The Des Moines metro is home to a lot of restaurants and bars, but there are tons of hidden gems that should be uncovered. To help guide readers to these potential discoveries, the Des Moines Register enlisted some of the city’s food players to share their recommendations for a feature dubbed Dining Confidential. Have someone we should feature? Drop entertainment editor Susan Stapleton a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.
If Liz Lidgett’s new book, “Art for Everyone,” makes a case for how artwork can reshape a private home — bringing warmth, confidence and personality to spaces people inhabit every day — her real-world portfolio across Des Moines shows what that same philosophy looks like in public. In restaurants, art does more than fill walls. It sets a mood before a menu is opened, signals intention without saying a word, and becomes part of diners’ routines in ways they may not consciously notice but would absolutely miss.
Lidgett is the founder of Des Moines–based Liz Lidgett Design & Gallery, which opened in 2019 but grew out of an art advisory practice she began in 2013, when restaurant owners started asking her to think about their walls with the same seriousness they gave their kitchens. At the same time, she built a gallery dedicated to living artists and accessible price points, guiding customers not just toward what to buy, but how to live with it — where to hang it, how to group it and why it matters once it’s home.
That belief — art as infrastructure rather than ornament — has made restaurants some of her most lasting canvases. From a punchy luchador mural at Malo to historical photographs grounding RōCA in place, Lidgett’s work blurs the line between design and storytelling. Whether she’s advising a homeowner or shaping a dining room, the goal is the same: art that doesn’t intimidate, doesn’t disappear and quietly becomes part of how people experience a space.
The restaurants that wear her art — and what she orders there
If the homes in “Art for Everyone” show how art reshapes private life, the restaurants Lidgett has worked on reveal what it can do in public — how it sets tone, builds memory and quietly tells stories to hundreds of people a day. For Lidgett, art in restaurants is never ornamental or last‑minute.
“The ambience in a restaurant is so important,” she said. “When art is overlooked, the space can feel sterile. I love using artwork to tell the story or the ethos or the vibe of a restaurant.”
Clyde’s Fine Diner
Clyde’s, once next door to Lidgett’s former East Village gallery, offered a mix of nostalgia and play. Owner Chris Hoffman wanted a photograph of his grandfather and a sign to serve as visual anchors. Lidgett added a wink — in the bathroom.
“I know people love a bathroom selfie,” she said. Her solution was a reverse‑reading mural that appears correctly framed when viewed in the mirror.
The result is clean, cheerful and lightly mischievous — and, for Lidgett, a kind of informal metric of success.
“I always feel like we did a good job when I start seeing people’s selfies,” she said. “It becomes a little bit of place‑making.”
Bubba Southern Comforts
At Bubba, Lidgett and Chris Diebel, Bubba’s founding partner, set out to create a visual love letter to Southern culture. Nothing on the walls is incidental.
“There wasn’t a single piece we didn’t really discuss,” she said. Bow ties, shoes, hats, clothing — they all mattered.
A photographer was sent to Diebel’s grandmother’s home in Texas to capture a beloved painting that couldn’t travel; it was later reproduced at high resolution. The walls also hold photographs of his grandfather, magnolias and slices of wood from Southern trees, mounted as art.
“We wanted to tell a full, rich story,” Lidgett said — not just of Diebel and why the restaurant exists, but of Southern culture itself.
Malo
Malo was one of the earliest restaurant commissions of Lidgett’s career — possibly the first — and a pivotal moment.
“My business was just getting started,” she said. “Paul Rottenberg saw the vision.”
The now‑iconic mural of a luchador in a suit sets the restaurant’s playful, slightly irreverent tone. Under new ownership by Todd Millang and his team, Malo has evolved, but the artwork remains.
“It still feels fresh,” Lidgett said. “Because we thought about it that much.”
RōCA
At RōCA, housed in a roughly 150‑year‑old building, history became the starting point. Lidgett dug into the Iowa State Historical Society’s archives, pulled photographs of old Court Avenue, and brought them back as artwork. She also designed the building’s exterior mural — first as a patchwork, later as a unified refresh.
“There’s something addictive about working on the outside of a building,” she said. “It feels like you’re changing the face of a city.”
Either/Or, Lua Brewing and beyond
Once you begin listing the restaurants that quietly bear Lidgett’s imprint, the list expands quickly. At Either/Or, she designed the plates themselves and sourced vintage pieces for the gallery wall surrounding the TVs. At Lua Brewing, her mural work pushes art beyond the walls and into the street. Oak Park and other local restaurants continue the pattern.
The through line may not be immediately obvious to diners. But for Lidgett, each project is another opportunity to embed meaning into a public space.
“I love working with restaurants because you can immerse yourself in a theme — a cuisine, a culture, a vibe,” she said. “And then ask: how do we subtly tell the story of the people creating this place?”
Even if most guests never hear that story, someone does. “Someone is walking through those doors every single day,” Lidgett said. “If we can make something that really means something to them, that feels good.”
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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: Liz Lidgett shares her Des Moines restaurant designs, favorite dishes
Reporting by Susan Stapleton, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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