dsm Dish - September 12, 2025

Taste it all at the CultureALL Ball

By Jinessa Lewis

While culture can be shared through many mediums, there is one in particular that can transcend barriers: delicious food.

Experience cross-cultural tastes from around the world at this year's CultureALL Ball. CultureALL is a nonprofit focused on sharing cultural experiences and fostering connection across different perspectives. They create spaces for people of all backgrounds to learn and share with others. This year's festival will mark 20 years of CultureALL, meaning the organization plans to go ALL out.

The event has dozens of activities on the roster, including fashion shows, dance lessons and live music. But a major space at the event will contain the vast spread of dishes from a diverse cast of local chefs, including Mariela Maya of Panka, Nathan Bohn of Home Touch Kitchen, Haris Zuljevic of Tito's Lounge, Phanh Theppanya of Haiku and Dheneswaran Anna Duran of Amruth Indian Grill.

All of the food items are part of a curated menu to showcase dishes from around the world. Think cheesy and flavorful paneer tikka masala served with naan from India; arroz chaufa de pollo, a Peruvian chicken fried rice with Chinese influence; cevapi, a Balkan grilled sausage; and even attiek, fermented cassava couscous from Africa. Plus others you may recognize like fried plantains and tres leches cake for dessert.

“This was really a way to see how many cultures can be represented in one night,” said Jesse Orton, executive director at CultureALL. “We want to present the entire globe in bite size pieces throughout the evening.”

The CultureALL Ball will be held Saturday, Sept. 20 at the Hilton Des Moines Downtown. Guests are encouraged to show up early to taste each dish, as some might sell out. For tickets and more information, see the event listing online.

Quick Bites

The Iowa America 250 Commission is launching “America’s Harvest,” a new initiative honoring agriculture’s role in shaping democracy, as the nation prepares for its 250th anniversary. The celebration culminates in October 2026 with a statewide Harvest and Fall Festival on the grounds of the Iowa State Capitol, featuring entertainment, seasonal activities and participants from all 99 counties.

Ballet Des Moines will explore “The Nutcracker” Nov. 6 during its Savoring the Senses series with an evening of food, wine and art in partnership with Value Inclusion and IRIS. Guests will enjoy a three-course dinner, wine pairings, and sensory experiences with artistic director Eric Trope and choreographer Sarah Dornink, who will guide audiences through fresh interpretations of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker.”

Motley School Tavern owner Nic Gonwa is selling the neighborhood spot to new owners after six years in business. Gonwa thanked the community and staff for their support in a social media post, and expressed confidence the new team will carry on the tavern’s legacy while bringing fresh ideas to the table. Gonwa assured customers that the restaurant will remain as Motley School Tavern, “pancakes and all.”

Oktoberfest at the Des Moines Biergarten will be packed with festive eats and plenty of bier. The event coordinators announced vendors like The Good Butcher, Strudl Haus, Coaches Kolaches, Kaaswagen, Clyde’s Fine Diner, and Outside Scoop will serve up a curated lineup, alongside limited-edition 1-liter and 1/2-liter stein glasses during the festival, Sept. 19-21 at Water Works Park.

Iowa Pepper Co. and the Historic Valley Junction Foundation are hosting the third annual hot pepper eating contest during the next Valley Junction Farmers Market. Registration to compete is now closed, but stop by to cheer on the contestants, and maybe offer them a glass of milk.

Events

All weekend: Latino Restaurant Week celebrates Latin cuisine all over the metro through Sept. 14, with 20 participating restaurants offering dining deals. Special menus include two lunches or one dinner with a side or dessert for $25.

Saturday: The Cast Iron Cook-off is back at Living History Farms. Who will whip up the tastiest meal with surprise ingredients over an open fire or wood-burning stove? To find out, you’ll have to travel back to 1700, 1850, 1876 and 1900.

Saturday and Sunday: Choose Iowa Farm Open House involves 60 farms, orchards, dairies, meat lockers and other agricultural businesses across the state.

