dsmWeekly: November 8, 2023

Come spring, HUGO's Wood Fired Kitchen will share a building with Meals on Wheels at 3206 University Ave. Photo: Lynn Pritchard.

FOOD AND DINING

Table 128 will open in March, along with HUGO’s

Writer: Karla Walsh

It’s been two years since we first reported that Table 128 would open downtown, but it’s still not open. Sometimes that’s just how the mini chocolate chip sea salt cookie crumbles.

So I’m happy to report some good news, direct from chef/owner Lynn Pritchard: He plans to open the new place in mid-March at 220 S.W. Ninth St.

While his team has been serving those irresistible cookies at his other place, 503 Cocktail Lab + Tasting Room in the East Village, Pritchard himself has fielded lots of questions about Table 128 from his fans. He said a mix of challenges caused its delay, including the pandemic, shifts in funding that prompted him to enlist an additional investor, and his father’s battle with cancer.

“I pumped the brakes on restaurant work several times to spend as much time with my father and son as possible,” Pritchard said. “I’ll never regret the special times we were able to share.”

Come spring, he hopes to share some special times with his guests at Table 128, including previous regulars from the former location in Clive and newcomers alike. “The single greatest compliment at [the old] Table 128 was when guests would say they feel like they're at home,” he said.

At the new location, diners will notice some familiar recipes on the menu and familiar faces among the staff. There will be some new features, too, inspired by Pritchard’s 30-plus years in the business, such as lighting in the kitchen that mimics the dining room so chefs can see what diners do — and of course, new recipes.

Around the same time, Pritchard plans to open another restaurant across town: HUGO’s Wood Fired Kitchen, at 3206 University Ave. The new spot in the Drake neighborhood will focus on wood-fired cuisine with nods to recipes, ingredients and techniques from Italy, Lebanon, Turkey, the Balkans and their Mediterranean neighbors. The menu will be “jarringly different from anything else in the metro,” Pritchard said.

The restaurant will share a building with WesleyLife Meals on Wheels, where Pritchard and his team plan to volunteer. “I hold very dear the philosophy that I need to leave this place better than how I found it,” he said, “and my businesses will foster that philosophy, too.”

When Pritchard started planning HUGO’s in the fall of 2021, he didn’t expect to open two restaurants at the same time. “Honestly, I thought Table 128 would have been open for about 14 months by the time HUGO's came into the light, but here we go,” he said.

Shop for tiny trinkets, gifts and more this weekend at the Iowa Events Center. Photo: Des Moines Holiday Boutique

BEST BET

Head to the Des Moines Holiday Boutique

Shop new products and exhibitors galore, plus plenty of returning favorites, at this year’s Des Moines Holiday Boutique this weekend at the Iowa Events Center. More than 200 vendors from around the country will sell holiday decor, jewelry, gifts, children’s items, gourmet foods and more.

The festive event opens at 10 a.m. Friday and Sunday, and 9 a.m. Saturday, so grab your brunch squad and knock out some early holiday shopping. While you’re there, check out the “Handmade in Iowa” section with products from Iowa artisans and crafters, the “Iowa Wine Village” with free samples and bottles for purchase, and a relaxation lounge with comfy spots to take a break.

Tickets are $10 online through Thursday and $12 at the door.

The Week Ahead

Damn Tall Buildings (7:30 p.m. Thursday): The Boston-based bluegrass trio with sprawling roots in ragtime, swing and jazz performs in the Live at the Temple series at the Temple for Performing Arts.

“Wicked Queen” (7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday): The actors of Seedlings Children’s Theatre take the Tallgrass Theatre stage to tell a story of an 11-year-old girl who crosses paths with an evil king who happens to be living under her bed. The show runs through Nov. 19.

“Chipmunk’d” (7:30 p.m. Friday): Iowa Stage Theater Co. welcomes Megan Gogerty in this one-woman comedy, where she gets bitten by a chipmunk and takes a wild trip through hospitals and roller rinks. Iowa City’s Riverside Theater recently hosted the show and billed it as “the play for when you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

Living History Farms Race (9 a.m. Saturday): The annual cross-country stampede through 300 years of history — plus a few fields and muddy streams — offers one more chance to wear your Halloween costume.

