1 Night in Des Moines, IA

What area are you staying in?

I'm assuming you're staying in west Des Moines?

Wellmans is a decent spot. They have a rooftop bar. There's a piano bar around there that's also fun. There's a ton a great bars downtown of you're willing to take the ride.

Wellman's and bar Louie are right by you.

Wellman's is a local spot with a couple of locations. Rooftop is nice.

Bar Louie is a chain, but has good food and usually great drink specials.

If you're there for brunch or lunch, mullets is decent and has a cool view of downtown on the rooftop.

I'd really only recommend Wellmans in your area, but even then it's more known for its rooftop and since it's cold as balls right now it won't be that great. You are staying in West Des Moines, which is your typical suburb with the mall, movie theater, and a bunch of chains.

If you Uber/drive downtown, there are two main bar districts: Court Avenue and East Village

Court Avenue:
Fong's Pizza - Real dive-y place, but makes cool/weird pizzas (they are known for their Crab Rangoon pizza) and have tiki drinks. The 'kamikazi' shot is fun.

CabCo - right around the corner from Fong's, they brew their own beers which are pretty good and have nicer food. They have a shot called a Root Down, which is Jaeger and their own root beer which I enjoy

El Bait Shop - BEER. 220+ beers on tap, including all of the Des Moines & Iowa local beers. You can drink for hours and bartenders know their shite. Food is typical bar food.

The cool thing is it is connected to another bar/restaurant, High Life Lounge which only serves beers from 1979 and earlier, has shag carpet and Miller High Life signs all over. They have a shot called a Tangmeister which is Tang and Jaeger

Hessen Haus - German beer pub with boots of German beer and solid food

All of this is also right next door to the Science Center of Iowa, which is one of only 11 theaters in the world that will be showing the new Star Wars movie on 70mm film in their IMAX theater (depending on when you are in town)

East Village
Zombie Burger - Really cool atmosphere and cook up some awesome burgers and spiked alcoholic milkshakes. For instance, here is their 'burger of the week' for this week

ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES: Grilled cheese buns, Goldfish-breaded tomato soup croquette + American cheese


Up-Down - bar arcade with lots of retro video games if you're into that kind of thing

Other
If you want a more local feel, head to right outside of downtown on Drake University campus to Jethro's. Cool little bar with really good wings. And they have a sandwhich there that was on Man vs. Food. You have to finish it in 15 minutes, he failed.

Adam Emmenecker -Spicy Pickle, Bun, Pork Tenderloin , Buffalo Chicken Tenders, White Cheddar Sauce, Fried Cheese Cubes, Texas brisket, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Cheese Burger,...AND A POUND OF WAFFLE FRIES



Enjoy the trip, let me know if you have any questions and sorry for the way too detailed run down

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El Bait Shop

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Yessssss.

Yeah they print out the beer list daily. Imagine the poor bartenders having to remember where all the taps are