Posted September 06, 2023in Food Dude
When Jordan Creek Town Center was under construction the decade before its 2004 opening, developers told me they wanted to attract Ruth’s Chris Steak House so badly they offered incentives. At the time, the Dallas, Texas, company deemed West Des Moines too small. Earlier this summer, Ruth’s Chris opened the
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Posted August 02, 2023in Food Dude
The Chamberlain Pub is not like anything else in town. It occupies an historic building on Grand Avenue. The D.S. Chamberlain House at Wesley Acres is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was designed by renowned Boston architect William George Rantoul and is considered an excellent example of Jacobean Revival architecture. Jacobean architecture
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Posted July 05, 2023in Food Dude
Summer is sandwich time in Iowa. We consume more hot dogs, more burgers, more carryout and more sandwiches in the warm season, probably because we are looking for something to eat while also doing something else. Des Moines’ metro has some new options for meals on the go. Graziano’s set
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Posted May 31, 2023in Food Dude
Road trips are for all seasons but winter. But without a truly special destination, why would we bother? Two places, one less than 40 miles from downtown, the other less than 113, are drawing diners from near and far because they offer exceptionally good versions of two of Iowa’s favorite
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Posted May 03, 2023in Food Dude
Because soccer and Caitlyn Clark are best appreciated with a crowd, this writer ventured out to many new sports bars since autumn became spring. The owner of Terra Grill and Churrascaria generously hosted watch parties of Brazil’s World Cup games. A new Brazilian Café has since opened in the same
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Posted April 05, 2023in Food Dude
What’s in a name? Would a dzo, by any other, not taste the same? In Des Moines, it would not because this Korean steakhouse uses beef, not the offspring of a cow and a yak that is its namesake. Too many years of watching Andrew Zimmern’s “Bizarre Foods” made me
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Posted March 01, 2023in Food Dude
Hospitality management colleges, like the highly rated one at Iowa State, teach that names are a first essential step toward restaurant or resort success. A name should appeal to a public sense of comfort (Cozy’s, Fireside), pride in history (Iowa Machine Shed, Proudfoot & Bird), romance (Open Sesame, Zanzibar), clever
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Posted February 01, 2023in Food Dude
Whether intended or not, Tullpa Restaurant’s name conjures up “tulpa,” a term used in theosophy, paranormalism and mysticism to identify a corporal and sentient body that was previously only imaginary. The restaurant’s logo is “Ritmo, Color, Sabor (pulse, color, flavor)” which are certainly sentient qualities, so let’s imagine that is
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Posted January 04, 2023in Food Dude
The Cooper’s Hawk is a marvelous-looking bird that preys on robins and chipmunks and such. It was not named for James Fenimore Cooper, who created the character Hawkeye in “The Last of the Mohicans.” Do not go to Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant expecting to find taxidermic hawks, which are
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Posted November 02, 2022in Food Dude
It’s hard as ever to open a new restaurant these days with labor shortages, high-interest loans, and customers stressed by inflation. Yet people keep doing it, and doing it well. In this month of thanksgivings, we salute daring new places that made the local food scene much better. There is
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