Twenty five years ago this publication began subjecting readers to the reflections of an alcoholic who had recently quit drinking. I thought that gave me an alternative point of view and editors agreed. At that time, this paper was named Skywalker showing pride in the ambitious system that was dramatically transforming downtown life.

Winston’s was on its way to elevating the restaurant bar in town. Mike LaValle (Embassy Club) was running the place then and George Formaro (a James Beard Awards top 20 restaurateurs in America) was a baker and chef. Locust Mall Food Court was packed with vendors tempting downtown workers to ditch their brown bags and go out for a hot meal. The best of those restaurants was called Eat at Joe’s – the first café for Joe Carey who would later own some of the finest places in Colorado resort country. Steve (Lucca) and Joe (La Mie) Logsdon also started retailing in that food court. In Capitol Square, Stella’s Blue Sky Diner had become an instant tourist attraction as the teens of March Madness skywalked a wistful downtown experience that included prom dresses and malts poured on their heads.

On a recent rainy week, I revisited the skywalk to take stock of a quarter century of temperature controlled changes. From the outside, Winston’s looked the same, even though it’s been closed nearly three years now. Nearby I passed the first of many buskers I would see in the skywalk, one who offered cupcakes as well as songs. Junko Japanese Café, which closed a year ago to remodel, then reopened with higher prices, looked closed again. It could be the first casualty of Walnut Street’s predicted revival – state of the art Wasabi Tao is only one block and one flight of stairs away.

Stella’s old space now houses Amigo’s, the second Mexican café to follow it. I found a sensibly condensed version of the menu format that works well at places like El Rodeo and Monterey. Lunches of entrée, beans and rice sold quickly for $5 – $10. Pablo’s, a long term skywalk veteran, was still turning out more interesting Mexican food across from a empty venue that had seen a number of good restaurants (from Coney Island to Indian Grill) come and go. Several bays were vacant in the Kaleidoscope Food Court (KFC). I found an excellent yellow curry chicken at JJ Jasmine there, rich in curry paste and coconut milk. Huge crowds nearby at Palmer’s and Bruegger’s might explain the vacancies in the KFC.

Back where it began, in the Locust Mall, Flarah’s looked closed. Long time veterans Golden Chicken, Gazali’s, Taste Spuds, and Panda still starred at the Locust Mall’s food court.

The newcomer there is Las Americas where I enjoyed a $5 lunch that included excellent fresh salsa, chips, beans, rice and chile rellenos stuffed with the ubiquitous “Mexican cheese whiz” that oozes saltiness.

Because he was a prime driver for building the skywalk system, I asked former mayor Dick Olson what were the best and worst things about it. “Biggest mistake was not building downtown housing sooner. Best thing was that we kept Bankers Life (now Principal Financial Group) in Des Moines. They had other plans at the time,” he admitted.

Coincidentally, I found my best skywalk lunch experience in The Principal’s headquarters. It came with a food pedigree. Basil Prosperi‘s is owned by Andy Logsdon, a nephew of Steve and Joe Logsdon. An efficient service line delivered my orders to a table set with fresh flowers. Family specialties included fresh baked La Mie breads, home made salad dressings with good greens, and pasta sauces that featured good cheeses and deep marinara. Fresh stock soups (roasted red pepper, jalapeno cream, etc.) were as good as any in town. Buttery cookies were irresistible.

Side Dishes

Flarah’s announced it was closing both its stores… Fleming’s $37 Mothers Day brunch includes a $25 gift card for moms.

Basil Prosperi’s, 801 Grand Ave., 244-2070

Mon. – Fri. 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

 

 

Two new Balkan cafés sprouted last winter on a stretch of Merle Hay Road that already hosted Estrada and Tropik. Both new cafés specialize in burek, an historic category of baked foods. Last year, Lonely Planet, the world’s most popular travel publisher, praised the dish in its guide to “The World’s Best Street Food.” For the western world, that represented a coming out party for a thousand year old dish created for sultans.

Tour guides in Turkey eagerly inform culinary visitors that the world’s only truly “classical” cuisines are Chinese and Turkish. The glory that was classical Roman cuisine hid from the Dark Ages in Constantinople until it was sacked by the Ottomans. Those wily diners were already using most of the tools of the modern pantry by the 11th century. They then developed “The Spice Route” to refine their sense of taste. When the French were subsisting on gruel, Ottoman sultans employed 1300 chefs in Topkapi Palace alone, many devoted to the baking arts. Turkish burek spread throughout the Ottoman Empire. Jews took it to Eastern Europe, where it became pierogi and piroc.

Basically, the word “burek” refers to all forms of stuffed pastry made with folded dough. Folding dough laminates a pastry, creating flaky layers like one finds in scratch-made croissants. Depending upon what is stuffed inside, burek are eaten at any meal of the day.

At 3B Grill I found extremely flaky burek, coiled like an inflated cinnamon roll and stuffed with beef, sort of a Maid-Rite stuffed croissant for the unintiated.

I also tried nicely crusted gyros on conventional pita, lavished with tzatziki sauce. Chicken kebabs needed tzatziki to cover their dryness. Cevapi (beef sausages) were much better. Like older Americanized Balkan cafés in Central Iowa, 3B’s menu included burgers, onion rings, fries, and several kinds of chicken wings. Turkish and espresso coffee were available. Loud Balkan rock and pop music played on big screen TV ‘s which were watched intently by my waitress. Questions were barely answered, if at all. 

