There’s little doubt Hickory Park Restaurant is the iconic eatery in the home of Iowa State University. But I’ve been there only once or twice, mainly because I prefer to stay 30 miles or so miles south in Des Moines.
Des Moines isn’t Denver. It isn’t Houston and it isn’t Dallas, but motels and eateries are plentiful in Iowa’s Capital City. For many years, after we arrived in Des Moines, we would eat at Riccelli’s Restaurant on Fleur Drive.
What was the lure of Riccelli’s? The onion rings. I’m not that big a fan of onion rings, but Riccelli’s were just right — thin, not too greasy and, of course, delicious.
After a football game, however, on the way out of town we liked to stop at B-Bops, a retro diner on South Duff Street.
Guilty pleasure: Pulling into the Eagleville, Mo., Truck Stop on I-35 and purchasing a couple of dollars worth of Missouri pull-tab lottery tickets.
