DES MOINES, Iowa — A new restaurant opened Thursday morning in downtown Des Moines that honors the city’s history.
The Empire is located at the former Fong’s Pizza location on 4th Street. When the owners decided to move the pizzeria to the East Village, they uncovered the original floors in the building. Tiles wrote out the words “The Empire,” and the owners decided to research the meaning.
They learned The Empire was a bar that opened in 1905, but closed just one year later.
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The current owners wanted to celebrate this history by naming the new restaurant after the historic bar, but that’s not the only piece of Des Moines history that The Empire is honoring…