Foodie 515, 5/6/2024: Des Moines Food News

Seeta Lee

2 months ago

Hey, Des Moines! How do you feel about the Downtown Farmers’ Market?

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Table 128 opened Friday! They were extremely quiet about it. You can make a reservation at Tock. I know I have mine!
Gusto Pizza Bar is permanently closed. It was a rather sudden thing. They posted on Tuesday some plans for later in the week. By Thursday, they’d shuttered their doors. This was how they announced it on FB, after the Register covered it. So, the question is: What happened?
Bread by Chelsa B, a popular home baker, is closing shop here and moving to Washington State.
The Scoop’s Udder Place opened where Marble Slab Creamery was in Ankeny. The Great American Cookie Company purchased Marble Slab and was said to be renovating the space, but I guess not!
It appears Hyper Energy Bar will open a location in Ankeny.
Malo is back open.
Wilson’s Orchard and Farm opened in Cumming, Iowa, and that includes their restaurant, Ciderhouse. Had to cancel my reservation with them due to weather, but I’m going soon!
Some potentially new businesses I’ll be researching this week:
- Anita’s Tacos
- Chain news: Five Guys in Merle Hay (wait, what?!)
- The Creamery.Bondurant . . . same folks as in Polk City?
- Iron Cheese . . . because yes on that name

Last week, I mentioned that Trailside Tap is expanding. However, a commenter indicated that was NOT happening. Intriguing . . .
JJ’s Tavern and Grill is the home of 2024’s Best Burger.
Someone’s looking into buying Spaghetti Works.
Local Bitesis getting a new owner, and things are potentially changing a lot, including evening hours.
- Is Chubb’s Chicken (and fries or biscuits?) the impending Jeremy Jessen eatery? I sure as hell hope so!
Jim’s Coney Island is getting a new owner.
Mr. Eggroll on the south side is still closed. Have they gone forever?
Apparently, Aroy-Dee closed permanently.
The best things I ate this week included a slice of tart cherry pie from Pie Bird Pies, dandan noodles from Szechuan House in Iowa City, and the Dafty Dǔc from Lachele’s.lachelesfinefoods A post shared by @lachelesfinefoods

Why do y’all insist on bringing your doggos to farmers’ markets? Doggos are wonderful! Can we not put them in stressful situations? Also, there are still a lot of people who are afraid of dogs. Could we just stop with this? Fight me in the comments. I’m good with it lol!
A popular place on 2nd Ave. had 10 health code violations. Yikes.
I’ve been pretty clear in the past that I was no fan of Gusto’s ownership. I won’t get into why because it’s done now. That said, I wish nothing but the best for Tony Lemmo, especially at Aposto. I’d like to finally give it a try.
Does Des Moines have proper Szechuan?! Can I get dandan noodles in DSM? I can’t seem to find any!

I got tickets to see Billie Eilish, and I am STOKED!
My personal goal of being social media-free isn’t feasible. That’s where I get half of my food news. So, now what? How do you reduce social media use?
This is the half-assed edition of Foodie 515. This past week was a disaster.
See the new stuff I’ve written here!
I have fudge from Kalona Creamery, and no, you can’t have it.

Until next week!