Gastro Pub and Grub - Waukee, IA

I was staying in the western suburbs of Des Moines on a recent trip through the area and I have to admit I'm not as up to speed with restaurants in the fast growing areas of Waukee, Grimes and Johnston.  I grew up 35 miles from Des Moines and the expansion - especially to the north and west of the city - has been somewhat mind-boggling to me.  I found a couple places that I wanted to try out, one was a sports bar located in a strip mall and it appeared to be packed.  I went with "Plan B" and that turned out to be a little place called Gastro Grub & Pub.  I wasn't too enamored with the name of the place, but I decided to give it a try.   

Sean Gleason and Andrea Cunningham were Iowa natives who ended up out on the west coast to further their culinary careers.  Sean graduated with honors from a one-year accelerated program at the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena and went to work at the West Hollywood location for the Fig & Olive (now closed) Mediterranean restaurant.  Sean Gleason went on to become the executive sous chef at the now-closed Village Idiot on Melrose Ave in L.A.  Along the way, Sean learned how to butcher and was cutting chicken, pork and beef for the restaurant.   

Meanwhile, Andrea Cunningham was working in a sushi restaurant in L.A. and the two wanted to move back to Iowa to be closer to family.  Sean grew up in Des Moines while Andrea grew up just south of Des Moines in Norwalk.  They moved back to Iowa in 2014 and started up a food truck - Gastro Grub - a year later.   

Pictured right - Sean and Andrea Gleason.  Photo courtesy the Des Moines Register 

The Gastro Grub food truck made regular stops at local farmers markets and microbreweries, and soon garnered a reputation for having some of the best buttermilk fried chicken and deep-fried Brussels sprouts around.  A local entertainment news magazine - Cityview - named Gastro Grub as the runner-up for Best Food Truck in the Des Moines area in 2016. 

After getting married in 2017, the Gleasons were looking forward to opening their own brick and mortar restaurant expanding their food menu along the way.  Louie's Wine Dive, a Kansas City-based restaurant that specializes in locally-sourced food, was looking to move out of their Waukee building to a new location in the Des Moines city limits.  The space Louie's was giving up was perfect for the Gleasons to open their new restaurant.  

Things were progressing to an opening in the fall of 2017 when Andrea Gleason received some devastating news - she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of melanoma.  Work on their new restaurant ground to a halt as the Gleasons dealt with Andrea's treatments.  Her stage IV melanoma was not responding to chemotherapy and had spread to her lymph nodes.  Doctors felt her cancer was inoperable, but they decided to give surgery a try as a last ditch effort to stop the spread.  The surgery proved to be successful and doctors were certain that they got most of the cancer out of Andrea.  She began to receive radiation treatments soon thereafter.

With Andrea's cancer in remission - she is now cancer free - Gastro Grub & Pub opened in January of 2018.  The Gleasons continued to operate their food truck in the warmer months to help get the word out of their new brick and mortar location in Waukee.  

Sean Gleason focused on sourcing locally grown food for the restaurant.  A number of local breweries supplied beer to the restaurant and Iowa-based Templeton Rye played a big part of their spirit selection.  The Gleasons also decided to give back to the community where they donate a portion of their profits each month to a local charity or organization.  

I drove west on Hickman Road and found Gastro Grub & Pub in a strip mall on the south side of the street.  (see map)  The restaurant is located on the far eastern end of the strip mall with an open field beside it.  A nearly full moon was rising in the eastern sky as the sun was beginning to set.  

Gastro Grub & Pub had a contemporary theme for its decor.  A large open window into the kitchen was in the back of the space and there were assorted high-top and regular height tables in the dining area.

The bar area is off to the left as you come into the restaurant.  There's a garage door behind the bar that opens into a patio area on warmer days.  It was actually a nice night that evening with a few people sitting on the patio.  I had my choice of sitting at a table or at the bar.  I chose the bar.  The bartender/server that evening was a young lady by the name of Mary who was holding court with some other people seated at the bar.  It was evident through her conversations with them that they were regulars at Gastro Grub & Pub.  