Sept. 16: At the Corn & Khrushchev event at Big Creek Historical Society, Liz Garst shares her family’s firsthand account of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s 1959 visit to Coon Rapids, when the Garst farm became the unlikely stage for Cold War diplomacy.

Sept. 19: Winefest’s Grand Tasting at the Hotel Fort Des Moines features wine tastings, gourmet food from local restaurants and live entertainment.

Sept. 21: Picnic Theater: “Agrimusic” at the Wallace Farm in Orient features a farm-fresh picnic and a concert by the local musician and Iowa historian Seth Hedquist.

Sept. 26: The Dahlias in Bloom dinner at PepperHarrow near Winterset offers five courses with wine pairings in the middle of gorgeous fields of flowers. There are worse ways to spend an evening, right?

Sept. 27: Oak Park’s Harvest Dinner, a second annual tradition, showcases the season’s final garden harvest in a six-course dinner created by Oak Park executive chef Ian Robertson and Michelin-starred chef Byron Gomez of BRUTØ in Denver.

We're falling for this seasonal salad

Jenny Quiner, former owner of Dogpatch Urban Gardens, shared her favorite salad recipe with dsm back in 2020. “This is the time when greens are abundant and beautiful. Summer crops like tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are on their last leg yet still delicious, and roots like carrots, beets and radishes are also abundant,” she said.

Honeynut Squash Salad With Blue Cheese
Serves 4

Ingredients
5 slices of bacon
One 1 1/2-pound honeynut squash, washed, sliced in half lengthwise and seeded
1 tablespoon butter
5 ounces salad greens, washed and dried
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
4 ounces Maytag Blue Cheese Crumbles
2 ounces pepita seeds
1 ounce hemp hearts
Citrus vinaigrette, to taste

Instructions
1. Fry bacon. When cooked, place on a paper towel to absorb excess grease.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
3. Place honeynut squash cut-side up on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place 1/2 tablespoon butter in each cavity and season with salt and pepper.
4. Roast squash for 25 minutes or until tender. Set squash aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, slice the squash into cubes. (Quiner prefers to leave the skin on, but you can scoop out the flesh if you prefer.)
5. Assemble the salad: In your favorite salad bowl, layer lettuce, onion, cheese, pepita seeds, hemp hearts, roasted squash and bacon. Add all ingredients and top with your favorite citrus vinaigrette. Mix and enjoy.

Contributor also Karla Walsh took notes on a few of Quiner’s expert tips:

Go local. “Most local growers are selling their product within days of harvest so the freshness and shelf life are superior to store-bought greens,” Quiner said. She suggests you buy greens grown in the Midwest rather than the basic bagged varieties at the supermarket, which typically come from California, Arizona or Mexico and “have quite a bit of food miles before they reach the shelves of a store.”

Crank up the heat. Roasting the squash at a high temperature creates caramelization, which enhances the natural sweetness of the vegetable.

Don’t be blue about blue cheese. Sharp and salty blue cheese is a lovely complement to the sweetness of the honeynut squash, Quiner explained. She gives Maytag a thumbs up for being local and for its top-notch quality.

Pick the right pork. Quiner likes to use Berkwood Farms bacon because it’s local and “the thickness of their bacon slices is perfect.”

Start small. The ideal dressing-to-fixing ratio varies by person. To ensure the dressing doesn’t overpower the flavors of the other ingredients, “err on the side of less,” Quiner said. “You can always add more, but you can’t take away if you pour on too much.”

Our idea of hidden treasure? A fried, powdered-sugar-dusted ham, turkey, and cheese sandwich served with raspberry preserves. Otherwise known as a Monte Cristo sandwich.

Sept. 17 is National Monte Cristo Day — an entirely made-up but wholly delicious holiday — created by Bennigan’s restaurant chains to give the sweet and savory sandwich its due praise. On Wednesday Bennigan’s in Urbandale will offer a free Monte Cristo with the purchase of any entrée to celebrate. No sailing or plundering or pirating required.