Take a look inside Either/Or, the new restaurant from the owners of Lua that opens Friday
In the blink of an eye, a former auto parts store converted into a restaurant, with plans to open on Friday.
Whitney and Scott Selix and business partner Zack Dunbar of Lua Brewing fame bring Either/Or, a new restaurant that juxtaposes sandwiches and salads with steak de Burgo and salmon to the border of Des Moines and West Des Moines.
The restaurant features dishes from executive chef James Arbaugh, who also leads the kitchen of the Sherman Hill brewery, and gives him a chance to flex his culinary muscles. Arbaugh, who attended the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, New York, came to Iowa via San Francisco, working at the Plumed Horse, a one Michelin star restaurant in neighboring Saratoga, California.
What’s on the menu at Either/Or?
This is the type of menu that can satisfy a craving for a sandwich or a burger, or sub in entrees with an elegant twist. The options run the gamut from chicken fingers and grilled cheese for the kids to caviar at $95 for an ounce on the appetizers’ menu.
For something in the middle, try crispy pork belly with a peanut sauce or the Mexican cheese curds, long fingers that can be dipped into chipotle ranch. Both are substantial portions that could easily ebb hunger pangs for a group or even work as an entrée for a single person. The appetizers include chips and salsa for $7 or seared scallops for $22.
Sandwiches include a mushroom baguette, corned beef, ham and cheese with Mornay and Swiss cheese on a King’s Hawaiian roll, and fried chicken served plain, or Nashville hot or curry. A fried bologna sandwich and fried Dunbar (with a double smush burger, made famous at Lua, and fried bologna) promise to arrive soon. Sandwiches range from $15.50 to $19.50.
Diners can order the Lua smush burger, made famous at the brewery, or go for the E/O burger that rotates toppings.
Either/Or has an interesting lineup of salads too, such as a cold noodle salad with mushroom broth and poached egg, a salmon salad with chickpeas, farro salad with Fresno peppers and yams, and the E/O salad with bacon, cheddar, and veggies. Chicken or salmon can top any salad, which start at $10.
A short list of entrees includes bake salmon with a brown rice congee, a pork chop with creamed corn, an airline chicken breast with mole sauce, and a New York strip de Burgo, a riff on the Des Moines steak with Vermouth sauce and mushrooms. Entrees range from $24 to $31.
Everything is marked if it is gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian or vegan.
Does Either/Or serve dessert?
Megan Snyder, the former pastry chef at Proof, the new American restaurant that closed last November in downtown Des Moines, handles the desserts with options such as flan, yogurt mousse with orange segments, a Basque cheesecake, and a lavender tres leches cake, all for $6 to $9.
More: The most anticipated fall restaurant openings in the Des Moines metro in 2023
What's to drink at Either/Or?
Of course, beers from Lua Brewing make the roster, as well as 21 beers on tap. Cans and bottle range from Busch Light and Hamm's to Duchesse de Bourgogne and St. Bernardus Wit. Lua's new Climbing Kites, the cannabis-infused sparkling water with THC and CBD, also are available in flavors such as orange mango, mixed berry, pineapple passion fruit, and peach prickly pear.
The restaurant also features classic cocktails that include a pisco sour, a gimlet, a Sazerac and a Hemingway daiquiri.
A small list of mocktails also include a grapefruit basil highball or the Ballad of Autumn with non-alcoholic Prosecco and non-alcoholic Lyre's London dry.
More: Try these 6 sports bars with good food in the Des Moines metro during football season
Pepsi or Coke?
Pepsi products
What does Either/Or look like outside?
It’s hard to imagine this space used to house an auto parts store. The western wall now sports a mural, an artist adding the finishing touches on Tuesday night.
On the east side sits a patio with strands of lights, a firepit, plenty of seating and a playground for the kids. Dogs are invited, provided they stay on a leash.
The Walnut Creek Trail snakes by the restaurant, and the Aliber Soccer Complex sits to the south, with extra parking for an overflowing Either/Or lot.
What does Either/Or look like inside?
Walking in on the north side of the building, the restaurant opens to a bar with tufted pink barstools on the right and the dining room on the left.
The bar has underlighting and purse hooks, a definite feminine feel.
The main dining room is outfitted with a mishmash of wooden chairs, overhead lights swaddled in rattan dotting the ceiling, a low-slung banquet splitting the center of the room, and garage doors that roll up to let the fresh air in from the patio.
The open kitchen next to the bar offers a view of the food being prepped, with an array of old china plates all over the wall. A large rug in cream, blue and pink spreads across the floor.
A second dining room features fewer tables, and the same look as the front room, only a peachy pink wallpaper lines one wall with illustrations of horses, a farmer looking at his garden, a couple on a swing, and a girl pushing a flower cart. It’s cute. A deep blue wall has pieces of artwork leaning on bookshelves.
Give me an excuse to look inside the bathrooms
The women’s bathroom has wallpaper shouting out girl power, while the men’s offers an ode to outer space. Both share a washroom with a long trough sink and mushrooms on the wallpaper here.
Where to find Either/Or
Location: 6222 Grand Ave., Des Moines
Contact: 515-214-1831
Reservations: opentable.com
Hours: Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Brunch will launch soon.
Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. You can reach out to her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Look at the menu, interior of Either/Or restaurant opening on Friday
