Carter Annett dreamed of owning a restaurant. He worked at a Dairy Queen in high school and later Urban Cellar in West Des Moines.
Then his dad heard that Marty Scarpino and Deena Edelstein were ready to put the iconic supper club Jesse’s Embers on Ingersoll Avenue in Des Moines on the market for $1.6 million.
The low-slung restaurant with its white exterior and black roof opened on Ingersoll in 1963, a step back to the supper club era of Des Moines, at a restaurant wrapped in nostalgia. Its intimate quarters give neighboring diners an excuse to make a new friend. Walking in the back entrance with its red awning almost feels like a shortened scene out of “Goodfellas” with its view of the inner workings of the restaurant. Blink and you’re already out the front door, it’s so small.
Scarpino and Edelstein were ready to retire after owning Jesse’s Embers since late 2007. The beaches of Florida called their names. The only caveat to a sale? Keep the restaurant the same.
Along came Annett, ready to make his mark on the Des Moines dining scene with his cheerful demeanor and ease talking to just about anyone as if he’s known them for years. He bought Jesse’s Embers in April and spends his Wednesday through Saturday nights talking to customers in the 16-seat restaurant and ensuring every experience is perfect.
What is Jesse’s Embers?
This icon on Ingersoll Avenue opened in 1962 as a members-only key club, meaning customers brought their liquor and bought the mixer to make their drinks. Customers at the Ingersoll Club were their own bartenders, so to speak, but had to rent the space to store their liquors.
In 1963, Iowa’s liquor laws changed, and The Embers opened as a restaurant. Owner Jesse Roush, excited that he could sell liquor and food, brought the menu: steaks, seafood, and baby-back ribs.
The restaurant falls into the supper club category, according to author Megan Bannister in her book, “Iowa Supper Clubs.” It serves no desserts, only ice cream-based cocktails such as a brandy Alexander, Pink Squirrel, and grasshopper. It leans heavily into meat-heavy dishes such as steaks, but does not serve prime rib, a supper club staple. The kitchen is simply too small for prime rib.
While it doesn’t serve a relish tray, it does offer hefty portions and simple ingredients, with everything from the croutons to the thin hand-sliced onion rings with a homemade batter to the dressings made in-house.
The tiny dining room with wood paneling on the walls and frosted-glass windows features 16 tables in all, 13 with red leather chairs and three booths along the wall. The corner table near the exit is Annett’s favorite, aside from the corner barstool at the bar.
An open kitchen where diners can watch their London broil or bacon-wrapped filet and steamed cold-water lobster tail as they’re made on the open-fire grill faces the small bar that provides additional seating and a small TV for catching the game. It almost feels like a basement. No music plays during the service.
Photographs of the Des Moines skyline over the years shot by Scarpino’s father still decorate the walls.
Roush added his name to the restaurant in 1978 when Embers Restaurant, with its menu of American comfort food, opened on Merle Hay Road.
Roush sold the restaurant to Scarpino and Edelstein in late 2007. Scarpino previously worked as a bartender and maître d’ at Jesse’s for nearly 30 years
When long-time chef Lanny Sharpe died of a sudden heart attack at 58 last December, Scarpino and Edelstein decided it was time to retire.
Who is Carter Annett?
Annett, 28, grew up in West Des Moines, and graduated from Valley High School and attended Iowa State University. “My first job in high school was actually at a Dairy Queen, so I’ve literally been in restaurants my entire life,” Annett said.
His senior year at Iowa State, he felt burnt out from college, and decided to take a semester off. He started working at Urban Cellar in West Des Moines. “My biggest fear growing up was ending up in a cubicle because I have restless leg syndrome,” he said. “Being able to move around and talk to people and kind of use my energy in a really productive way was really, really enticing to me. And I told my parents I didn’t want to go back. And that was a hard pill for them to swallow, but I think it worked.”
What will Carter Annett change at Jesse’s Embers?
The short answer is not much. Annett’s fingerprints are more digital than analog. He added internet access. He’s bringing in a POS system so servers can automate checks instead of dropping the handwritten bills on the table.
“I looked at it as more of a passing of the torch,” Annett said. “Because Marty, you know, he’s been here for 40 years, and that dude deserves to kick his feet up on a beach for a long time.”
In June, Annett hopes to relaunch lunch, a service that ended at the restaurant when the pandemic started. His girlfriend, Christy Anderson, plans to work the lunch service, making the couple the younger version of Marty and Deena.
Since Annett took over on April 18, he’s seen the 80-seat dining room and bar packed every night. He spends his evenings touching tables, saying hello to the regulars, and making sure everything is just right. “I’ve been doing my best to talk to all the regulars,” he said. “As long as they know we’re not changing anything, they said they’ll come back.”
But the food? “I don’t plan on changing anything as far as the menu and the food,” he said.
Annett kept the same staff, the same recipes, with one exception — the sausage. Scarpino still makes the family recipe at home and brings it into the restaurant.
Favorites such as Deena’s Slippers beer-battered lobster tails, seafood dishes, baby back ribs coated in the house barbecue sauce, walleye, and burgers, including the Emberburger with a half-pound sirloin beef patty, remain on the menu along with the fan-favorite open pit French dip sandwich. Annett plans to keep the weekly pasta special on the menu as well with the same weekly turnover.
While nary a steak de Burgo, the Des Moines dish with a filet mignon and either garlic herb butter or cream sauce, is on the menu, Annett might add one. Maybe chocolate cake.
But for the most part, nothing will change.
“I didn’t really ever want to start my own restaurant, but I always wanted to get into a place like this,” Annett said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better spot, because I don’t have to fight for the clientele. The people keep coming because they’ve been coming for 50, 60 years. As long as I carry the torch and do what everyone was doing before me, I think it’s a little bit honorable, in a way, just to come in here and not change anything, and do my time. This has been the most fun I’ve ever had at work in my entire life,” Annett said. “I wake up excited to come in here, and it’s a blessing, that’s for sure.”
Where to find Jesse’s Embers
Location: 301 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines
Contact: 515-255-6011 or theoriginaljessesembers.com
Hours: Open Wednesday through Saturday from 4:30 to 9 p.m.
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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: Meet Carter Annett, the new owner of iconic Des Moines supper club Jesse’s Embers
Reporting by Susan Stapleton, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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