Restaurant transformations come in different levels of difficulty. Some are seamless. When Sean Wilson bought Proof from Carly Groben last month, the place never missed a day of business. Others close down for months of gutting and rebuilding. Dante Heck, Brendan Kelly and Rob Iovino’s The Standard is from that latter category. The only thing that remains from its days as The Pelican is its slate floor. The bar, furniture and stage (hosting live music each Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) are all new. The partners said they want to be an alternative niche in the Court Avenue district. Their musical choices seem to be reaching out for a more adult audience with blues, jazz and soul. The bar does the same thing by featuring classic cocktails and martinis, plus a nostalgic frosted cooling rail.

Their menu was geared for drink pairings with tapas, soups, salads, sandwiches and desserts. Nothing was priced over $12 and most everything was under $10. A four hour long Happy Hour (3 p.m. - 7 p.m.) brought half price martinis and bottles of wine plus $3 beers. The Standard is not a wine bar though. Beers outnumbered wines seven to one. It’s a cocktail lounge with tapas from a serious kitchen.

The Standard martini with New Amsterdam gin and white vermouth was offered with the “dirty” option of a splash of olive brine and three green olives. That salty taste paired nicely with corn meal encrusted crab croquettes served with a zippy remoulade, orange segments, red onions and a mini salad of mesclun.

A Manhattan fudged on classic interpretation. Canadian Club has not been a rye whisky for decades. Canadian law allows Canadian distillers to use the term even if no rye is used and Canadian Club is made with corn these day. (American rye whiskey must use rye for over half of its mash.)

Otherwise, the Manhattan was served by the book with sweet vermouth and a maraschino cherry. However, it was served with a mysterious froth, or mini head, that one would never see in a serious cocktail lounge in Las Vegas or New York. At any rate, that sweeter drink was paired with a marinated olive platter that included two pitted green olives marinated in chile oil, two more in citrus and herbs, and another two stuffed with blue cheese.

A Sazerac delivered a modern take on a classic. Made with Buffalo Trace’s Sazerac brand rye whiskey and Pernod Anise substituted for absinthe, it produced none of the theatrical notes that Django’s Sazerac delivers.

It was a lovely reddish brown accented with an orange twist and it worked well with

Cajun style shrimp cooked in cayenne, beer and butter. A rumchata, made with cream, rum and caramel vodka, was the sweetest cocktail I tasted

and paired well with fish tacos (“the most popular item on the menu“) which delivered tilapia, pineapple salsa, avocado and mesclun with a side of potato soup.

Smoked salmon was served with chevre and toast.

A steak sandwich brought tender braised beef mixed with roasted mushrooms, caramelized onions, horse radish cream and a fried egg. It was also served with a side of hand cut, twice fried French fries.

Those are a labor intensive bonus that one rarely sees at such low prices. A short dessert menu included home made fresh mint ice cream and fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate. A excellent evening special of French toast was served with burnt maple syrup, candied walnuts and a strawberry reduction.

Bottom line - The Standard is a pleasant new place with exceptional food and drink values, particularly at Happy Hour.

The Standard

208 3^rd St., 243-4456

Mon. - Fri. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m., Sat & Sun. 5 p.m. - 2 a.m.

Side Dishes

Fresh Iowa grown produce has been sold at pop up farmers markets since March. One farmer sold 150 pounds of spinach at the Shops at Roosevelt and said his crops were six weeks ahead of schedule.

In 2008 Thailand became the world’s first country to elect a celebrity chef as its Prime Minister. Minutes after accepting victory, Samak Sundaravej went grocery shopping with camera crews in tow and vowed that his new gig would not interfere with his television show. He had been warned against making that vow. The Thai Constitution does not allow elected officials to work for private companies like TV networks. After five months of arguments, the Constitutional Court of Thailand unanimously disqualified Samak from office. He died less than a year later. Samak’s strange saga has been recounted to illustrate two different points. 1.) Culinary expertise is revered in Thai culture. (Another Thai Prime Minister invented the national dish pad thai as a key element of his economic policy in the 1930’s.) 2.) Television obsession is a weirdly modern form of hubris - “Greek tragedy as farce” as one pundit put it. Both points came to mind on visits to the metro’s newest Thai restaurant Uniq Cuisine.

Uniq Saysinuan’s one room café is painted a warm yellow with bodhisattva’s for good luck and a large high definition TV for distraction. Even the tableware was stylish.

On occasions when Uniq was working alone or with other women, the TV was muted, or so low in volume I never noticed it. When men worked in the front room, the television was tuned in to game shows and talk shows at high volume. I heard more about the side effects of both bladder control medications and erectile dysfunction drugs than I ever wanted to know. Even so, Uniq’s culinary expertise gave me reason to tolerate the ambiance.

She explained that she is half Thai and half Laotian and that her Thai cooking is influenced by Laotian preferences for less subtlety and more complicated flavors.

Her two versions of green papaya salad illustrated that well. Her Thai salad mixed thin slices of papaya with lime juice, chile, tomato and a sweetened fish sauce. Her “tum mua” version added carrots, cabbage and pork rinds.

Hot crisp egg rolls, crab Rangoon,

tightly wrapped spring rolls,

lightly sweetened cucumber salad, and chicken wings were all nicely executed but rather indistinguishable from others around town.

Pho (beef stock noodle soup) did not disappoint or stand out either.

Fried beef balls delivered sliced meat balls colorfully dropped into a bright red “sweet & sour sauce” that did not have the cloying sweetness of most things that go by that name.

