Posted September 30, 2026in Lunch With...
Dmitry Iakovlev owns Irina’s Steak & Seafood in West Des Moines with his wife, Irina Khartchenko. Since the restaurant is now 20 years old in Des Moines, we asked him to lunch to reminisce and talk about changes in the restaurant business and the couple’s long, strange trip to Iowa
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Posted September 02, 2026in Lunch With...
Shannon Earhardt is sports reporter/anchor at KCCI TV 8. Last year she became the first woman ever named “sportscaster of the year” in Iowa by National Sports Media Association. Earhardt impressed us four years ago immediately after arriving in Des Moines directly from University of Oklahoma (OU) journalism school after
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Posted August 05, 2026in Lunch With...
Scott Turczynski bought the former Landus Cooperative property in downtown Bondurant that he is redeveloping into The Grain District. That project includes 25 acres, multiple silos and a vision to become something similar to The District in Ankeny. Recently, he purchased The Foundry in Valley Junction from Templeton Rye founder
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Posted July 01, 2026in Lunch With...
Nash Roe is the producer, director, runner and star of Local TV 5’s “Iowa Food Diary.” His show is about to debut its season three. He is also a 17 year old, yet to begin his senior year at Valley High School. We asked him to lunch but had to
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Posted June 03, 2026in Lunch With...
Siriaco Garcia is a prolific Chicano artist who has installed more than 60 commissioned murals in central Iowa and Minnesota under his nom de plume Siricasso. To our mind, he is redefining 21st century Iowa more than anyone else. Siricasso has covered walls mostly with scenes of hope and assimilation.
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Posted May 06, 2026in Lunch With...
Michael Egel is the general and artistic director of Des Moines Metro Opera. We asked him to lunch recently and he chose Allora in the Krause Gateway Center. Allora offers full lunch service now after several years of mostly morning hours with coffee and limited food offerings. Choices included panini,
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Posted April 01, 2026in Lunch With...
Allie Delaney is the owner of Renovation Jungle, a plant store that inspires unusual loyalty, love and appreciation among customers. Jake Kashuk is her husband, a skateboard lifer and contractor. We think they epitomize the ideal young professionals that Des Moines is desperately hoping to attract to town. We asked
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Posted March 04, 2026in Lunch With...
Edgard Camacho is a French-born Venezuelan-American artist. We asked him to lunch recently, and he chose Flora, Suman Hoque’s café in the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden. Hoque has characterized his lunch and brunch offerings with transcultural touches from his East Bengali heritage. Soups are fantastic with a chickpea soup
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Posted February 04, 2026in Lunch With...
Jamie Farrington is a chef/mortgage broker who is opening The Rabbit Room in Johnston Feb. 9. To our minds, only a deep Romantic would open a wine bar devoted to the works of The Inklings, an early 20th century gang of Oxford professors who met regularly in the back room
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Posted December 31, 2025in Lunch With...
Connor Delaney is the driving force behind White Oak Realty, the company that has salvaged and redeveloped much of Highland Park and Ingersoll. We asked him to lunch and met at Hansen’s Manhattan Deli. That lunch spot sits between two White Oak properties — Historic Ingersoll Theater and a 1925
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