Head to West Des Moines for The Breakfast Club's new location with pineapple upside-down pancakes
Brunch without cocktails is just breakfast. So say the owners of The Breakfast Club, the wildly popular brunch restaurant that opened in February 2021 in the East Village.
Even at 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning, a line of customers awaits a table. On weekdays, legislators, when in session, meet in the early hours of a weekday morning and business owners hold their coffee catchups in the Fiestaware fabulous restaurant.
Now, diners might find it a little easier to land a coveted weekend table, at least if they’re willing to make the trek to West Des Moines. A second location of the brunch restaurant opened in West Glen Town Center, the tony outdoor shopping center just off I-35 and Mills Civic Parkway, and took over the West End Architectural Salvage space.
“They’re the same concept,” said co-owner Joe McConville. “They’re very similar but it’s got its own feel.”
The look of The Breakfast Club
Bright sunlight streams through the floor-to-ceiling windows that wrap the space. Orange, green and blue chairs surround the tables, blue stools belly up to the bar and a cheery mural from Van Holmgren covers one wall.
Behind the bar, old lunchboxes and Thermoses sit next to cereal boxes, and overhead, the music harkens back to the ’80s with the Human League and Huey Lewis and the News playing on the speakers. Three sound buffers brightly covered in those loud colors help muffle the echoes in this two-story restaurant with exposed plumbing and brick walls.
This 5,000-square-foot location features an upstairs where diners can look down on the dining room and bar. Outside, Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly wearing a little black dress, a tiara, and pearls, holding a cigarette holder from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” beckons customers in while balancing a monster stack of pancakes in one long-gloved hand over the front entrance.
More: The couple behind The Sweatshop Pepper Farm unleashes flavorful hot pepper mixes for salsas
Des Moines diners' favorite meals — breakfast and brunch
Breakfast and brunch restaurants have become staples in Des Moines, with plenty of options for sweet and savory dishes across the menu.
“I think breakfast is a lot more fun,” McConville said. “It just kind of exploded. There were some other places around, they were all kind of scattered.”
He refers to the Waveland Cafe, the Des Moines breakfast staple since 1982. “It’s been around forever and always has a line,” he said, going on about the popularity of the early morning meal. “It’s becoming popular because people have options. It’s not the same menu and everyone is stepping up, whether they just do brunch on the weekends or they’re a breakfast restaurant.”
Brunch starts at the bar at The Breakfast Club
At The Breakfast Club, the bar is where the party starts. A roster of bloody marys, coffee concoctions, mimosas, and straight-up cocktails get the morning off to a start.
Try the Tipsy Turtle, a heavenly drink of salted caramel liquor, Bailey’s Irish Cream, Kahlua and Pammel Park cold brew out of Winterset that comes with a dollop of whipped cream, caramel and chocolate drizzle for a caffeine and alcohol kick. A coconut rum punch in a pineapple-shaped glass uses two kinds of rum and a mix of pineapple and orange juice.
For the brave, the Mega Mosa brings a 25-ounce dose of mimosa with sparkles, cotton candy and rock sugar, perfect for a bachelorette party.
More: Off Hours: Where to find great sweet treats at the Downtown Farmers' Market and 2 new brunches
The sweets and savories of The Breakfast Club menu
Many of the dishes that delight customers in the East Village make an appearance in West Des Moines as well. “It’s just a fun menu,” McConville said. “You try to find personalities and then you also have your affordable everyday dishes.”
Diners can order Seoul food hash browns with kimchi and sriracha mayo, the huevos benedictos with black beans and chorizo, and the chicken and biscuit. But McConville says that both locations now offer a lineup of new dishes to try.
Breakfast eggrolls bring a new spin on the Asian starter with bacon, potatoes and eggs inside. Stuffed French toast comes with a cornflake breading and cream cheese inside. Totchos feature black beans and scrambled eggs blanketing tater tots. And those are just the starters.
A new deBurgo Benny pays tribute to Des Moines with a medallion of beef and deBurgo sauce smothering a poached egg. McConville's favorite, the breakfast fried rice, feels like a dinner leftover freshened up with fried eggs, a thoughtful morning meal.
Samoa pancakes with Nutella and chocolate as well as pineapple upside-down pancakes take over the sweet section of the menu, along with blueberry and cream pancakes, bananas Foster French toast and Dutch apple cheesecake French toast.
Healthy choices include an acai bowl, a partnership with Valley Junction’s Big Acai; pad Thai quinoa; a parfait with vegan boba yogurt; and the white hot, an egg white omelet sprinkled with cauliflower, tomato, jalapeño and green onions.
Many dishes are marked vegan and some can even become gluten-free. Just ask.
Of course, if breakfast doesn’t catch a diner’s fancy, lunch will, with new dishes such as the Sunrise in Havana, a Cuban roll topped with ham, carnitas, Swiss cheese and two fried eggs, or the Rise and Shine, a beef patty with a fried egg, ham, bacon and smoked Gouda. Of course, any can swap out an Impossible burger or gluten-free bread for an additional $2 each.
Fun and thoughtful.
Should the West Des Moines or East Village location prove too far away, fear not. A third location opens in Ankeny's Prairie Trail in 2023.
Find it: The Breakfast Club, West Glen Town Center, 5525 Mills Civic #100, West Des Moines; 515-224-7030
Open daily from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: The Breakfast Club opens a second location in West Des Moines
