"This Australian cafe is the hottest restaurant to open in Des Moines since the 2016 election, and comes highly recommended by every local restaurateur and journalist I spoke with. It’s a bit off from the main downtown corridor, but people will go out of their way to pay New York City prices for extremely well-executed flat whites, grain bowls, and its best-selling item — yes, the avocado toast. The restaurant has been so successful since opening just two years ago that there is now a branch in the heart of downtown in a former Starbucks, and an all-day concept called St. Kilda Surf and Turf right across the river in the East Village. All three are worth a visit, but the original has an incomparable energy — and, perhaps more importantly, an elevated perch where you can ever-so-creepily watch sleep-deprived campaign operatives and hungover journalists come in for their morning fix." - Gary He
