August 3, 2010
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Last Night at Russ & Abbie’s
Russ & Abbie’s 1953-2010
Russ & Abbie, Thanks for the Memories
The late bon vivant bartender Richard Herring (Rusty Scupper) liked to explain why political polarization was over rated: “Too much booze and everyone’s a radical out to change the world but when it comes to people’s favorite childhood restaurants, everyone’s a conservative incapable of even imagining any change.” Herring usually added that real life never co operates with either vision. It did though last week when the children of seven decades returned one last time to hallowed ground across the street from Hawthorne Park.
North High School buddies Russ Reel and Abbie Polito opened La Pizza House in 1952 and introduced generations of Iowans to the miracle of pizza. Much of south and east Des Moines reeled when the news of its imminent closing passed through town like water through a busted dam. I went back for the first time in maybe 20 years yet the place looked like it had never changed. Actually the all booth restaurant, with sliding window partitions, expanded three times, all before 1959. Its trophy case enlarged too but the flavors, where memories rule, remained constant as the original logo.
Pizza was still oval shaped, tavern style, and burnt on the edges. Its thick tomato paste still overwhelmed its cheese while mild sausage was still spread over every centimeter.
Home made Italian salad dressing tasted like the 1950‘s. Onion rings were still the thickest in town, freshly breaded and golden fried.
Grinders were still huge. Wall eyed pike still had a place on the menu though I never knew of anyone who ever ordered it.
Converted to food conservatism, I checked out two tradition defying developments. Trostel’s Dish, the original area tapas wine bar, initiated both an entrée menu and a lunch service. The former included fish of the day, a pork chop on black eyed peas, potato gnocchi, a steak, and an airline chicken breast. The tapas menu had barely been downsized and still included hand cut pommes frites, truffled mac & cheese, arancini (risotto balls), and Jed Hoffman’s signature fried avocado. The Boursin mushroom recipe goes back to Paul Trostel’s early days at Colorado Feed & Grain, an Ingersoll hot spot when La Pizza House was a teenager. New tapas included duck legs, braised in sake and orange juice, with coconut cream red pepper sauce. Sesame crusted ahi was served “very rare” as ordered, with a complementary black bean vinaigrette. A burger came with perfect sear but the giardinieri on an Italian roast beef sandwich lacked a promised spiciness.
Gateway Market Café has created some radical versions of traditional sandwiches. (Over 25% of its orders are vegetarian.) A vegan bánh mỳ was dressed with fabulous egg less mayo, anchovy-free fish sauce, plus julienne carrots and cilantro, with tofu in place of roast pork on a wheat flour baguette. The Iowa State Fair inspired four new vegetarian sandwiches that emulated meat with soy products. A marvelous grinder did it most successfully, with tempeh sausage in a rich marinara sauce on a hoagie bun with melted mozzarella. A gyros looked its part with yogurt sauce, onion, tomato and Feta on flatbread but slices of seitan had a distinctly mushier texture than lamb. Similarly a tenderloin passed the visual test better than the surrogate flavor test with an egg bun, pickles, onion and tomato. A Philly cheese steak fooled me completely, possibly because onions and cheese dominated the flavor of faux beef.
Bottom line – the more things change, the more we need our memories.
