'Late Night' host and IndyCar owner David Letterman dines at downtown Des Moines restaurant

Television icon and IndyCar team owner David Letterman spent some time in downtown Des Moines ahead of the doubleheader IndyCar race at Iowa Speedway in Newton on Saturday.

Letterman, who hosted the “Late Show with David Letterman” from 1993 to 2015, is in central Iowa for the IndyCar Hy-Vee Homefront 250 and Hy-Vee One Step 250 at the speedway. Letterman co-owns Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and businessman Mike Lanigan, with Rahal’s son Graham Rahal in the driver’s seat.

Since 2015, Letterman hosted “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman” on Netflix.

Letterman dined at Bubba, the downtown Des Moines Southern restaurant, on Saturday afternoon. Chris Diebel, who owns the restaurant with Orchestrate Hospitality, said Letterman ordered fried green tomatoes and crab cakes, along with a diet Coke.

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His visit follows The Kid Laroi, the Australian rapper, who stopped in the restaurant ahead of his show at Vibrant Music Hall in Waukee on July 7.

Last year, IndyCar driver and back-to-back Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden shared his love of all things central Iowa and said he enjoyed dining at Bubba when he was in town.

Where to find Bubba

Location: 200 10th St., Des Moines

Contact: 515-257-4744 or bubbadsm.com

Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. You can reach out to her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.