The living treasures of Iowa food

7/1/2026

Inspired by Japan’s Living National Treasures, the idea for CITYVIEW’s CHOICE awards originated 12 years ago. The Japanese program honors “preservers of important intangible cultural properties.” In the years after World War II, anxiety arose in Japan that their unique cultural traditions — noh, kabuki, origami, kumi, sumo, teapot ceramics, noodle making — might be swamped by the conquering Western culture. By honoring revered exemplars of those arts, they preserved them and made them important to a new generation.

Our intention at CITYVIEW was to do something similar for Iowa’s venerable, enduring food treasures. That evolved into a hall of fame for people and institutions that bestow a singular quality and identity on our city and state. CITYVIEW’s Hall of Iowa Culinary Excellence (CHOICE) awards began focusing on venerability — enduring traditions and pioneers.  

In that spirit, our charter members in 2015 all had histories dating back to at least the mid-20th century. Several topped more than a century of service to Iowa. The following classes of honorable food pioneers were younger, but all blazed new trails that influenced the culinary scene of Iowa in unique ways. Since then, we have expanded upon both categories of excellence. 

Another impetus for the honors was that by 2014 we already noticed that most of the Iowa food media were primarily infatuated with “the next new thing.” We feared enduring excellence might become obscured. For instance, Iowa’s only James Beard Award semifinalists for best chef in the Midwest over the five-year period prior to this year were both from restaurants that have now closed down.

This year’s honorees are carriers of torches lit by kindred spirits who died or retired from the business before we started our honor. Mariana Gomez is the senior active trailblazer of Latino women entrepreneurs like Margarita Viggers (El Patio) and Rosa Martinez (La Rosa). That group of jefe chef-owners is growing rapidly now. Tony Lemmo is a nephew of charter member Noah Lacona and son of Lu Ann and Big Tony Lemmo of Lemmo’s. Waterfront is branching out after 42 years with a third generation of seafood pioneers, one of whom last year opened Masao, the most creative new restaurant here since Harbinger opened. Wong’s Chopsticks represents a once formidable bunch of traditional Chinese restaurants that have become a rare breed in 21st century Iowa. Those are dwindling away in a century of all you can eat buffets and Southeast Asian cafes.

THE MASTER CLASS OF 2026

Mariana Gomez, Tacos Mariana’s

Thirty years old this year, Mariana Gomez’s taqueria is an homage to San Sebastian del Oeste, her birthplace and officially proclaimed a “Pueblo Magico” by the Mexican federal government. Its furniture was handcrafted and painted by Tapatia artists from Gomez’s photos. It is the most identifiable restaurant décor in Des Moines, gay and welcoming as the owner/chef herself. 

Gomez says she loves Des Moines and particularly how much it has changed since she first came here, from the downtown bustle of Los Angeles Old Town barrio. 

“When I first came here, there were only two hours a day of Spanish language radio in the whole state.” Now there are 10 stations including several 24/7 outlets.  

Gomez has evolved with Iowa. Her downpayment to finance her purchase of the taqueria property, including a convenience store next door, came from customers because “no bank would even talk to a single Mexican-American mother.” Mariana proudly paid it off before full term and watched four children grow up, including two daughters who graduated college and are now health professionals. 

Nurses and doctors are customers now as are top restaurateurs, CEOs, and neighborhood characters. After paying off her debt, Gomez was able to pave her once daunting parking lot. Mariana prefers the kitchen to the front of the house. To my ken, the only other great restaurateur who did that in Des Moines was CHOICE member Jerry Talerico. 

“I talk too much. That’s why the place runs better with me in the kitchen,” she explains. 

Tacos Mariana’s is best known for: guacamole, which includes cucumbers; pozole, which takes more than 24 hours to make; bargain prices, which are taken to a recent new level with daily specials for as little as $1.50; amazing “not-refried” yellow beans; and, of course, Gomez’s tacos, which can be made with 12 meat and four vegetarian options. 

When not singing praises to San Sebastian del Oeste, Mariana will tout mariachis, local Mexican dance troupes and her eclectic customers. She is Des Moines’ unofficial ambassador of assimilation. 

Tony Lemmo, Aposto at di Scala house

Tony Lemmo opened his first café in the wind-grieved Metro Market in 2003. He says that was the most frightening time in his life. 

“I was 23 years old, and I was committing to $787 a month rent. I was scared to death.” Metro Market was a brilliant incubator of food services but was doomed by its limitations. It could only be open on weekends. 

Lemmo saw the writing on the wall and started looking for a more permanent place to grow. He discovered a dilapidated house in Sherman Hill, a few blocks east on Woodland. It had previously housed Le Chat Noir. The 1880 mansion was possessed by rodents, spiders and vagrants. 

“It was definitely a money pit, but no one else wanted to buy it. My mom was so worried that she begged the owner not to sell it to me.” 

Lemmo’s fully restored place, now called Aposto, is 21 now. Tony and the property took a long, strange trip between then and now. The restaurant, previously known as Café di Scala, vaulted Lemmo into several other ventures — Frank’s at Drake, Gusto, Guapo, The Breakfast Club, Anna Dolce and Gusto Pizza Bar. All that is over for him. Aposto is his sole business now.

