Chuck's Restaurant

If you're in the mood for old school Italian, there are lots of great choices in Des Moines - on a recent Friday night, our choice was Chuck's Restaurant. Located at 3610 6th Avenue, Chuck's was opened by the Bisignano family in 1956.

When you walk in the door, the cozy bar is on the right. You'll find domestic and imported beers, any and all mixed drinks, and a nice variety of Italian and domestic wines.

There also is a row of booths along the wall. We usually like to sit here and enjoy our dinners, but because Chuck's offers live music Thursday - Saturday, we decided to head to the back dining room to enjoy the music.

We ordered a drink - rum & cokes tonight instead of our usual vodka tonics - and took some time to look at the seemingly endless options on the menu. Chuck's menu features traditional family recipes and many homemade Italian specialties. They're also known for their pizza and the very popular and tasty secret family recipe onion rings. If there's any kind of Italian food or dish you're hungry for, I'll bet it's on Chuck's menu.

We started our meals with a nice, fresh salad. Crisp greens and veggies, plus they have a killer homemade Thousand Island dressing.

The bread basket arrived and I dug into those crunchy house made bread sticks. Dipped into creamy butter, I could seriously eat just those breadsticks for a whole meal. Well, maybe I'd have a piece of the warm Italian bread, too.

Grant ordered the Italian Stuffed Peppers. It's a large bell pepper stuffed with a delicious meatball mixture and served over pasta. So many tastes in one excellent meal.

I was wanting a little baked pasta of some sort - Homemade Cavatelli En Casserole was the perfect choice. The cavatelli was topped with mozzarella and romano cheeses and meat sauce and came piping hot from the oven. An unpretentious dish, but oh so satisfying.

We also enjoyed a very nice bottle of Le Focaie Sangiovese with dinner. A good amount of tannin to offset the rich tomato sauce, but very drinkable.

We really enjoyed the music, too. Our evening's entertainers were The Charlson Trio, featuring Gary Jackson. Local legend Julius Brooks was sitting in for the evening as well, and his mellow sax was the perfect complement to Gary's smooth vocals. It's a nice setting for some dinner and music. We highly recommend it!

So if you're looking for a great little place for authentic Italian, don't hesitate to give Chuck's Restaurant a try. In business since 1956, you know they know how to produce a memorable meal. I know lots of you have probably eaten at Chuck's multiple times, so let us know what your favorite dish is so we can try it next time!

Chuck's Restaurant

3610 6th Avenue
Des Moines, IA  50313

Hours

Weekdays  4:30pm - 10:00pm
Weekends  4:30pm - 11:00pm
Closed on Sundays

Menus and more information here.