Robert Anderson, Director of the Iowa Culinary Institute for 37 years, explained why George Formaro was his student most likely to succeed. “I knew George was going to be a great chef because he was in love with cooking and completely obsessed with food, all the time.”

George’s obsession with the breads of Sicily inspired him to build a brick oven bakery in his backyard on South Union Street. The breads he made there inspired him to start South Union Deli. The deli and bakery inspired Harry Bookey to enlist George’s vision for a restaurant that would make the Temple for the Performing Arts a success. George’s obsession with coal fired brick oven pizzerias of New York City turned that vision into Centro. For the opening of Gateway Market Café, George spent a year having Japanese noodle and ramen stock recipes translated into English. He spent another year perfecting vegetarian versions of his favorite Iowa State Fair foods. At Django, he held try outs for a dozen recipes before he settled on one for the boudin blanc in the Django dog.

At both Gateway and Django, George’s burgers attracted national attention. Gourmet featured Gateway’s among America’s best and USA Today named Django’s just that. For Gateway’s burger grind, George settled on a brisket-chuck mixture, the latter for flavor and the former for texture and searing properties. I thought that “George’s Grind” was the perfect burger mix. George thought he could do better and came up with “perfect burger” – which differed in its methods of grinding and forming patties.

George’s obsessions extend to horror movies, which help keep him awake when he’s working all night on his food obsessions. That explains the inspiration of his latest project Zombie Burger + Drink Lab. It’s equal parts George Romero and George Formaro. The zombie theme generated more pre-opening publicity than any Iowa restaurant since Centro. One might think that the burger research had already been done but no. Food obsessions are as restless as the undead.

“After testing many blends not related to the Gateway Market blend, we had to formulate a blend that worked with the salt we had developed and the griddle we had purchased. I was surprised to see such a swing in the results. Would have been much less headache if Gateway and Zombie were the same,” George explained.

The new blend, which added a secret cow body part, produced a perfect sear with juicy innards on each of four occasions I tried it. Zombie offered 21 specialty burgers ($3.49 – $7.49), 20 of which included some kind of cheese. Special South Union buns had hearty flavor and soft texture.

Hot dogs were deep fried, ripping their casings “New Jersey” style. Thin, thrice-cooked fries reminded me of In & Out’s (high praise), but were served crisp one day and soggy the next. Onion rings, mac + cheese, chili, fried Brussels sprouts, fried pork belly, fried curds, salads and fried green beans were all better than one expects in a diner.

Service was flawed in the early going. (Formaro was rushed to a hospital on opening week after slashing his thumb but returned to work the next shift.) I waited over 20 minutes just to order one night and over 30 minutes to get served – on the “fast service” side of the restaurant. Trying to order a simple hamburger with tomato and lettuce turned into a “Five Easy Pieces” experience. Fortunately, the bar’s beer menu was good reading, with alcohol contents, origins and serving sizes spelled out for 73 different offerings.

Bottom line – With over 130 patio seats and three different service areas, it’s hard to tell what this Zombie will become when it recovers from its opening weeks. The burgers can’t get any better. Can they?

Zombie Burger + Drink Lab

300 East Grand Ave., 244 9292

Daily 11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. – midnight

Side Dishes

Tandoor closed after 6 years on Eighth Street in West Des Moines. Three days later, Jimmie John’s arose two doors north of Tandoor‘s spot.

Two thousand years ago high tech communications were born when Polybius invented cryptography by translating the Greek alphabet into smoke signals. As late as World War II, most European code breakers needed to know Greek. Smoke signals were more ambivalent in America where almost every Indian tribe maintained a unique language of smoke signaling, none of which resembled Greek. American barbecue emulated American Indian smoking style. Smokers from different parts of this nation used different woods, methods, meats and equipment. In the last dozen years, that all changed. Modern industrial equipment spread a single smoking style coast to coast using less wood, usually just wood chips. Regional styles were lost amidst smoke free restaurant conformity. That’s a main reason why competitive barbecue, with its nostalgic, wood-only rules, became so popular.

