From Lachele's to Sunset Lounge: The 12 hottest new restaurants in Des Moines — March 2025
Susan Stapleton- The Des Moines Register has updated its list of the hottest new restaurants in the metro area.
- The list features a variety of cuisines, from upscale comfort food to Vietnamese.
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 12 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.
Café Madeleine
Chef David Baruthio returns to the Des Moines dining scene with a reservations only restaurant with tasting menus. Café Madeleine offers 16 seats, two services, chefs serving diners, and nine courses.
The second menu focuses on Italian on Italian food, followed by a seafood-forward menu in mid-April through early June.
The result? An up-close experience with the chef as he presents dishes and discusses the stories behind the food. Truly something different for Des Moines diners to experience in a café-like setting in downtown.
Location: 218 Sixth Ave., Des Moines
Contact: 515-815-0924 or thecafemadeleine.com
Hours: By reservation only.
Cooper’s Central Table & Cocktails
Upscale comfort food with the chef Ryan Cooper touch now has a home in Norwalk. Cooper teamed up with Jason Rieper to open Cooper’s Central Table & Cocktails, a combination of two favorite dining and drinking establishments in Valley Junction.
The food side of the menu includes about 50 percent of the Cooper’s on 5th dishes, while the look and feel of the 3,025-square-foot restaurant hearkens back to the design of The Winchester with dark wood, a fireplace and chandeliers over the bar, as well as a full menu of cocktails, martinis, beer and wine.
The menu features upscale comfort food, with unique dishes such as a pot roast and a rotating egg roll of the day. Cocktails, including the Notorious P.I.G., are popular.
Try the bouillabaisse, fish and chips with beer-battered walleye, or red wine-braised pot roast.
Location: 1400 Chatham Ave. #101, Norwalk
Contact: 515-675-5605 or coopers-norwalk.com
Hours: Open Tuesday through Thursday from 4 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Flora
Suman Hoque now has a third venue under his culinary belt. The chef and restaurateur behind HoQ and HoQtail in the East Village just opened Flora, his lunch-only restaurant at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden. The restaurant takes over the Trellis Café space, vacated by chef and restaurateur Lisa LaValle, who retired in October after a decade of operating in the botanical center.
Much like his signature restaurant HoQ, Hoque said the menu at Flora will continually change, with a focus on farm-to-table fare, as well as locally sourced meat, produce and dairy. He already estimates about 90% of the menu meets those guidelines. For example, the bison and the squash on the menu are sourced from Iowa farms, he said.
Try a soup trio, grilled chicken rigatoni, tandoori chicken salad sandwich, or wild Alaskan salmon burger.
Location: Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden at 909 Robert D. Ray Drive, Des Moines
Contact: floradsm.com
Hours: Open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays for brunch.
HiFi Brew Lounge
This new brewery from the team behind Cooper’s on Fifth and more opened this ode to music in Valley Junction. Spend some time looking at the wall of albums that line the staircase heading to the second level with its entertainment space and access to the two-level patio, as well as framed artwork of rock legends, including David Bowie from his Viva Glam era, the Beastie Boys and more.
The menu here has fun riffs on classic favorites. Dig into dishes such as birria grilled cheese, eggplant gyro, disco tots, pork belly bites in a jalapeno sriracha, or brisket BLT, and many items have a hint of heat.
HiFi also brews beers such as the Brown Eyed Girl mild brown, Foxy Lady Irish red, California Love West Coast IPA, and Jagged Little Pils.
Location: 103 S. 11th St., West Des Moines
Contact: 515-415-1085 or hifibrewlounge.com
Hours: Open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday.
Brunch: Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a ratatouille omelet, steak de Burgo eggs Benedict, blueberry ricotta stuffed French toast, and birria and egg burritos. Order bloody Marys, bloody Mary verde, beermosas, spritz's and $20 bottomless mimosas.
Happy hour: Tuesday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m.
It’s My Jam Cafe
Darren Warth of Smokey D’s BBQ fame ate breakfast at Sorriso Grille in Ankeny every morning. He loved it so much that he bought the restaurant when Melinda Strable decided to retire after a decade in business. Now the breakfast and lunch spot offers dishes such as avocado toast topped with an egg, Cinnamon Toast Crunch-coated French toast, design-your-own loaded hash browns or omelets, eggs Benedicts, cinnamon rolls, and the must-order homemade tarts that look like Toaster Strudel. For lunch, try a brisket French dip, BLT, Monte Cristo, or Italian sub. The restaurant is packed during prime breakfast hours on the weekend, so expect a wait.
Location: 7015 N.E. 14th St., Ankeny
Contact:itsmyjamcafe.com
Hours: Open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. Lunch Monday through Friday only.
KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot
The long-awaited KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot debuted in West Des Moines inside the former Wahlburgers space just south of Jordan Creek Town Center. The restaurant specializes in both all-you-can-eat barbecue, where diners cook their own meats and veggies over a grill at the table, and hot pots, where customers share meats, seafood, noodles and vegetables dunked in a pot of broth.
