Family feud could close landmark restaurant

By Andrew Mollenbeck

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    DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — Noah’s Ark Restaurant has been serving Italian cuisine from its locale on Ingersoll Avenue since 1947, but the venerable Des Moines eatery is now headed to court to try to protect its future.

Court documents filed April 28 seek an emergency temporary injunction to block the termination of a lease.

A hearing on the matter is set for May 6.

Family members are on both sides of the legal battle, including both the restaurant operators and the trust which owns the property where the restaurant is located.

All have ties to the original owner, Noah Lacona, and his wife, Sara Ann.

“This is the first place I ever had pizza in high school,” said Sheila Harne, a customer who ate at the restaurant Wednesday. “We graduated in 1957.”

She was catching up with a childhood friend who now lives in Arizona.

“And when I came back I said, ‘Let’s go have pizza at Noah’s,’ which we did,” she said. “And it was great as always.”

Customers as well as the parties involved now await a court hearing that could clarify the future of the restaurant at its current location on Ingersoll Avenue.

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