desmoinesisnotboring.com

Please find the Friday Guest Blog below, this was written by Shawn Harrington

A recent Pecha Kucha Event in Brisbane, Australia

When it comes to placement among cities, we’re all used to talking up Des Moines in its frequent top 10 spot among national rankings.  This time, it’s okay to say that we’re 331st.  That’s because Des Moines has just joined into the international growing phenomenon known as the Pecha Kucha.

If you’ve stumbled across a blog site like this or picked up a Juice lately, you’ve probably noticed one thing: people have a lot going on and a lot to talk about right now.  There’s only so many ways to get your info out there, and now there’s one more.

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Ok, what is this Greater Des Moines for Passenger Rail stuff all about?

Well, it is a marketing push by the Greater Des Moines Partnership to try to get rail car service to Des Moines. The hub for the suggested plan would be in Chicago, with the train running through Davenport, Iowa City, and Des Moines, eventually ending in Omaha. Obviously, a more efficient travel option to Chicago would be huge for Des Moines. But, let’s look at it from a Not Boring context.

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I had the opportunity to go to Mojo’s on 86^th Street for lunch last Friday to support the Restaurant Week‘s last day. It was my first time to Mojo’s,  my initial thought was it might be better suited to a dinner crowd.

I am not one to hate on a local restaurant, and I understand they were supporting the Restaurant Week special, so I am willing to consider this one meal a “gimme,” meaning I have not written them off completely, I will go back.

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Competition is a good thing. It can be between athletes, sports teams, chess clubs, and even in business. The usual competition for businesses means beating the competition to market with a product or innovation to gain market share.

Tomorrow night there will be a very unique business competition held at the Impromptu Studio, which is home to Bitmethod, a mobile and web application development company. This unique competition will not be dependent on market share or rushing to get a product to market more quickly than their competition, rather Bitmethod will be racing to ensure their Bags are more accurate than their competition.

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Please find the Friday Guest Blog below, this was written by Shawn Harrington

Poison Control Center is on a high note, if you’ve been to one of their shows you would say they pretty much live every set they play on one. This time it’s because the Iowa based band just got some new exposure in Spin Magazine.  Now, amidst a world tour, they are set to take the stage in downtown Des Moines one more time before summer ends, this time with the help of some other soon-to-be break-out acts. Read the rest of this entry →

Great shot on downtowndesmoines.com

It appears the fall weather has arrived, at least for a few days. I am sure it will get warmer again, but the cooler air has inspired me to start thinking of places I want to go before the weather turns again.

So, I have listed a few places I think we all need to visit to enjoy the season and prolong the opportunity to get out:

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Finally made it to Le Jardin!

I have only heard people singing the praises of the great food there. I have meant to go for some time, but I always consider going on a Sunday to have an omelet. Regrettably,  I have come to the conclusion that is never going to happen, so I decided to have an omelet during my lunch meeting last Friday.

For starters, we asked the ‘guy at the counter’ about Restaurant Week specials, shockingly,  he had no idea what we were speaking about. But, I gave him the benefit of the doubt because it was literally the first meal of the special for the week, since it was lunch on the very first day of the feature, and they were extremely busy! His lack of knowledge didn’t really deter us as we had already determined our meals.

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Please find the Friday Guest Blog below, this was written by Shawn Harrington

While sticking to the theme of Restaurant Week’s kick-off and straying in a slightly different direction, why not put a little attention on what I found needed to be here in Des Moines.  When I say need, it’s mainly due to the fact that when my mom comes to visit, she needs a good sit-down family-owned restaurant specializing in Italian Cuisine.  That’s how she raised me, taking me out to where there were plenty of small locally owned Italian Restuarants around town.

It couldn’t be just any restaurant though, it needed to be that perfect environment: the sauce made just right, the family sit-down, maybe a little traditional music.  She had the right to be picky, along with my grandmother, a native of Florence.

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In an effort to continue with the restaurant theme for the week, I stumbled across information pertaining to the Sushi business in Des Moines. The Dsm: Sushibomb is a new event that is focused on promoting Sushi restaurants in our great city. None of the restaurants participating in the Sushibomb were featured during the Restaurant Week promotion, but that just goes to show how many great restaurants we have in Des Moines.

The Dsm: Sushibomb will be held on September 19th at the Jasper Winery.

What is a Sushibomb?

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Today’s Why eat at a chain Wednesday’s feature was not included in the list for the Restaurant Week, but there may still be time to reconsider. Granted, today’s restaurant is not as fancy as some of the restaurants featured with the weekly special, but I would argue the food is comparable, if not better in some cases.

