Posted January 02, 2019in Lunch With...
Brokering, fishing, skiing and gambling Dick Grangaard is a retired stockbroker. Active stockbrokers cannot talk to the media without jumping through hoops, so I recently asked Grangaard to lunch to discuss a lifetime of changes in the brokering business as well as in fishing, skiing and casino gambling. At the Manhattan Deli, Grangaard told me
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Posted December 05, 2018in Lunch With...
Enjoying a Vincent van Gogh at the Greenwood Lounge The word enthusiasm deserves more respect than it usually gets. Literally it means “god within thee.” Sydney Klise is a precocious enthusiast. Recently turned 30, she has owned her own business, Klise Dog, for eight years. She does no advertising, not
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Posted October 31, 2018in Lunch With...
Turning lemons into lemonade. Steve White is probably Iowa’s greatest impresario, though he prefers the less descriptive word promoter. He brought world-famous shows to Iowa and the rest of the nation from the 1970s until recently. He calls himself “mostly retired” now but still works with Widespread Panic and invests
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Posted October 03, 2018in Lunch With...
Chris Diebel is a Des Moines restaurateur and marketer who owns Bubba Southern Kitchen and Whiskey Bar and represents the Orchestrate Group that includes Centro, Django, Malo, Zombie Burger and Drink Lab, South Union Bread and Deli, and Gateway Market and Café. He’s also a bona fide trendsetter in style
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Posted September 05, 2018in Lunch With...
Brad Burt is CEO of Maid-Rite. We asked him to meet us for lunch, and he suggested the company’s store in the food court of Merle Hay Mall. That is one of the best food courts around with Vietnam Café, Twisted Pizzeria, Tamales Industry and Lazize Mediterranean offering considerably more
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Posted August 01, 2018in Lunch With...
Local musician, special education teacher, husband and father of two. Heath Alan is one of the most talented and best known of local musicians. He’s played with Harry Connick, Jr. and Louie Bellson. Locally he works with top talents like David Zollo, Brother Trucker, James Biehn, Bonne Finken and King
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Posted July 04, 2018in Lunch With...
Retired bookie shares his insight and opinions on the gambling scene Bob Derryberry is a retired bookie and professional gambler who was the target of a very strange raid in 2003 in Norwalk. We asked him to lunch and suggested Prairie Meadows. He said he was banned for life and
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Posted June 06, 2018in Lunch With...
Andy Fales is WHO TV’s morning anchor and a longtime media presence in the sports scene. His features “Andy Answers,” “Iowa Icons,” and “What’s Bugging Andy?” reveal sharp senses for irony and quirkiness. He’s also a serious food and dog lover like myself, so I asked him to lunch recently,
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Posted May 02, 2018in Lunch With...
A discussion on the state of the local real estate market at Paula’s in Valley Junction. Kim O’Connor is a Realtor who brands herself KO Realty and works under the Iowa Realty umbrella. We asked her to lunch recently to discuss the state of the local real estate market. She
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Posted April 04, 2018in Lunch With...
An interview over broasted chicken from High Life Lounge TJ Moberg and Ryan Mullin have been close friends most of their lives. Both went to East High School and developed a strong interest in the arts. TJ owns Moberg Gallery and is himself a successful artist in several disciplines. Ryan
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