I'm in Des Moines for a couple of days, staying up by Camp Dodge. Think we're talking about having dinner at 801 Grand tonight per the recommendation of our hotel clerk. What else should I see/do? I'll have tonight and a few hours tomorrow evening.

Lumber Yard any good?

yupper.  if you want to touch them, go up the street to the north.  the "outer limits" can be good or terrible, but when it is good, it is really good...  skin flutes can sometimes be accepted in the back room...

if you stay downtown there are a few places that are tip top.  up the street to the west is GT's, and a few others that have outside terraces along Ingersoll Ave.  those are fun...  

if you're in the mood for great italian in a basement on the east side of the street on 4th and walnut there is an awesome little joint called "la trattoria" - some of the best around...  also down there is "A Dong" if you dig the best vietnamese food ever...  cross the downtown river to the east along grand ave and you have "zen" one of the newer bar/lounges - great drinks and super sushi...  there is a duelling piano bar up there near E. 5th.  "house of bricks" is right there too with it's yellow awnings.  can't miss it.  it is all live music...  if you want to sip a great martini and aren't bothered by queers the blazing saddle is neat.  i went in there on a dare...  don't ask...  if you favor genuine cocktails and great liquor it can't be beat.  however, dudes will be staring at your junk...

there are some dance joints downtown but filled with mall ninjas, wanna-be gang bangers, gang bangers, and genuine children...  

south of the lumberyard on E.14th and east a half block on broadway is the "minx" with purple awnings...  not too bad either...  go to the west from there on broadway to 2nd ave and north one block to "big earl's" and they have all nudes IIRC...  BYOB for that one...

hope this helps.

Oh, to be a kid again.

801 Grand was not cheap.

Didn't make it out to any gentleman's establishments. We have a female with our crew who wasn't having it. Had a couple beers around Court Avenue, went to dinner, and then walked around the State Capitol building. Impressive capitol y'all got.

Quoted: 801 Grand was not cheap. Didn't make it out to any gentleman's establishments. We have a female with our crew who wasn't having it. Had a couple beers around Court Avenue, went to dinner, and then walked around the State Capitol building. Impressive capitol y'all got.

801 is high as a kite and relatively over priced.  even though the food is good it is a bit stuffy in there as well.  on 10th just south of grand is a place called "Centro" and an aquaintence of mine owns it.  they have gourmet pizza, italian, and steak.  you can eat at a reasonable price or take it up a notch.  i recommend the beef medallions or the goat cheese pizza.  you can set outside along the sidewalk within their little area as well if it isn't hot...  

the capital building is pretty darn cool in the grand scheme of things.  it should be, it has cost us a pretty penny for the gold veneer...

for the record, most of the girls at the "outer limits" are bi or willing to be bi if it makes a difference to your female friend...

Septic I cant believe you gave that man advice to go to minx. Went there on a bachelor party last summer, it is the most disgusting, run-down place I have ever been to. the strippers are fat and nasty.

But, I generally dont like strip clubs to begin with...


Lumber Yard is nice


Ah, one other good Italian restaurant in the area is Latin King, on the corner of Hubble and University.

Quoted: Septic I cant believe you gave that man advice to go to minx. Went there on a bachelor party last summer, it is the most disgusting, run-down place I have ever been to. the strippers are fat and nasty.

the bitter is necessary to appreciate the sweet...

Quoted: Ah, one other good Italian restaurant in the area is Latin King, on the corner of Hubble and University.

one of my all time favorites.  bobby tursi is a class act.  he runs a great establishment!  great food.  if you dig chicken i'd certainly recommend the chicken speidini (amagio or alfredo are both great), for spicy stuff the gamberi diavlo, and for meat eaters the steak deburgo is the cat's ass...  they cook just a tad on the rare side, but i still prefer mine medium rare...

good times...  i'm hungry now...

I've always been a big fan of Luckys, my kind of place.

Well, I made it to the Lumber Yard. Not so impressive on a Tuesday night. Brick Cafe or something similar, near Camp Dodge for lunch, homemade potato salad was excellent. Went to the Royal Mile for dinner, great fish and chips and a great beer selection. Surf's Up or some such silly name for a bar in Iowa after dinner and had a blast. Man, so many hot women in Iowa, and it's so cheap compared to DC. I'm ready to move here. I'll be good, I promise. Is that cool?

Out tomorrow, thanks for the hospitality Iowa! Friendly folks everywhere I went!

Quoted: All kidding aside I've heard the food is good at Blazing Saddles and my brother and some mechanics used to go down at lunch time from Dewey Ford (when it was down town) and get a really good burger meal.

makes you question what their "secret sauce" is...



to the OP,

you're certainly welcome anytime.  give us the heads up and we can maybe do some socializing or shooting...  



glad you had a good time.  don't know about a the "surf's up" place...  i used to like to go down to "splash" but they are a bit too proud of the seafood, so i head to waterfront instead.  by the way, waterfront just opened another location in ankeny kitty corner across the insterstate from Karl chevy...  super stuff.

come back anytime...

Sorry, we already have a Northern Virginia transplant in love with Iowa

Quoted: 801 Grand was not cheap. Didn't make it out to any gentleman's establishments. We have a female with our crew who wasn't having it. Had a couple beers around Court Avenue, went to dinner, and then walked around the State Capitol building. Impressive capitol y'all got.

Too bad I didn't catch this earlier, I got strings to pull could have gotten you to the top of the dome if you don't mind the cardio stairs on the way up.

Quoted: Glad you enjoyed your stay in the Des Moines area and next time you're in the area give us a little heads up as us Iowegians are always up for some socializing. Royal Mile is a good restaurant as I pick up my wife at the courthouse occasionally to take her out to lunch.  I've never been to the Lumber Yard so I don't know if Tuesday is usually an "off" night or what but if you had went 2 miles to the north you would've been at the Outer Limits, 2 more miles to the west would've put you at Big Earl's (full nude) and of course 2 miles to the south you would have found Des Moines own "bitter is necessary to appreciate the sweet" dancing establishment the Minx.  You have found that our own Septic is a great wealth of knowledge when it pertains to dining and other establishments but you did well to not fall into the temptation to try out the drinks and food at Blazing Saddles...  +    =   All kidding aside I've heard the food is good at Blazing Saddles and my brother and some mechanics used to go down at lunch time from Dewey Ford (when it was down town) and get a really good burger meal.

Stay the hell out of Blazing Saddle!