Posted May 04, 2022in Food Dude
One baffling question facing the contemporary restaurant world: Who first thought that endless menus were a good idea? The Cheesecake Factory leads America with a 23-page menu that includes 85 different chicken dishes and just short of 6,000 words. According to Business Insider, this works because the menu size generates
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Posted April 06, 2022in Food Dude
When Machine Shed was merely conceptual, Mike Whalen visited other places he felt would be competitors. After seeing Cracker Barrel, he told his designers that he wanted to be Cracker Barrel on steroids. Everything at Machine Shed is supersized — silverware, steak knives, booths, plates, serving sizes, tables, signs, etc.
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Posted March 02, 2022in Food Dude
Des Moines is blessed with lots of outstanding Vietnamese restaurants. Thank you, Gov. Ray. One of them is raising the bar. Pho 515 is about 90% of the way done with a major remodeling. It is enclosed now with lovely new furniture. All that is left is the installing of
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Posted February 02, 2022in Food Dude
Anna Dolce is a wonderful addition to the West Glen area. It is not a national franchise, which is a rare thing in this neighborhood. It is a collaboration between two of Des Moines’ most creative groups of restaurateur/bar innovators: Dark Side of the Spoon — which has 10 different
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Posted January 05, 2022in Food Dude
Des Moines has long boasted of an extraordinary number of Italian, mostly Calabrian, restaurants. Since Bob Ray opened the state to immigrants from Southeast Asia and Mexico in the late 1970s, Des Moines has added so many excellent Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, Michoacan, Jalisco and Central American restaurants that Tony Bourdain
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Posted December 01, 2021in Food Dude
The dining room is run by Andrew Wilson, who came to Des Moines from Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen. My first glimpse of Proudfoot & Bird was a personal downer. Having been a big fan of Django when it was in the Hotel Fort Des Moines, it was a shock
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Posted November 03, 2021in Food Dude
The burbs have become far more diverse than they were a generation earlier. Until the 21st century, Des Moines proper contained the overwhelming percentage of good ethnic restaurants while the suburbs were most famous for national chain restaurants and their accompanying neon flares. That has been changing for 20 years.
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Posted October 06, 2021in Food Dude
When Jay Wang took over the lease on what had always been Trostel’s Dish, he announced it would be his first non-Asian restaurant. The word “authentic” irks me, mainly because it is usually misused. We live in a FedEx world today where the available ingredients of all cuisines are 24 hours
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Posted September 01, 2021in Food Dude
There is no theme in this place except that it is all cool stuff that owner Denny Elwell enjoys and likes to share. A trip to Memphis 25 years ago coincided with a convention of the Church of God in Christ, one of the three largest congregations of African
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Posted August 04, 2021in Food Dude
The slow-roasted prime rib at AJ’s was as marvelous as it gets. Some of the disappearing classics of the last century have been coming back, at least in a few places. Hot beef sandwiches, hot pork sandwiches, meatloaf and even the Herbert Hoover-driven chicken and noodles of the Great Depression
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