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The Contrary stirs things up in the East Village

By Michael Morain

When people step into the new cocktail bar and listening lounge that Billy Weathers plans to open Nov. 21 in the East Village, he wants them “to feel like they’re at home, just kicking back with friends.”

And they will — if their home happens to be swanky and their friends have exceptionally good taste in music, food and drinks. The place is cool.

Weathers is best known as a hip-hop artist, community organizer, founder and CEO of the B.Well Foundation and one of the Business Record’s Forty Under 40 honorees from 2022. But opening the Contrary, at 503 E. Locust, is a new kind of venture for him, so he enlisted advice from his extensive network of friends and East Village neighbors.

With help from Indie House Design, the former 503 Cocktail Lab & Tasting Room now has a more polished feel, with stylish lighting that casts a cozy glow over dark green and gray walls and the old tile floor. Farther back, in what Weathers calls the “conversation pit,” a massive J-shaped sofa in plush red velvet sits next to the DJ booth, where Charles Walker III (aka DJ cdisiac) will spin a mix of hip-hop, R&B, jazz and funk on Friday and Saturday nights.

During a walk-through earlier this week, Hasan Ahmed was back in the kitchen, tinkering with recipes for the short menu of seasonal nibbles and small plates, including a squash-based hummus, banh mi sandwich, chili crisp salmon, and chicken thighs rubbed with harissa.

The cocktails will change with the seasons, too, as they do at Weathers’ other favorite spots around town, including the Bartender’s Handshake and Hello, Marjorie. He admires distinctive bars in other cities, too, like the Wicked Rabbit in Omaha, Three Dots and a Dash in Chicago and a whole bunch of fun spots run by Consortium Holdings in San Diego.

“I’ve always admired cocktail bars,” Weathers said. “I wanted to bring something cool and different to Des Moines, something to get out of the routine.”

That’s what prompted the name, the Contrary. It sums up his drive to shake and stir up expectations.

“My artistry and how I carry myself as a Black man in Des Moines is contrary to popular belief,” he said. “Nobody can box me in.”

Quick Bites

RoCA celebrates its 10th anniversary this week and has brought back some of its greatest hits. (Remember the Smoking Gun, in the photo?) Founding executive chef Aaron Holt, the 2018 Iowa Restaurant Chef of the Year, returned earlier this week to celebrate with the RoCA's current top chef, Brandon Bobst.

West Forty Market in Ankeny got a shoutout in Wini Moranville’s latest Dining Well in Des Moines dispatch. She noted you can feed six to eight people for $175, with a bird (you'll have to cook it yourself) from Golden Prairie, plus sides from Andrea Love at Dinner Delights, dinner rolls from Scenic Route and pie from Home Slice Handmade in Bondurant.

Fresko diners can now buy VinZant Wines by the glass or bottle. The new wine line comes from W. VinZant Restaurants, the Kansas City-based group that owns Fresko, Louie's Wine Dive and Latin King, and is produced from the group's vineyard in Sonoma Valley. VinZant Wines also offers a wine club membership with exclusive offers and hand-selected wine shipments.

Events

Tonight: The Japan American Society of Iowa (JASI) re-creates an izakaya at the River Center in downtown Des Moines.

Saturday: The annual Holiday Market on the Farm is set for 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Speckled Hen Farms in Winterset, with 20 local vendors, mulled wine and more.

Saturday: Table 128 is bringing back its weekly Chef's Tasting Menu dinners. The next one includes a wedge salad, grilled ribeye and a sweet souffle for dessert.

Nov. 15: The Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden hosts its annual Champagne & Chocolate celebration to raise funds for the garden and its programs.

Nov. 16: Whippoorwill Creek Farm in Lovilia hosts a Thankful Dinner, with a bonfire, samples from Hare & Hawk Ciderworks in Jasper County and a farm-to-table feast in the barn.

Nov. 22-24: The Downtown Winter Farmers’ Market returns to the Iowa Events Center.

Whipping up joy, one meringue at a time

By Wini Moranville

Have you ever met a pie baker who’s a jerk? I haven’t. Over the years, I’ve discovered that people who bake pies are some of the nicest people around. It figures. While cooking can sometimes be just about getting food on the table, making pies is unfailingly about spreading joy, sweetness and comfort.

Comfort can be found in the baking, too. Lana (rhymes with “banana”) Shope started her business, Pies and Pastries by Lana, in 2015 partly as a way of de-stressing after her day-job advocating for families facing poverty. (See? There’s that nice thing I’m talking about.) Her duties often included lobbying state lawmakers.

After a stressful day at the state Capitol, she often carried her worries home and well into the night. So she started a side hustle as a dessert maker. “When I’m making pies,” she said, “I can’t be thinking about anything else.”

Shope started baking pies as a 4-H kid on her family’s farm near Toledo, Iowa, and as the years went on, she started bringing home ribbons from the Iowa State Fair. She won the fair’s coveted cinnamon roll contest in 2014, among many other awards, and is now a judge for the fair’s food contests.

Since 2015, she’s increased her weekly pie production from about a dozen to 65 or 70. And there’s bound to be more now that she’s retired from her day job and her side hustle has become a dedicated métier. She bakes pies for all occasions, from everyday events to holidays, weddings and funerals (delicious proof that pies can be both joyful and comforting).

I recently caught up with Shope at the professional community kitchen at the Mickle Center in Sherman Hill, where I watched her artfully whip, swirl and bake a meringue for the lovely raisin cream pie I’d ordered. (One of her pro tips: Don’t overbeat the egg whites. It’s better to have a little curl in the peaks.) Sweet, silky, glossy and light — with a little toastiness here and there — the billowy delight was one of those perfect confections that meringue-lovers dream about but rarely find.

Get the goods

Shope’s fruit pies, with their perfectly flaky crusts, are available by the slice at Zanzibar’s Coffee Adventure, 2723 Ingersoll Ave., where you’ll also find her scones, sweet rolls, coffee cakes and biscotti.
You can order full pies on her website, where you’ll find an extensive list of options. All pies are made to order and cost $40 each. It’s best to place orders five days in advance, but she can sometimes accommodate requests made 48 hours ahead of time. Pickup can be arranged at the Mickle Center, Zanzibar’s or mutually convenient spots around town; you can work out the details when you order.
Shope also offers a “pie cooperative,” where members receive two to four pies each month, selected from a few seasonal options she shares a few days before each pickup.

Wini Moranville has covered the Des Moines dining scene since 1997. She currently reports on local restaurants and food finds on her Substack, Dining Well in Des Moines.