I got a food menu from Mary and she asked me what I wanted to drink.  I saw that they had a hazy IPA from the Reclaimed Rails brewery in the Des Moines suburb of Bondurant and I ordered that.  However, Mary said that they were out of that selection at the time.  She gave me a sample of a couple others IPA's to try including one from the Nerdspeak brewery out of the Iowa Quad Cities that was way too sweet.  (Nerdspeak announced about six weeks ago that they were possibly closing.  It wasn't one of our favorites and we weren't surprised to learn they were thinking of closing.)   I ended up getting a West Eddy West Coast IPA from the Big Grove brewery in Solon and Iowa City.  

I had been on the road for a few days and I was sort of in a food funk.  I had a burger the night before in Omaha and didn't really want a burger even though they had a Wagyu burger on the menu with beef locally sourced from Lost Hills Farm in southern Iowa.  Their original Bacon Jam burger was on the menu, as well.  They had a buttermilk fried chicken sandwich as well as a short rib grilled cheese sandwich that looked interesting to me.  Entrees included a steak & frites plate, shrimp and grits, and a grilled chicken pasta in a Cajun-seasoned alfredo sauce.  I came real close to getting that.

But something on the appetizer part of the menu stood out for me - the steak Deburgo poutine.  It featured chunks of steak on a bed of fries covered in a creamy Deburgo sauce with white cheddar cheese curds and finished with fresh scallions.  It wasn't exactly like Quebec-style poutine, but it was interesting enough.

And it tasted pretty good, too.  And it was very rich.  I mean, really rich.  It was all I could do to finish even half of it.  I put a significant dent in the poutine before I finally had to throw in the towel.  Mary asked me if I wanted to take the rest of it in a to-go box, but I passed.  

 

I really didn't know if I would like Gastro Grub & Pub when I first looked through the menu, but I have to say that I was pretty impressed with the steak Deburgo poutine that I had that evening.  I would have liked to have tried one of their burgers, but being burnt out on burgers at that point I'm glad that I went with the poutine appetizer which was more than enough food.  Gastro Grub & Pub was a pretty good find and one I would recommend trying if you're in the western suburbs of Des Moines.  

Comments

[Mavo]

Hello! I worked there for about three years before I had to move. I would just like to add some interesting info. Firstly it is by far the cleanest kitchen I had ever worked in. I worked in about three kitchens before that and two kitchens since and it is still the cleanest. Everything there is made in house. The only things we kept frozen was the shrimp, French fries, and icecream. The icecream itself is made in house and I have made many many batches over the years. My two favorite items are definitely the short rib grilled cheese, (slow cooked on the bone beef short rib pulled and picked it is definitely my favorite) and the Cajun Alfredo chicken pasta. It is also rich like the poutine but has a very diverse flavor and the heat isn’t overwhelming. I would like to say that just about everyone I worked with including Mary were amazing people. The work environment was the best I’ve had and Sean and Andrea are bloody angels. Chef cortel has a very amusing sense of humor and an interesting teaching style which definitely helped me learn how to cook much better and rely less on recipes. The first two months I was terrible at my job as I went from fast food/bars to actually having to make everything and I had very little experience. They were very patient for which I’m extremely appreciative of. I drop in as often as I can to drop of fruits and wild mushrooms and other things for the staff and owners and just say hi/eat my favorite meal. I dearly miss working there and would like to go back if I ever move back into the area. Best food around by a long shot and the most fun work environment I’ve had before or since. A lot of places I’ve worked have had awful work environments, unclean work stations and sketchy if not illegal food safety and handling practices but gastros was the exception to the rule and I still wear my work hat to this day with a sense of pride. I would highly suggest stopping in and trying some food out. If you plan to go on a Friday or Saturday make reservations as it’s always packed and you may have to wait a while to get seated. If you found your food particularly amazing and want to tip the cooks you can ask to order a “line cook beer” for the lads in back. I was a bit too young to partake until my last few months however there is no nicer feeling as a cook to hear the ticket print after a big rush and see a line cook beer instead of a random ten top lol! It really made me feel appreciated even if I couldn’t drink at the time.

[Road Tips]

Mavo - that's so good to hear. Too many times I see replies or comments from former employees who literally trash the restaurant and the owners after they've left for whatever perceived slight or problem there was. The 'Line Cook Beers' is a great idea - some places will split tips with the kitchen staff, but not always. Sound like these guys had a tough row to hoe just to get open. Glad they're still doing what they do best.