DES MOINES, IOWA: PROOF RESTAURANT AND THE PAPPAJOHN SCULPTURE PARK

Maybe I'm naive, but I don't associate haute cuisine with Des Moines. Leave it to my husband, however, to scout out a restaurant with a chef who was a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for best chef in the Midwest, which is a pretty big deal (especially to my husband).

First impressions were good. I liked the name--"Proof"--and the unassuming location in a brown brick building next to a sculpture park was very nice.

The presentation of the food plays a huge part in upscale restaurants like this one. If you do it right, you can pass off a very thin slice of cucumber wrapped around a thin bit of salami as an actual course and charge a lot of money for it:

 It's hard to go wrong with a cheese plate:

. . . followed by a delicious blend of prosciutto and artichokes:

However, not only was the duck confit (left) ugly, but it didn't taste very good. The pork belly (right) was a little better looking but only a little better tasting:

Tender, flavorful, Spanish-grilled ribeye with three unique dipping sauces was the dish that made the visit worth our time:

The perfect pairing for these artistic dishes at Proof was the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park, located right next door. Open since 2009, this 4.4 acre park contains an assortment of 24 sculptures by internationally renowned artists. The total value of the art exceeds $40 million, making this one of the premiere sculpture parks in the nation. The works were donated by the art collectors for whom the park is named. (John Pappajohn made his millions as a venture capitalist.)

DES MOINES, IOWA: STATE CAPITOL BUILDING INTERIOR

As I said in my previous post, the Iowa Capitol Building is one of my favorite of all the capitols we've seen. I have to say the same for the interior. The building was completed in 1886 at a cost of $2.9 million, a huge amount (according to this site, it would be $71.6 million today). 

As in most capitols, the dominant feature is the dome that rises 275 feet above the rotunda. It measures 80 feet across and is decorated with 23 karat gold.

Directly beneath the dome is a round glass floor. The original building had a glass floor like this that was removed in the early 1900s and railings were placed around the open circle. The glass floor was reinstalled in 2011.

Delegates to Iowa Boys State were touring the capitol while we were there. You'll notice them in their white shirts in many of my photos. 

DES MOINES, IOWA: STATE CAPITOL BUILDING GROUNDS

During the last couple of years, as we have been marking states off our States List, we've also started a State Capitol Buildings list. Unfortunately, we developed our appreciation for capitol buildings a little late, and now we need to go back to a few state capital cities we visited but where we neglected to see the capitol building.

The Iowa capitol building in Des Moines has perhaps the most striking exterior and interesting grounds of any capitol we have visited. With its four rich green domes surrounding a resplendent gold dome, it reminds me of a Russian palace, but at the same time, it has a classic state capitol look. It is the only five-domed capitol in the United States. We took pictures of it three different times, which accounts for the variety of sky color in the background.

View of the back

Another view of the back

View of the front

The domes

   

The pediment above the main entrance