At 4 p.m. on a Thursday in April, The Stuffed Olive opened in Des Moines with customers already waiting to walk in. By 4:45 p.m., every stool at the bar is occupied, and half an hour later, the new main dining room decked out with jewel-toned chairs all the brighter against the black backdrop of the space. It’s hopping. Groups order from the long list of martinis, snack on small plates and chat.
The Stuffed Olive hasn’t missed a beat since moving less than a block away in late March.
“People are really excited to come back downtown,” said Brendan Kelley, the longtime owner of the restaurant and bar. “I think everybody's been avoiding downtown for the last few years and they’re like, ‘Finally we have a place to go that’s safe.’”
For a decade, customers frequented The Stuffed Olive at 208 Third St. The move to The CC at 216 Court Ave. doubled the restaurant’s space with room for 190 inside. Kelley spent six months getting everything into place at the new 7,309-square-foot location. The restaurant only closed for two days during the move some 200 steps away.
The main section of the restaurant features jewel-toned chairs with quilted velvet surrounding lacquered black tables. One gray booth sits in an alcove with a giant floral backdrop of wallpaper. It’s much different from the wooden chairs and stone-veneer pillars that decorated the old space.
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Instead, the restaurant has an “Alice in Wonderland” feel to it, and Kelley plays the movie on TV screens in the restaurant. Now it feels slick, sexy, moody, like a bar you might find in Chicago. Neon signs touting “I like it dirty” or clinking martini glass light up the walls, while artwork from Ben Schuh, Drew Dau and Frank Moth decorates other sections of the space.
A large U-shaped bar anchors the main dining room with the kitchen behind it. A side room along Third Avenue can be closed off for private parties, but on this night, it’s nearly full of diners.
What’s new on The Stuffed Olive menu?
Kelley added some new dishes to the menu, such as a tuna poke bowl with pickled carrots, wasabi peas, and edamame on a bed of jasmine rice and a quinoa bowl with veggies, black beans and crispy Brussels sprouts. Most dishes are still meant to share, with a healthy dose of tapas on the menu as well.
The Cajun salmon with risotto and a cream sauce returns, divine as ever. “This is the fan favorite,” Kelley said. “We're selling about as many of those as we are dirty martinis right now really about 40 to 50 a night.”
The entire roster of 120-plus martinis returns as well. Olive fanatics can order skewers stuffed with garlic, blue cheese, sundried tomatoes, bacon, or cream cheese, or even request a $10 sampler.
And the tapas remain. Diners can pick from crispy cauliflower, risotto croquettes stuffed with Provolone and Parmesan, mini chimis filled with chicken, calamari, grilled cheese with a tomato bisque, and zucchini fritters with feta cheese.
See the entire Stuffed Olive menu.
A little history behind The Stuffed Olive
Kelley originally opened The Standard Martini with Dante Heck and Rob Lovino in 2012 with a cornucopia of enticements — happy hour, tapas, 49 martinis, karaoke night, ladies night, live music. After 10 p.m., it turned into a nightclub on the weekends.
“We kind of bastardized our brand because we were all over the place,” Kelley said. “People never knew what they were gonna get when they walked in. They came in on a Monday and it was great and then they came in on Thursdays and we had karaoke.”
Diners can still spot original artwork from The Standard Martini next to the kitchen.
Two years later, Kelley teamed up with The Stuffed Olive in Cedar Falls for a more streamlined approach to co*cktails and tapas.
New owners purchased Court Center, a three-story, 35,000-square-foot entertainment complex, in 2022 with plans to renovate the entire historic space. The Stuffed Olive is the first new tenant in the building.
What’s still on the way at The Stuffed Olive?
Kelley plans to open the patio on the east side of the building as well as on the sidewalk on the north side. The space to the east has its own bar area and seats about 120.
He also plans to offer brunch during the Downtown Des Moines Farmers’ Market on Saturdays. Expect around 20 new breakfast martinis as well as items from the current menu such as a Fruit Loop and espresso martinis, as well as a bloody Mary.
What happens to the old The Stuffed Olive space?
Kelley hopes to open a tacos and tequila restaurant in the former home of The Stuffed Olive.
Where to find The Stuffed Olive
Location: 216 Court Ave., Suite 100, Des Moines
Contact: 515-243-4456 or stuffedolivedsm.com/
Hours: Open Monday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to midnight and Friday and Saturday from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow her onFacebook,Twitter, orInstagram, or drop her a line atsstapleton@gannett.com.
