When Oak Park opened on Ingersoll Avenue, it instantly raised the bar for what fine dining in Des Moines could look like: a purpose-built restaurant with its own garden, a serious wine program and a kitchen led by chef Ian Robertson, who cut his teeth at ambitious restaurants in Chicago and New York before returning home to Iowa.
Now, Oak Park is leaning even further into its farm-and-garden ethos with a one-night collaboration that might be the most quietly radical dinner of the season: a fully plant-based, six-course menu created in tandem with cookbook author and recipe developer Jackie Akerberg, the Des Moines native behind the Jackfruitful brand and the cookbook “The Clean Vegan.”
On June 27, the two collaborate on a fully vegan, six‑course tasting menu.
For Robertson, known for dry‑aged steaks, oysters and caviar, the pivot isn’t a gimmick. It’s a statement. “I wanted to try bringing something essentially different to Des Moines,” he said. “It’d be really fun to bring another chef with Des Moines roots back and really elevate local produce in a new fashion — still very elegant, elevated, very Oak Park.”
Oak Park was named a USA TODAY Restaurant of the Year in 2025 and is a member of the Des Moines Register’s Essential Restaurants. Robertson was a James Beard Foundation semifinalist for Best Chef Midwest in 2026.
For Akerberg, who now lives in Aspen but still plans her trips back to Des Moines around where she wants to eat, Oak Park has long been a north star. “Oak Park, as you know, is the best restaurant in Des Moines,” she said during a phone interview. “To have them choose me to collaborate with is just such an honor. And Ian is such a talent. The way that he thinks about food, celebrates food and creates these little dishes is just something I’ve always absolutely loved.”
A dinner based on vegetables
This collaboration isn’t about fake meat or vegan stand-ins. It’s about vegetables — their textures, their umami, their seasonality — treated with the same reverence Oak Park usually reserves for wagyu and caviar.
“This will be vegan,” Robertson said. “A mixture of some items from her and some items from me, highlighting fresh ingredients we can get locally.”
The dinner will draw on Oak Park’s garden, nearby farms and Akerberg’s plant-based playbook, with a focus on vegetables in their own right rather than stand-ins for meat.
“This isn’t going to be a dinner where you go and you’re having a burger that’s supposed to taste like meat, or a steak that’s supposed to taste like steak that’s actually a mushroom,” Akerberg said. “It’s going to be highlighting and celebrating the vibrancy and beauty and all the flavors of plants.”
One of her courses is deeply personal: a miso‑cured eggplant inspired by a 14‑course vegan meal she ate in Tulum, Mexico, the night she got engaged.
“We’re going to serve it with a leek purée and morels with the most deeply rich, umami, amazing flavor,” she said. “A little nod to a memory I’ll have forever.”
The dish Ian Robertson can’t stop talking about
If Robertson has a signature for the night, it’s the black lentil tortellini with morels — a dish that eats like a meat course without pretending to be one.
“It gives a beautiful, decadent feel, almost like a pork sausage. It’s almost porky, but it’s not; it’s just beautiful lentils,” he said. “People will be taken aback by how rich and hearty it is.”
What’s on the menu at Jackie Akerberg’s Oak Park dinner?
A “welcome” to the evening, with green chickpea hummus featuring garden vegetables and charred pita, starts the dinner.
Second course: Vichyssoise, a classic French soup, consisting of potato, leek, Walla Walla onions and black truffle.
Third course: Beet carpaccio accompanied by a cashew chèvre, fennel and strawberries.
Fourth course: Chef’s take on a plant-based crab cake with hearts of palm, jackfruit, artichokes and caper beurre blanc.
Fifth course: Black lentil tortellini served with morels, peas, ramps and asparagus.
Dessert: “Cheese” cake with strawberry sorbet and rhubarb jam.
Where Jackie Akerberg eats when she’s home
On her trips back to Des Moines, Akerberg moves through the city the way chefs do: by appetite, by memory and by the handful of places that understand how to cook for someone who eats plant-based without making it feel like a compromise. Her map is surprisingly concentrated — especially along Ingersoll Avenue, where two of her most beloved stops sit across the street from each other — but it also stretches into the East Village, downtown and the suburbs.
Harbinger: If Oak Park is her north star, Harbinger is the gravitational pull she can’t resist. “The restaurant I miss the most is Harbinger,” she said without hesitation.
Part of the appeal is how seen she feels there. The team brings her a separate vegan/gluten-free menu, marked just for her, and they’re unfailingly gracious about tweaks. But it’s the late spring menu — garlic scapes, morels, wild ramps, local mushrooms — that she talks about like a season she waits for.
Details: 2724 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines, 515-244-1314, harbingerdsm.com.
Lucky Lotus: Just across the street, Lucky Lotus is her non-negotiable. “I always have to go. It’s just my favorite,” she said. Her order is ritualistic: tofu laap and fresh rolls.
Details: 2721 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines, 515-317-7586, luckylotusdsm.com.
Big Grove Brewery & Taproom: Akerberg has held vegan dinners and events at the Sherman Hill brewery. There she enjoys Korean barbecue cauliflower wings.
Details: 555 17th St., Des Moines, 515-777-2337, biggrove.com.
The Contrary: The 2026 James Beard Foundation semifinalist for Best New Bar in the East Village is a newer love, but a serious one. She raves about the hummus with shockingly vibrant vegetables and even fruit and the mezcal margarita, which she calls one of the best she’s ever had.
Details: 503 E. Locust St., Des Moines, instagram.com/thecontrarydsm.
Lucca: “I adore that place,” she said, praising how effortlessly the kitchen accommodates her needs. Her go-tos are eggplant with no cheese and tomato-basil spaghetti.
Details: 420 E. Locust St., Des Moines, 515-243-1115, luccadsm.com.
Eatery A: Another Ingersoll staple, and one of the city’s most quietly vegan-friendly kitchens. “They’re so good about doing plant-based.”
Her favorites include Pizza #14 (no chorizo), Pizza #6 (no prosciutto), Moroccan carrots, roasted mushrooms and fiery baba ganoush — “one of my favorite things I’ve ever had.” She also orders grain and veggie bowls for brunch.
Details: 2932 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines, 515-282-8085, eateryadsm.com.
Cheese Bar: The surprise pick — and her favorite happy hour in town. “Usually the first place I go when we go back is the Cheese Bar.” She orders lemon preserve salad, hold the cheese, and Champagne and rosé.
Details: 2925 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines, 515-277-7828, cheesebardsm.com.
Kathmandu: The Indian restaurant in West Des Moines is a place she misses deeply. She orders the chana saag (spinach and chickpeas) and the gobi Manchurian (cauliflower appetizer).
Details: 7229 Apple Valley, Windsor Heights, 515-255-1270, ktmrestaurant.com.
Bubba: “A surprisingly great place for plant-based stuff.” Her picks include crispy succotash stuffed chile relleno and a Southern protein bowl, no egg.
Details: 200 10th St., Des Moines, 515-257-4744, bubbadsm.com.
How to get tickets to the Jackie Akerberg dinner at Oak Park
Tickets are $200 and Akerberg will be on hand. Everyone gets a copy of her cookbook.
Details: 3901 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines, 515-620-2185, oakparkdsm.com.
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Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How Oak Park’s bold vegan dinner reimagines Des Moines dining
Reporting by Susan Stapleton, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Susan Stapleton, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
