Category Archives: Des Moines

September 8, 2013 · 10:11 pm

The Hub Spot – new stop along Des Moines Riverwalk

Walk & Bike Tour Cover

We stopped at The (new) Hub Spot for a light lunch while riding along the Principal Riverwalk in downtown Des Moines on a hot Sunday afternoon and had a perfect light meal – a very good ham and swiss on a perfectly concocted baguette – and a great view of the river and downtown, including the Latino Fest going on atop a nearby bridge. What a great addition to the ever-improving downtown scene. As further proof of that expansion, we picked up a little free Des Moines Walk & Bike Guide (more excellent work from the Des Moines Bicycle Collective) to downtown at cafe – with walking tours of the city’s public art (including sculpture by Joel Shapiro, Claes Oldenburg, Jun Kaneko)  East Village shops, downtown architecture, Capitol area,  and four biking tours of downtown breweries, historic (and hilly) neighborhoods and “Chuck’s 18-miler” which follows almost exactly our favorite loop from home to downtown and back.

What a great idea!! But the highlight for us came towards the end of our ride along the Neal Smith Trail when we spotted a giant billboard featuring our neighbor and friend Sam! See below…samphoto

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September 5, 2013 · 1:57 am

“Bad” (Malo) restaurant opening in Des Moines

Chef George Formaro is opening new reaturant Malo

Pleased to read that restauranteur extraordinaire George Formaro (Zombie Burger, Centro, Django, Gateway et. al) is opening yet another restaurant in Des Moines, this one serving nuevo Latina” fare and called Malo, the Spanish word for “Bad” (but more bad-cool then bad-bad). “It’s going to be at the greatl old former firehouse downtown that’s becoming the new home base for the Des Moines Social Club.
He’ll be offering two things I used to think I’d find in Des Moines – a Pisco Sour (which we grew fond of last November during a trip to, where else, Peru) and “a late night menu.” (When I first moved here in 1990, it used to depress the heck out of me that I couldn’t find a decent place to eat on a Saturday night at 9 p.m. after a movie – I’ll be forever indebted to Chat Noir, now closed alas, for changing that!) The menu will reportedly include nachos mac and cheese (which doesn’t appeal to me) but also carnitas (which I happened to serve tonight to my family, using a fantastic NYTimes recipe I found years ago).
The pork carnitas torta is a sandwich of carnitas, cheese, refried beans and onions in a red chile sauce, served on South Union torta bread.
The fried shrimp tacos are served with shredded cabbage, pico de gallo, avocado and lime.

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September 3, 2013 · 10:51 pm

High Marks for the Des Moines Farmers Market

  • sweetcorn web
  • egg homepage
  • market homepage
  • sweetcorn web
  • egg homepage

I’ve never heard of the Daily Meal website, but others have and so, I gather, it’s a fairly big deal that it named the Des Moines Farmers Market as No. 2 in the nation – out of 101 of the best markets. First place was Pike Place Farmers Market in Seattle (Des Moines sure can’t match the fresh fish available there – but we’ve got mighty good bacon!).  After Des Moines, the bests were  Chicago’s Green City Market, the Phoenix Public market, the St. Paul Farmers market and Omaha’s market.

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August 11, 2013 · 10:51 pm

Iowa State Fair: deep-fried cheese curds, carnies, funnel cakes

fair4photo(49)We took three visitors to the Iowa State Fair – two from Illinois, one from Israel – so we covered all the bases yesterday – six hours of wandering in and out of ag buildings, eating things we’d normally never eat, checking out the 99 county contestants in the Fair Queen Contest and watching an Iowa National Guard reserves band from Fairfield play that goofy gangham style song (“Do any of you speak Korean?” the lead singer asked before performing? After getting no response from the crowd, he said “Good” and started the song…)

Deep fried cheese curds anyone?

Deep fried cheese curds anyone?

Along the way, we tried deep-fried cheese curds (too salty and greasy for me); funnel cake topped with powered sugar (delicious but you paid for it later with a slightly queasy feeling); pork burgers (too dry); ice cream from the dairy barn and Bauder’s (delicious); lemonade (solid but overpriced.)

Illinois and Israel in the house!

Illinois and Israel in the house!

And we visited the usual suspects – the ag building to see the butter cow, butter Abe Lincoln, rose contest, produce contests, giant pumpkin; the animal barns to see the big boar and the big bull and all the hard-working farm kids; the sheep and horse barns; the varied industries building to see the winning cinnamon roll and winning ugliest cake; the culture building to see the winning photos. We also rode the sky glider, kicking our aching legs in the air high above the Grand Concourse. And we walked through the crowded midway past the carnival rides and games, bombarded by the squeals, screams, neon, flashing lights and tattoos.

Night on the Iowa State Fair Midway!

Night on the Iowa State Fair Midway!

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August 10, 2013 · 7:13 pm

To the Iowa State Fair with visitors from Israel, Illinois

  • el bait shop
  • el bait shop
  • el bait shop

The Iowa State Fair has lured several visitors our way this summer – this weekend it’s my stepdaughter E. and her boyfriend from Chicago, plus our houseguest from Israel. Next weekend, my son is coming from Northwestern with three or four (he wasn’t sure last we talked) of his friends – from Oregon, Colorado, New Jersey and maybe California.

