Hottest new restaurants from Ciderhouse to Zavy in the Des Moines area, April 2024 edition
Des Moines area restaurant fans love to know what's new, what's hot and what favorite chef just launched a second effort that should be tried.
With that, the Des Moines Register updates its hot list, a look at some of the newest restaurants that diners can't get enough of.
Here's a look at nine of the hottest new restaurants in the Des Moines metro, an alphabetical list that will be updated monthly as new restaurants arrive with newcomers removed as they reach six months old.
Is your favorite new restaurant missing from the list? Drop us a line at sstapleton@gannett.com and we'll check it out.
More: The hottest new restaurants in the Des Moines area, January 2024 edition
More: The hottest new restaurants in Des Moines, February 2024 edition
More: The hottest new restaurants from Pepp's Pizzeria to Hokkaido in Des Moines, March 2024 edition
Basic Bird
Chef Joe Tripp, the five-time James Beard Foundation semifinalist for Best Chef Midwest, and his wife, Alexandra, opened Basic Bird in the Beaverdale neighborhood for fast-casual Korean street food.
Korean fried chicken makes up the heart of the menu, slathered in optional sauces such as sweet honey butter, spicy gochujang, or a combination of both. Diners can order cauliflower as well.
New menu items include bone-in chicken, a sandwich on brioche bun, and two kinds of dumplings — boiled chicken and kimchi or crispy chicken and chives. The restaurant also offers honey butter French fries, bubbly cheese corn as well as instant ramen salad, and a bap bowl with fresh veggies on top of Korean rice with a fried egg.
The decor splits the space into a yellow and white side, with stools at the front window, a counter splitting the restaurant, and tables on either side. Do look for the Nic Roth murals.
Location: 2607 Beaver Ave., Des Moines
Contact: basicbird.com
Hours: Open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Ciderhouse Restaurant at Wilson’s Orchard
Wilson’s Orchard has been a part of the Iowa City food scene for 40-some years and just opened a new location south of Des Moines in Cumming. While the experience includes a bakery, a market, and even tulip fields, go for the restaurant, with dishes from chef Lenny Trapane.
The idea initially is to start small — deviled eggs with curry, Peruvian chicken skewers, and hand pies stuffed with chickpeas shakshuka and a lemon tahini yogurt. Neapolitan pizzas come topped with pepperoni made in Iowa and shaved red onions or pistachio pesto and a pile of arugula on top.
The patio should open soon as well, and brunch should be on the way. In the meantime, be patient; on the second weekend the restaurant was open, the restaurant served 1,200 people.
Location: 3201 15th Ave., Cumming
Contact: 515-216-0027 or wilsonsorchard.com/des-moines/ciderhouse-dsm
Hours: Open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Guesthouse Tavern & Oyster
Pete Faber of Barn Town Brewing and Derek Eidson of Django fame teamed up to bring their own vision of a supper club to West Des Moines. The duo opened Guesthouse Tavern & Oyster in the former Global Brew space in the Hawthorne Center, near Barn Town Brewing.
The two friends came up with this idea after visiting many similar establishments when they went on vacations to Wisconsin and Minnesota together.
Special touches include a raw bar with oysters on the half shell, jumbo shrimp cocktail, and a seafood tower; a relish tray meant to share with everything from summer sausage and pickles to marinated vegetables and beer cheese; and potato and cheddar pierogis, cheese curds and pickled Fresno peppers, or a cast iron tater tot and braised beef hot dish, all meant to share. Main dishes include an eight-ounce sirloin with a brandy-mushroom cream sauce, a 12-ounce pork Milanese with a lemon caper butter sauce, trout almandine, a beer-battered walleye, or a hunter’s chicken.
Do make an advance reservation.
Location: 9500 University Ave., West Des Moines
Contact: 515-994-8378 or guesthousetavernoyster.com
Reservations: tables.toasttab.com
Hours: Open Tuesday through Saturday from 4 to 10 p.m. Guesthouse added a happy hour every Tuesday through Thursday from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
More: Guesthouse Tavern & Oyster opens with relish trays and sirloins in brandy-mushroom creams
Hokkaido Ramen & Izakaya
Hokkaido Ramen & Izakaya opened in Ankeny in the former Fuzzy's Tacos space with ramen dishes, along with sushi rolls, noodles, fried rice and a roll named for Coralville.
