The ultimate metro breakfast

8/2/2023

Breakfast is not what it used to be. In the days of the classic diners of Des Moines, breakfast was a 24-hour-a-day offering of eggs any way you wanted them, with hash browned potatoes and a choice of bacon, sausage or ham with white or wheat toast and jam. Pancakes and waffles were the only other options. 

The Why Not Grill, Knox Café and Toddle House burnt the midnight oil long before Denny’s, IHOP or Perkin’s thought it would be a good idea. A dozen downtown diners with counter seating served breakfast and lunch only. They evolved out of the Depression because an owner could run one with just one employee. They were all gone by the 1980s.

When factories, particularly tire factories, ran round-the-clock shifts, breakfast was served in numerous bars that opened at 6 a.m., after the night shift. In the 1970s, people waited an hour and a half at Boswell’s on weekend mornings because that’s how long it took for their hash browns to cook. Then, probably in the 1980s, breakfast became a hustle, as did all American lifestyle. Doughnut shops, then bagel shops and eventually the Starbucks types seized a market that often demanded drive-through service. The McMuffin and McBiscuit were the stakes through the heart of leisurely breakfast joints.

Sadly, the 24-hour options are exhausted now, but breakfast, or brunch as it sometimes likes to be called, is bigger, grander and more international then ever in Des Moines. And it isn’t just for weekends any more. 

Without the 24-hour joints, traditional breakfasts in town are best repped by Drake Diner (DD), Family Café, The Waveland, Hy-Vee Market Grills, Cracker Barrel (CB), and Machine Shed (MS), which calls itself “Cracker Barrel on steroids.” DD offers special touches to tradition like pumpkin pancakes, grilled corned beef hash and homemade sausage gravy on chicken fried steak. CB has fried chicken as an option to chicken fried steak and corn bread as an option to biscuits. They smoke their own bacon, and they offer kids meal specials all day to any aged kid. MS offers huge plates, huge steak knives, oversized booths, and giant servings.

Many restaurants are known for low-priced basic breakfasts. Ankeny Café, Brick Street Diner in Bondurant (with some of the best prices in the metro and amazing sausage gravy and tenderloins), 100th Street Corner Café, Café on Douglas, Sugar Shack in Altoona, the Cozy Cafes and Mustang Grill in Grimes keep faith with tradition. Café at the Meadows adds smoked brisket and pizza options to traditional breakfast. 

Main Street Café in Ankeny combines elements of traditional and new wave breakfast. French toasts are made with croissants and even crème brulee. So are waffles. Sprockets adds some south side Chicago breakfast ambiance particularly with their chicken and waffles with fresh fruit. 

Super Bakeries

La Mie and South Union changed Des Moines breakfast forever. Before Joe (and Steve) Logsdon and George Formaro made great French and Italian bread available fresh in Des Moines, people would carry bread home on flights from San Francisco and New York. I bumped into Des Moines Register columnist Rob Borselino more than once in Chicago with both of us carrying on breads from two coasts. Joe, Steve and George ended all that. 

Joe and George created a new culture here that elevated breakfast. Joe Logsdon’s La Mie is a national legend and so is he, becoming a national semifinalist for best pastry chef in the James Beard Awards. His café is tres elegante, but simple. Elegance is in the details — croissants are laminated at least 12 times. That means dough and butter are folded and refolded over and over to produce the unmistakable layering and flakiness of the best croissants. Simplicity is the rest of the show — nothing fancy, just French executions.

Formaro hand built a backyard brick oven bakery that recreated Sicilian and Calabrian ovens of his parents’ heritage. He even excavated bricks from the long-gone Italian bakeries of coal mining towns of 100 years ago in Boone County and Dallas County like Zook Spur. The City of Des Moines bought him out through eminent domain, but he kept his aged recipes, and South Union bakery now fuels Gateway Market Cafe breakfasts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Beans & Beignets in Earlham is an unpredictable success story only made possible by excellence. The menu does not sound fancy or extraordinary, but the execution is. New Orleans style beignets and cinnamon rolls are amazing. So are pies. Crouse Café in Indianola and Family Table in Osceola are also breakfast touts that feature homemade pies.

Scenic Route Bakery in East Village offers pastries and sandwiches all day. St. Kilda’s has an Australian-style bakery in their West Des Moines store but features those goodies at all locations. They offer breakfast all day and include Aussie things like smashed peas and eggs, two kinds of salmon, and pork belly Benedict. 

