Posted May 03, 2023in Lunch With...
Rick Tollakson is the most recent inductee of the Iowa Business Hall of Fame. He has been president and CEO of Hubbell Realty since 2004, a golden age for that venerable company. We asked him to lunch recently, and he chose Des Moines Golf and Country Club. Is that his
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Posted April 05, 2023in Lunch With...
Connie Wimer has racked up a lifetime of “firsts.” She was the first female owner of a title company in Iowa, the first owner of a computerized title company anywhere, the first female owner of an alternative newspaper and of a business paper in Iowa, and the first Iowan to
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Posted March 01, 2023in Lunch With...
Mike Wedeking is Mister Barbecue. After 20 years at Flying Mango, purveyor of the best vibes of any restaurant in Des Moines, he is trying to retire. We asked him to lunch, and he selected Wasabi Chi on Douglas. This is the BBQ guy’s escape — everyone in the restaurant
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Posted February 01, 2023in Lunch With...
Leo Landis is the curator for the State Historical Museum of Iowa after similar jobs at Oldfields-(Eli) Lilly House and Gardens in Indianapolis; Greenfield Villages (Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation) in Dearborn, Michigan; Iowa Living History Farms and the Salisbury House. He is also a serious scholar of food
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Posted January 04, 2023in Lunch With...
Mariela Maya is a Peruvian-born restaurateur who opened her dream bistro just before the pandemic and somehow managed to keep it alive by sheer determination, personal will and the help of good friends and family. She is now about to open a second restaurant, which, like her first, will bring
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Posted November 30, 2022in Lunch With...
Amy Vohs is an inventor of mostly baby products. She has sold more than 1.1 million at Walmart, Buy, Buy Baby and Amazon, plus in boutiques and on her website. We asked her to lunch recently, and she chose the Scooter’s in West Glen. Scooter’s is an Omaha-based coffee chain
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Posted November 02, 2022in Lunch With...
Elvin McDonald is the grand gentleman of Des Moines style and taste. As a longtime editor of Better Homes & Gardens, as director of the Des Moines Botanical Gardens, as a guiding light of the Pappajohn Sculpture Park, the gardens of Terrace Hill, and those of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church,
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Posted October 05, 2022in Lunch With...
Paul Willis is a Cerro Gordo County pig farmer who has been as successful as anyone in the world for upgrading the taste of pork. He is farmer No. 1 for Niman Ranch Pork, the company he has run since it was created. He was in town last month for
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Posted August 31, 2022in Lunch With...
Bill Luchsinger and Karen Strohbeen have probably sold more art than any other Iowa artists. They are equally well known for their TV show “The Perennial Gardener with Karen Strohbeen,” which Luchsinger produced and directed. That show played several years on national PBS stations. Since this is the height of
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Posted August 03, 2022in Lunch With...
Jerry Talerico is the dean of local chefs. He was the first Iowan to attend the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). He grew up in his father’s legendary restaurant Vic’s Tally Ho where steak de Burgo was on the menu before anywhere else. He owned Sam & Gabe’s, a legend
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