City: Des Moines, IA

Category: Restaurants

Telephone: (515) 277-1111

Description: With a phone-book-size menu, black-and-white tile floor, and din of conversation filling the narrow dining room, this is an authentic diner through and through. Famous for their chili, they also do a mean burger, with Maytag blue cheese, sautéed onions or mushrooms, or any other number of toppings. Any diner worth its salt has to get breakfast right, and the Drake does not disappoint: All day it serves pancakes that are light and fluffy, and omelets that are perfect half-circles with a wide choice of fillings, like mushrooms, onions, and peppers. Dinners tend toward heavier entrees like meatloaf and fried chicken, but there’s also a long list of dinner salads, including Cobb, spinach, and smoked salmon. Don’t leave without trying the apple butter bread pudding or one of the extra-thick milk shakes. Just a block from the Drake campus, it fills up with students, professors, and neighborhood folks, particularly at lunchtime and on weekends.