“I love it. It took 20 years of sweat equity to get here, but now I am back to no partners and no mortgages — just the therapy of my gardens and one restaurant. No one told me how long it takes for a restaurant to find its identity. It takes time, even for Thomas Keller. Now I feel like the director of a big Broadway show. Aposto runs organically. (Host) Leslie Boyd, we all call her Mama, is the star, and it runs around her. I have been fortunate to have a lot of great chefs run through the kitchen, (Phil Shires, Hal Jasa, Corey Wendell and Joe McConville among them). But it all starts in the garden and the cellar.” 

No other restaurant in the area employs a garden so successfully on its menu. Lemmo was raving about a new kind of finocchio the last time we saw him. The tiny flower buds burst with an intense flavor that would soon accent salad dressing, pasta and desserts. 

The cellar houses the pasta maker. The restaurant has always specialized in 100% scratch-made pasta. Lemmo’s cavatelli are so good that even CHOICE member George Formaro quit making his own and just buys Tony’s for Centro. 

Lemmo has given the lie to his mom’s worries. Lou Ann was his original host till her early death a decade ago. Diners now enjoy Victorian splendor from the inlaid bar to the porch furniture. The business is swift, even on nights the restaurant is closed, with private parties. 

The menu changes frequently because of the garden, which is thoroughly Calabrese. Where else does one find alternate gazpachos, Caesar salad with heirloom tomatoes, carrot risotto, finocchio and minted gremolata?  

Ted and Shawn Hanke, Waterfront Seafood Restaurant   

Seafood is expensive compared to other proteins. The only way to compete for customers is to cut out the middlemen. But middlemen have the upper hand.  

Independent seafood market-restaurants are a dying species in America. Giant distributors, a metastasizing species, have scared most independents from opening over the last 50 years. When Joe Tess Place closed in Omaha in 2023, Waterfront became the oldest such place between Chicago and Denver. 

“Watermen and fishermen are dying out for the same reasons as independent Iowa farmers. Those jobs used to be inherited within families. But the last few generations of children didn’t want that life,” Waterfront chief Shawn Hanke explained. 

He began this business in 1983, running his pickup truck to Louisianna docks to buy shrimp directly off the boats, then bringing them back to sell at an Amoco gas station on 22nd Street in West Des Moines. 

“My dad Ted thought the west side needed a place like East Side Fish Market. I was 28 then, so I had the energy to run back and forth to the Gulf. But that wasn’t sustainable, so I rented storage space and got into wholesaling. Then I opened here in Clocktower Square in 1984.”

Shawn distinguished Waterfront from other fish markets by including table dining. He opened with 14 seats and 10 employees. Today, the West Des Moines store alone has 247 seats, plus another 50 in a party room — and 72 full-time employees. Some of them have been there since day one. An Ankeny store opened in 2008. 

Waterfront offers Des Moines fresh fish that one finds nowhere else in Iowa. French chef David Baruthio shows up for John Dory. Others for sablefish, an Asian delicacy, soft shell crabs, King salmon, blue fin tuna, flounder, Chesapeake rock fish, parrot fish and Alaskan halibut, etc. 

Waterfront also operates the oldest existing sushi bar in central Iowa. They still buy most seafood directly from old connections who fish it. Almost from the beginning, Waterfront has featured catfish nights on Monday, rotating specials on Wednesdays and half-priced oysters and shrimp cocktails on Saturday afternoons. 

Shawn’s son Nick opened the distinctly inventive Japanese/French café Masao last year. Its connection to Waterfront sources made it possible.

Ling Wong, Wong’s Chopsticks

Wong’s Chopsticks was a gift to central Iowa from Chinese Los Angeles. When it opened in its Johnston strip mall 20 years ago, it provided suburban Des Moines a new taste sensation — West Coast Cantonese excellence. 

At the time, Chinese food in suburban Iowa had been redefined by Hy-Vee. Their excursion behind the great culinary wall had created a new type of Chinese-American cuisine calibrated to appeal to Iowa taste buds. They did that, in our mind, by preparing every dish with lots of high fructose corn syrup. Thus, all dishes tasted much the same as that synthetic flavor overwhelmed all others. 

Des Moines had a tradition of a purer form of Chinese cuisine that dominated dining here before Italian restaurants began popping up around WWII time. They introduced mysterious botanicals, which local newspapers described as forms of opium. In reality, they were bean sprouts. They also often ran into legal problems because prostitutes hung out there, especially the infamous “Duncan sisters.” 

One owner was given a choice by a local judge, move to Chicago or go to jail. Most of those original Chinese cafés had disappeared by the time Hy-Vee added their version of Chinese. Mandarin Noodle House, Kwong Tung and Great China were among the last, and they are gone now, too. 

Wong’s Chopsticks does not resemble Hy-Vee Chinese at all. Ling Wong, her daughter and their extended family are turning out something special in Iowa. Recipes are what one expects in California cities and suburbs with large Chinese populations. Things like chicken feet, fermented black beans sauces, jook and guy fun are safe here. Water chestnuts, bok choy, black mushrooms and bamboo shoots all taste fresh. 

Wong’s version of the Hong Kong classic walnut shrimp is unique — no mayo. Her sizzling rice soup takes four steps just to prepare the crunchy rice. Dim sum Saturdays and Sundays have become a prerequisite for calling oneself a local foodie. It can be packed, particularly on Sundays, but people are willing to wait for a table. The fried dumplings and sticky rice in lotus leaves are divine samplings of the world’s oldest cuisine. All forms of dumpling are prepared here. 

Remember, Chinese cuisine was sophisticated 500 years before the French evolved beyond surviving on acorn gruel. Wong’s Chopsticks is our last toehold on its high culinary mountain. It is peerless, too. ♦