CITY GUIDES | MIDWEST
Inside Lucca, Des Moines’ East Village Prix Fixe Institution
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By Jamie Dutton | Feb. 23, 2026
In the 1990s, Steve Logsdon and his brother Joe Logsdon sold bread and treats from a push cart in the Locust Food Court. It’s an origin story that sounds straight from the Old World—you can imagine them shouting "pane y dolce" to passing shoppers.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that their restaurant carries a name straight from the Old World. At Lucca in Des Moines’ Historic East Village, Steve Logsdon runs the kitchen, putting out a prixe fixe menu that’s as reliable as it’s always been.
Logsdon has been nominated four times for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest, which is the kind of credential that does not happen by accident. The format is a choose-your own adventure: a la carte or, for an entirely reasonable $60, a four-course prix fixe.The smart money is on the multi-course option, which can include gnocchi with sage, spaghetti with clams, anchovy spaghetti, cracked pepper spaghetti. The third course moves into mains like New York strip with potato, plus salmon with broccolini and scallops with zucchini.
The room matches the food: exposed brick, modern lines, and a grand piano sitting in the dining room like it’s always been there.
In the kitchen, Joe Logsdon is still making the bread, and his brother is putting out the kind of homey Italian dishes that’s made this much loved in Des Moines. The brothers have come a long way from the push cart, but luckily along the way, they never lost the heart of what made them great.
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