dsmWeekly: March 1, 2023

Wine at the female-focused Assemblé dinner will be chosen by local sommelier Blair Zachariasen from Wall to Wall Wine and Spirits. Photo: Maharry Photography.

FOOD AND DINING

New Winefest Dinner Celebrates Women and Wine

Writer: Karla Walsh

Ask Beyoncé and she’ll tell you: Girls run the world. But they don’t run enough of the wine industry, according to Natasha Sayles with Winefest Des Moines. That’s why they’re launching a new event called “Assemblé: A Female-Focused Wine Dinner” on March 31 at Mainframe Studios.

Billed as a celebration of female winemakers, chefs and sommeliers, the event is co-hosted by Ballet Des Moines. So in addition to enjoying a meal with wine pairings, guests will see a preview of “She,” which the ballet company will perform April 27-30 at the Des Moines Civic Center’s Stoner Theater. The show uses dance to explore female leadership and the successes, compromises and pressures it often entails.

After the amuse-bouche, Assemblé guests will be treated to a three-course dinner planned and prepared by an all-female team. It starts with a first course by Brandy Shayan (The Grateful Chef), continues with an entrée by Katie Van Dyke (Iowa Culinary Institute) and bread by Chelsea Smith (Bread by Chelsa B), and finishes with dessert by Kelsey Williamson (Tangerine Food Co.).

Each course comes with a red, white, rosé or bubbly selected by local sommelier Blair Zachariasen from Wall to Wall Wine & Spirits. She is a certified sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, holds a level 3 certification from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust and is working to earn her WSET diploma. (Translation: The wines she’ll uncork will be stunning.) She didn’t spill any specifics about her choices but did note they’re all from women-owned wineries or produced by women winemakers or grape growers – all to show, she said, “that ladies have a place in the vineyard and cellar.”

As she put it, “I’m looking forward to sharing the stories of women in the business who have inspired me to break into the boys’ club.” Cheers to that!

Tickets are available on the Winefest website.

Des Moines Metro Opera's annual Wine, Beer and Food Showcase offers all kinds of delicious morsels. Photo: Ivory House Photography.

PLAN YOUR WEEKEND

Fun Fundraising at Wine, Beer and Food Showcase

If you love local dining, you’ll find fellow foodies at the Des Moines Metro Opera’s annual Wine, Food and Beer Showcase, 6-9 p.m. Friday at the downtown Marriott. The tasty event brings together 36 restaurants, distilleries, breweries and caterers for a smorgasbord of sampling.

Tickets are still available. All proceeds support the opera company’s education and community engagement programs, including Opera Iowa, which is currently touring “Beauty and the Beast” and “Sid the Serpent Who Wanted to Sing” statewide through May 5. More than 975,000 Iowans of all ages have seen the troupe perform since it first hit the road more than 35 years ago.

PLAN YOUR WEEKEND

Big City Ball (6:45 p.m. Friday): Ballet Des Moines’ annual gala kicks off the weekend, and tickets are still available. Guests can enjoy a four-course dinner, cocktails, a silent auction and, of course, a dance performance. VIPs get in early at 6 p.m. for early access to the auction, plus a portrait session with local photographer and frequent dsm contributor Joe Crimmings.

Chuck Hipsher at Moberg Gallery (5-8 p.m. Friday): Moberg Gallery hosts a free reception to open Chuck Hipsher’s new exhibit, “THINK/FEEL/GO.” The artist’s new abstract work bursts with color and movement, as if capturing the act of creation itself. To learn more, watch the artist talk on Moberg’s website.

Guitarist Charlie Ballantine at Noce (7-9:15 p.m. Saturday): If you’re jazzed for a night out, check out Charlie Ballantine at Noce. The award-winning guitarist blends jazz, folk and rock into a style that’s all his own. Get tickets to hear him play originals from several of his albums.

dsmEVENT
Home Design Awards: Congratulations to the winners of dsm’s third annual Home Design Awards who were honored Tuesday night at Hoyt Sherman Place! Designers, architects, contractors, developers and others gathered to celebrate new homes, kitchen renovations, garden spaces and more. For some inspiration, check out dsm’s YouTube channel to watch a recording of the award ceremony as well as videos about each category. The annual dsm Home issue is out now and features each of the award-winning projects.

Linzi Murray's lifelong love of books and her philosophy of practicing radical empathy led her to make Reading in Public a place where all identities can feel comfortable and included, as if they were in their own home. Photo: Emily Kestel.

CELEBRATE WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
Meet Linzi Murray, Bookstore Owner and Designer

Writer: Emily Kestel

Rest assured that when you walk into the new Reading in Public bookstore and cafe at 315 Fifth St. in West Des Moines, everything – down to the last speck of color on the counter – has been thoughtfully considered.

Linzi Murray, 27, who has a background in design, dreamed of opening the bookstore since 2021. Her vision for the store is inspired by different elements and displays throughout her favorite bookstores in Brooklyn, New York, specifically Books are Magic, Center for Fiction and McNally Jackson.

Tell us a bit about your background.
Right after I graduated from college, my husband Gooi and I moved to New York City for four years. In New York, there’s stuff going on all the time. People are making things all the time. You can’t help but be inspired by it.

To me, bookstores feel like going home. I want to give other people that, so they can feel instinctively that this is a place where you come in and feel safe and comforted.

What drew you to Valley Junction?
I wanted to be somewhere that I would feel like I’m joining the community. Des Moines as a whole is really good about that. It’s small enough that everybody knows what’s going on, but not too small where I feel like I’m suffocating. I love the idea of being somewhere historical. I’m in a new building, of course, but all of the business owners here know they’re part of this historic foundation.

What led you to the name of Reading in Public?
When I started to pursue opening the bookstore, I reread “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, my favorite book of all time. I was writing out a caption on Instagram and I put all the hashtags with the caption, and one of them was #readinginpublic and something told me to pause. I actually thought about it a while, and I started making logo iterations if it were the name. And it stuck. I knew on a gut level that it was the right name.

This story first appeared in Fearless, an initiative through dsm magazine’s sister publication, Business Record, that elevates coverage of women’s and gender issues to help Iowa women succeed in work and life. You can find the full interview online at fearlessbr.com, where you can also sign up for the weekly Fearless newsletter.