November 3, 2011
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Des Moines – “Smoke Town USA”
Flying Mango platter
Through most of the 20th century, barbecue was a specialty of the American South, distinguished regionally by the local woods: hickory in the Carolinas and the mountain states, burr oak in east Texas, mesquite in west Texas, and fruit woods in Georgia and Missouri. Things changed utterly with the new millennium. Southern barbecue lost its authenticity after Yankee environmentalists moved south and enacted wood burning bans on once proud barbecue towns like Raleigh and Atlanta. In 1998, I asked the Chamber of Commerce President in Lockhart, Texas why almost all the best barbecues in his state were found in small towns.
“Very simple son. Big cities have too many encumbrances to good barbecue,” he replied.
“Could you define what you mean by encumbrances?” I asked.
“They come in two main forms – health codes and safety codes. Even here in our town some fresh-out-of-college bureaucrat proposed installing sprinklers over the pits. He didn‘t last long,” he laughed.
Kin Folks
Wood burning bans inspired a technological revolution that led to the invention of modern smokers that simulate pure wood with gas and wood chips. It turned out that those were just as easy to sell in the north as the south. The shift away from pure wood burning barbecue also inspired a boom for Q nostalgia.
That manifested itself most notably in the burgeoning popularity of competitive barbecue, which adheres to the old, pure ways. Through most of the last decade, the barbecue cook off at World Pork Expo in Des Moines was one of the most popular events on the competitive cycle. That brought the best southern smokers to Central Iowa where they competed with local guys who quickly learned that they could smoke with the very best. Last year, Shad Kirton of Des Moines won the largest prize in barbecue history, on The Learning Channel’s BBQ Pitmaster. This year, Darren Warth of Des Moines was the first man in America to qualify for Sam’s Club’s National BBQ Finals, a $400,000 national competition.
Jethro’s brisket
Iowa towns soon learned that these competitions were tourist attractions. Mason City Globe Gazette publisher and “Up In Smoke” festival director Howard Query explained how his town initiated their barbecue event.
“We wanted a premiere event to draw people here. I could see that competitive barbecue was an up and coming sport,” he said.
Kin Folk’s brined butt
To understand barbecue as a “sport,” compare it to professional golf. Both have four major events: the Jack Daniels Invitational (The Masters); the Sam’s Club National Tour finals, formerly The American Royal (US Open ); Memphis in May (British Open); and the Houston Livestock & Rodeo BBQ (the PGA). Numerous others across the country allow competitors to qualify and prepare for the big four. Most Iowa events are geared for Sam’s Club and use its “Kansas City rules.” This year, eighteen barbecue competitions are listed on the Iowa BBQ Society web site. All will be drawing long distance competitors, tourists and manufacturers of barbecuing hardware, firewood, charcoal, meat and meat treatments.
By the middle of the last decade, Q had also become a restaurant craze in Central Iowa. Five new barbecues opened in 2005 – just in Ankeny. As local smokers learned they could compete with anyone, local smokehouses added to Iowa’s renown. Des Moines’ Q renaissance began when Mike Wedeking lost a job.
“That was fifteen years ago. I had been smoking meat since I was a student at Hoover High School in the 1970’s and a lot of people thought I was really good at it. They encouraged me to give it a try professionally. I bought some equipment and pitched a job to AG Expo, which was in Ankeny that year. That was my first gig – to cook 3 meals a day for three days for 6000 people,” he explained,
Jethro’s platter
In February 2003, Wedeking opened the Flying Mango café. It quickly became a life style statement to its fans, including a number of famous musicians (Lipbone Redding, Jonah Smith, Carrie Rodriguez, etc.) who play there out of love for the place though their reputations command much larger venues.
“ I have a standing joke with Carrie. I tell her she’s too big for The Mango and she says ‘I’ll never be too big for The Mango,” Wedeking explained.
Flying Mango is still a pure barbecue. All smoking is done solely with fruit woods, mostly young woods.
“We do Q for Q sake. I like young unseasoned fruit woods – pear, apple and cherry – because I like it to smolder. That creates more smoke and more smoke means more moisture in the meat,” Wedeking explained.
Flying Mango is also known for smoking exotics like catfish cakes, goose, duck, bison, lamb chops and elk. It’s more than smokehouse too, with four fish on the menu and a chef, Nick Illingworth, who moved from Bistro Montage, a French café of renown. Even the pies at The Mango are old school, with lard crusts and fresh fruit fillings.
