dsmWeekly: August 17, 2022

The Salmon Panzanella, available at Aposto during Restaurant Week, consists of seared salmon served over bread and tomato salad tossed with basil vinaigrette.

FOOD AND DINING
7 Restaurant Week Items for Your Must-Try List

Writer: Karla Walsh

Back for its 15th year, dsm's Des Moines Restaurant Week is just days away. Mark your calendars for Aug. 19-28 and make your reservations ASAP. You won’t want to miss your chance to sample the season’s best at 33 of our city’s top restaurants.

Even though the lunch and dinner prix fixe menus are all available at a discounted rate (dinner specials are $40 to $80, and lunches are $15 to $25), the chefs aren’t skimping one bit on the creativity and care for each dish. To wit: Malo’s regional Mexican delights, all inspired by staff members’ home recipes; Django’s Julia Child-inspired feast; and HoQ’s farm-to-table in freshest summer form.

But those are just three of dozens of thoughtful Restaurant Week menu options. After taking a thorough look at all of the menus, I can confirm you can’t go wrong by booking a table at any of the 33 hot spots.

Here are seven dishes in particular that caught my eye.

● Aposto: Order the ultra-summery Salmon Panzanella, seared salmon served over bread and tomato salad tossed with basil vinaigrette. It’s an ideal time to enjoy at a table on the wrap-around porch.

● Harbinger: Roasted Stuffed Peppers come filled with Iowa tofu, smoked tomato dashi, pickled cabbage and caramelized oyster mushrooms—one of many meatless standouts on the menu.

● Allora: A perfect-for-lunch starter of Italian Gazpacho soup is a pure celebration of local garden produce.

● District 36: Rosé Crab Cakes are a wine-lovers delight. The main dish features crab marinated in garnacha rosé wine mixed into fritters with roasted corn and paired with a rosé-infused aioli.

● Alba: For those craving comfort food, don’t miss the Chicken Roulade with silky risotto, bitter greens and chicken skin “cracklin'.”

● Splash: Come hungry for the Prime New York, a generous 18-ounce bone-in prime New York strip steak served with your choice of two house sides.

● Bubba Southern Comforts: Savor a big platter of Southern flavors with the Old Bay Seared Bay Scallops, which come with an Anson Mills grit cake, spinach, bacon-apple chutney and Carolina mustard-cream sauce.

Follow @dsmrestaurantweek on Instagram for more menu reveals, and show us your favorites by tagging images on social media with #dsmrw2022.

Crowds during last weekend's concerts filled the general admission pit at the Grandstand. Photo: courtesy of the Iowa State Fair.

PLAN YOUR WEEKEND

State Fair Welcomes Big Names This Weekend

The Iowa State Fair has packed its performance lineup to close out its last weekend. Head to the Grandstand after a day of fair food and activities to see concerts from Chicago hard rock band Disturbed and country legends Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood.

Grammy-nominated group Distrubed will rock out on Friday with special guest duo Chevelle. Pit tickets are still available for those “Down With the Sickness” fans ready to get up-close and personal.

On Saturday, Keith Urban will perform with rising country star Ingrid Andress. Urban, recipient of 13 Country Music Association Awards, will serenade crowds from his “Speed of Now World Tour” set list and vast collection of hits.

Topping off the weekend is Carrie Underwood in concert with breakout country artist Adam Sanders. In 2015, the “Before He Cheats” singer performed a sold-out show, so snag tickets while you can.

Beyond the Grandstand, find other (free!) concerts and entertainment at the Susan Knapp Amphitheater, the Anne and Bill Riley Stage, and the MidAmerican Energy Stage. To see complete schedules for each day of the fair and purchase tickets, head to iowastatefair.org.

PLAN YOUR WEEKEND

Comedian Marc Maron (Friday, 8 p.m.): Stand-up comedian Marc Maron will bring the laughs to Hoyt Sherman Place as part of his “This May Be the Last Time” tour. His most recent Netflix special, “End Times Fun” (2020), was nominated for a 2021 Critics’ Choice Award. Tickets for his Friday performance can be found here.

“Live, Local, and Loud!” at xBk (Saturday, 7 p.m.): Andre Davis and DK Imamu Akachi, two Des Moines-area hip-hop artists, are celebrating the release of their EP, “Sacred Assassins.” The collaborators will perform at xBk for free on Saturday as part of the venue’s “Live, Local, and Loud!” programming, which offers no-cover concerts and free livestreams to maximize accessibility to live shows. Register for a ticket here. Also, check out these dsm articles on Akachi and Davis.

ARTS AND CULTURE
New shows announced: Hoyt Sherman Place added two new shows coming next year. First, “Ancient Aliens Live: Project Earth” will make a tour stop on Feb. 17. The interactive conversation will feature panelists discussing topics from the History Channel program. Then on April 22, “Hits! The Musical” takes the stage. The show highlights young stars as they take the audience through a musical journey. Tickets for both shows are on sale now on the Hoyt Sherman Place website.

Find Lyssa Wade of Veggie Thumper in her colorful bus around Beaverdale. Photographer: Duane Tinkey.

FOOD AND DINING

Meet Des Moines Foodie Lyssa Wade

Writer: Karla Walsh

Since 2019, Lyssa Wade has run Veggie Thumper, a vegan food brand, out of a tricked-out, dressed-up school bus that’s open from early spring to late fall. Her goal? To get more plant-based eaters on board with a lifestyle she swears by herself. Wade dreams of someday hosting “fancy pop-ups and seated themed dinners” to coax even more locals into craving fresh-from-the-garden cuisine. For now, you can find her slinging walnut “meat” tacos, barbecue “chick’n” nachos and more at her bus that parks in and around Beaverdale (find the complete schedule at veggiethumper.com).

Wade says her love of growing and sharing food “started thanks to my dad, who was the main cook in our family. After he passed away in 2008, I was a lost and sad full-time student with three jobs and my own kid. I had to learn how to feed us,” Wade says. New to the gardening game but craving a taste of home similar to what she enjoyed around the table with her dad, she started growing Brussels sprouts. “Seeing them grow and thrive made me smile. I declared I was going to have a real garden the following year,” she says, so she could feed her own family nutritious, homemade meals.

Read about how she grew her gardening into a gig in this dsm article.