Hoq Restaurant in DSM not so Hot

I’m beginning to sound like the town sourpuss but yet another meh meal at one of Des Moines’ up-and-coming (or maybe not) restaurant. Hoq promises farm-to-table ingredients which this time of year apparently means that almost everything was made with asparagus, which fortunately is a vegetable we like but not in excess. My major complaint is that the food is overpriced. I had two tiny lambchops with asparagus and little cubes of potatoes for $36 (good flavor but grassfed so tough and not cooked medium rare as requested – one of mine was fine, the other well-done; one of our companions got two very rare chops and complained sufficiently to get his order knocked off the bill). D’s steak was a better entree – a big hunk of meat also served with asparagus (this time bacon-wrapped) and what looked like the same potato cubes that came with the lamb. N’s salmon looked good and she had no complaints. I think though there’s a reason the place was mostly empty on a Friday night. The food should be exceptional for the prices charged and it wasn’t.