Countdown: Five best Italian restaurants in Des Moines

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5 best Italian restaurants

June 8, 2009

Credit:AP File Photo

By W.E. Moranville, Datebook Diner
Special to Metromix

Everyone has high-and-mighty opinions about Italian dining. I’ve noticed, for example, that people who didn’t grow up here absolutely turn their noses straight up at our long-standing Italian-American restaurants. As one foodie from elsewhere put it, “What you see as the fabric of your dining landscape, we see as tatters.”

Well, the way I see it, there are two kinds of Italian restaurants in this town. Those that serve pasta-and-meatballs (Noah’s, Latin King, Gino’s and the like) and those whose passions lie more in dishes such as butternut-squash ravioli with browned butter and fried sage leaves (such as Centro, Lucca and Café di Scala). Sophisticates often love the latter but eschew the former. But I say there’s room for both.

Here are my favorites Italian restaurants in town — whether New Italian (the butternut-squash ravioli camp) or Italian-American (the spaghetti and meatballs camp). We’ll showcase one restaurant per day, so keep checking back.

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What other people are saying...

5 comments | Add Your Own

Hojo from Des Moines - June 11, 2009 at 5:23 PM

I still don't understand the obsession with Gino's. Granted I've eaten there once, but everyone at our table was very disappointed in the food we ...

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MegF from West Des Moines - June 10, 2009 at 8:06 PM

I would really have to disagree about the restaurants being pretentious! So many of the excellent Italian spots in Des Moines are family run and co...

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