dsmWeekly - November 6, 2024

Eatery A offers enough variations of wood-fired pizzas to merit repeat visits, especially during happy hour. (Photo: Eatery A)

FOOD & DINING

Turn happy hour into a progressive dinner
By Mary Jane Miller

Going out to dinner is fun. Progressive dinners are fun, too. And progressive happy-hour hopping is even more fun.

For our anniversary this year, my husband and I couldn’t decide among three restaurants, so we decided to go to them all. Happy-hour specials are generally small plates meant to be shared, so it was easy to make three stops, enjoy three courses and finish early enough to catch a show — or to simply head home for dessert.

We started at the Cheese Bar, at 2925 Ingersoll Ave., where happy hour runs from 2 to 5 p.m. We snagged a table and enjoyed a small tray of savory pot stickers with a spicy-sticky sauce and an order of blistered shishito peppers dusted with Parmesan. The pizza roll looked good, but we were saving room for another pizza in our near future.

Across the street at Eatery A, at 2932 Ingersoll Ave., the happy hour goes from 2 to 6 p.m., an hour longer. The menu leans into Mediterranean flavors, and we had a wood-fired pizza topped with beef kofta, feta, onion, tzatziki sauce and cilantro.

Finally, just down the street is Harbinger, at 2724 Ingersoll Ave., where the specials run from 4 to 6 p.m. When we stopped in, the menu offered Japanese-style skewers (yakitori) of marinated lion’s mane mushrooms with horseradish and leeks. The soft milk-bread toast is topped with caramelized leeks , drizzled with a prosciutto XO sauce, and five-spice pickled apples. They also had steamed buns filled with pork belly, fried chicken or butternut squash. Why not get all three? We’ll have to come back for the ginger roasted beet dumplings (gyoza).

The menus at the Cheese Bar and Harbinger change with the seasons, and Eatery A has a long list of pizzas, so this early night out deserves repeating.

Caethen Stocker as CJ and Toné Cheré as Nana in "Last Stop on Market Street." (Photo: Steve Gibbons, Des Moines Playhouse)

BEST BET

Revamped theater starts with 'Last Stop'

“Last Stop on Market Street” opens Friday at the Des Moines Playhouse, along with the freshly renovated Studio Theatre.

The 65-minute play, part of the Kate Goldman Family Series, is adapted from Matt de la Peña’s Newbery Medal-winning children’s book about a grandmother and her curious grandson, CJ. The show includes music by the late Detroit artist Lamont Dozier and his son, Paris Ray Dozier. The show starts at 7 p.m. Fridays and 1 and 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 24. Tickets are general admission, available at the box office and online.

The Week Ahead

Grant Wood presentation (5 p.m. Thursday): Pay homage to Iowa’s most famous artist at “Grant Wood: Artistic Rags to Riches” in the drawing room at Terrace Hill. Take a gander at some of the artist’s original work and learn a thing or two about the man who created it.

Sake Event: Night at Izakaya (6 p.m.-midnight Friday): Japanese culture will be on full display at the Japan America Society of Iowa’s third annual sake celebration at the River Center. Inspired by neighborhood pubs, known as izakaya, the night offers sake tastings, Japanese pub food, origami, folk dancers, Taiko drumming and, for the VIP reception at 5:30 p.m., a sushi course with a master chef.

Magos Herrera (7:30 p.m. Friday): Head to Drake University’s Sheslow Auditorium to hear the Mexican-born, New York-based singer-songwriter whose modern jazz sound transcends boundaries.

Nikki Glaser (7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday): The popular comedian brings her “Alive and Unwell” tour and upfront personality to Hoyt Sherman Place this weekend. She’s released multiple stand-up specials and packed theaters nationwide.

Tweed Ride (1 p.m. Sunday): Don your fancy old-fashioned duds for the annual bike-riding pilgrimage around downtown. It starts with breakfast at the Royal Mile, makes a stop at the Iowa Taproom and includes a group portrait at the state Capitol to prove that it really happened.

“Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” (7:30 p.m. Monday): Rock out to the Queen of Rock’s greatest hits and discover her captivating life story when the musical’s national tour stops at Stephens Auditorium in Ames.

Motown Christmas (7 p.m. Tuesday): Christmas already? Almost. A mix of talented vocalists from several classic Motown groups heads to Hoyt Sherman Place for a choreographed concert with beautiful harmonies and your favorite holiday tracks.

Holiday book drive: United Way is partnering with Barnes & Noble through Dec. 19 to collect books for children during the holidays. To donate, stop by the Barnes & Noble location at 4550 University Ave. in West Des Moines and buy one or several children’s books of your choice. At checkout, let the cashier know you’d like to donate your purchases to United Way of Central Iowa, and they’ll take care of the rest. Look over the United Way wish list to see which books are in demand.

PepperHarrow's first fragrance line is made from oils and essences distilled from botanicals grown on the farm and other natural ingredients. (Photo: PepperHarrow)

PEOPLE & COMMUNITY

Local flower farm introduces its own fragrance line

By Hailey Evans

Scent, memories and emotions are deeply intertwined in our brains. Just imagine the smell of freshly cut grass on a sunny afternoon or your mom’s brownies baking in the oven.

At PepperHarrow, the 20-acre flower farm in Winterset, the breeze picks up scents all the time. But owners Adam and Jenn O’Neal wanted to take that sensation a step further by launching a line of handcrafted fragrances distilled from lavender and other botanicals grown on the property.

The idea struck Adam this summer while he sat in on a botanical perfume class Jen was leading on the farm. It was during this class he created the first iteration of a unisex scent, “NOLA,” which is now part of PepperHarrow’s inaugural perfume line.

Ironically, Adam is sensitive to strong smells. “I think a lot of perfume products smell chemical to me, they’re very synthetic,” he said. As he developed his own line of fragrances, he focused on grounding, calming scents that he personally enjoyed. He found that making them from essences and oils distilled right on the farm produced cleaner scents, free of the synthetic properties that irritated him.

“He’s good at everything,” Jenn said. Previously, the couple had taken several make-your-own perfume classes during trips abroad, where Adam picked up the skill quickly.

Many PepperHarrow visitors who smelled a preview of the blend described it as comforting and welcoming, Jenn said. It reminded Adam so strongly of his childhood in New Orleans that he decided to name it accordingly.

The pair introduced some of their perfume products during this summer’s Downtown Farmers Market. Many bottles were still unnamed and unlabeled, Jenn said, and customers could take test sprays of whichever ones they enjoyed. “They would wear it around the market, like it so much, and come back later wanting to buy it,” she added. As the products caught on, the couple decided to officially launch three blends, which will be available for purchase on the PepperHarrow website starting Saturday:

NOLA: notes of vanilla, bright fruits and eucalyptus.
Charming: notes of citrus, vanilla and earthy wood tones.
Tobacco & Spice: warm vanilla, tobacco and exotic spices.

A ticketed launch party will start at 2 p.m. Saturday at PepperHarrow. Each ticket includes fragrance samples, cupcakes and access to the mimosa bar.

“We wanted a chance to really launch these fragrances to the public and celebrate all the work Adam has done creating them,” Jenn said.

Heads-up, olfactophiles: The farm is hosting a Lavender Festival June 20-21 that will feature distilling demos and opportunities to concoct your own fragrances.