Morning in Ames

Ames is a breakfast town. Some think that is because college towns always have more demand for the hangover-soothing effects of breakfast after binge drinking. For whatever reason, Ames is rife with breakfast quality. 

The Café, which issues a daily menu of superb freshly baked breads, serves Las Vegas level brunch on weekends. Among the offerings: fried green tomato Benedict with pimento grits; English muffins with bacon and fruit; Croque Forestier with griddled sourdough and five wild mushrooms baked with Gruyere and served with salad greens and fruit; quiche Loraine; lemon poppy seed pancakes with blueberry butter and real maple syrup; huevos rancheros; and custard-soaked berry French toast. 

Provisions Lot F serves hip things like red bean-quinoa burgers, asparagus omelets, smoked salmon Benedict, and Brussels sprouts salads. Their chicken and waffles are served with raspberry chipotle maple syrup. Their chia bowls include fresh peaches. 

Café Baudelaire has a Brazilian take on breakfast with picanha steak and eggs, “simple” fejoada which includes just about everything, and Portuguese omelets with luiguica. Other Ames spots with traditional big breakfasts include The Grove, The Filling Station, Flippin’ Jacks and Mucky Duck Pub. 

Full Court Press 

This gang of mostly friends from Carroll have contributed to Des Moines dining culture like few others. They have preferred creating brand new restaurant concepts over chain cutting. With Mullets, they brought avocado toast flights to town, plus avocado, burnt ends and country fried steak Benedicts. And they introduced pangasius to town. Mullets can be busy at 7 a.m. after nursing shifts at local hospitals.

At University Library Café, they introduced croissants to their breakfast (weekends only) menu. At Royal Mile, they created French toast donut holes, Scotch eggs and bangers — with Baileys Irish cream, hot toddys and Irish coffee. Royal Mile is also gracious to open early for breakfast to accommodate fans of the English Premiere League.

The Chicken in Orilla has a simple breakfast, but, of course, it includes their broasted chicken in several applications like chicken and waffles, chicken Benedict and Nashville chicken burritos.

Buzzard Billy’s does an all-out lavish breakfast with all the traditional favorites plus sugar donuts, alligator Benedict, and blackened steak and eggs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  

Asian breakfast

Vietnamese Iowans have brought a new concept to town, with modifications. Pho, a beef and noodle soup, is a traditional breakfast in southeast Asia. Thanks to Gov. Bob Ray, Iowa has been one of the most welcoming of all states to Vietnamese immigrants. 

Phos, always made from scratch with beef bone stock, are served all over town with amazing optional ingredients. Pho All Seasons, Pho 515, Fawn’s, Pho 808, All Pho You and A Dong lead the list but few are open before 11 a.m. Pho 515 and Pho All Seasons are and have amazing sizzling crepes, a French Indo Chinese dish stuffed with shrimp, pork belly, spouts and vegetables and served with lemon sauce and lettuce wraps.  

Chinese breakfast usually means dim sum, which loosely translates as “point from heart.” In metro Des Moines, dim sum means Wong’s Chopsticks in Johnston. Dim sum is a Sunday only deal, and there are no tantalizing carts but many tantalizing dumplings, rice wraps, stuffed peppers and custard bun delights. 

Latino breakfasts

The metro’s burgeoning Latino restaurant scene offers many choices for breakfast delight. Breakfast is not just for huevos rancheros anymore either. Many places offer the legendary hangover cures — menudo and pozole — on weekends. 

El Fogon serves breakfast anytime including rib eye steak and eggs, huevos con chorizo, divorced huevos (one in green salsa another red), mole enchiladas and eggs. 

La Familia, “la casa de barbacoa,” opens at 9 a.m. on weekends and serves six Mexico City breakfasts including chilaquiles and eggs in guajillo salsa with sour cream, cheese and beans. They also serve the most varied array of meats for tacos, tortas and burritos, including lamb and lamb consommé. Their full bar offers ridiculous tequila specialties including cantaritos with lime juice, orange juice and grapefruit juice in massive earthenware mugs. 

El Rey in West Des Moines is open 10-10 and offers breakfast anytime. El Rey in Perry has a fresh bakery, is open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, and offers a chance to buy guns and ammunition with breakfast. 

