2/28/24 Des Moines Food News: You Are Loved Edition
To the Iowa trans community, your humanity will not be erased.
Disclaimer: Affiliate links from Bookshop.org, Uncommon Goods, & WTF Notebooks scattered below. Bookmark my links to purchase when you want!
Love: Des Moines Food and Restaurant News
☕ denotes additional thoughts in The Chai below
El Buen Sabor Chapin is a Guatemalan restaurant going where Good Eatin’s was on SE 14th.
Global Harmony Kitchen will be operating out of Kitchen Spaces.
The Spot Truck Stop in Grimes, quite a curiosity, will be selling Mediterranean quick options in their convenience store. ☕
Punkked Energy Mocktails, a home business selling beverages and paninis, will primarily operate via delivery and at markets and events.
Pies and Pastries by Lana is seemingly moving operations to the building at 1701 S. Union. She will also collaborate (maybe share space?) with The Purveyor.
That building at 1701 S. Union is, possibly, a new community kitchen.
W China Buffet in Park Fair Mall is closed and auctioning their things via Backes Auctioneers.
Parlo Pizza will not be returning to the Iowa State Fair. They’re retiring.
Putts & Pins is still open, but they are liquidating the stuff from their party room. I share this because people see Reddit threads like this and assume a place is closed permanently. It hasn’t.
Chain news
Taziki's, a Mediterranean fast-food chain, is coming to strip mall near the Jordan Creek Hy-Vee.
Growth Coffee Company—a private label, chain coffee roaster—will operate out of Bondurant.
On the Border is closed permanently. It was their last Iowa location.
Target sells their tortilla chips, which are fucking fire.
Remember how I said I have a weakness for international snack boxes? I’m so buying the Taste of Korea Adventure Snack Box.
News
Iowa Capital Dispatch’s monthly restaurant inspection monthly round up didn’t have much for Des Moines, but Davenportians . . . Davenporters might steer clear of the added protein in someone’s garlic.
Players bar in Beaverdale was finally torn down. Curious how the impending construction will impact Snookies.
If you miss it, the owner relocated to Chelsie’s Courtyard Diner downtown. It’s in a black hole, but I’m pulling for her. We went in early February, and the food is solid.
Food Events
The Soul Food Festival is tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s $10 and is at the Forest Avenue Library.
Gilroy’s is having a Mardi Gras Brunch Party on Saturday.
Uptown Dairy returns with its monthly Breakfast Brunch tomorrow.
I hesitate to share anything with “patriot” or “prom” in the name, especially given the most recent “patriot” parade to defile this already disgraceful state. ☕ But the Folds of Honor Iowa Patriot Prom and Casino Night seems free of Nazis and promotes good causes. The description mentions dinner as well.
The West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce’s Wild Wild West Annual Dinner is March 5th and is sold out. (I’ve never heard of this. Have y’all?)
The Des Moines Metro Opera’s Wine, Food, and Beer Showcase is Friday, March 7th.
Des Moines Girl is hosting a mini-cake decorating meetup at Crème in late March.
The Rollins Mansion hosts a Seafood Boil on March 28th.
Cicchetti Night at Noah’s Ark in April and supports the Italian American Culture Center of Iowa.
Not-Food Events
Fireweed Acupuncture and I bring you our third Book Trade on Sunday, March 16th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at their clinic! It’s free! Just sign up at the link!
Free Des Moines Book Trade, March 16th!
Fireweed Acupuncture and I are back for our third Book Trade, and this time, we’re adding cookbooks and gardening books!
Donuts: Donuts Don’t Discriminate
Wini Moranville, my food writing mentor, shared a pasta recommendation from Chef George Formaro. It’s sold at Gateway Market, and I’m very curious.
If you’re like me and loathe the parking lot at Gateway, know you can shop online.
Buy one of these and send it to a Republican state legislator. Write the words “other people’s genitals” on the cover before you gift it to them.
The conservative obsession with genitals is disturbing. If someone on Facebook demanded to know what your child’s genitals looked like, you’d report them as a pedophile. Conservatives are fucking sickos who use their perversion to harm others, and they need to be stopped.
Regardless, trans people? We see you. We’re proud of your loud, proud fight. And we’re gonna keep operating like not a damn thing has changed. You need help? Tell us. We’ll do what we can.
Goodies
We recently wandered through Wilson’s Orchard and Farm’s shop, and OMG THE ENDLESS GOODIES. The best find? Classic Frozen Custard pints!
I bought this not-cheap Raaka rose cardamom chocolate bar. It’s a powerful mélange of flavors.
Currently Reading
Wintering: Got lost in the week, so getting back to it this weekend.
Schoolgirls: Had to take a break from this because buh.
True Love and Other Disasters: Good ol’ contemporary romance that I’ve started reading to reduce screen time before I sleep.
It also serves as research for a sports romance novel I’ve drafted.
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: Too many activities to read at a consistent clip but super insightful!
TBR Pile Additions
Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality by Sarah McBride
Both/And edited by Denne Michele Norris
Great banned book recommendations from Wandering Raccoon Books in Grimes!
Where’s this?
No guesses on this one either? This is at Ocha in Windsor Heights. It steals my attention every single time.
I don’t know if y’all hate this game, but I’m gonna keep dealing.
Where’s this? I’ve written about that wallpaper before.
*slurp*