Pyra Pizzeria owners Steve and Deb Taylor announced they will close the restaurant after six years in business.
Portillo’s, famous for big hot dogs and Italian beef, is expanding into new cities with much smaller versions of the giant dining rooms and expansive menus it is known for around its home base in Chicago. Hopes are that scaling back will help it grow in others ways while keeping costs in check. Some Portillo’s in the Chicago area are more than double the size of a professional basketball court. Analysts welcome the loss of space. Dine-in consumers are less common now, making up around 40% of Portillo’s sales compared with over 50% before the pandemic. (WSJ)
Deals of the day
• Bad Dog Burgers include three 1/3-pound patties, six pieces of bacon, choice of cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion, for $10.95 on Mondays at Kathy’s East 14th Street Tavern (3418 E.14th St., Des Moines).
• Jethro's "OG meal deal" in Altoona and West Des Moines this week includes four 6-ounce stuffed pork loin cuts, two pints of sides, and four corn muffins, $25.
• Irina’s (650 S.W. Prairie View Drive, West Des Moines) has a Sunday-Wednesday three course dinner special for $50.
• Angry Goldfish (2301 S.W. Ninth St., Des Moines) has specials on chicken Parmesan and lasagna today, $11.50 with garlic bread and salad.
• Eastside Eddie’s (3517 E. 26th St., Des Moines) Monday special is a burger with domestic beer, soft drink or well drink for $10. Those are good, generously sized burgers.
• Centro (1003 Locust St., Des Moines) offers half-price pizza and Peronis on Monday.
• Who's on First (810 E. First St., Ankeny) has steak night on Monday, and it's an 8-ounce filet with salad, mashed potatoes and beans for $22.95
• Pelican Post (265 50th St., West Des Moines) has a special today on hot beef sandwiches, $10.95 until 4 p.m.
• Tito’s Lounge (3916 Urbandale Drive, Urbandale) offers all-you-can-eat wings Mondays.
• Monday brings prime rib specials to both Chicago Speakeasy (1520 Euclid Ave., Des Moines) and Christopher's (2816 Beaver Ave., Des Moines).
• Johnny's Hall of Fame (302 Court Ave., Des Moines) has $12 burger baskets on Mondays and Fridays.
• Urban Cellars (640 S. 50th St., West Des Moines) offers $60 wine dinners for two on Mondays including two entrees with soup or salad, a dessert and a bottle on wine.
• Club 2000 (422 Indianola Road, Des Moines) has a burger basket with fries deal Mondays for $9.
• Red Lobster's Monday special is lobster and shrimp scampi with a side for $20.
• Paula's (524 Elm St., Valley Junction) has a Monday special homemade tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwich for $12.50.
• Village Inns offer crush burgers with a side for $5 on Mondays.
• Destination Grille (2491 E. First St., Grimes) has a Monday steak night special, sirloins and truffle fries for $18.
• Price Chopper delis offer two-piece, bone-in fried chicken dinners, with two sides and a roll, for $6 on Mondays.
• Fareway has deals this week on asparagus at $1.88/pound, fresh green beans at 99 cents/pound and extra meaty baby backs at $3.99/pound through Saturday.
— Jim Duncan, jd91446@aol.com | 
