Posted September 30, 2020in Lunch With...
Steven Vail is an international art dealer whose Steven Vail Fine Arts gallery is in Des Moines. I asked him to lunch, and he chose Lucca, Steve Logsdon’s mostly Italian café in East Village. On our visit, the carryout business was considerably more active than the indoor dining. Over a
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Posted September 02, 2020in Lunch With...
Jessica Dunker is head of the Iowa Restaurant Association, an organization that represents 600 members and 6,300 eating establishments. I asked her to lunch, and she chose Table 128, a casual fine-dining café in Clive. The restaurant had done more than any other I had seen to promote safe dining
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Posted August 05, 2020in Lunch With...
Jeff Bruning is a partner in Full Court Press, a gang of friends and entrepreneurs who open restaurants from conception to sizzle and serve. We asked him to lunch recently, and he chose Lucky Horse Beer & Burgers, the 15th restaurant in the group’s repertoire, not counting a couple they
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Posted July 01, 2020in Lunch With...
After nearly 30 years in the employee benefits business, Steve Flood retired from Holmes Murphy at age 57. Reflecting on his career, he said, “I have embraced our company’s two major goals. The first was to help our business partners attract, retain and retire the most productive workforce in the
Read More →Iowa musician was on the road 235 nights last year. Chad Elliott is an old-fashioned troubadour. He lives in Lamoni but spends two thirds of his nights each year on the road. His songs are often personal stories, and he sings them with an enthusiasm that builds audiences. He reminds
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Posted March 04, 2020in Lunch With...
Alice Meyer is the owner of Beaverdale Books, the only remaining independent new book dealer in the metro. We asked her to lunch recently, and she chose Grounds for Celebration in Beaverdale. I couldn’t help smiling at the choice. In the 1998 movie “You’ve Got Mail,” Meg Ryan plays a
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Posted February 05, 2020in Lunch With...
Discussions of flowers, Valentine’s Day and the changes the flower industry has undergone in his six decades in the business. Tom Boesen is part of a third-generation Des Moines family floral business. In fact, the Ingersoll Boesen’s store opened the day Tom came home from the hospital with his mother.
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Posted January 01, 2020in Lunch With...
A planned trip to Noah’s sidelined by weather Dave Beveridge owns Miller’s Hardware, a much-loved Drake area business that hangs on proudly in the era of Home Depot, Lowes, Menards and other national behemoths. After the closing of Fairgrounds Hardware in 2017, Miller’s and Hiland Park Hardware Company are the
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Posted December 04, 2019in Lunch With...
“Gardens are never the same twice; they always go off on new riffs.” Kelly Norris is the Director of Horticulture and Education for the Greater Des Moines Botanical Gardens (GDMBG). We asked him to lunch recently, and he chose Trellis, Lisa LaValle’s gem of a café in the GDMBG. To
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Posted November 06, 2019in Lunch With...
Grand View University president explains its growth over lunch at Tursi’s Latin King. Kent Henning is a month away from closing out 20 years of leadership at Grand View University. That Lutheran school on the eastside of town has gone through several transformations since its founding in 1896. The most
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