Posted June 06, 2018in Food Dude
Some ethnic cuisines here are modeled on the same templates and recipes. There must be more than a dozen Mexican restaurants now that serve pretty much the same menu. Italian restaurants are far more diverse. Mexico is bigger than Italy and tastes change in different regions, yet most places differ
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Posted May 02, 2018in Food Dude
Will wagyu finally sell in central Iowa? On the western frontier of the metro, where the last strip malls push back the Nebraska sky, culinary pioneers Sean and Andrea Gleason are testing new ideas. Can a cosmopolitan food truck build a homestead in Waukee? Will wagyu finally sell in central
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Posted April 04, 2018in Food Dude
Some are a bit confusing Change is constant, in physics or the restaurant business. As with all paradoxes, there is no rule to find one’s way to success in such chaos. Here are some examples of recent change locally. The space previously known as Bang, Bang Mongolian BBQ and Draught
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Posted February 28, 2018in Food Dude
February brought us one of the rarest weeks ever for culinary celebration. Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras, the first week of the Lenten Fish Fries and Bacon Fest all transpired over just five days. Valentine’s Day is the only one of those with a fixed date, and others
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Posted January 31, 2018in Food Dude
This is the best sports bar food ever in central Iowa The word “redefine” is usually overstated in restaurant parlance. Once in a great while, someplace truly deserves the verb. This column is about one of those rare occasions. Range is a sports bar like no other in the metro.
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Posted January 03, 2018in Food Dude
The family-owned, traditional Italian Des Moines café has anchored its neighborhood since 1950. For west side patrons such as I, Hubbell Avenue seems to end at Tursi’s Latin King at its intersection with University Avenue. That concept might be changing. Big Al’s, just one block northeast of Tursi’s, brought a
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Posted December 06, 2017in Food Dude
Common poultry made extraordinary at local restaurants To some, Cowboy Chicken is a brilliant bird rising from the ashes of an American legend. To others, it’s an intelligent business lesson in restraint. Kenny Rogers, the singer, entered the franchise food league in 1991 with a restaurant called Kenny Rogers’ Roasters. It became American folk
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Posted November 01, 2017in Food Dude
Getting straight to the point — greater Des Moines is now served by a San Gabriel class Chinese restaurant. San Gabriel, California, is the first U.S. city with a majority Asian population, and it’s mostly Chinese and wealthy. It is the best place to go if one wants to spend a week, or weekend,
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Posted October 04, 2017in Food Dude
Jacob Demars is a New Englander who comes to town via Denver, Chicago and Charleston Until the first freeze, October is the best month for food in Iowa. The overlap of summer and fall fruits and vegetables provides a happy feast. It’s also the return of soup season, and it’s
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Posted September 06, 2017in Food Dude
For more than a century, downtown culture has been driven by one particular restaurant or another. Younkers Tea Room was the bomb up until World War II. National radio shows even broadcast from the restaurant. Then Babe’s took the WACs and GIs out of the tea parlor and into the
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