Jethro’s BBQ has become one of the most talked about restaurants on Twitter, which is a great testament to the restaurant because the people talking about Jethro’s are not under their employ. Rather, the chatter is from the fans who enjoy eating their food. For instance:

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Des Moines Restaurant Week is here….well, starting this coming Friday.

What does that mean for you?

If you like to get out and support your local restaurants, it means you can head out and save, while supporting some of the best local restaurants at the same time.  There are 39 restaurants on the list, actually 38 since one of the restaurants has changed their concept since the folks over at the DSM Magazine put their list together. I’ve had the opportunity to eat at 14 of the list and many have been reviewed here, well, 15 if you consider that elusive restaurant that just flipped their script.

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Please find the Friday Guest Blog below, this was written by Shawn Harrington

This is a tough time of year for the die-hard sports fan’s.  There’s no football, the NBA‘s over, the Stanley Cup was awarded back in June, and your final four bracket was finished so many months ago.  Most mancaves might as well be collecting dust, unless you’ve got your baseball team to follow between now, and hopefully, October.  No wonder Brett Favre has so much of our attention.  We did have that unexpected gift this year of World Cup Soccer to entertain us in July (we should remember that it happens every four years, it always seems to sneak up on us though).

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All right, all right, we realize the Iowa State Fair starts today, no one in their right mind missed all the press. So, as a result, we are not going to write about it…at least for today. Instead, we are going to write about a new festival in town, the Midwest Jestfest.

What is the Jestfest?

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We started this little Why eat at a chain Wednesday segment back in February, mainly because we enjoy eating and wanted to feature local restaurants. We had no idea the posts would go on to become the most read posts. For that, we thank you!

This week’s post is an oldie but a goodie.

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Iowan’s like their excuses to drink. I don’t mean that in a negative connotation, because I agree with most of the circumstances. But, putting together a pub crawl for a good cause…that might just cause a riot!

Well, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society believe so much in their cause they are willing to take the risk.

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Please find the Friday Guest Blog below, this was written by Shawn Harrington

While much attention has been focused on everything new that’s been coming into Des Moines in recent years, sometimes it’s easy for everyone to skip over what’s been known and established.  It’s always easy to notice the flash and accessibility of the shopping centers for anyone new to town, however it sometimes take a little longer for newcomers to take their first trip into a place like G & L Clothing.  Those who head downtown via Ingersoll Ave have definitely become more familiar with its anchor location just east of MLK.

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For starters, I thought BangBang Mongolian Grill was called Bam Bam, I actually thought that until a few of coworkers used the opportunity to make fun of me due to my lack of knowledge on the name of the business. Yet, after the mental abuse, I still went to BangBang and gave them an opportunity to please me.

Yup, they did. I was very surprised they told us they didn’t have any tables available during the lunch hour. Luckily everyone in the packed restaurant missed out that day as we were given the option to sit on their patio, which was pretty amazing. Picture some pretty plush chairs and – of course – a table. Ok, my description is pretty lacking, but their chairs were very unusual for patio attire at a restaurant. I wondered how long they will last, considering spills and just overall wear and tear. Regardless they were comfortable as heck.

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I headed to Minneapolis this past weekend for my bachelor party. Now, before anyone starts in asking why I decided to have my party in another city…I have a reason. I was born in St. Paul, and as kid I went to numerous Twins games in the Metrodome. So, I thought it would be fun to head up and catch a game in the new stadium for my party. Plus, I have done most of the “bachelor party” events for my friends so I was looking for something a little different.

Actually, it is great info for today’s post as I want to take a moment to compare the two cities. For starters, we stayed at the Millenium Hotel in downtown Minneapolis right off the Nicolet Mall. It was a great location as pretty much anything going on downtown is within walking distance. I liken it to how Court Avenue would be we had one or two hotels there for visitors.

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Please find the Friday Guest Blog below, this was written by Shawn Harrington

With the hundreds of attendees that YPC has enjoyed at its  evening events with Diversity Dinners, Happy Hours, Jump-Start Your Network Events and more, and then the new wave of attendees at each month’s Lunch n’ Learn, our Impact Downtown Committee asked ourselves “why stop there?”.  Now, after a successful kick-off in May at Foundry CoWorking, the first ever YPC morning event will now be continuing into a series with next week’s lined up for August 4th.

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You have got to have a lot of respect for someone who just throws it all out there, someone who takes the biggest risk of their lives. Even if you have reservations and comments to yourself about the situation, you have to respect it.

Well, Max Wellman is taking that big crazy risk this weekend. Max is a 19 year old singer who typically sings Jazz songs that were popular some 4 decades before he was born. You might wonder what a kid from Des Moines is doing singing soulful Jazz tunes from the 1950, but he is pretty damn good, he has even been called a natural.

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