Executive Life asked some of the city’s leaders to describe the best dining experience they’ve had recently in Central Iowa. Some like the exclusivity of a private club, while others prefer more homey, intimate settings.

It’s not just the delectable entrées – or, for that matter, even his Des Moines Club membership card – that make Ken Quinn a regular in the exclusive club’s Crystal Room.

Of course, the cuisine is superb, says Quinn, executive director of the World Food Prize Foundation and a former U.S. ambassador to Cambodia. At lunchtime, he is likely to order the fish entrée of the day, especially if it’s Chilean or Corvina sea bass, which he says is typically served with “a very nice sauce with it that’s always very nice and memorable.” At dinner, he might succumb to more carnivorous urges and reward himself with prime rib, which he says the restaurant prepares exceptionally well, choosing the best cuts available and roasting the meat to tender, mouth-watering perfection. The result is a “lasting memory,” according to Quinn, who adds glibly: “At my age, the taste buds are slipping, and when something leaves a nice impression, it’s exceptionally well done – that is, nicely done, not overcooked.”

But the menu is, in a manner of speaking, just the dessert. For Quinn, the Des Moines Club’s allure goes far beyond what comes out of Chef Michael Bailey’s kitchen on the 34th floor of the Ruan Center.

“First, the service is just so attentive. It’s the best in Des Moines. You’re made to feel very special and very welcome,” Quinn says. “Second, it’s the magnificent view. It seems to add something unique to the dinner and is part of the presentation. Having the Capitol right there within view, as well as the sense of energy and change and transformation of the city – it’s all right there.

“Art and architecture and setting all add in a tangible way to the meal.”

So does a personal friendship with the restaurant’s owner, says Des Moines school board meber Connie Boesen, a longtime advocate of local businesses and an East Side champion. Boesen is fond of the four-course meals Steve Logsdon and his staff serve at Basil Prosperi, 407 E. Fifth St., especially when salmon is on the menu. But Boesen and her husband, Ted, also like to frequent Flying Mango Restaurant at 4345 Hickman Road. She became acquainted with Flying Mango co-owner Michael Wedeking when the two operated neighboring concession stands at a recent Des Moines Arts Festival (Boesen was operating Applishus, a concession that has been an Iowa State Fair tradition since her father, the late Ken Fulk, managed the fair some 40 years ago).

Sometimes, Boesen doesn’t order off the menu, but asks the server to let Wedeking know she’s in the restaurant and to surprise her with something new. That trust is bred in familiarity, a camaraderie the Boesens also share with the Giudicessi family, longtime owners of the stalwart Beaverdale restaurant Christopher’s, located at 2816 Beaver Ave., and Brian and Connie Hobbs, owners of the B&B Que, 2712 Beaver Ave.

“We go a lot of places where we know the owners,” Boesen says. “It’s like going to visit friends.”

Greater Des Moines Community Foundation President Johnny Danos raved about the double portion of a grilled scallop appetizer he had recently at Sage, 6587 University Ave., Windsor Heights, pronouncing the creation of chef/owner Andrew Meek “fantastic.” Danos is a seafood aficionado and recognizes high quality when he tastes it, a trait he also found in the salad, a mix of sautéed chicken livers, frisee, red onion and bacon in a warm balsamic vinaigrette.

Danos joins Boesen in giving kudos to Basil Prosperi, where he recently had a braised onion pasta. Danos is as enthusiastic about pasta as he is about seafood and appreciates the restaurant’s straightforward sauces. “Basil’s has the best pasta,” he says without hesitation, “as good as I’ve eaten anywhere.”

Blank Park Zoo CEO Terry Rich is currently enamored with Trostel’s Dish, a tapas bar at 12851 University Ave. in Clive opened late last year by Paul Trostel, whose Greenbrier Restaurant at 5810 Merle Hay Road in Johnston is a longtime area favorite.

Rich says he’s a “meat and potatoes guy” and can find plenty on the small plates menu to please him. Even better, he can have a beer while his wife, Kim, can choose her favorite champagne from Dish’s extensive wine list. And because the portions are small, Rich has the illusion, at least, that he’s eating less, so he breaks his own rule and orders the crème brulee. It’s the best in town, he says, and the secret is in the caramelized crust.

For lunch, he’s discovered Bordenaro’s Pizza & Pasta at 6108 S.W. Ninth St. “I fell in love with the pepperoni pizza,” Rich says, but he also likes the atmosphere at the family-owned South Side tradition since 1977.

Attorney Jonathan Wilson reluctantly shares the name of an unpretentious downtown restaurant, The Trattoria at 207 Fourth St., where he recently had a pleasant dining experience. He’d prefer the restaurant remained a well-kept secret and confesses, “I almost hate to tell you it’s as enjoyable as it is.”

With “The Lion King” in town for another couple of weeks, Trattoria proprietor Ed Mattis is enjoying the same brisk business he did during the five-week run of “The Phantom of the Opera” several years back. In fact, it was a pre-theater dinner that took Wilson to the restaurant, but he’ll be back, no matter what’s playing at the nearby Civic Center of Greater Des Moines. He praises the “wonderfully diverse menu and good service” in addition to convenience, and says the meal in a unique atmosphere introduced “a delightful evening.”

Former Gov. Robert Ray and his wife, Billie, attend so many banquets and other public functions that they like to steal away to more intimate settings on rare nights when their public calendar is clear. Recently, they sat down with another couple at Bistro Montage, a restaurant at 2724 Ingersoll Ave. that has built a following with its fusion of contemporary French and New American cuisine. Billie Ray savored the salmon and the privacy. “It’s very private and small,” she says. “This is where you can have an intimate meal.”

Des Moines Art Center Director Jeff Fleming chose the high-energy Centro, located in the Temple for Performing Arts at 1011 Locust St., to entertain minimalist artist Richard Tuttle on the opening night of his exhibit at the Art Center. Restaurateur George Formaro and entrepreneur Harry Bookey have teamed to create an atmosphere that puts guests in mind of being in a much larger, hipper city.

But Fleming also showed Tuttle a softer side of Greater Des Moines eateries, taking him to Joe Logsdon’s La Mie Bakery & Restaurant, 841 42nd St. “He ‘looooved’ it,” Fleming says, drawing out the word.