dsmWeekly: February 1, 2023

Northern Vessel has a modern yet warm atmosphere; in addition to coffee, it serves cold brews, teas and baked goods.

Coffee Shops to Try: New, Newer and Coming Soon

New: Northern Vessel opened in November in a sunny south-facing building at 1201 Keosauqua Way, and it’s a great spot to ease into a chilly winter day. With built-in blonde benches where you can perch with your latte and laptop, the modern space is a perfect venue for casual meetups.

The caffeine hub serves cold brews, teas and signatures such as its Cheerio Latte sweetened with honey and cinnamon. Find fresh baked goods from Savor the Rise in Indianola as well as to-go salads and wraps from New World Kitchen. It’s open daily.

Newer: Mayalu Coffee opened with the new year in a former dry-cleaning spot at 4226 Fleur Drive. Its Nepali-born owner, Deep Paudel, named the shop after his mother, Maya, and daughter, nicknamed Lulu. The mashup, mayalu, means “beloved” or “sweetheart” in Nepali.

The interior is still developing, with big new windows out front and a friendly Nepal-meets-Iowa mural by artist Reagan Park from East High School. The drive-through is up and running (right across the street from a busy Starbucks). Inside or out, you can order a few pastries and all the usual coffee drinks plus a few with global twists, like the masala coffee, matcha latte or Nepali chiya, a frothy, fortifying mix of tea and milk. The shop is open daily.

Coming soon: Chain & Spoke is tentatively scheduled to open in March at 515 28th St., just off Ingersoll Avenue. The shop was inspired by coffee-bike shops in Minneapolis and Bentonville, Arkansas, but has a distinctly local appeal: The 1925 building once housed a print shop and still has wall-to-wall windows and plenty of natural light. Their cold-brew samples were a big hit at the Iowa Bike Expo this past weekend.

From left: Pyramid actors Emmett Saah Phillips Jr., Aaron Smith, Tiffany Johnson and Larryah Travis surround the piano, a family heirloom at the center of dispute in "The Piano Lesson." (Scroll down to read more about Phillips in the last item of the newsletter.) Photo courtesy of Des Moines Community Playhouse.

PLAN YOUR WEEKEND

‘The Piano Lesson’ May Teach More Than Music

August Wilson’s Pulitzer-winning play “The Piano Lesson” opens Friday and runs through Feb. 19 at Des Moines Community Playhouse. The co-production from the Playhouse and Pyramid Theater Company opens 10 years to the day after Pyramid’s first reading of its first show, “Fences,” another Wilson classic. In the decade since, the award-winning company has introduced local audiences to an array of classic and new stories by Black playwrights.

“The Piano Lesson” title refers to a family heirloom in dispute. A sister wants to keep it in the family, but a brother wants to sell it off to buy land their enslaved ancestors used to work.

"It’s a reminder that family and community, not material things, are what get us through when it feels like the world is falling down around you,” says company co-founder Ken-Matt Martin, who lives in Chicago and has returned to town to direct the show. “I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for this.”

Read the backstory at dsmmagazine.com.

PLAN YOUR WEEKEND

Black History at Mainframe (Friday, 5-9 p.m.): For decades, downtown’s Center Street was a busy hub for local Black culture and commerce, before it was demolished to make way for Interstate 235. Mainframe Studios honors that history with a bigger-than-usual First Friday event, “The Center Street Sepia Club Revival,” with a full slate of exhibits, talks and performances from Ballet Des Moines, the Iowa Wolves, artist Cameron Gray, author Abena Imhotep, comedian Bernard Bell, singer/songwriter Sharane Calister and others. Admission is free.

Annick Ibsen’s exhibit opening (Friday, 5-8 p.m.): Moberg Gallery will display new work from local artist Annick Ibsen, including her latest mixed-media sculptures and paintings. The opening reception is free to all. Read more about Ibsen in this story from the dsm archive.

“God of Carnage” premiere (Friday, 7:30 p.m.): When two couples meet to resolve their children’s playground fight, they behave far worse than their offspring in “God of Carnage,” this Friday through Feb. 19 at Tallgrass Theatre, 2019 Grand Ave. in West Des Moines. The cast features two real-life couples: Dan and Kim Haymes, and Michael Ladell Harris and Maggie Jane Tatone. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday; tickets are $33.

25th annual African American Festival (Saturday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.): Actor, author and literacy advocate Taye Diggs headlines the 25th annual I’ll Make Me a World in Iowa festival at its new location at the Horizon Events Center, 2100 N.W. 100th St. in Clive. He’ll speak at 3:30 p.m. amid an extravaganza of food, art, music and culture, plus an expo of small businesses and nonprofits. Admission is free.

Des Moines Symphony with Kevin Zhu (Saturday 7:30 p.m. and Sunday 2:30 p.m.): The Des Moines Symphony will honor the brave COVID-19 front-line workers with a performance of Valerie Coleman’s “Seven O’Clock Shout” this weekend at the Des Moines Civic Center. Her anthem is inspired by the health care workers who clocked out daily at 7 p.m. to cheers and clanging pots during the pandemic’s early days. Also on the bill is Tchaikovsky’s romantic Violin Concerto, featuring Kevin Zhu, and Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 5.

Clockwise from top left: Ahmed Musa, Laura Hamilton, Emmett Phillips, Lindsey Page, Marissa Hernandez. Photos: Joe Crimmings.

PEOPLE
Meet 5 Young Leaders Shaping Des Moines

Writer: Brianne Sanchez

Spend time chatting with the next wave of local leaders and it’s clear that society’s stock question for youths—“What do you want to be when you grow up?”—is losing relevance. For today’s 20-somethings who had pivotal coming-of-age years disrupted by the pandemic, the chance to continue to explore new opportunities and connect is critical.

What does the future hold for them or the city? Nobody’s claiming to have it all figured out; instead, they’re focused on building a supportive community for the journey.

Emmett Phillips, 29: Phillips works as a facilitator at Oakridge Neighborhood. He’s also a hip-hop artist, poet, teaching artist and actor. His art promotes equality, social justice and freedom.

Marissa Hernandez, 24: As a muralist, Hernandez paints faceless portraits, such as the graphic backdrop at Slow Down Coffee Co. in Highland Park.

Ahmed Musa, 23: Originally from South Sudan, Musa works in restorative justice for Des Moines Public Schools.

Lindsey Page, 25: Page helps connect people—especially kids—to the outdoors as a naturalist with Polk County Conservation.

Laura Hamilton, 25: The Minnesota native moved to Des Moines after starting as a research associate at Kemin Industries, working in a lab to develop the flavor components that go into dog and cat foods.

Read more about how each hopes to make an impact on the community in this story from our newest issue.