Foodie 515: Des Moines Restaurant News, 1/1/24

Des Moines food news, January 1, 2024

Hey, 2024? Please shuffle the presidential campaign shitshows out of Des Moines ASAP. Thanks.

Welcome back to Foodie 515!

  1. If you’re on mobile, go to my home page and scroll to almost the bottom.
  2. Look for a gradient blue and purple button that says “subscribe.”
  3. Please put your email in that box and click “subscribe!”
subscribe please!

Look for this, and please subscribe!


Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you opt to purchase something after clicking a link, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

And if you’re a Des Moines business with an affiliate program, let me know!


Des Moines Openings, Closings, and Such

🎆 Happy New Year, DSM! 🎉

  • Opening
    • Wasabi is opening their Urbandale location soon. That makes five in the metro and one in Ames. A second Ames location is opening soon too.
    • A food truck named Tacos Tijuana will likely hit the streets of DSM soon, if it isn’t out there already.
  • Events
  • Closed
    • I missed this one, but Rolling Smoke BBQue in Pleasant Hill closed permanently. Hubster and I went a couple of times, and it was good stuff.
    • Fancy Breads closed permanently. Now, I’ll be honest; I’d heard of it, but I know nothing more than the name. So, visit that Reddit link for more information.
    • Chain: Old Chicago in Ankeny closed. It was the last one in the metro, but there’s still one in Ames.
      • That said, if you want deep-dish pizza, there’s still Giordano’s (never again for me) or, better yet, 7 Stone in WestDesWaukeeMoines. 7 Stone has caramelized crust, and it’s as close as you can get to Pequod’s in DSM without dropping $90 via Goldbelly.

Let’s get chai!


Recs! Recs! Recs!


WTF, Des Moines?

  • I’ve added Destination Grille and The Beerhouse to my list of places I, personally, do not patronize under my values-based consumerism approach to the economy. I’ll leave it at that.
  • I, for one, will not be visiting the new for-profit, chain aquarium in WDM when it opens. Both Google Maps reviews and Reddit threads show me exactly what I feared would be the case with this zoo. I barely trust zoos in general. I was horrified to see the condition of the koi pond at our local zoo. I can’t imagine a chain zoo would be much better.

One thought on “Foodie 515: Des Moines Restaurant News, 1/1/24

Leave a Reply