Des Moines on January 7th: We’ve had such little snow and such mild temps!
Des Moines on January 13th: FUCKING STOP SNOWING. WHY IS THE AIR FROZEN.
Welcome back to Foodie 515!
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Des Moines Openings, Closings, and Such
- Open
- Pizza chain Grimaldi’s is now open where Fong’s was in Ankeny’s Prairie Trail. Because of course.
- Closing (Moving?)
- El Guapo’s Tequila + Tacos is closing in March. They’re also possibly moving. I have thoughts below.
- Coming Soon
- Nadia’s French Bakery passed their inspection on the 8th!
- Rok the Wok food truck is coming soon. I can’t find much about it.
- Tacos n’ Tortas will open a second location, this time in Clive.
- Bits and Bobs
- Crafted Food Services at Moxie is doing a pizza pop-up today! Chef Jacob is one of my favorite food people in this city. Seek him out, y’all.
- DSM Ramen Club and Savor the Rise are partnering for a pop-up, which is very cool!
- Noah’s Ark isn’t going anywhere. Thankfully. I’ll have more on them later this year.
- What was to be a brewery in Highland Park will no longer be a brewery.
- I hear a hot pot place is going in where Franka was in the East Village, but it wasn’t a terribly reliable rumor.
- Taco Casa seems to be completely different on the inside, so I can’t wait to stop back there!
- I’d never heard of Striking Sparrow Lounge, but their food looks decent. Curious about the crowd.
- Winefest’s Winter Wine and Dine is happening now. I like to keep my blog dry regarding booze, but as this is heavy on food too, I thought I’d share.
- I’m never not excited for Zombie Burger’s Caucus Specials!
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Recs! Recs! Recs!
- Do you know of a Des Moines area Black-owned food business? Comment below or email me with business names!
- More mocktails, please! (via Des Moines Girl) And stop putting lemonade on your mocktail menu unless there’s something fun about it. Otherwise, it’s just lemonade.
- My piece on Le’s Chinese Bar-B-Que is now available at DSM Magazine! I also added some fun stuff about Le’s here.
- Where do you want me to eat before you give it a try? Lemme know in the comments!
WTF, Des Moines?
- While the main guy at El Guapo’s seems like a decent dude, I still have major issues with how Latinx culture is stereotyped at that establishment. Seeing a bunch of white folks dressed as mariachis with sugar skull makeup is gross to me. Of course, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe everyone in ownership is actually white-presenting but Latinx.
- If that were the case, then their point of saying the restaurant is “Mexican inspired” rather than “Mexican” is curious.
- It’s a lot like another restaurant that (mis)uses the culture of a historically excluded racial group as its theme. I promised them I’d stop talking about them, so I won’t name them.
- The whole mindset is that they’re honoring those racial groups. It’s the same reasoning as sports teams named after Indigenous folks.
- I don’t know that any of these groups asked to be honored in this way. In fact, I’m pretty sure Black folks—subject to the second restaurant’s “honor”—have simply asked to stop being murdered at police stops and such. But hey! Pancakes, tacos, and tequila in your honor, right?
- Meanwhile, the leading Republican presidential candidate is saying that Latinx folks are “poisoning” America’s “blood.”
- I will not be bothering with Maverik. Don’t kum in here with your humorless beigeness, kill our vibe, screw over social media specialists, and wipe out inclusive content.
- Oh man. This ordeal with the owners of Ceviche Bar is UGLY. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard complaints about the ownership.
- I’ve never seen anything dumber than Fox News. Oh, sorry. I had more. I’ve never seen anything dumber than Fox News asking Bruce Gerleman anything.
- I knew this was going to happen, but damn, Reddit. You don’t have to be so reliably racist.
hashtag classy
