Man vs. Food visits Des Moines

[isucy1234]

'Man v. Food' star tries Des Moines scene | desmoinesregister.com | The Des Moines Register

A man who makes his living eating bizarre bar food found plenty to fill his plate during a Friday visit to Des Moines.

Adam Richman of the Travel Channel's "Man v. Food" spent a few hours Friday afternoon at the downtown restaurant High Life Lounge. He planned stops at Jethro's BBQ in the Drake University neighborhood and Black Market Pizza in Ankeny.

Footage from Richman's visit is scheduled to air Oct. 6 on the show, in which Richman explores the dining scene of a city, then ends the episode with a food challenge.


The High Life Lounge was informed of Richman's visit a month ago and invited regulars to the filming.

"We didn't do things any differently than we normally do," said High Life co-owner Andy Massoth. "We kept it pretty honest."

Richman and about a dozen Travel Channel employees showed up around 11 a.m. Crew members kept customers from using camera phones, and anyone caught on film signed a waiver giving their permission to be shown.

The bar and restaurant at 200 S.W. Second St. is styled like a 1960s-era corner tap, with shag carpet and vintage beer signs and bowling pictures lining the wood-paneled walls.
Massoth said Richman dined on the broasted chicken meal, along with the bar's signature bacon-wrapped tater tots.

The show chose frequent High Life customer Zenia Phyun to talk on camera about the broasted chicken with Richman, while another regular, Whitney McKinstry, talked about the tots.

"He's exactly like he is on TV. It's not an act," McKinstry said. She said she has avoided ordering the bacon-wrapped appetizer because of the calories, "but today I ate the whole plate."
Jethro's presents an obvious food challenge for Richman with the Adam Emmenecker sandwich, a huge item named after a former Drake University basketball star that includes a pork tenderloin, burger, brisket, bacon, fried cheese, buffalo chicken tenders and more cheese. Crew members also said the program was considering making a stop at the Iowa State Fair.

 

[CycloneNorth]

I think I'm going to try to recreate what he does on October 7th.

 

[CyBelieve]

It was a blast watching it at Black Market Pizza in Ankeny. The friend of mine who was with us got intereviewed by Adam and was wearing his I-State hat. Assuming his clip makes it, chalk one up for the Cyclones! Adam was a great guy and worked the room for the short time he was there.

 

[Clones21]

Nice!

 

[brianhos]

I love that show..... Now I am going to have to go try black market pizza, that is only a few blocks from my house.

 

[Broodwich]

This is GREAT news for Black Market Pizza. Shows like Triple-D and this are windfall developments for these mom and pop operations. People nationwide will make a point to stop at these places now.

For a group of guys who were unemployed a little over a year ago, this is a huge development. I am very happy for them.

Now we need to get Guy to stop at some place in Iowa. That would be HUGE!

 

[scottie33]

It was a blast watching it at Black Market Pizza in Ankeny. The friend of mine who was with us got intereviewed by Adam and was wearing his I-State hat. Assuming his clip makes it, chalk one up for the Cyclones! Adam was a great guy and worked the room for the short time he was there.

I was wondering what was going on there. We went to lunch at El Azteca and there were a bunch of filming people outside of Black Market Pizza. Makes sense now haha

 

[mwitt]

I've never seen the show - what exactly is the premise? Does this guy just try to consume a ridiculously large meal at these places, or what?

 

[tman24]

I've never seen the show - what exactly is the premise? Does this guy just try to consume a ridiculously large meal at these places, or what?

basically yes. he goes to different places in town and then goes to a place that has a food challenge and tries to beat it. ill just say he can eat alot of food.