It didn’t seem right that Heather and I would blog about food and beer without talking about our favorite dining spot in Des Moines; Turi’s Latin King. This place has been our go to location to celebrate every significant event, anniversary or birthday for more than 20 years.
The restaurant was founded in 1947, and in 1983 was purchased by Bob and Amy Tursi when Bob was 21. Bob’s parents came from Terravecchia, Italy, a small village in the southern part of the country. From their web site, Bob states “I’m full-blooded Italian and my father instilled a good work ethic in me and the pride that goes with having a good family name.” That work ethic has not only made Tursi’s Latin King our favorite, but has also made it a perennial “Cityview Best of” winner.
In 2012, Bob teamed up with his son, R.J. to create Exile Brewing Company. Exile has fast become a favorite in the Des Moines area with a wide variety of beers, including Gi-Gi, which was a Great American Beer Festival 2015 Gold Medal Winner in European-Style Dark/Münchner Dunkel, and events such as the Run to Exile, a 5k and 10k run sponsored by the brewery that ends with a big after party. We will make a trip to Exile and write about our experience some time in the furture.
This connection between Tursi’s and Exile means that the wait in the bar at Tursi’s gives you the opportunity to sample several of Exile’s brews.
On this night, that opportunity was key. Heather and I always ask for the same sever, and we arrived just as his tables were filling up. That meant a longer than usual wait to be seated for dinner. Lucky for us, one of the bar tenders was in a particularly friendly mood and did what he could to make our wait seem short.
As of late, they seem to have some sort of Sangria available in the bar, and Heather started with a glass. I started with their newest sour, Pink Guava Bohemian. The Pink Guava flavor was evident along side the sour of the beer.
Heather and I got to talking to the bar tender about the other beers. We discussed, and tasted the Lemon Trail, which to us tasted similar to a shandy, although it is not. Our bar tender decided to let us try a concoction of his own creation; Lemon Trail beer, raspberry syrup, and a splash of lemonade. This drink was a hit with Heather, and I must admit, it was very good. Really sweet, but not hurt-your-teeth sweet. In fact, Heather coined it a Lemon Randi, and ordered another.
Once I finished my Bohemian, I moved on to a known entity, Beatnik Sour. This is a solid beer and a good choice for someone who wants to try sour for the first time. Nothing fancy or unusual about this one.
Finally, I wrapped up our time in the bar with Zoltan, a regular IPA for Exile. I like the balance of bitter and floral from the hops in this brew.
Our server retrieved us from the bar and showed us to our booth in “The Big Room.” True to form, our server knew what appetizer we wanted before we looked at the menu. He had the order in for Italian Fried Mozzarella prior to seating us. This is by far the best app to start with, and is very different from mozzarella sticks. These are large chunks of mozzarella, with a light breading of Italian bread crumbs, smothered in a garlicy, creamy tomato sauce.
This night we were lucky enough to get some of the “good bread”. Three slices of garlic foccacia were hiding at the bottom of the bread basket. We know it is bad etiquette, but we always sop up the leftover sauce from the mozzarella with bread, and it is best with the good bread.
Dinner comes with a salad, and we both get the house dressing; a creamy parmesan. There is nothing fancy about the salad, but they drown it with dressing, and the lettuce ends up being a tool to get the dressing to your face, which we are eager to do.
Time for the main dish. The Latin King’s specialty is Chicken Spedini. According to their menu, it is “boneless breasts of chicken skewered and marinated, rolled in Italian breadcrumbs and charbroiled. Served with our unique Amogio sauce that has made this dish our best seller for nearly 25 years.” In the past, both of us have tried the Chicken Sorrentina and Filet Mignon Marsala which consists of “breast of chicken, prosciutto with a light tomato sauce and melted mozzarella Filet sautéed with mushrooms, prosciutto in Marsala wine sauce.”
While both of these dishes are delicious, Heather and I still went with our usual order. Heather ordered Gnocchi alla Sorentina with a potato croquette, and I requested the Capellini alla Sassy with a meatball. Both dishes provide a huge portion that typically neither of us can finish.
Gnocchi are small, soft dumplings made from potato, flour, eggs, and cheese. At the Latin King, they serve it with fresh marinara and lots of mozzarella cheese. Heather always orders hers with a potato coquette. A croquette is a small ball of fried, mashed potatoes with Italian seasoning. I ate my weight in croquettes during my semester in Rome. I was excited to see them on the menu at the Latin King and introduced them to Heather. Now, they are a must for her whenever we visit.
The Capellini is angel hair pasta with loads of mozzarella and a spicy marinara sauce. What makes the sauce sassy is the whole cloves of roasted garlic that are throughout the dish. The meatball isn’t necessary, but I like the added flavor of the seasoned ground beef and Romano cheese.
We typically can’t leave without dessert. We have tried a few of their desserts, but always come back for the Tiramisu. Tiramisu is espresso soaked ladyfingers layered with a sweetened mascarpone cheese. At the Latin King, they spike the cheese mixture with Kahlua. If Heather had her way, she would skip the lady fingers and just go for a bowl of the sweetened mascarpone cheese. I would argue that they have the best Tiramisu in the city, and if someone knows of a better place, let me know so we can try it. Even on a night like tonight, where we ate too much of our dinner and didn’t leave room for dessert, we will still order a piece of fresh Tiramisu to take home and enjoy for breakfast.
Our experience at Tursi’s Latin King is always enjoyable, and we would recommend anyone to give it a try. If you go, let us know, and maybe we will join you.
