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.

I hope this isn’t a trend but yet again, we’ve gone to a new restaurant in Des Moines hopeful and left disappointed. Great decor in a cool old building downtown. Very unexceptional food. We probably won’t return. In the case of last night, we thought +39, an Italian restaurant in a beautifully renovated old building across from the sculpture garden would be interesting contemporary Italian  – which sadly we haven’t found in Des Moines to date – because the owner is from Italy and allegedly had a restaurant in Sardinia (as well as Ames, Ia.) But nothing we had was interesting or even particularly good – and in many cases it wasn’t even hot (cold pizza, cold pasta, even cold cappuccino) which was disappointing on a surprisingly wet cold May evening.  The raspberry gelato was indeed cold but it had the texture of ice cream. Good ice cream but not gelato.  This is the third restaurant we’ve been to lately in downtown Des Moines that looked great but tasted bland. I’d rather have bland decor and great food. Or better yet – great decor and food!

We had to order the “angry donuts” at Table 128 in West Des Moines — the name alone grabbed us, as did the menu description and they turned out to be about the best thing we had for dinner just before Christmas. They were sort of like fritters – a bit bigger than a golf ball, cakey and warm inside, crispy on the outside, with jalapeno bits and sweet corn in the batter and dusted with “parmesan snow.” A sriracha aoili offered an added kick. Delicious. I also had a very good and not too heavy or creamy potato leak soup while N and D had a cold brussel sprout salad with shaved manchego cheese and bits of La Quercia prosciutto (an Iowa favorite).

the main sources were inventive – I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten pheasant but if this was my first, it was very good. Very flavorful and moist meat (although very small portion) served with potatoes, a vegetable pancake made with shaved squash and a teensy sliver of foie grois . N had the trout which he liked but wasn’t bowled over by; D had a pork shoulder concoction – also liked. For dessert we shared a deconstructed (it arrived in a jar) citrus cheesecake.

Definitely worth another visit!