Help with the name of an old style Italian restaurant on the southside! (Des Moines: 2014, apartments)

[atler8]

I'm trying to find out if a mom & pop old style Italian restaurant that was operating on a very quiet corner in south Des Moines when I left town in 1979 is still there.
It might have had a "Mama" or "Lacona" or "Leone's" or something like that as part of the restaurant name, then again maybe it didn't.
The immediately surrounding neighborhood was quite hilly so it may have been in the land rise up from the Raccoon River, say as in the Donald McCrae Park area or off of SW 9th or even near Indianola Avenue.
Anyway, the restaurant was authentic, relaxed & down home & served generous portions of great food!
When the weather was nice, the elderly matriarch of the family often could be found sitting outside of the front door on a bench. That always reminded me of similar restaurants & street scenes of elderly people relaxing street side in the Italian section of Boston near the old North Church.
Does that restaurant description ring a bell for anyone?
Now I'm hungry!

[schmink]

On SW 9th and armypost there was Mama lacona's, which I believe is gone
now. I do believe Noahs Ark on Ingersoll is the same family. Maybe I'm wrong though.

[atler8]

Thanks. That name sounds familiar as in a combination of the name parts I remembered.
If it was the same folks running it, I guess that they may have moved to a newer & maybe larger location on Army Post out of the old, cramped one they had originally.
So, where does one find similar, preferably mom & pop, old style dining in Des Moines today? Would it be Noah's Ark, which you mentioned? I think that I have been there (if it's on the south side of Ingersoll) & enjoyed it.
Has anyone been to Noah's recently & able to give me a heads up on them?
The city always had a decent-sized Italian population & had the restaurants to back that up.
When I was very small, for a treat with out of state visitors we went to the original Babe's downtown (on 6th Ave?). You couldn't get anymore Italian than "Bisignano"!
I was in the mood for Italian down my way tonight but it looks as though we are going out for fish instead. ):

[ElleTea]

There is still a Mama Lacona's in Des Moines. Well, Urbandale, specifically.

Mama Lacona's Restaurant

I loved Chuck's Pizza when I lived there. Great food, and on the weekends they have live jazz in the back.

http://www.chucksdesmoines.com/chucks/Chucks_Home.html

[atler8]

Cool to both links!
The Mama Lacona's has a real mom & pop look just as I prefer 'em. The fact that a restaurant like that would be located in
Urbandale shows how the face of Des Moines suburbia has changed & matured.
And the other link notes that Chuck's was started by the Bisignano family, the same family that owned downtown's famous eatery Babe's that operated on 6th Ave. for decades. So, it's in the gene pool for Chuck's to be good!

[Meemur]

Save your pennies, Alter. Maybe you can escape the August Wilt and Kill of ATL and come wilt in DSM instead, while checking out the revitalized East Village, or so they say. That was one of the top news stories tonight. They're going to build another hotel over there.

I'm new here, so I don't really know what it was like before.

[atler8]

Yeah, I saw that latest development plan for over there in the Register, Meemur.
All that is going on over there would have been unthinkable just 20 years ago. The East Village is light years ahead of where it was when, after WW2, it fell into the status of a dismal, declining, 2nd rate business area at the foot of the capitol's hill.
I may open a new thread soon with lot's of old Des Moines pics, including some of the East Village from decades ago.
I'm always ready for a trip back up there an time of the year, frankly. Anything to escape the grind of congestion down here in Georgia.
On my last visit to Des Moines, my host friend took me everywhere it seemed & we spent quite a while on the west side of downtown too in places like the refurbished Masonic Temple of the Arts.

[capitalcityguy]

^Yeah, the East Village is hot for development right now. This hotel just announced along with apartments will take up an entire city block. There is another hotel proposed as well for EV that is a Marriott brand that will not only be new to Iowa, but new to the US. A few other things in the works as well.

Big news today was just accross the river in the Court Ave District. Announcement of 5 developers are vying to develop 2.3 acre site. Plans include indoor farmer's market, 12 screen movie theater, long sought after full-service downtown grocery store. A lot going on downtown right now! http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/d...avenue/article

[atler8]

Indeed capital, that is more great news!
There was an article in The Register around the start of the new year in which officials were saying that 2014 was going to be big for downtown. That prognosis appears to have been on target & we are still only in February.
With 5 developers vying to be selected to redevelop that one particular Court Avenue location, we might assume that some of the proposals that are not selected could go up elsewhere downtown if their marketing shows that the ideas would work generally in downtown.
Downtown is on fire!

[Meemur]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to see what becomes of the farmer's market.

After living in an area where downtown pretty much closed at 5:00 pm, it's nice to see all of the activities available in Des Moines.