Posted August 20, 2014in Food Dude
When Fresh Café & Market opened last decade in West Des Moines, they splashed their logo, store and T-shirts with an odd shade of green. Wikipedia lists 21 natural shades of green and 36 additional ones. None seems exactly right, but “Kelly green” probably comes closest. Fresh’s is more like
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Posted August 13, 2014in Food Dude
Some of the folks who love the Iowa State Fair refuse to eat there. Each year I hear from readers who find the fair’s concessions disgusting, unhealthy or overpriced. So the first week of that big event seemed like an appropriate time to revisit a couple institutions that offer something
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Posted August 06, 2014in Food Dude
Liam Anivat is a visionary. When he opened Cool Basil in Clive in 2007, Thai cuisine was still pretty much an inner city thing. His place also expanded the genre’s demographics by adding a full bar with exotic cocktails and the most extensive Thai menu of its day. A date
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Posted July 30, 2014in Food Dude
Is the Downtown Farmers Market even a market anymore? Are farmers still its main feature? Are its administrators a clan of overpaid bullies? These questions are being asked since Lee Rood of the Des Moines Register broke a story about how certain vendors had been singled out for punishments. Among
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Posted July 23, 2014in Food Dude
When David and Bonnie Bartels opened Cosi Cucina 20 years ago, it was an instant sensation. Super farmer Larry Cleverley recalls it being the best restaurant in Iowa when he began growing things that restaurants didn’t serve here — radicchio, arugula, green garlic, etc. The café’s casual mix of jazz,
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Posted July 16, 2014in Food Dude
Prodigal sons and daughters are returning to the Des Moines restaurant scene this year. Thu Phan and her family came back from a long trip to the desert and reopened their cutting edge Vietnamese café Pho All Seasons. David and Bonnie Bartels, the original owners of the pioneer restaurant Cosi
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Posted July 09, 2014in Food Dude
Food trucks inspire as much passionate debate as politics. Supporters say they provide an entry-level opportunity to the American entrepreneurial dream. Opponents claim they poach customers from other businesses by avoiding rent, taxes and other overhead costs. I frequently read that Des Moines lags behind other Midwest towns in food
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Posted July 02, 2014in Food Dude
Civilization happened when societies determined to keep a public fire burning, so that each home fire could be started without rubbing sticks together. The Hestian devotees of ancient Greece and the vestal virgins of Rome were keepers of such fires, which developed into temples, churches and restaurants. Even before the
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Posted June 25, 2014in Food Dude
Food trucks are more American than apple pie. Actually invented here, the trucks evolved out of the Great Plains cattle drives’ chuck wagons. Those were invented by the legendary Charles Goodnight, the real-life model for Woodrow Call (Tommy Lee Jones) in Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove saga. In the east, their
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Posted June 18, 2014in Food Dude
As surely as the first strawberries follow asparagus and morels, every spring the food media declares the latest trends. If several such recent stories are correct, then kale and bacon are still somehow rising in popularity. I’d rather note less obvious trends. This week’s column continues three happy themes we
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