Brined loin from Smokey D’s
Other local barbecues found their own niches. Jethro’s and Jethro & Jake’s are run by Dom Iannarelli, one of Des Moines’ top haute cuisine chefs at Splash. His smokehouse treats are accompanied with many side dishes one might also find at that far more expensive place. Mac & cheese is made with shell pasta and aged white cheddar. Onion rings are buttermilk washed. Chicken wings are smoked AND fried. Gumbo uses a sassafras chicken stock with smoked chicken and sausage. Cole slaw comes in hot German and cold Midwestern versions. Even nachos have a unique option with waffle fries substituting for chips and a choice of smoked meats for toppings. Chips come hot from the fryer.
Uncle Wendell’s evolved from a bakery and features home baked goodies as well as pure wood smokehouse basics. Owner chef Wendell Garretson is a refugee from Cajun cuisine and resourcefully uses his smoked bones to make amazing stocks for soups, jambalayas and gumbos. His jambalaya often also employs authentic Cajun meats, like smoked cheeks. His brisket is always fresh sliced, never refrigerated for reheating.
Woody’s Smoke Shack always features free home made corn bread and jambalaya. Daily specials are more unique: creamed smoked chicken on biscuits on Mondays; smoked pork chops on a stick on Tuesdays; and smoked salmon on Fridays. The Thursday-only collard greens are top notch.
Smokey D’s, owned by Warth and Kirton, also ventures beyond smokehouse culture with a full time pastry chef, old fashioned diner fare like pork tenderloins and hot beef sandwiches, plus tea house fare like chicken salad with grapes.
Claxon’s serves burnt ends in half pound wedges, with ciabatta, plus deep fried pickles and fried hominy. Smoked prime rib and rarely smoked lean meats like pork loin and turkey breast share the menu with standards. Their fresh banana pies feature soda cracker crusts. Patton’s dresses its all hickory Q up in a chic café ambiance. What other barbecue might serve an amuse bouche “soul roll” of southern foods wrapped like a dumpling and fried? Cornbread dressing, cobblers, beans & rice, sweet potato fries, and strawberry cake have as many fans as their smokehouse meats. Cactus Bob’s includes home made kettle chips among its side dishes and built its reputation with prickly pickles and smoked jerky. Whole smoked turkeys, bone-in hams, and whole smoked prime ribs added to it.
When Pigs Fly is the place to go for sweet potato pie made with pecans, and peach cobbler made without crust. Their chocolate banana bread pudding and sugar rolls have followings. Findlay’s Smokehouse & Barbecue offers fresh barbecue meats in a butcher shop, plus deli sandwiches and pork tenderloins. Uncle Mike’s BBQ & Soul Cuisine mixes its Q with southern favorites like catfish, fried chicken wings, hot links in natural casings, collards, and Hoppin’ John – a mixture of corn, rice and beans. Boss Hawg’s is new to town but already has created a considerable bike and vintage car drive-in scene.
Smoked meat loaf at The Q
Local Q has also been gathering prestige from afar. Before the death of owner Ike Seymour, Big Daddy’s made it onto both Peter Jennings’ World News Tonight and The Early Show with Bryant Gumbel. Woody’s Smoke Shack was named a top national barbecue by Good Morning America. Jethro’s and Cactus Bob’s were both featured on national TV shows about extreme eating.
Other local barbecue products added to our renown. Speed Herrig, founder of Cookie’s Barbecue Sauce of Wall Lake, was one of the original six inductees into the National Barbecue Hall of Fame. Seven Oaks, a Lineville, Iowa company owned by “retired” sisters Marta and Margaret West, has been rated the best lump charcoal in America, by respected BBQ website nakedwhiz.com. Russ & Franks BBQ Sauce of West Des Moines is also catching on in stores and restaurants. Both Smokey D’s and Uncle Wendell’s feature it.
Today, Des Moines is as big a barbecue town as any place. While Southern barbecue was diminished by regulations and technology, Central Iowa smokehouses have gained national repute, and maintained purist orthodoxy to a large degree. Jethro & Jake’s and Smokey D’s both have easy access and high visibility on major interstate highways. Their parking lots fill up daily with long distance drivers, many of whom learned of them from national TV. Our other joints have their own personal followings.
Today in Des Moines, where there’s smoke, there’s a choir, singing its praises.
