The three great cuisines of classical history – Chinese, Roman and Ottoman – all developed as spoils of empire. From Zheng He and Marco Polo to Ibn Battuta and Columbus, history’s greatest adventurers trekked around the world seeking new foods as much as anything else. From Bistro 43 and Sage to Baru66 and Splash, many of the best new restaurants in Des Moines the last 20 years were creations of travelers who decided to hang their hats here. Our choices for both restaurant of year and chef of the year in 2012 keep that trend going.
Proof was created four years ago by Carly Groben, a Newton native who had spent a couple years traveling the southern rim of the Mediterranean. She built a considerable reputation at the café, including a nod from the James Beard Foundation as one of the top 20 American chefs under 30. Last year she sold the restaurant to Sean Wilson and Zach Mannheimer, natives of the Outer Banks of Carolina and New York City respectively.
Chef Wilson’s mother is half Filipino and half Italian, so he says he grew up in an experimental kitchen where lumpia (Filipino egg rolls) were as much a part of Thanksgiving as turkey and dressing. His travels included stints under famous chefs Todd English in Boston and Jonathan Sundstrum in Seattle. Mannheimer served as maitre d’ and sommelier at Embassy Club before organizing the Des Moines Social Club. They hired Hal Jasa, well known here as the Underground Chef and owner of Zingaro.
Together they brought a good chemistry to this 64 seat café. Wilson and Jasa founded Boucherie, a two year old, weekend long celebration of whole animal cookery. Mannheimer worked for Jasa at Zingaro and Jasa for Mannheimer at DMSC. They restrained themselves from making big changes to Groben’s popular menu that was heavily influenced by her travels in North Africa. Their typical lunch menu looks much as it did before, with three salads, five sandwiches (served ironically on unproofed breads), and five grain dishes. Subtle changes they made yielded spectacular results. They altered the method of preparation – all dishes are now made “à la minute” (prepared to order, rather than being prepped in advance and reheated when ordered). That makes a huge difference on foods like chicken breast that can so easily be overcooked. Flatbread recipes changed too, to resist breaking apart in one’s hands.
They also expanded their pantry with new charcuterie like merguez sausage and khlea (beef preserved with North African spices like vadouvan). They increased dinner service by an extra three nights a week and built a bar featuring now legal house created bitters and infused beverages. Mannheimer’s wine list features lesser know grape varietals he considers bargains for adventurers. Dinners are explorations. A once a month ten course “table d’hote” serves two guests for $80. I have paid several times that much for lesser meals in larger cities.
On a typical afternoon last week I found Wilson and Jasa sitting at their bar with books and notebooks, hashing out a new menu. They admitted to several influences. Both admire the self taught Moroccan chef Mourad Lahlah whose Aziza café in San Francisco has won Michelin stars four years in row. Mourad is known for “New Moroccan” cuisine. Wilson said that’s code for a system in which classic family and tribal cuisines are reassembled and presented in a more modern, Western style. They also admitted that The Flavor Bible is another influence. That book shows how many great chefs choose to enhance classic recipes by importing new spices and herbs.
By the time I left, Wilson and Jasa had made copious notes and decided to experiment with several new ideas. I’m sure I am not the only one who can’t wait.
Prix Fixe Supersized
“Table d’hôte” menus began in 17th century inns. One could rent a room with, or without, a set meal that was shared by other guests. After modern restaurants developed (as a consequence of the French Revolution leaving so many cooks unemployed), the term was applied to multi course dinners, with limited choices, at fixed prices, or “prix fixe.” Since then, these have been common in European restaurants at all price levels but not so much in the US where “à la carte” ordering has ruled. In Des Moines fixed price dinners were pretty much restricted to Thanksgiving, Easter and Valentines Day through the 20th century.
That’s been changing in the new millennium. Steve Logsdon pioneered prix fixe dinners on Friday nights at Basil Prosperi. They became so popular that by the time he opened Lucca they were featured daily. Enosh Kelley began offering a three course “early bird” prix fixe at Bistro Montage and that evolved into a four course prix fixe at all hours. Restaurant Week encouraged several restaurants to try the concept out for ten days each August and a couple extended the practice year round. Alba now offers a five course “chef’s tasting menu” Tuesdays through Thursdays. Sam & Gabe’s four course fixed price dinner is available on the same nights. 801 Steak & Chop House has a Sunday-only, three course prix fixe.
