.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} San Francisco launched the underground gourmet dining movement that branched out to foodie epicenters like Los Angeles, Portland, Austin and Seattle. Oh, and Des Moines. Underground Inc. chef and founder Hal Jasa marked his roving supper club’s 10th anniversary in Des Moines this year. Underground chefs usually harbor too much maverick spirit to punch a restaurant clock or, like Jasa, want to concoct dishes so edgy, it’s easier to make them for small groups of foodies, not crowds of customers.

Now, just as Los Angeles Times food critic Jenn Garbee is devoting an entire chapter of her new book to Jasa, he has decided to close down Underground to manage a brand new restaurant opening in downtown Des Moines.

“I don’t own it, but I will run it entirely, top to bottom,” Jasa told the Business Record. “I can’t release more details until Aug. 24.”

Jasa’s diners haven’t received any further hints. He sent them an e-mail last week saying only: “After my last two dinners, Aug. 4 and 18, we will be calling it quits. We have had a great run and now I have some new dreams in my head for the future. If you haven’t joined us in the past, now is the time. The 18th will be a go broke or go home dinner. I figure if you are going to go out, go out with a bang.”

Garbee will attend Jasa’s final Underground Inc. dinner on August 18. She is currently writing a book about underground dining clubs across the nation called “Supper Underground: Recipes and Entertaining Secrets from Guerrilla Gourmets.” It will be published next year by Seattle-based Sasquatch Books.

A graduate of the Iowa Culinary Institute at Des Moines Area Community College, Jasa hosted a 10th anniversary dinner of suckling pig, baked clams and oysters on the half shell last month. Sixteen couples paid $125 per head to attend, the normal price for an Underground dinner. The menu for his final dinner is still under wraps.

“I’ve been the chef, dishwasher, event planner and publicist,” Jasa said. “I have energy but it can get tiring.”

Normally, customers make reservations online for Jasa’s biweekly dinners. The day before they are to eat, he e-mails them the time and location. Venues have included a loft under construction with no electricity.

Garbee was stunned to hear Des Moines, a city she associated with wholesome American staples like pot roast and meatloaf, had an underground dining scene.

“Des Moines is the biggest surprise for me in researching this book, because people expect foodies to congregate in San Francisco, New York and L.A.,” she said. “But then I expected New Orleans and Miami to have underground dining clubs and they don’t – or they’re so secret, I couldn’t find them.”

Garbee is profiling chefs in other cities who have hosted dinners in parking garages, on farms or in lofts that look like Andy Warhol’s Factory. One club Garbee is profiling, Subrosa in Oregon, throws clothes-optional and nude barbecues every summer.

She hasn’t met Jasa but is intrigued by his menus and felt he rates a full chapter. She was particularly fascinated by an appetizer that sounds contradictory: “roasted yellow pepper ice.”

Garbee will join Jasa and his Underground diners on August 18 to take photos for her book, chow down and chat. She first learned about Jasa when she read Food & Wine magazine’s January 2006 story “100 Tastes to Try in ’07.” Jasa ranked globally at 51st.

For more information about the last big bash, visit desmoinesunderground.com.