Lake Street Dive (8 p.m. Sunday): The poppy, soulful genre-bending band that formed almost 20 years ago at the New England Conservatory of Music brings its collective talents to a concert at Hoyt Sherman Place, with special guest Monica Martin.

The Black Crowes (6:30 p.m. Tuesday): The Atlanta rock band best known for hits like “She Talks to Angels” and “Twice as Hard” brings three decades of songs to the new Vibrant Music Hall in Waukee.

COMMUNITY
Shared wisdom: Tuesday night, dsm celebrated this year’s seven Sages Over 70 at the FFA Enrichment Center in Ankeny. Wayne Ford, Joe Gonzalez, Linda and Tom Koehn, Pat Schneider, Doug West and Martha Willits each shared a few words of inspiration. You can read their profiles online or grab a copy in print during next week’s release party for dsm’s November/December issue 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14, at Ballet Des Moines’ new headquarters downtown. Tickets are still available.

ARTS AND CULTURE
New hire: Mainframe Studios has chosen Julia Franklin to serve as its next executive director. She’ll start on Dec. 1 (a First Friday) and will lead the thriving arts hub on downtown’s north side, which opened in 2017 and is now the biggest nonprofit art studio building in the country. The Texas native currently works as the community investment specialist at Bravo Greater Des Moines and has previous experience at Drake University and Graceland University, where she helped guide the construction and operations at the Helene Center for the Visual Arts. She herself is a practicing artist and was named one of the Iowa Arts Council’s Iowa Artist Fellows in 2018.

COMMUNITY
Comedy show: The Brenton Skating Plaza opens for the season Nov. 17, during the first of five Fridays of the East Village’s Holiday Promenade. Located on the Principal Riverwalk along the Des Moines River, the rink will be open seven days a week for public skating. Don’t know how to skate? Free skating clinics will be held throughout the season for any newbies who need some guidance. The plaza will also host adaptive skate nights for folks of all abilities to enjoy the ice. See the skating schedule and register for special events and clinics.

This Sunday, downtown Des Moines may look a bit more like a scene from "Peaky Blinders." Photo: Christopher Maharry

STYLE

Bespoke spokes: Sport your Sunday best

Writer: Michael Morain

There are at least two kinds of cycling enthusiasts. The first chases after all the latest greatest gear and high-tech, moisture-wicking, bun-hugging spandex. The others wear wool.

At 11 a.m. this Sunday, Nov. 12, that second group will gather downtown for the annual Tweed Ride, a leisurely round-trip excursion from the Royal Mile to the state Capitol with a drink and a bite to eat before, during and after. Participants ride vintage bikes, if they have them, and wear whatever fancy old-fashioned suits suit their fancy. Most folks draw inspiration from the 1920s or ’30s, somewhere “across the pond” in the bygone British countryside you see on public television.

“It’s really more of a parade than a ride,” said Christopher Maharry, who takes the annual group photograph on the west steps of the Statehouse. Most years, the portrait features a bunch of long wool coats and lovely old sweaters, some scarves, bowties, leather gloves, riding goggles, extravagant mustaches and a few guys who look like Colonel Mustard. It’s all very civilized.

The ride started almost 15 years ago after a local couple spotted a similar event in London and decided to introduce it here in Iowa. The English ride dubs itself as “a metropolitan cycle ride with a bit of style” and traces its origins to the so-called “young fogey” movement of the 1980s and ’90s. Gradually, tweed rides started rolling through other cities in Europe and the United States, including the Quad Cities.

Here in Des Moines, Joel and Brenda Frye have led the charge for the last few years. They’re both into bikes and vintage fashion, and they co-own B’s Knees Vintage clothier, which opened a shop earlier this fall in Valley Junction. They use the ride to raise funds for a charity, like the Puppy Jake Foundation, which trains and places service dogs to help wounded military veterans. But other than that, the ride is pretty low-key.

“It’s just a good time,” Joel Frye said. “It’s just a day to throw away the bike shorts and come out and have fun.”

Meanwhile . . . The award-winning exhibit “Riding Through History” at the State Historical Museum of Iowa traces the state’s cycling history from the 1800s to today, including the 50-year tradition of the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.