Our Story
More than a recipe. It's a family.
Where it begins
A family that left everything but the recipes
Ceviche DSM begins with Tanya, a first-generation Cuban-American, and a family that fled Cuba after Castro came to power. They left behind a home, a country, and almost everything they owned. What they carried with them couldn't be packed in a suitcase — it was in their hands and their memory: the way her grandmother marinated pork, the exact press of a Cubano, the patience of a sauce that simmers all afternoon.
Those recipes were never written down so much as handed down — taught at a stove, corrected by taste, passed from one generation to the next. Every dish on our menu comes from that lineage. When you eat here, you're eating from Tanya's parents' and grandparents' kitchens. It's heritage you can taste, and it's the whole reason this place exists.
"Every dish is a piece of home."— Tanya, owner
The room
Havana's golden era, in the East Village
We opened in Des Moines' East Village because the neighborhood felt right — creative, welcoming, the kind of place that roots for the people who set up shop in it. It's a community, and we wanted to be part of it.
Step inside and the goal is simple: feel like you've walked into Havana in its golden era. Dark woods and low, warm light. Vintage posters on the walls. And behind the bar, the best rum we could get our hands on in Iowa, poured into cocktails built with the same care as the food. It's a place to celebrate — a birthday, a Friday, or nothing at all.
How we cook
Nothing on this menu is an afterthought
Everything is made with care, because that's the only way these recipes work. We use Iowa-raised pork and wild-caught salmon. The Cubano is pressed until the bread crackles — it's been the house favorite since day one. The ceviche is bright and cold and made to order.
We're not chasing trends or stretching the menu thin. We cook the food we grew up on, the way it's supposed to be made, and we'd rather do a handful of things exactly right than a hundred things halfway.
Come hungry. Stay late.
View the Menu