. After deciding to take few hours off of somewhat monotonous interstate driving to visit Des Moines on my route to SEAMUS National Conference, I called my fabulous painter friend to see what she has to say about any must-visit locations in this classic Midwestern city.

“You are here already?” She asked and sounded uncharacteristically sleepy on the phone.

“Gee, it’s 11 o’clock in the morning,” I meekly complained. “Did you just pull an all-nighter, again?”

She is either too sleepy to deny the accusation or too busy googling the driving direction to Centro Restaurant in downtown Des Moines for me. Can’t really tell, oh-no, but there was this mile-long silence. So I waited, cautiously. Let the record show that although she is one of the cuddliest girls to hang around with, she is admittedly less than pleasant under the influence of sleep-deprived mode. And, wait, one should also be informed to avoid mentioning any horoscope-related-stuff, regardless the degree of casualness, in front of this darling. She’d quote Sheldon from hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory and charge you of participating in “the mass cultural delusion…that the sun’s position relative to arbitrary constellations…at the time of your birth somehow affects your personality.”

Phew. Seriously.

Two hours later, we were in Centro tasting heavenly slices of New York-style pizza like two well-mannered otters.  Yum.

Centro, located in the historic Masonic Temple building in downtown Des Moines, was established by developer Harry Bookey and Chef George Formaro around 2001. Chef Formaro, the artisan baker, constructed coal-fired ovens to bake restaurant’s signature New York-style pizza at 850 degrees. A small specialty pizza such as Capricciosa (mozzarella, artichokes, coppicola, onion, mushroom, sausage, and red sauce) is about $17.