24 Hours in: Des Moines, IA
9 am
The best hangover cure in Iowa is free on Saturday mornings — Yoga at Grey's Lake . As you flush out toxins, soak up the view of downtown, rising beyond the water. To really get your endorphins surging, arrive an hour early for Zumba.
10 am
Drive — or better yet, bike — the 1.5mi to Court Ave for the Des Moines Farmers Market. Bikers enjoy valet parking, while drivers may have to circle — both options are free on weekends.
Find the line for papusas — a traditional Salvadorian dish — and claim your spot and the end. Don't ask what they are. Don't read the menu first. Just get in line. If you need reassurance, watch the faces of your predecessors as they take that first savory bite of sweet masa, salty quesillo cheese, and juicy slow-roasted pork or tender spinach and zucchini.
11:30 am
Walk east until the market dead ends into the river. If the river isn't flooded (for once) from snowmelt or summer storms, find the stairway to Meredith Trail and walk north to the Locus Street Bridge. Using the golden dome of the Capital Building as your North Star, cross the bridge and walk down Locust to the East Village.
12:00 pm
The East Village is the SoHo of Des Moines. Peruse the witty, Midwest-themed t-shirts at Raygun — Iowa's favorite t-shirt shop-turned-breakout-fashion-boutique.
Peek into Uglytree to see —amid a stuffed and skeletal menagerie — local artist Steven Black's hand-made tabletops and wallhangings, covered in strips of salvaged tin, pounded smooth and heavily-lacquered. Remember this distinct style and you'll start to notice it around town.
Antique and oddity-lovers will adore the selection at Raccoon Forks Trading Co. — though the prices are better at Found Things where buttons, typewriter keys, and other crafty finds are sold by the handful. For art, check out the painted wood folk art and furniture at Sticks.
1:30 pm
Once you've worked up an appetite, find Lucca. At dinner, candlelight bounces off white linens, while a live pianist serenades. At lunch, you pay a third the price to seat yourself. Pick the seared scallop salad or the rich and smoky amatriciana, dusted with delicate pecorino. (Hell, pick anything!) You won't be disappointed.
2:30 pm
After lunch, climb the seemingly endless steps to the Iowa State Capitol Building. Give yourself a pat on the back for reaching the top — and for remembering to call in advance to schedule a tour. It's worth it, if only to learn the price tag of the 23-carat dome.
4 pm
Give your feet a break at Locust Tap — quite possibly the diveiest dive bar ever. Sip down a cold one, add your name to the wall, and try not to spend too long wondering if the crumbling ceiling is going to cave in. Definitely leave before you have to pee.
5 pm
When you've made it back to Court Ave, look for the green awning that says simply, "WINE", and duck into Sbrocco for apertivo, Iowa-style. Ask for a seat at one of the half-moon tables jutting out from the bar. Look familiar? Uglytree fabricated much of the decor. Pick a wine flights and a peach, pancetta, and blue cheese flatbread or tray of local cheeses to nibble on. Iowa's famous Maytag blue cheese stars in either.
6 pm
When your tastebuds are revving for more, head west to Americana. Load up the table with small plates and get friendly with your fork. Start with crab rangoon dip, truffled mac, or smoked bruschetta, then feast on the Iowa Chop — a grilled pork chop topped with sweet corn cream sauce. Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa.
7:30 pm
I don't need to tell you what to do next. As you leave Americana, you'd be hard-pressed to escape the pull of the majestic white sculpture sitting just across the street. Juame Plensa's Nomad towers peacefully over the Pappajohn Sculpture Park. Soak it all in, as you digest your fine Iowa fare.
8 pm
Make room for dessert at Creme Cupcake. Updated classics (think chèvre panna cotta with basil caviar) and inventive concoctions (blueberry semifreddo with Himalayan sea salt) come paired with fancy-pants cocktails made with red bell pepper, house paprika syrup, and rhubarb bitters. Can't pick? Order the Chef's Trio and you won't have to.
9 pm
With a buzz building, cab it to Hessen Haus for live polka music — and dancing! Stand and gawk until 10 o'clock when the music ends, then pounce on a table as the over-50 crowd clears out and the drinking crowd pours in. Order a 32 oz. glass boot (you break it, you buy it!), and try to remember the dizzying list of rules as you guzzle down the good stuff.
11 pm
Although you could spend the whole night at Hessen and be satisfied, hop down the block to El Bait Shop. Point to one of the 120 taps, then try to make sense of the jumbled hodgepodge of retro kitsch, fishing gear, automotive signage, and most curious, a gleaming tile shower stall built right into the back wall.
Find the unmarked door in the far corner and step back in time. A mix of farmers and frat boys fill the black pleather barstools. Vintage ads for Schlitz and Miller plaster the dark, wood panel walls. Green shag carpet offsets the orange tile circling the bar. This, is High Life Lounge — three guesses as to what's pouring.
1:45 am
Pay your tab and follow your nose to the hot dog cart for a grilled cheese with ketchup. While you wait, order up a cab.
2 am
Ask the driver to take Locust St and steal one last glimpse of the Nomad, gleaming in the moonlight.
