Chef Lynn Pritchard abruptly closes one of his three Des Moines restaurants

After a little more than two years in the East Village, chef Lynn Pritchard closed his restaurant 503 Cocktail Lab & Tasting Room.

Pritchard opened Table 128 , his farm-to-table restaurant south of downtown Des Moines, and Hugo’s Wood-Fired Kitchen , his ode to Mediterranean fare in the Drake neighborhood, this past spring.

“Friends, we regret to inform you that 503 Cocktail Lab has ceased operations as of Saturday, July 20. After careful consideration and evaluation of our business and the need to focus energies and resources on our other operations and future concepts, we have made the difficult decision to close 503 permanently,” read a message on Instagram that referred customers to his other two restaurants.

Pritchard opened 503 Cocktail Lab in February 2022 as a place for his staff at his original location of Table 128, which closed in Clive in July 2021, to work until the new location opened north of Gray’s Landing in May.

The cocktail lab offered a tight menu, sometimes swapped out with chef Gabriel Kerr ’s Pasta Punk pop-up dinners. Fans of Pritchard’s food could find his chocolate chips cookies from Table 128 on the menu. He even held a preview tasting for Table 128 at 503 Cocktail Lab in April.

The pet store Monkey & Jett's previously occupied the space, followed by the short-lived Dobré Tasting Room. Local hospitality group Des Moines Does Things planned to debut the Japanese vinyl lounge Do Not Disturb there.

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

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Chef Lynn Pritchard abruptly closes one of his three Des Moines restaurants