The restaurant serves nine styles of ramen such as tonkotsu with a white shoyu broth that uses Japanese-style soy sauces, tantanmen with a creamy and spicy sesame broth, miso with a chicken broth, and spicy beef with a shoyu broth. Every ramen can be ordered with a spice level from none to spicy. Do try the chicken katsu.
Location: 2723 S.E. Delaware Ave., Ankeny
Contact: hokkaidoramen.life
Hours: Open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
More: Get to know Hokkaido Ramen & Izakaya, now open in Ankeny with ramen bowls, udon noodles
Izumi Sushi & Hibachi
The Des Moines metro has a new all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant with a hibachi grill to boot. Izumi opened in Clive with lunch specials daily and teriyaki, udon, soba noodle, curry and tempura dishes. The restaurant offers a kid's menu, gluten-free dishes and bento boxes.
The chain has three locations in North Dakota as well as Cedar Rapids, along with a new outlet opening soon in North Liberty.
Location: 1301 N.W. 114th St., Clive
Contact: 515-979-4666, 515-978-4668 or izumirestaurant-clive.2-menucities.com.
Hours: Open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. All-you-can-eat lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Pepp‘s Pizzeria
Michael Hanstad, who co-owns fried chicken specialist Charlotte’s Kitchen in Johnston, created Pepp’s Pizzeria that serves pizza by the slice for walk-in customers at lunch and whole pies reserved and ordered online for dinner. The restaurant that took over the former Mema’s Italian Grinders space in Grimes serves New York-style, upside-down with a Midwest flair.
Typically, pizzas start with a crust, tomato or white sauce, toppings, and cheese. Hanstad said he learned his upside-down technique from a shop in Brooklyn, putting down a layer of mozzarella cheese slices, not shredded cheese, on the pizza dough, followed by sauce and then toppings.
Pepp’s only sells 200 pizzas a day. When the restaurant hits that number, it’s out and stops selling. The restaurant also limits the number of pizzas made every 15 minutes to 10.
Location: 2250 E. First St., Suite 300, Grimes
Contact: peppspizzeria.com
Hours: Open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. and 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturdays.
More: Meet the New York-style, upside-down pizza with Midwest flair coming to Des Moines
Roots 95 Craft Kitchen & Bar
Arturo Mora started his first food truck seven years ago, and that expanded into the Flame family of Mexican restaurants in Ankeny, Bondurant and Johnston. Now he has a fusion restaurant, Roots 95, that leans into local ingredients.
Start with steamed bao buns filled with birria, ceviche with marinated shrimp, or an ahi tuna tostada with a creamy garlic aioli. Mora also offers flatbreads topped with Korean barbecue braised pork or roasted pear with blue cheese.
Opt for sandwiches such as a salmon BLT, a chicken Caprese or burgers with bacon jam and blue cheese or wagyu. Try some of the pasta dishes such as chicken carbonara or a Thai pasta with a sweet peanut soy sauce or entrees such as ahi tuna over jasmine rice with a tropical salsa or a soy marinated hanger steak.
Brunch is coming soon.
Location: 8705 Chambery Blvd. #700, Johnston
Contact: 515-561-0408 or roots95dsm.com
Hours: Open Monday from 5 to 9 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
What Dak Korean Fried Chicken
Korean fried chicken is having a moment in Des Moines. What Dak offers its double-fried chicken with two sauce options: spicy or soy garlic. The restaurant also serves Korean corn dogs, bulgogi, kimchi, pot stickers, and more Korean dishes.
Location: 9250 University Ave. Suite 113, West Des Moines
Contact: 515-842-7002 or whatdak.com
Hour: Open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Zavy Kitchen
The owners of Pho Real Kitchen & Bar, the Court Avenue restaurant that specializes in Vietnamese pho and Asian cuisines, opened Zavy Kitchen with “modern Vietnamese” fare in the East Village. The restaurant owners say the name “Zavy” (zah-vee) is a wordplay on “gia vị,” which means seasoning in Vietnamese.
The menu at Zavy Kitchen leans into noodle soups such as a crab tapioca noodle soup, beef noodle stew, wonton soup, and crab tapioca noodle soup. Vietnamese meatballs, sizzling beef, crispy Vietnamese crepes, grilled pork with broken rice, and crab-fried rice join sticky rice, char siu rice bowls and grilled pork spring rolls on the menu.
Location: 111 E. Grand Ave., Des Moines
Contact: 515-515-9289 or zavykitchendsm.com
Hours: Open Wednesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
More: Vietnamese restaurant with broken rice, noodle soups to open in the East Village
Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines restaurants you need to try in the metro this spring