The weather is perfect today – Sunny, 80-ish, no wind – so the fair is bound to be packed and in its full glory. We got a glimpse of what we may be in for this morning at the jam-packed downtown farmer’s market in Des Moines. And last night, our visitors reported lots of people hanging out downtown at bars like the High Life Lounge , designed to look like a 1960’s tavern, complete with formica, shag carpet and wood paneling…plus Miller High Life beer, of course, (see photo above) and El Bait Shop…

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August 6, 2013 · 7:37 pm

RAGBRAI discovery: b. organic eXchange in Van Meter

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the b. organic eXchange

One of the cool things about RAGBRAI is discovering new things in old places – so when I rode last month through Van Meter, a small town outside Des Moines, with thousands of other riders, I wandered into a little shop –  “the b. organic eXchange.” the exchange’s blog It sells some handmade crafts and food but also offers “naturally artful birthday parties” – presumably for kids – that includes studio space, an instructor and materials to complete a variety of projects. (You can pick from project themes such as “Flower Power” or “Nature Lover” or “Pop Art Portraits.”) Reminds me a bit of the paint-your-own-pottery parties I had for my kids – or worse, the make-your-own-gingerbread-house or paint-your-own-ball cap activities I used to try to organize on my own at home for my kids’ parties.

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July 31, 2013 · 10:25 pm

Cool Concert tonight in DSM – Dwight Yoakam

Dwight Yoakam  San Diego County Fair 2008 in Del Mar.

Looks like it will be a perfect night on the Des Moines Riverfront to hear Dwight Yoakam in concert tonight! 7 p.m. Simon Estes Riverfront stage. Concert Details here

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July 25, 2013 · 10:58 pm

Ragbrai withdrawal…

Never saw sunscreen in the gallon size before RAGBRAI.

Never saw sunscreen in the gallon size before RAGBRAI.

Now I understand my long-Ragbrai riding friends who are blue once the big ride is over – and this after I only rode two days. I found myself back in my office at my desk on a pretty summer day, daydreaming about being back on the backroads of Iowa riding my bike. Of course, I also found myself aching more than usual – after riding 100 miles over the course of two days. But not as achy as expected. I am enjoying reading the NPR (No Pie Refused) reporters blog about RAGBRAI http://returntoiowa.tumblr.com/ they did a good job of documenting some of the highlights I saw on Tuesday and Wednesday including the photo above (from today…)/ Particularly enjoyed their “pie” chart documenting what types of pies they’ve eaten, by percentages. (Now I know why I couldn’t find any strawberry-rhubarb pie in Monroe yesterday – I had to settle for plain old rhubarb. Still good.)

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July 25, 2013 · 1:24 am

RAGBRAI – Des Moines to Knoxville (about 50 miles)

Classic Ragbrai photo by my friend Gary Fandel (a professional photographer and it shows)

Classic Ragbrai photo by my friend Gary Fandel (a professional photographer and it shows)

Another perfect day of bike riding weather and another great RAGBRAI ride, this time from Des Moines south and west to Knoxville, passing through some lovely countryside and several welcoming small towns including Runnells (where we were greeted by the local high school’s boisterous, enthusiastic and totally endearing Pep Band) and Monroe (where riders could don firefighter gear and shoot water hoses at a bucket or some such dangling from a line – sounds strange but people stood in a long line to give it a go.)

It was exhilarating to ride out of downtown Des Moines today at 7:30 a.m. with the sun still rising and the air almost crisp and the light magical. We quickly got a taste of what we had in store for the day – with a steep uphill by the golden-domed Iowa State Capital building – and it was way cool to have the route go right through the Iowa State Fairgrounds. As we were riding up the midway in a seat of bikes, I heard one person say “What is this place?” So I put on my Iowa tour guide hat and pointed out various highlights of the famed fairgrounds.

The route was very hilly – up and down and up and down the hills we went. I gradually got more comfortable with soaring down the hill but it was often tricky because there were so many riders. I did see one scary accident which appeared to be a collision between two riders and saw one rider down but she was talking to the people helping her. There were ambulances stationed for precautionary reasons along the route – and we heard some with their sirens activated on occasion.

In Runnells, I ended up joining a flash mob that I happened into – locals and riders all doing a funny dance routine in the street. It was so much fun! I also bumped into even more friends and neighbors today along the route, which is always a kick. By the end of the day, I was very weary but wished I could keep riding tomorrow. Maybe I’ll try to do more next year. Such a great experience.

Last night, Des Moines hosted a fantastic party downtown on a perfect clear, not too hot or cold night – with bands, food, thousands of people all gathered along the river. It was Iowa at its very best!

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July 23, 2013 · 10:49 pm

2013ragbraiphotoWhat a perfect day for RAGBRAI! My friend Anne and I joined an estimated 30,000 riders (yes 30,000 riders) cycling from Perry, Iowa to Des Moines, a relatively easy 50 mile ride with suddenly perfect cool weather. It was glorious.  Never had 50 miles go by so fast on a bike.  Beautiful Iowa scenery – endless cornfields, bucolic farms, welcoming small towns. Saw lots of old friends and neighbors and even exchanged hellos with Iowa’s governor who was on the ride. Met people from all over the country/world. Ate with abandon – pancakes in Minburn, a hotdog, corn on the cob and Bauder’s peach ice cream in Van Meter, a fantastic Thai pork wrap by the great WDM restaurant Baru 66 at the party in Valley Junction. Now, after a shower at home, we’re off to downtown DSM for the festivities.

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