June 2, 2011
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Change and Immutability
New Asian Places Aren’t Completely New
Taste of Thai’s squid salad is one the best dishes I tasted all year.
Des Moines’ Asian restaurant history has three distinct phases. Before the repeal of Prohibition, notoriety dominated. Frequent police raids of George Wee’s many restaurants usually included arrests of “alleged actresses” and “patrons from fine families on self-described slumming adventures.” Stability then reigned through Governor Robert Ray’s refugee resettlement initiative in 1975. Several restaurants began decades of consistent neighborhood service then. The current chaotic era recalls the contradictory nature of the Chinese word “I,” which means “change” as well as “immutability.” Pho All Seasons has closed three times and reopened twice. Four Vietnamese cafés moved from the city to the suburbs and two others in the opposite direction. At least three more changed names while barely altering anything else.
Our three newest SE Asian restaurants have changed without changing very much. On the Asian strip of Second Avenue, Pho 888 has replaced Pho Ha Dao although the latter’s owner is the new place’s chef. Gone are karaoke equipment, a stage, ceiling high speakers, a dance floor, and disco lights. They were replaced by comfortable numbered booths and tables that give the place the look of an urban Asian family restaurant. A complimentary soup bar and $4 lunches are also gone yet the place remains a good bargain.
On recent visits, Pho 888 buzzed with mostly Asian diners. Crispy chicken wings were still large, golden and crunchy in panko breading.
Spring rolls still included a variety of greens plus rice noodles, split shrimp and cold sliced pork loin, served with chili oil, chili sauce, hoisin sauce, and peanut dipping sauce on the side. Fried pork rolls were still served golden and crunchy with mustard, fish and sweet sauces. Banh mi were still the best subs in town under $3.
Bun (wheat noodles) dishes came with perfectly grilled meats and raw vegetables and herbs, plus a bowl of lemon sauce on the side.
Pho is still the primary reason for visiting. Beef stock was rich and glistened with marrow bubbles, assuring it was made from shin and knuckle bones that were simmered for hours.
It was seasoned with caramelized ginger plus star anise, then ladled over rice noodles and a choice of several meats, tofu, or seafood. Perfectly “rare” slices of beef round were served on the side as requested. Tendon, tripe and meatballs were also offered. One garnish plate included basil, mint, lime and bean sprouts. Another brought thinly sliced, fresh Thai chilies that flirted with the upper levels of the Scoville charts.
Taking over the superb Thai-Nigerian Jasmine Bowl, Mao’s Eggrolls is a Vietnamese pioneer on the south side. Jasmine’s bakery service and display counters have been replaced with tables and chairs. Weekend brunches, art work, and a few Thai and Nigerian specials remain. I found the place busy with mostly white diners taking advantage of free corkage.
Egg rolls and spring rolls were similar to those at 888 but were served with fewer sauces and condiments.
Chicken dumplings (pot stickers) were sloppily sealed, leaving chewy edges.
Pho lacked the deep beef stock, anise and ginger flavors. Choices of meats were more limited too.
A Thai yellow curry dish delivered a thick sauce devoid of any heat, nor much coconut flavor.
A sampling of Chinese dishes included golden fried meats and heavy sauces.
My best dish was Pak She, a carryover from Jasmine Bowl, perfectly charred beef topped a bed of cabbage and rice in a wonderful dressing of cilantro pesto.
Taste of Thai
Spain and Thailand, two countries of nearly identical size, produced the most influential cuisines of the last 20 years. Thai food however became considerably more popular in North America, and particularly in Iowa, than Spanish. Governor Robert Ray deserves the credit for that, his 1975 initiative brought large immigrations here from SE Asia. Those immigrants brought woks, seeds, clay pots, fish sauces and a kitchen ken. I am frequently asked these days which is the best Thai, or Vietnamese restaurant in town. Not too long ago such a question would have seemed as preposterous as the idea of receiving telephone signals through the air.
Taste of Thai is the latest restaurant to toss its silk embroidered hat into the ring of such arguments. It inhabits a building in East Village that once housed Taste of Thailand, Des Moines’ first Thai restaurant and its first pop-up restaurant. Banh Thai came and went between the two. The new place ranks with Cool Basil as the most elegant of local Thai cafés. Linen cloths and silk embroidered sashes cover each table which are also set with fresh carnations and live bamboo. More silk embroidery covers walls while numerous lucky wooden elephants, including one propitious freak, lurk in nooks and crannies. Carpeting has been added and walls painted lucky colors. Chairs and booths have been reupholstered smartly. Music was unobtrusive on my visits. Gone were less subtle things (political polls, beer clubs and life threatening chili eating challenges) which characterized the original Thai café.
The menu sticks to Thai and Lao dishes including things the Chinese brought to Thailand such as wok cooking, deep-frying, stir-frying, and noodles. The menu does not include Chinese-American dishes like sweet & sour and General Tsao that appear on several SE Asian menus around town. Thai cuisine is traditionally characterized by the balancing five fundamental taste sensations: hot (spicy), sour, sweet, salty, and bitter. It is also known for its enthusiastic use of fresh rather than dried herbs and roots.
In both ways, the salads and soups at Taste of Thai excelled. Papaya salad mixed garlic, chilies, shrimp paste, tamarind, lime and nam pla, the great fish sauce of Thailand from which Worcestershire and ketchup derived. Cucumber salad mixed freshly chopped peanuts with fresh coriander, peppers and sweet dressing with the soothing cool of cukes.
Calamari salad rose to divine levels with beautifully carved and tenderized pieces of squid in a dressing of freshly squeezed limes and fish sauce seasoned with fresh lemongrass, coriander, galangal, ginger and more traditional western salad vegetables. All five flavors were in harmony. Similarly a coconut soup delivered an interesting mix of sweet coconut with citrus and coriander while a tom yum gai soup epitomized the complex balancing act of Thai cuisine with a deeply flavored stock and mushrooms absorbing flavors of lemon grass, chicken, kaffir lime leaves, chilies, large chunks of galangal and coriander – a heavenly dish priced under $4.
Entrees did not balance flavors as well as the salads and soups.
A “three flavors” catfish brought only three levels of sweetness.
A red curry dish also was too sweet and not much else. I found a single small slice of eggplant, which was one of the primary ingredients on the menu, and way too much broccoli.
Put thai, the national dish of Thailand, was better with additional freshly chopped peanuts, intricate garnishes and complexly flavored rice noodles. Heat levels at the café were about a point and a half milder than at other Thai restaurants.
Desserts were delightful though redundnat after so many sweet entrees. Service was superior, with as much attention paid to packaging leftovers as to garnishing plates and keeping glasses full with icy lemon scented water.
Bottom line: Different demographics dictate different styles: Pho 888 delivers deep Vietnamese flavors; Mao’s Eggrolls presents a gentle introductory experience to Asian cuisines; Taste of Thai is more elegant as its East Village address demands.Mao’s Eggrolls
2128 Indianola Ave., 284-0077
Tues. – Fri. 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. ; Sat. – Sun. 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. for brunch and Sat. 2 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Pho 888, 1521 Second Ave., 288-1595
Tues. – Sun. 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. Taste of Thai
215 E. Walnut St., 528-2407
Mon. – Sat. 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Side Dishes
Jimmie’s American Café’s remodeling stalled after new owner Tommy Mauro ran into problems… Long time Iowa Restaurant Association CEO Doni DeNucci announced a June retirement… Darrin Warth of Des Moines won the Las Vegas regional final and became the first person to qualify for Sam’s Club national championship final in October, the largest competitive barbecue competition ever… Aaron King, original chef at Dish, is now chef at Dos Rios.