Thai soups and curries were marvelously bold and beautiful. Her tom ka gai was a bright red rather than the pale green I’ve usually seen.

It was hardly overwhelmed with red chilies though. The flavors of coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal, ginger, and kaffir lime leaves all accented the mushrooms and chicken meat of Thailand’s most famous soup. Curries brought considerably more broth and flavors, not just chili paste and coconut milk. Basil, lemongrass, eggplant and zucchini maintained their identities in both “sweet green”

and red versions.

A spicy fish stir fry dish became a veritable curry with considerable sauce under tilapia, baby corn, two kinds of mushrooms, basil, peppers, tomatoes, ginger and celery.

 Fried rice with pineapple

and Pad Thai

were by-the-book dishes, balancing the four basic flavors without the boldness of Uniq’s curries and soups.

Thai iced tea delivered fresh cream resting on top of the beverage.

A complimentary dessert of coconut gelatin provided an unexpected treat.

Bottom line - Uniq makes some of the best Thai food around, with or without TV commercials blaring.

Uniq Cuisine

1903 EP True Pkwy, West Des Moines, 225-1547

Daily 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Side Dishes

Top chefs are restless this spring. Pastry Chef Jessica Dunn moved from Baru66 to Crème Cupcakes… Sean Wilson left Cuatro and Kirkwood Lounge to buy Proof. Hal Jasa became his sous chef. They changed almost nothing about lunch service but will be expanding dinner in their own creative ways… Tony Lemmo and Phil Shires (Café di Scala) bought Flour and are remodeling. The menu, name and look will change.

This column first appeared in Des Moines' Cityview magazine.

As often as not, the proverb “there’s no replacing an institution” is wrong. Quality education for Catholic girls did not end with St. Joseph’s Academy. The Des Moines Register managed to publish after both Babe’s and The Office closed. The Polk County Courthouse still operated without The Milner or Chapter 13. Here are two recent cases in point.

Chip Coil closed The Library last year after a 19 year run hosting the Drake community with scratch nachos, cheap beer and the city’s pithiest little billboard. With only 38 seats, the place seemed an unlikely fit for new owners Full Court Press (FCP), whose résumé includes Royal Mile, Red Monk, Hessen Haus, High Life Lounge, Fong’s Pizza, El Bait Shoppe, Mullet’s and Sbrocco. On the other hand, FCP is nothing if not savvy. They kept the billboard and the nachos - each batch is freshly cut, deep fried and served hot with a choice of five toppings, plus fresh pico de gallo, banana peppers, pintos, sour cream and cheese.

They completely upgraded the beer menu. “Basically, what we have here is a consensus of what we learned at Royal Mile, Hessen Haus, Red Monk and El Bait Shop,” partner Jeff Bruning explained a tap that featured both domestic and imported “Belgians,” the only Paulaner Munich Lager in Iowa, Iowa brews from Knoxville and Iowa City, plus hits from England and Ireland living peacefully under the same roof.

Their cooler featured an array of cans, including Cain’s, an interesting dark brew from Liverpool. “As long as you don’t actually drink out of the can, they provide the best delivery system for beer,” insisted Bruning.

Italian chicken soup featured al dente angel hair, stewed chicken, smoky tomatoes and fabulous broth made with white chicken stock.

Hand breaded prok tenderloins

and freshly ground hamburgers starred on a good sandwich menu, especially with skinny onion rings.

Corned beef was quite lean. Pasta in home made mac & cheese was so soft it dissolved between my tongue and the roof of my mouth.

An Italian roast beef sandwich was neat enough to eat while driving - no juices dripped.

Blues on Grand (BG) closed in 2010 after 11 years. Its demise was mourned by multitudes though “lack of business” was cited as its failing. BG outlived its milieu which has transformed from a strip of adult book stores and homeless shelters into a new culture zone featuring a $240 million insurance building, an elite sculpture park, and Meredith headquarters. The zone’s protectors have vocally objected to a Subway outlet with a marble façade, so new owners Frank Farrell, Ryan Flattery and James Wilson artfully upgraded the venue and renamed it The Gas Lamp. Ceiling high windows provide a view of Yoshitomo Nara’s creepy little girl, the latest source of pride for the zone’s arbiters of fine taste.

Gas Lamp retained BG’s popular Friday Work Release Party (with Sumpin’ Doo) which includes a buffet and draws a crowd that would have been at home in The Milner. Otherwise, entertainment is eclectic - everything but hip hop. Gas Lamp will even host this summer’s initial Bloomsday Iowa, an event celebrating James Joyce and other Irish things sophisticated enough to drink whiskey without embarrassing the culture police. The bar also added a menu that features authentic versions of Chicago dogs (with Sport peppers),

 Fontanini meatball sandwiches, Graziano sausage sandwiches, and Chicago style Italian beef.

The latter was made to be eaten while leaning over the bar so that its ample, sloppy juices drip somewhere appropriate. Thus, the sandwich symbolizes Gas Lamp’s role in its new hood - providing a proper place for the sloppy juices to drip.

The Library

3506 University Ave., 255-0433

Mon. - Fri. 11 a.m.-2 a.m., .Sat. 8 a.m. - 2 a.m., Sun. 8 a.m.-midnight. Kitchen closes at 9 p.m. daily

The Gas Lamp

1501 Grand Ave., 280.3778

Mon. - Fri. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m., Sat. - Sun. 2 p.m. 2 a.m., kitchen open lunch, late night and most other times.

Side Dishes

Baru66 celebrates the life of Georges Auguste Escoffier all of March with specials from Le Guide Culinaire… Subway is partnering with Diet Coke to support heart disease awareness.