One side of the menu is dedicated to barbecue dishes. Diners order meats marinated soy sauce, gochujang or even toasted sesame oil. Flip the menu over to find items to order for hot pots. Start with a soup base, which includes mushroom, tomato, Japanese miso, herbs, Thai tom yum, Szechuan spicy, Korean seafood, or a gluten-free option.
Location: 7105 Mills Civic Pkwy. #160, West Des Moines
Contact: 515-630-1577 or thekpot.com
Hours: Open Sunday through Thursday from noon to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from noon to 10:30 p.m.
Lachele's Fine Foods and The Fitz
Cory Wendel opened his second location for Lachele's Fine Foods, making the move to Highland Park in a 5,500-square-foot space divided into two restaurants — Lachele’s on the north and The Fitz on the south. That makes the seating area more than double what the Ingersoll location has.
Find burgers, but a smaller roster than Ingersoll carries, as well as three steamed burgers. A battered fish sandwich, a fish and chips entrée, breaded pork tenderloins, and fried chicken sandwiches are on the menu.
The Fitz has a clubby feel and leans more into cocktails, but diners can still order food here.
Location: 3619 Sixth Ave., Des Moines
Contact: 515-330-6876 or lacheles.com
Hours: Open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday
Oceanside Grill
Oscar Juarez already has Filet Steakhouse and Bubbies BBQ in Ankeny. Now he split Filet in two to make way for Oceanside Grill, a restaurant for seafood lovers. Find everything from crab legs and lobster tails to Mahi Mahi and swordfish on this tight menu. Start with an Oscar-style crab cake or shrimp stuffed with crab. Cod, orange roughy, red snapper and Atlantic salmon all appear on the menu, as do a limited number of steaks and combos with seafood. Try the lobster and crab dinner for $36.99. Note that customers cannot order from Filet Steakhouse at the restaurant.
Location: 1802 N. Ankeny Blvd., Suite 100B, Ankeny
Contact: 515-289-8200 or oceanside-grill.com
Hours: Sunday, and Tuesday through Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m.
Pho Viet
This new Vietnamese restaurant just north of Jordan Creek Town Center just reopened after the owner vacationed in Vietnam in January. Pho Viet offers the more casual dishes of the cuisine — noodle soups, vermicelli, fried rice dishes, bahn mi, and of course the namesake pho, served in stone bowls. Try Vietnamese egg rolls or spring rolls, com suon bi cha, a pork chop with an egg cake served with rice, or lad na with gravy with veggies, egg, and choices of meat. The restaurant specializes in hot pot with tom yum or sweet pork broth. Diners can then cook their own meat, vegetables and noodles at the table.
Location: 5002 EP True Pkwy., West Des Moines
Contact: 515-599-0055 or phovietiowa.com
Hours: Open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
Sunset Lounge
James Thyberg and Ryan Flattery — who also operate the tiki-themed Bellhop, Mexican and tequila destination Coa Cantina, and bar The Lamp in the East Village, as well as 300 Craft & Rooftop in downtown Des Moines — now have Sunset Lounge in Norwalk along with co-owner and chef Matt Linford, who also has 2nd Avenue Sandwich Truck.
The restaurant and bar offers a mix of pub fare and a kitchen that’s open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. The restaurant also only serves customers who are age 21 and older.
Everything, with the exception of the chicken strips, is made in house. Try the deviled eggs, smash burgers, or Boursin-stuffed mushrooms.
Location: 1409 Sunset Drive, Norwalk
Contact: facebook.com/sunsetloungenorwalk or instagram.com/sunsetloungenorwalk/
Hours: Open Sunday through Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to midnight, Thursday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 2 a.m., kitchen is open until 10 p.m. daily.
Happy hour: Monday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. with $1 off all drinks.
Tom Archer’s Poor Man’s Country Club
Sam Summers brings the heyday of the supper club back to life under the Val Air Ballroom. Tom Archer’s Poor Man’s Country Club offers memories of the original Val Air owner Tom Archer and his family through photos and memorabilia on the walls, old news clippings, and a look back at some of the big names who entertained the crowds over the years. The supper club vibe extends from the decor to the food, from executive chef Ryan Skinner.
Key menu items include popovers made with tallow and baked as they are ordered, chicken liver mousse, French onion soup, and a classic wedge salad with Maytag blue cheese and Nueske’s bacon. The relish tray, which Skinner calls “Midwest charcuterie,” features a “delightful mix of pickled vegetables, meat, crackers and dip.”
Pastas also make an appearance on the menu, with gnocchi made in house, spaghetti and meatballs, or ravioli. Diners can add black truffles, shaved or sliced, to any dish for market price. The entrees include walleye, a pork schnitzel, mushroom Wellington, and chicken Vesuvio, all served with a seasonal vegetable. Beef options, all premium from Iowa, include a filet, New York strip and center cut steak.
Location: Val Air Ballroom, 301 Ashworth Road, West Des Moines
Contact: 515-855-6797 or tomscountryclub.com
Reservations: tables.toasttab.com
Hours: Accepting reservations from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and on show nights.
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.