The best hangover cure in Iowa is free on Saturday mornings — Yoga at Grey's Lake . As you flush out toxins, soak up the view of downtown, rising beyond the water. To really get your endorphins surging, arrive an hour early for Zumba.
10 am
Drive — or better yet, bike — the 1.5mi to Court Ave for the Des Moines Farmers Market. Bikers enjoy valet parking, while drivers may have to circle — both options are free on weekends.
Find the line for papusas — a traditional Salvadorian dish — and claim your spot and the end. Don't ask what they are. Don't read the menu first. Just get in line. If you need reassurance, watch the faces of your predecessors as they take that first savory bite of sweet masa, salty quesillo cheese, and juicy slow-roasted pork or tender spinach and zucchini.
11:30 am
Walk east until the market dead ends into the river. If the river isn't flooded (for once) from snowmelt or summer storms, find the stairway to Meredith Trail and walk north to the Locus Street Bridge. Using the golden dome of the Capital Building as your North Star, cross the bridge and walk down Locust to the East Village.
12:00 pm
The East Village is the SoHo of Des Moines. Peruse the witty, Midwest-themed t-shirts at Raygun — Iowa's favorite t-shirt shop-turned-breakout-fashion-boutique.
Peek into Uglytree to see —amid a stuffed and skeletal menagerie — local artist Steven Black's hand-made tabletops and wallhangings, covered in strips of salvaged tin, pounded smooth and heavily-lacquered. Remember this distinct style and you'll start to notice it around town.
Antique and oddity-lovers will adore the selection at Raccoon Forks Trading Co. — though the prices are better at Found Things where buttons, typewriter keys, and other crafty finds are sold by the handful. For art, check out the painted wood folk art and furniture at Sticks.
1:30 pm
Once you've worked up an appetite, find Lucca. At dinner, candlelight bounces off white linens, while a live pianist serenades. At lunch, you pay a third the price to seat yourself. Pick the seared scallop salad or the rich and smoky amatriciana, dusted with delicate pecorino. (Hell, pick anything!) You won't be disappointed.
2:30 pm
After lunch, climb the seemingly endless steps to the Iowa State Capitol Building. Give yourself a pat on the back for reaching the top — and for remembering to call in advance to schedule a tour. It's worth it, if only to learn the price tag of the 23-carat dome.
4 pm
Give your feet a break at Locust Tap — quite possibly the diveiest dive bar ever. Sip down a cold one, add your name to the wall, and try not to spend too long wondering if the crumbling ceiling is going to cave in. Definitely leave before you have to pee.
5 pm
When you've made it back to Court Ave, look for the green awning that says simply, "WINE", and duck into Sbrocco for apertivo, Iowa-style. Ask for a seat at one of the half-moon tables jutting out from the bar. Look familiar? Uglytree fabricated much of the decor. Pick a wine flights and a peach, pancetta, and blue cheese flatbread or tray of local cheeses to nibble on. Iowa's famous Maytag blue cheese stars in either.
6 pm
When your tastebuds are revving for more, head west to Americana. Load up the table with small plates and get friendly with your fork. Start with crab rangoon dip, truffled mac, or smoked bruschetta, then feast on the Iowa Chop — a grilled pork chop topped with sweet corn cream sauce. Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa.
7:30 pm
I don't need to tell you what to do next. As you leave Americana, you'd be hard-pressed to escape the pull of the majestic white sculpture sitting just across the street. Juame Plensa's Nomad towers peacefully over the Pappajohn Sculpture Park. Soak it all in, as you digest your fine Iowa fare.
8 pm
Make room for dessert at Creme Cupcake. Updated classics (think chèvre panna cotta with basil caviar) and inventive concoctions (blueberry semifreddo with Himalayan sea salt) come paired with fancy-pants cocktails made with red bell pepper, house paprika syrup, and rhubarb bitters. Can't pick? Order the Chef's Trio and you won't have to.
9 pm
With a buzz building, cab it to Hessen Haus for live polka music — and dancing! Stand and gawk until 10 o'clock when the music ends, then pounce on a table as the over-50 crowd clears out and the drinking crowd pours in. Order a 32 oz. glass boot (you break it, you buy it!), and try to remember the dizzying list of rules as you guzzle down the good stuff.
11 pm
Although you could spend the whole night at Hessen and be satisfied, hop down the block to El Bait Shop. Point to one of the 120 taps, then try to make sense of the jumbled hodgepodge of retro kitsch, fishing gear, automotive signage, and most curious, a gleaming tile shower stall built right into the back wall.
Find the unmarked door in the far corner and step back in time. A mix of farmers and frat boys fill the black pleather barstools. Vintage ads for Schlitz and Miller plaster the dark, wood panel walls. Green shag carpet offsets the orange tile circling the bar. This, is High Life Lounge — three guesses as to what's pouring.
1:45 am
Pay your tab and follow your nose to the hot dog cart for a grilled cheese with ketchup. While you wait, order up a cab.
2 am
Ask the driver to take Locust St and steal one last glimpse of the Nomad, gleaming in the moonlight.
