Two Weeks in Des Moines

I’m in Des Moines for work, to provide training.  Part of the training is teaching steps for making decisions. Rather than our usual examples with the class, we use ‘Leeann and John want to find somewhere for dinner’ as our demonstration of the process. We develop the criteria (“good food”, “adult beverages”, “music”, “ethnic food”, etc.) and we ask for a short list of suggested restaurants to use in the example. During a break, the students write down a list of other restaurants and bars. We build on this list during the rest of our weeks in the city, and find some incredible food that we would not have found otherwise.

One of our favorites was a bar called the High Life. As you walk up to the bar, the tiled steps outside indicate ‘1964’. Indoors, time has stopped. The cheap wood paneling, the neon bar lights, and their beer menu (they don’t serve any beer that wasn’t available in 1970).  The only thing that really didn’t fit was that the video games should have been pinball machines.  Their appetizer of bacon-wrapped tater tots have been featured on the Food Channel, so, of course, I place the order. Later I realize that Leeann doesn’t eat pork, so, I have to (“get to” is more like it) eat them all myself. The menu was all comfort food, and it was the perfect place to order liver and onions. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking (“Yuck”), but once in a great while I find it on the menu somewhere where you just know it had to be right. This was it, and it was.

Each night of two week stay in Des Moines, we ate at a different restaurant. The food was wonderful. The German schnitzel at Hessen House, the cajun food at The Flying Mango, the veal parmigian at Chuck’s Italian (where we returned during the weekend to hear blues and jazz), and we enjoyed an unusual menu and unusual burgers downtown at Zombie Burger.  All of the food was exceptional, the people were friendly, and the city was easy to navigate.

During the weekend between classes, we joined another couple, Shawn and Stacy, for a motorcycle ride of the area. Our first stop was Freedom Rock, a large stone that is painted every year in a tribute to our Armed Forces. While painting the design this year, several veterans stopped at the rock to spread the ashes of their comrades. The painter offered to have them add the ashes to his paint, so that their friends could become part of the display.

We headed west to Winterset, Iowa, the birthplace of Marion Morrison, better known as John Wayne. It was a very pleasant town and we found a covered bridge in a city park. There were several other covered bridges in the area, but most were accessible only down gravel roads. Having passengers, we did not want to take the chance of falling. We found pleasant back roads to the city, and stopped for some of the best Thai cooking I have ever tasted.

The people of Des Moines were friendly and fun.  One of our students invited us to watch him compete in a Kubb (pronounced ‘koob’) tournament. Winners of the local tournament get to compete in Wisconsin for the US finals, then to Sweden to compete for the world title.  We had never heard of this lawn game of skill and strategy, nicknamed “Viking Chess”, but it was very entertaining to watch and cheer for the players. Check out the link above for a detailed description and the basic rules. It looks like fun!

Next: Westward bound…