Des Moines, Iowa Area

[Ron_L]

Any brothers in the Des Moines area? I'm going to be there starting on Tuesday evening of next week through Friday afternoon. Any decent Q or any restaurants that you would recommend?

 

[Arlin_MacRae]

I'll ask my uncle and step-son. They're just west of West Des Moines.

 

[Arlin_MacRae]

Well, boy said there's a really good one who's owner just died, but he couldn't remember the name of the place. I did some research and came up with this: http://www.bigdaddysbbq.net/. It looks REAL good and might be the place he was thinking of. When he replies with anything new I'll update this message.

Arlin

 

[Ron_L]

Kewl! Thanks Arlin! I found that in a web search as well... Sometimes, however, the web site looks great and the place sucks, and sometimes its just the opposite. Its nice to find someone who's actually been there...

 

[Arlin_MacRae]

You betcha, Ron, and he confirmed that is the place. Let us know how it is from a Q'er's point of view, 'cause I go to Des Moines 2 - 3 times a year!

 

[Ron_L]

Well... Apparently when Big Daddy died, they closed the restaurant... Bummer...

I called there three times at different times of the day and received an answering machine. I left a message but no one called back. I talked to a couple of guys today who had been there several times and they said that they had closed the place. Too bad...

I did find a small place near my hotel called Phat Boyz Barbecue. I figured that a place called Phat Boyz couldn't be too bad. I was pretty happy. Its just a single store front in a stip mall, but the place smelled great. The only had chicken, ribs and riblets as far as Q goes, but they had a decent selection of sandwiches. I tried a combo of loin backs and catfish. The catfish was great! it was breaded with cornmeal and fried perfectly. The ribs were very good. TThey were almost falling off the bone and they had a nice smoke flavor. The sauce I had was sweet, but not too sweet, with a nice heat to it. They Q onsite in a Cookshack commercial smoker. I talked to the chef (maybe it was Phat Boy?) and he said that the cooker would hold about 250 lbs of meat! He uses mostly hickory wood. It may have not been the best Q in the world, but it was very good, and it satisfied my craving for ribs.

The only thing that would have made the place better would've been if they served beer. Yep... no liquor license. Oh well...

 

[Arlin_MacRae]

Well, I'm glad you found decent Q, but it's too bad Big Daddy's is shut. Maybe it's just for a period of mourning.

<takes off his hat to a passed Q'er>

Thanks for the report. I'll have to check out Phat Boyz next trip up.

 

[Ron_L]

Even though I didn't make it to Big Daddy's, I did make a side trip to Hawgeyes BBQ in Ankeny (about 5 miles north of Des Moines). I had seen them listed in the links section so I decided to check it out. Nice place. Hawgeyes is part of a landscaping service, so they share a building, but they have a great selection of sauces and rubs in the store as well as a large selection of books, tools, accessories, grills and smokers. The gentleman I talked to was very nice. He told me that Big Daddy has actually been gone for over a year.

Hawgeyes has a BBQ trailer outside that is open from April on, so next time, I'm going there for some Q!

While I was there, I bought a copy of Smoke and Spice, some Blues Hog rub and sauce, some Mary's Cherry Rub and a couplle of others. Now I have an excuse to cook this weekend!