December 20, 2008
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Best of 2007
During the 14 years of these reviews, this category presented some tough choices. Sage, Bistro Montage, 43, Mezzodi’s, Danielle and Yamananem’s all opened in 2001. Four years later Dish, Café di Scala, Star Bar and Chef’s Kitchen all debuted. This year tops them all though with Absolute Flavors & Smokey D’s, AJ’s, Azalea, El Corita, Gateway Market Café, Grand Piano Bistro, Lemongrass, Miyabi 9, Splash Raw Bar, DuBay’s and Zen Sushi & Noodle. A handful of those places are good enough to win this distinction some years. Azalea, Gateway and Miyabi 9 all could have won most years. But…
Best New Restaurant – Dos Rios
Dos Rios flooded the competition this year. Karl Alterman’s Court Avenue restaurant combines commitment to sustainable and local foods with devotion to the traditions of Jalisco. Some foods (huitlacoche) had never been served before in Iowa restaurants. Some tequilas had never been sold before in the U.S. The restaurant opened in October while its building was still under construction. Remarkable improvements have been made since in acoustics, commitment to sustainability, in tweaking recipes, and in creating new specials.
Chef of the Year — George Formaro
Formaro kept Centro among the top local restaurants and South Union at the top of deli choices while also opening Gateway Market Café — serving the city’s best-ever, and most eclectic, comfort food. In his spare time he created a menu for the late-winter opening of a new French restaurant.
Rising Star — Scott Stroud, Dos Rios
This 22-year-old brings Bouchon experience to Dos Rios specials, which can out-rock the live music.
Top Chain Restaurant — Fleming’s
In greater Des Moines, Fleming’s has become the Warren Buffet of corporate restaurants — a big powerful player who behaves like an ordinary good neighbor.
Top New Fast Food Joint — Sushi Box
Reasonable sushi for the bargain prices in Kaleidoscope Food Court.
Service Trend of the Year — shorter hoursAfter years of expanded service, many places reduced hours in 2007, mostly after the new minimum wage law.
Business Trend of 2007 — independence
The ratio of new independent restaurants to corporate chain restaurants increased dramatically in the metro.
Local Kitchen Trend of 2007 — charcuterie
Norwalk’s La Quercia introduced several new products to America. Brasserie announced that charcuterie would be a focus of its new kitchen. Bistro Montage, Gateway Market Café, Dos Rios, Sage, Mojo’s and several ethnic cafés all delved deeper into the old art.
Fast Food Trend of the Year — diversified menusWhat’s good for McDonald’s is good for the industry. That means espresso with fried chicken, salads at burger joints, burritos and ice cream for breakfast, etc.
Top Food Stories
Specialty markets come and go. Four specialty grocery markets opened in the metro this year but two closed before cold weather.
Farm Bill turns Democrats into Republicans and vice versa. The Democrat-controlled House and Senate approved Farm Bill legislation that a Republican president from Texas kept threatening to veto because of lavish breaks for the rich.
3. Big Ethanol demonizes Holocaust hero. Swiss statesman Jean Ziegler became a Nobel Prize candidate for retrieving stolen assets for Holocaust victims. When he questioned the morality of ethanol subsidies in rich nations, which drive up food prices in poor nations, Big Ag and their flunkies in the Iowa press attacked, and smeared, the messenger.Conspiracy Theory of the Year — Swift raids
A year after the federal government raided ConAgra’s Swift plants (and only Swift plants) across America, suspicion grew that Tyson and Cargill had been rewarded for their superior acumen at insider-politics.
Quote & Book of the Year“Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you.” Danny Meyer, “Setting the Table.”
Thanks for the MemoriesRick Murillo, Garcia’s, 25th Street Café, Beggar’s Banquet, Pat’s Corner Café, Cookery, Off the Hook, Stella’s Blue Sky Diner, 43, Dolce Vita, several library coffeehouses.
Long Overdo Recognition
Lucca
Des Moines was designed to service the obesity of Iowa agriculture. The state leads the nation in corn, soy beans and hogs while the city maintains the world’s largest water filtration system to cope with Big Ag’s poisonous run-off. Restaurants here mostly cater abundance with garish décor, gargantuan portions and Styrofoam containers for leftovers. Minimalism is a hard sell. Yet Lucca daringly commits to “less is more” thinking.
For starters, it’s more work. When Steve Logsdon first told me about his East Village café, he expected to open in August, of 2005. But architect Kirk Blunck’s 1880’s building had been dormant for decades and the faithful restoration took much longer. The main kitchen, a wine cellar and a cheese cave were built underground. Blunck dropped white stained ash and Plexiglas designs within the unadorned brick shell creating a bar, a cheese area and an open kitchen. Bathroom boxes look like something by Minimalist superstar Donald Judd. A black piano parks in the dining room, not the bar. Even flowers are stunningly singular.
In its first three months, the restaurant buzzed with talk about the fixed price menu, the cheese course and the smaller than normal portions – all foreign concepts here. People talked even more about whom they saw and what they were wearing. This is “the New 801, without the secondhand smoke” for politicians and high profile professionals. Service has become jaded at times, we have fielded “attitude” complaints, including one from two Los Angeles food pros who noted that they work in “the world capital of attitude.”
Since opening in June, the restaurant has seen both head chefs and pastry chefs come and go, from France no less. Logsdon plugged in new talent quickly. Derek Eidson moved over from Sage, where he had been Andrew Meek’s line chef, and pastry chef Hannah Dodds came along. Both followed head waiter Marcus Walsh. When the most respected kitchens in town are raided for talent, a city’s dining scene has matured.
Seasonal, fixed price, three course dinners were offered on all our visits, though there has been talk about a la carte, four and five course menus. Fittingly minimalist, the best first course was salad with greens so fresh they should not be allowed out at night. The excellent organic Coyote Run Farm in Lacona supplies the restaurant with produce and flowers, plus beef, poultry and eggs. The most interesting first plate was citrus glazed chicken livers with polenta sticks. This could be a signature for Lucca, as chicken livers are synonymous with Italian (Calabrese) cafés in Des Moines and these are distinctly personalized. The polenta had people begging for more. A bresaola was memorable, with prosciutto’s beefy brother treated to shaved Reggiano.
On earlier visits, the open kitchen was overwhelmed by salmon‘s strong aroma. No such problem came when halibut was subbed on my last visit. Fish courses have always been strong suits for Logsdon, with simple preparations so rare in Des Moines. A braised pork shank with gnocchi, a duck ragu with rigatoni, and a prosciutto-wrapped chicken roulade were all splendid second courses.
The cheese course featured more imports than regional artisan cheeses but never anything adventurous. They were preparation for the traditional specialty of any Logsdon kitchen – pastry time: A triple chocolate bombe with candied orange and raspberry sauce; a challah bread pudding with peaches, nuts and a sweet bourbon sauce; a roasted peach on an almond cake/marsapone mousse; a pineapple cake; and a Belgian chocolate mousse with walnut caramel and espresso reduction. All used fresh, ripe fruit to augment rather than just decorate desserts. Desserts were the most inconsistent course however from one night to the next.
Lunches featured good fresh baked bread sandwiches, pasta, home made soups and the freshest in organic salads. Overall, service was adequate by Des Moines standards but inattentive. It is the weakest link in the restaurant’s petition for big city star status.
Lucca
420 E. Locust, 243-1115 (dinner reservations essential on weekends)
Tues. – Sat.: 11-2, 5-10
