Photo by Roberto Rodriguez
801 Chophouse and 801 Fish
If you want to be all technical about it, 801 Chophouse and 801 Fish are separate entities. But these two restaurants from the 801 Restaurant Group of Des Moines, Iowa, are not only across Clayton’s Carondelet Plaza from each other, they are fraternal twins, with steaks at the seafood restaurant and seafood at the steakhouse. 801 Chophouse is the swankier of the two restaurants, with its big prime steaks (and chops and excellent side dishes) rolled out to your table on carts. 801 Fish is a bit more restrained, but the cooking is no less precise, and dishes like the lobster fried rice are exciting in a way the steakhouse can’t quite match. Taken together, they are an object lesson in how to update the classic, expensive steakhouse and seafood restaurant for the modern era.
Hours: Dinner daily (both restaurants)
Opened: 2013
Must order: 16-ounce rib-eye (801 Chophouse, $55), Portuguese-style Littleneck clams (801 Fish, $17)