the houses. It introduced central Iowa to flagons of wine, Alaskan ice cream cocktails, and a menu of steaks and lobster, no pasta or chicken. Eddie built
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Posted August 31, 2022in Food Dude
National chain restaurants are true believers in templates. They don’t deviate much from one store to another in menu or floor plan. Des Moines restaurant groups take a different path to expansion. Full Court Press likes to open completely new restaurants from one to another – Hessen Haus, Red Monk,
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