Posted April 03, 2019in Lunch With...
We talked about the trend of free music on Ingersoll and bartending in general Bill Landis had as much to do as anyone with the 10-year-old phenomenon of free, quality music in town, particularly on Ingersoll. Uber drivers and couch surfers have told me that the street’s music has become
Read More →
Posted March 06, 2019in Lunch With...
Author of books about early days of rock and longtime Des Moines Register editor speaks Larry Lehmer spent 25 years at the Des Moines Register, mostly under the radar on the sports desk. Since retiring he has published two books about the music industry – “The Day the Music Died,”
Read More →
Posted February 06, 2019in Lunch With...
Jeff Fleming is the director of the Des Moines Art Center. He’s been in Des Moines now for 20 years, a period that coincides with a golden age for the arts and for food in central Iowa. We asked him to lunch to talk about that, and he chose Jesse’s
Read More →
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
Read More →
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
Read More →
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
Read More →
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
Read More →
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
Read More →
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
Read More →
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
Read More →
