dsmWeekly: January 7, 2020

Look where we're going to be on Jan. 14! We hope to see you there.

A NEW YEAR, A NEW ISSUE

We hope you'll join us to celebrate the arrival of dsm's January/February issue: It will be on Tuesday, Jan. 14, from 5 to 7 p.m. (short program at 6 p.m.) at Warners' Stellian Appliance, a relative newcomer to the local business community, located at 370 Jordan Creek Parkway in West Des Moines.

You'll not only have the opportunity to check out Warners' stellar appliances—you may win one! At the event, the company will give away a Wolf gourmet countertop oven and a KitchenAid Pro Line two-slice toaster. You'll also enjoy food, drinks, and networking with colleagues and friends. We'll see you there!

The gnocchi at Lucca never fails to satisfy.

REVISITING THE DELIGHTS OF DINNER AT LUCCA

By Wini Moranville

Generally speaking, restaurants in this town either serve small plates or very big plates. To come away from the table feeling sated but not gorged, you must either nibble through numerous little bites of this and that or order one large entree bookended by appetizers and desserts shared by the table.

Whatever happened to the multicourse dinner, wherein each course is sized exactly right for the diner to enjoy a meal of three or four courses of their own choosing (no table-wide consensus or sharing needed)? It’s an immensely satisfying way of dining that follows a classic dramatic arc—the rising action (the appetizer/salad or salad/pasta), the climax (the main dish) and the falling action/denouement (dessert and an after-dinner coffee or drink).

If you think that sounds too unhip and yesteryear for words, please know that there’s a crowd of people who don’t care. At Lucca on a recent Saturday night, the room was jampacked with diners who, like me, must have longed for such a complete dining experience.

My four-course arc started with a small Greek salad, with the vegetables and garnishes finely diced and the greens delicately dressed; there was a finesse here that you don’t always see in the salad course. For my second course, a sane-sized plate of pasta with clam sauce—a garlicky, herb-flecked dish with a sensible dusting of Parmesan—delighted. The main dish brought three fat, luscious scallops angled atop a dashing paprika aioli for one of those simple-yet-unforgettable dishes you think about for days. Dessert was a selection of mini-confections (served on one plate per two diners), including a featherweight chocolate torte. Other diners at the table were delighted with their completely different choices in each course; only one dish—a solid-but-prosaic chicken Parmesan—underwhelmed. (P.S.: The gnocchi never fails.)

The four-course dinner at Lucca costs $42. Lucca is at 420 E. Locust St.; 515-243-1115; luccadsm.net.

Kathleen Madigan has a rare gift of telling funny true stories, not just jokes.

SPEND AN EVENING LAUGHING

One of our favorite comedians, Kathleen Madigan, will entertain the crowd at Hoyt Sherman Place this Friday, Jan. 10. She has been playing to sold-out audiences for 30 years with relatable tales of family and popular culture. Madigan has captured the dedication of audiences and critics alike. The Chicago Tribune lauds: "That singular dedication to the craft shows in both the evolution of her material over the years and the way she can make a complicated joke with a hidden nub of wisdom seem both effortless and offhand." For more info and tickets (starting at $39.50), click here.

LAST DAY FOR LGBTQ AWARD NOMINATIONS

Today is the last day to nominate an LGBTQ individual for an LGBTQ Legacy Leader Award and an ally for the Ally Award. Six honorees will be recognized for lifetime achievement at a special event in June. Event details will be announced in the spring.

Nominees for five LGBTQ Legacy Leader Awards should meet these criteria:

Demonstrate a record of public leadership in professional, civic or political roles, in addition to their dedication to LGBTQ causes.
Serve as role models and mentors to others over the years.
Contribute to the appreciation and recognition of cultural diversity in Iowa.

Additionally, one nominee from outside the LGBTQ community will be honored for unwavering commitment to civil rights and equality for all, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.

2019 honorees were George Belitsos, Karen Mackey, Sharon Malheiro, Sonia Reyes-Snyder, Jeorgia Robison, Jonathan Wilson, and ally Terri Hale. To nominate an individual for either award, CLICK HERE.

Nominations are due today, Jan 7.

Ken Fuson

SO LONG, BUDDY

And finally, a note in passing: Several of us here at dsm, as well as at the Business Record, shared the privilege of working at the Des Moines Register alongside Ken Fuson—a graceful writer and a gentle man who died Friday in Omaha, where he was awaiting a liver transplant. There are many ways to string words together, ways that report facts. Ken's way told stories, joyfully or poignantly, but always with heart, always in a way that stirred readers' emotions, that genuinely touched us. We're grateful he shared his talents with dsm, including this story profiling the Rev. Mike Housholder and Lutheran Church of Hope and this one on Neil Hamilton. It was an honor to call Ken a colleague, and a pleasure to call him a friend.