Simon's

Simon's is a Des Moines restaurant also known as J. Benjamin's, serving a menu that runs from appetizers and salads through pasta, dinners, house specialties, seafood, pizza and sandwiches, with a kids' menu and a drinks list. The owner, Simon Goheen, describes it as a neighborhood spot that has been around since J. Benjamin's opened in 1994, earlier at this location as a food shop and later a pizza joint.

Reservations are taken for tables of six or more, and the restaurant does not seat parties on a call-ahead basis. It is open Monday through Thursday evenings and until 10 PM on Friday and Saturday, with live jazz on Wednesdays and Fridays from 7 to 9 PM. The restaurant is on Franklin Avenue on the north side of Des Moines.