Last chance this weekend: Wicked at the Des Moines Civic Center wraps up Sunday, September 20, 2026 — and Splash Seafood, practically across the street in Bruce Gerleman’s Homestead Building, has been matching the run with a limited show-season feature menu and cocktails built for pre- and post-curtain dining.
Through early–mid September, Executive Chef Ryan Baber and the Splash team leaned into one of downtown’s biggest entertainment draws: theatrical plates and drinks, a Wicked ticket giveaway, and extended Tuesday–Sunday hours so show nights weren’t a scramble. With the final performances tomorrow, it’s a timely moment to catch both the musical and a Splash dinner downtown.
On social channels, Splash teased theatrical plates and drinks with playful Oz-inspired names: Elphaba pasta (with squid-ink notes), Yellow Brick Road polenta with smoked halibut, Munchkin skewers, a Defying Gravity dessert, plus Elphaba’s Wicked Sour and an Ozmopolitan.
That menu wasn’t a last-minute gimmick. On an August 3, 2026 episode of The Iowa Podcast, Baber — an 18-year Splash veteran — previewed a special three-week feature running six days a week at the start of September to coordinate with the Civic Center run. He kept most dish details under wraps on air, but confirmed squid-ink and yellow-brick-road themes were part of the plan — the same ideas that later showed up on Splash’s social channels.
The podcast conversation also pulled back the curtain on how Splash keeps ocean-fresh seafood in landlocked Iowa. Baber described daily calls with a network of roughly five to six purveyors stretching from Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest to Prince Edward Island and the Florida Keys. The first 40–45 minutes of a kitchen shift, he said, often go to confirming jet-fresh shipments into the local airport or trucks from Midwest hubs. Local partners round out the plate: Iowa Premium Beef in Tama and produce from Reinhart’s Family Farms in Boone. Feature menus rotate every two to three weeks — typically two appetizers, three entrées, and dessert — so the Wicked run fit a kitchen already built for seasonal pivots.
For readers, the story sits at the intersection of brand and city: Splash as a downtown fine-dining anchor under Bruce’s ownership, using chef-driven logistics and a temporary cultural partnership to meet guests before and after the curtain.
Hear Baber’s sourcing conversation (and the early Wicked preview) on The Iowa Podcast, or watch below. Current hours and reservations: https://www.splash-seafood.com/.
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