The café Burek seemed less Americanized and much friendlier. Their walls, logo, menu and staff T shirts all resembled the bright yellow and sky blue flag of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Unobtrusive folk music played gaily. Questions were cheerfully answered in detail. The place buzzed on my visits, with one person after another stopping in mostly to pick up carryout orders, even though the café delivers.

I tried a “slagani zeljanica,” a layered, round burek filled with soft feta and spinach, with eggs as a binder. (When ordered with only cheese it’s called a “slagani srinica.”) It was delightful but heavy as a deep dish pizza. Twelve inches in diameter and nearly two inches high, its leftovers alone weighed a couple pounds.

It was light though compared to my “motani burek” a pastry that was coiled and stuffed. Though laminated nicely, it was much denser and more buttery than the similar burek at 3D. “Zyrkovi,” a much smaller burek were also offered with beef, cheese, and spinach as well as “krompiruša” style, a vegetarian form with potatoes.

Chicken kebabs, cevapi and apple pie pastries were also offered but no burgers, wings or fries. A bakery case carried breakfast burek not on the menu. Utensils and dinnerware were exceptional. Turkish coffee was served in copper “cezves.”

“Tulumba,” laminated pastry soaked in simple syrup, were as sweet as any dessert I’ve tasted. Balkan sodas, mineral waters and buttermilk were sold at domestic soda prices.

Side Dishes

Rock Bottom offers daily specials through Sunday to celebrate Craft Beer Week… Maryland soft shell crab season begins May 22 at Waterfront with four versions offered in the dining room.

3B Grill
3500 Merle Hay Rd., 331-7787
Sun and Tues. – Thurs. 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Fri. – Sat. 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Burek
2922 Merle Hay Rd, 255-3535
Tues. – Sat. 10 a.m. 8 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Two new Balkan cafés sprouted last winter on a stretch of Merle Hay Road that already hosted Estrada and Tropik. Both new cafés specialize in burek, an historic category of baked foods. Last year, Lonely Planet, the world’s most popular travel publisher, praised the dish in its guide to “The World’s Best Street Food.” For the western world, that represented a coming out party for a thousand year old dish created for sultans.

Tour guides in Turkey eagerly inform culinary visitors that the world’s only truly “classical” cuisines are Chinese and Turkish. The glory that was classical Roman cuisine hid from the Dark Ages in Constantinople until it was sacked by the Ottomans. Those wily diners were already using most of the tools of the modern pantry by the 11^th century. They then developed “The Spice Route” to refine their sense of taste. When the French were subsisting on gruel, Ottoman sultans employed 1300 chefs in Topkapi Palace alone, many devoted to the baking arts. Turkish burek spread throughout the Ottoman Empire. Jews took it to Eastern Europe, where it became pierogi and piroc.

Basically, the word “burek” refers to all forms of stuffed pastry made with folded dough. Folding dough laminates a pastry, creating flaky layers like one finds in scratch-made croissants. Depending upon what is stuffed inside, burek are eaten at any meal of the day.

At 3B Grill I found extremely flaky burek, coiled like an inflated cinnamon roll and stuffed with beef, sort of a Maid-Rite stuffed croissant for the unintiated. I also tried nicely crusted gyros on conventional pita, lavished with tzatziki sauce. Chicken kebabs needed tzatziki to cover their dryness. Cevapi (beef sausages) were much better. Like older Americanized Balkan cafés in Central Iowa, 3B’s menu included burgers, onion rings, fries, and several kinds of chicken wings. Turkish and espresso coffee were available. Loud Balkan rock and pop music played on big screen TV ‘s which were watched intently by my waitress. Questions were barely answered, if at all.

The café Burek seemed less Americanized and much friendlier. Their walls, logo, menu and staff T shirts all resembled the bright yellow and sky blue flag of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Unobtrusive folk music played gaily. Questions were cheerfully answered in detail. The place buzzed on my visits, with one person after another stopping in mostly to pick up carryout orders, even though the café delivers.

I tried a “slagani zeljanica,” a layered, round burek filled with soft feta and spinach, with eggs as a binder. (When ordered with only cheese it’s called a “slagani srinica.”) It was delightful but heavy as a deep dish pizza. Twelve inches in diameter and nearly two inches high, its leftovers alone weighed a couple pounds. It was light though compared to my “motani burek” a pastry that was coiled and stuffed. Though laminated nicely, it was much denser and more buttery than the similar burek at 3D. “Zyrkovi,” a much smaller burek were also offered with beef, cheese, and spinach as well as “krompiruša” style, a vegetarian form with potatoes.

Chicken kebabs, cevapi and apple pie pastries were also offered but no burgers, wings or fries. A bakery case carried breakfast burek not on the menu. Utensils and dinnerware were exceptional. Turkish coffee was served in copper “cezves.” “Tulumba,” laminated pastry soaked in simple syrup, were as sweet as any dessert I’ve tasted. Balkan sodas, mineral waters and buttermilk were sold at domestic soda prices.

Side Dishes

Rock Bottom offers daily specials through Sunday to celebrate Craft Beer Week… Maryland soft shell crab season begins May 22 at Waterfront with four versions offered in the dining room.

3B Grill

3500 Merle Hay Rd., 331-7787

Sun and Tues. – Thurs. 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Fri. – Sat. 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Burek

2922 Merle Hay Rd, 255-3535

Tues. – Sat. 10 a.m. 8 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.