In the last decade, underground and “pop-up” restaurants super sized the prix fixe. Hal Jasa offered as many as 30 courses in one of his. When Baru66 opened in 2010, David Baruthio offered three daily prix fixe offerings including a six course degustation that cost just $66. That was the extent of fixed price indulgence until Jasa teamed with new Proof owners Sean Wilson and David Mannheimer. This fall they instigated a new level of decadence. Along with three and five course menus offered daily, they began a “submission menu” that continues bringing new courses until a diner asks them to stop. Proof also serves a second Saturday, ten course dinner that harkens the early definitions of “table d’hote” – all courses are served on single plates shared by two guests for $80 a couple.
This month, that dinner began with a salad of three roasted heirloom beets, a fabulous beet mousse, clover leaf micro greens, harissa oil, and goat cheese all served on a bed of mortared pistachios and topped with a fresh nasturtium.
The second course delivered a deeply flavored, chilled tomato soup with an almond mousse and crisply fried parsnip chips.
A shrimp course swam in a turmeric broth with leek oil and matchstick potatoes.
Then a “za’tar” delivered a stack of roasted, skin-on eggplant slices bathing in buttermilk yogurt, accentuated with pomegranate berries that burst in the mouth.
After an intermezzo of remarkable rosemary sorbet, with orange zest, the main courses began with a rustic pork ragu served in a skillet on a cutting board swathed in goat cheese with buttered toast.
A porchetta of pork belly, topped by a butter-fried egg, was plated on an Italian sausage bread pudding with polenta.
Next a petite tenderloin of beef was served rare and encrusted with coffee and coriander on top of pureed butternut squash, with licorice paint and leeks.
A cheese course brought a smoky goat cheese from Boonville, California with homemade sweet vermouth in a tequila shot glass.
Dinner was completed with two cardamom brownies and a marvelously textured chocolate semifreddo with crème Anglais.
I might have submitted earlier had anyone asked. Fortunately they didn’t.
Proof
1301 Locust. St., 244-0655
“Second Saturday Suppers” served each month in early (5:30 – 7:30 p.m.) and late (After 8 p.m.) seatings.
Mon. – Fri.. 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Wed. – Sat. from 5 p.m.
The three great cuisines of classical history – Chinese, Roman and Ottoman – all developed as spoils of empire. From Zheng He and Marco Polo to Ibn Battuta and Columbus, history’s greatest adventurers trekked around the world seeking new foods as much as anything else. From Bistro 43 and Sage to Baru66 and Splash, many of the best new restaurants in Des Moines the last 20 years were creations of travelers who decided to hang their hats here. Our choices for both restaurant of year and chef of the year in 2012 keep that trend going.Proof was created four years ago by Carly Groben, a Newton native who had spent a couple years traveling the southern rim of the Mediterranean. She built a considerable reputation at the café, including a nod from the James Beard Foundation as one of the top 20 American chefs under 30. Last year she sold the restaurant to Sean Wilson and Zach Mannheimer, natives of the Outer Banks of Carolina and New York City respectively.Chef Wilson’s mother is half Filipino and half Italian, so he says he grew up in an experimental kitchen where lumpia (Filipino egg rolls) were as much a part of Thanksgiving as turkey and dressing. His travels included stints under famous chefs Todd English in Boston and Jonathan Sundstrum in Seattle. Mannheimer served as maitre d’ and sommelier at Embassy Club before organizing the Des Moines Social Club. They hired Hal Jasa, well known here as the Underground Chef and owner of Zingaro.Together they brought a good chemistry to this 64 seat café. Wilson and Jasa founded Boucherie, a two year old, weekend long celebration of whole animal cookery. Mannheimer worked for Jasa at Zingaro and Jasa for Mannheimer at DMSC. They restrained themselves from making big changes to Groben’s popular menu that was heavily influenced by her travels in North Africa. Their typical lunch menu looks much as it did before, with three salads, five sandwiches (served ironically on unproofed breads), and five grain dishes. Subtle changes they made yielded spectacular results. They altered the method of preparation – all dishes are now made “à la minute” (prepared to order, rather than being prepped in advance and reheated when ordered). That makes a huge difference on foods like chicken breast that can so easily be overcooked. Flatbread recipes changed too, to resist breaking apart in one’s hands.They also expanded their pantry with new charcuterie like merguez sausage and khlea (beef preserved with North African spices like vadouvan). They increased dinner service by an extra three nights a week and built a bar featuring now legal house created bitters and infused beverages. Mannheimer’s wine list features lesser know grape varietals he considers bargains for adventurers. Dinners are explorations. A once a month ten course “table d’hote” serves two guests for $80. I have paid several times that much for lesser meals in larger cities.On a typical afternoon last week I found Wilson and Jasa sitting at their bar with books and notebooks, hashing out a new menu. They admitted to several influences. Both admire the self taught Moroccan chef Mourad Lahlah whose Aziza café in San Francisco has won Michelin stars four years in row. Mourad is known for “New Moroccan” cuisine. Wilson said that’s code for a system in which classic family and tribal cuisines are reassembled and presented in a more modern, Western style. They also admitted that The Flavor Bible is another influence. That book shows how many great chefs choose to enhance classic recipes by importing new spices and herbs.By the time I left, Wilson and Jasa had made copious notes and decided to experiment with several new ideas. I’m sure I am not the only one who can’t wait.Prix Fixe Supersized“Table d’hôte” menus began in 17th century inns. One could rent a room with, or without, a set meal that was shared by other guests. After modern restaurants developed (as a consequence of the French Revolution leaving so many cooks unemployed), the term was applied to multi course dinners, with limited choices, at fixed prices, or “prix fixe.” Since then, these have been common in European restaurants at all price levels but not so much in the US where “à la carte” ordering has ruled. In Des Moines fixed price dinners were pretty much restricted to Thanksgiving, Easter and Valentines Day through the 20th century.That’s been changing in the new millennium. Steve Logsdon pioneered prix fixe dinners on Friday nights at Basil Prosperi. They became so popular that by the time he opened Lucca they were featured daily. Enosh Kelley began offering a three course “early bird” prix fixe at Bistro Montage and that evolved into a four course prix fixe at all hours. Restaurant Week encouraged several restaurants to try the concept out for ten days each August and a couple extended the practice year round. Alba now offers a five course “chef’s tasting menu” Tuesdays through Thursdays. Sam & Gabe’s four course fixed price dinner is available on the same nights. 801 Steak & Chop House has a Sunday-only, three course prix fixe.In the last decade, underground and “pop-up” restaurants super sized the prix fixe. Hal Jasa offered as many as 30 courses in one of his. When Baru66 opened in 2010, David Baruthio offered three daily prix fixe offerings including a six course degustation that cost just $66. That was the extent of fixed price indulgence until Jasa teamed with new Proof owners Sean Wilson and David Mannheimer. This fall they instigated a new level of decadence. Along with three and five course menus offered daily, they began a “submission menu” that continues bringing new courses until a diner asks them to stop. Proof also serves a second Saturday, ten course dinner that harkens the early definitions of “table d’hote” – all courses are served on single plates shared by two guests for $80 a couple.
The second course delivered a deeply flavored, chilled tomato soup with an almond mousse and crisply fried parsnip chips.
A shrimp course swam in a turmeric broth with leek oil and matchstick potatoes.
Then a “za’tar” delivered a stack of roasted, skin-on eggplant slices bathing in buttermilk yogurt, accentuated with pomegranate berries that burst in the mouth.
After an intermezzo of remarkable rosemary sorbet, with orange zest, the main courses began with a rustic pork ragu served in a skillet on a cutting board swathed in goat cheese with buttered toast.
A porchetta of pork belly, topped by a butter-fried egg, was plated on an Italian sausage bread pudding with polenta.
Next a petite tenderloin of beef was served rare and encrusted with coffee and coriander on top of pureed butternut squash, with licorice paint and leeks.
A cheese course brought a smoky goat cheese from Boonville, California with homemade sweet vermouth in a tequila shot glass.
Dinner was completed with two cardamom brownies and a marvelously textured chocolate semifreddo with crème Anglais.
I might have submitted earlier had anyone asked. Fortunately they didn’t.Proof1301 Locust. St., 244-0655“Second Saturday Suppers” served each month in early (5:30 – 7:30 p.m.) and late (After 8 p.m.) seatings.Mon. – Fri.. 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Wed. – Sat. from 5 p.m.
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