November 12, 2010
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La Mie at Night
Man can’t live by bread alone but it’s a damned good start toward building more elaborate food enterprises. In the last decade, George Formaro, along with Steve and Joe Logsdon parlayed two superior bakeries into seven of the best restaurants in the state. Of the three men, Joe Logsdon has been the most focused, keeping all his eggs, and flour, under just one roof – La Mie, a French bakery-café of deserved renown and minimal flair. Its authenticity is based in techniques that are employed invisibly. It is a genuine scratch bakery. Logsdon would rather eat Velveeta than use a pre-mixed flour. Since he apprenticed with an international cheese importer, he’s not about to do either. His bakers break their own butter and fold it by hand, carrying their dough from sheeting to usage. That’s a two to three hour process that very few American bakeries bother with anymore. La Mie bakers also roll baguettes by hand and practice true lamination – two lost arts.
Their results rank among the great food discoveries in Iowa. Six to eight fresh artisan breads are baked each day as are some 30 fresh pastries, the textures of which can produce tears of gratitude. Sticky rolls, scones, brioches, croissants, pecan rolls, caramelized apple Danish, rhubarb cream puff pastries, tarts of seasonal fruits, almond cakes drenched in marzipan and authentic macarons are all de rigeur at La Mie. So are exquisite sandwiches, soups and salads, all served with the divine breads, real butter and high end jams. In a previous review I wrote that “it would be impudent to want anything more.” I take that back, gratefully.
Logsdon has now expanded La Mie into evening hours and dinner service. He did that once before but this time his focus is different and unique to Des Moines. He detected two voids in local dining: inexpensive family fine dinning, and affordable pairings for white wine drinkers. Two fill those holes, all La Mie dinner items cost between $7 – $18. Twenty one wines are priced between $18 – 34, with nine available in carafes measuring one third of a bottle and costing just one third the price of a full bottle. On each of my visits, six of the eight entrees were seafood dishes while other offerings included omelettes, quiches, pasta & rice, salad and antipasta platters of seafood.
The kitchen is in the hands of Logsdon protégés Stephen Hallam and Ashton Cross. They demonstrated deft hands during the hectic first weeks of the new service. Of three fish I tried, two were served perfectly moist and flaky and the third was overcooked but only as much as it is usually is in town.
Bread service, complimentary, is more like a free course than an amuse bouche. One night it came with a “fisherman’s spread” that blended oil, whitefish and potatoes with a a slice of deviled egg topped with relish, and plated with cornichons and raw cucumber slices.
Another night the spread with a soft cheese inside a roasted pepper with a cucumber-pineapple salsa and olive oil, plated with poached spinach.
Saffron risotto presented Arborio rice cooked in butter and home made chicken stock with an unmistakable flavor of crocus pestles, the world‘s most expensive spice. Asparagus were added late and shiitake mushrooms were added early enough to absorb the marvelous flavors of the dish. A pizza brought a thick pie topped with hummus, avocado, sprouts, fresh basil, and tomato.
An antipasti platter of wild salmon included poached spinach, pickled cucumber chunks, sun dried tomatoes and jicama sticks all laid on a bed of fresh basil.
A salad included fresh mexclun, craisins, soft cheese, almonds, apples and avocado. French onion soup of home made beef stock was topped with melted cheese and croutons. Quiches were served in perfect pastries, with bruleed eggs and layers (rather than immersions) of fromage blanc, asparagus & tomato, sausage & pepper, or bacon and onion treatments. Omeletes are offered with spinach and mushrooms, prosciutto & asparagus or smoked salmon.
My favorite dish was a perfectly poached sea bass, on creamy polenta with kale, leeks and broiled acorn squash. A tombo (albacore) wasn’t quite the fish the bass was, but it didn’t cost as much either.
Grilled ribeye, aged 21 days, was served with a de facto de Burgo of butter and oil with two sides.
Opera cake, raspberry tarts, macarons and several chocolate offerings comprised the lightest, least expensive dessert menu in town. La Mie’s Kids Menu also cuts new ground. For $4-5, kids could choose a soup, salad, jello or vegetable plate as well as amongst an egg dish, pasta, turkey antipasti, or a grilled ham & cheese.
La Mie Bakery & Café
841 42nd St., 255-1625
Mon. – Sat. 7 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Wed. – Fri. 4 p.m. – 9 p.m.