Fancier ways to go

Breakfast has, within its slimmed down hours, become fancier. Some call it brunch now, meaning lunch items might also be served. Early Bird is a pioneer on this front. They make bacon into a buffet of choices: braised pork belly, candied bacon, corn cob smoked, pecan wood smoked shoulder bacon, house made bacon jam, all served with sourdough toast. They also offer cinnamon roll kebabs, puff pastry pies, French toast sticks with real maple syrup, hash brown croquettes, crab cake Benedict, pecan pie pancakes, Benedict sandwiches and tomato bisque or hash brown chowder are available with everything. 

Eggs & Jam offers brunch with rap and classic rap, and yes that is a thing. They are probably more famous for creative rap inspired-cocktails than for eggs. They incorporate things rarely seen in local mixology like lavender simple syrup, peach simple syrup, elderberry liqueur, homemade marmalades, and vodkas infused with every conceivable fruit or vegetable. Food options include the possibility to include almond butter, simple syrups, Philly steak, fried chicken, or avocado with just about anything. 

Americana has a famous weekend “Bombshell Brunch” that includes a mac and cheese bar, a mashed potato bar and a taco bar. You can also order brunch with bottomless mimosas, screwdrivers and bloody Marys. 

Fresko serves brunch every day, and it’s fantastic. They won’t tell me what their pancake batter is, but it is as fluffy as it gets. They make raspberry marscapone, crab cake Benedict, banana bread French toast, multiple crepes and pretzel croissants. They also serve kir royale (champagne with crème de cassis). 

Six days a week, Motley School Tavern opens early for breakfast. They make homemade pastrami for their hash, chicken fried chicken, pineapple upside down pancakes, and cakes with cinnamon rolls. 

Eatery A includes cauliflower falafel, all-lamb gyros, lemon ricotta pancakes and prosciutto in their weekend brunch. 

Centro’s weekend brunch offers crab cake Benedict with Niman Ranch ham, plus their signature pizza, cavatelli, bellinis, onion rings and the largest local brunch menu of salads. 

Little Brother is a Jewish deli-inspired restaurant where breakfast is the most important meal. Corned beef is made and aged in house for their hash. Biscuits are schmaltz. Fluffy eggs are steamed. They make lox Benedict, candied Benedict and chicken fried portobellos with sundried tomato gravy. Short ribs are braised in Manischewitz with cheese curds, potatoes and sunny side egg. They also offer a pancakes and waffles menu that includes yeasted cakes, fried chicken and maple syrup, blintzes, donut pies and meatloaf croquettes. Roast beef and smoked beef are from tri tip. 

Area Breakfast Clubs offer breakfast corned dogs with sausage, maple syrup and strawberry glaze. Or crepe flights where one chooses among banana, mixed berry, Nutella, lemon mousse, maple cream cheese, roasted apples, and caramel. They have steak de Burgo Benedict, strawberry shortcake waffles, and bananas foster French toast. 

It’s up to you now.

Each fall, CITYVIEW opens a contest to let our readers select the ultimate local version of a popular food. Sandwich lovers picked B&B Grocery Meat & Deli’s pork tenderloin as the ultimate sandwich. Steakhouse fans went with Chicago Speakeasy, noodle lovers chose Noodle Zoo, steak de Burgo fans chose Irina’s, burger lovers went with Café at the Meadows, and later with Dirt Burger. Barbecue aficionados selected Woody’s. Three times we held pizza runoffs, with Gusto yielding its title to Taste of New York, which repeated three years ago. Last year, taco lovers went with Tasty Tacos. 

In this most contentious of political years, we decided it was time to let you pick the ultimate breakfast in town.  

Food is the new politics. Both subjects inspire intense loyalties that are usually only shared by members of the same tribe. Just as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fans can’t comprehend how anyone could support fully funded police forces, lovers of crepes and quiche can’t understand people who eat cereal for breakfast. If anything, food arguments are more splintered than political ones. 

That’s probably because every human has a unique combination of 2,000 to 8,000 different “taste buds,” each of which can be more or less sensitive from one person’s tongue to another’s. Those different combinations are as distinctive as fingerprints, yet most people want others to like eating the same things they like to eat. I know couples who broke up over food selections, and women who dumped boyfriends for not allowing them to eat off their plates.

At CITYVIEW, the First Amendment is our favorite. We love a good argument. We leave the complexity of political polling to Ann Selzer (who is also a font of food information). However, to determine a consensus about more intricate local tastes, we instigated the Ultimate Food Challenge in 2010. This year it is the ultimate breakfast. Voting results and rules will be posted regularly on our web page and in this magazine. If you care about breakfast, it is your culinary duty to vote. Turn the page to the list of Breakfast & Brunch restaurants to vote on! ♦

VOTE HERE