Nostalgia also fuels two Central Iowa restaurants with all wood smokehouses.

Visitors to Kin Folks enter an historic building filled with antique toy tractor and airplane collections, farm and kitchen equipment, tins, signs, soda bottles, cast iron skillets, jugs, stuffed raccoons, turtles and

even a beaver gnawing through a tree on an antique piano. Wooden booths and mismatched wooden chairs complete an authentic throw back look. On the walls, class photos from Attica High School tell the history of a coal mining town through hair styles and population statistics. That town seemed to have peaked in the early 1960‘s, later than most rural towns in southern Iowa.

This restaurant is the best bet an Iowa city dweller has for impressing out of state visitors seeking “the real Iowa” food experience. Large stacks of wood and smoke signals attest to the authenticity of Kin Folks’ barbecue while the aroma of smoldering hickory starts mouths watering. If you have not eaten pure wood barbecue for awhile, your nose will perform Proustian tricks on your memory.

Brisket, chicken, ham, Italian sausage, catfish, turkey breasts, and spare ribs all receive pure smoke treatments here.

All were marvelous on my visits this summer when corn on the cob, green beans and fruit salad were made with fresh local products.

Pies, cobblers and ice creams were all completely homemade from scratch with fresh fruits and butter crusts. Even iced tea and lemonade were freshly made the slow way.

Flying Mango is not so much a barbecue as a restaurant that specializes in pure wood smokehouse work. It’s as well known for its rack cut pork chops, steaks and seafood as its brisket and ribs. It’s also famous for a Buffett-ville lifestyle that fits laid back Beaverdale like an Aloha shirt. It’s certainly one of Des Moines’ most venerable music venues, a favorite for alternative acts who rarely play such small houses.

The Mango was packed by 5:30 p.m. on my recent visit. From the smokehouse, chicken and ribs were both pronounced “perfect” by a competition judge at my table. Brisket missed “perfection” status by the slightest of measures.

The stars of the smoker though were catfish cakes, smoked and grilled with less binder than one finds in seafood cakes elsewhere. From the smoke-free side of the kitchen, rising star chef Nick Illingworth (formerly at Bistro Montage) grilled fish, seafood and pasta dishes,

many of the latter enhanced by excellent shrimp and Flying Mango’s signature mango salsa, a taste of summer that should be given a key to the city, or least to Beaverdale. Sweet potato pancakes starred among side dishes. Weakly flavored red beans and rice were my only disappointment.

Pies were also old school, with pure lard crusts and fresh fruit fillings.

Fondant cake was topped with a spun sugar chili pepper.

Kin Folks

Downtown Attica, 641-943-2362

Thurs.10:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m., Fri. – Sat. 10:30 a.m. – 9 p.m., Sun. 10:30 – 3 p.m.

Flying Mango

4345 Hickman Rd., 255-411

Tues. -Sat. 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Side Dishes

Bird’s Nest won the extreme food division at this year’s state fair with “Gigantor,” a pound of beef between two grilled cheese sandwiches… Ingersoll Theater re-opened without a Latino kitchen and with a very urban vibe.

 

Chelsie Lyons is the kind of young entrepreneur that city leaders ought to be courting. She moved here from Colorado a year ago to start her own business at age 27. Our review found her Players Bar & Grill family-oriented, with “Kids Eat Free” promotions, fountain drinks like “Purple Cows,” and a friendly small town vibe. One anonymous person disagreed though and complained to the city’s Zoning Enforcement command center that Lyons was operating a tavern not a restaurant. Lyons’ books showed that, despite all the free meals and $1 burger nights, 59 per cent of her business was in food. Zoning czars were unimpressed and ordered Lyons to spend $6000 on an agency approved, independent audit to disprove the still anonymous complaint. Lyons said she works 100 hours a week to make ends meet and believed that $6000 could break her. After WHO reporter Aaron Brilbeck reported Lyons’ predicament, his blog filled with viewers’ conspiracy theories. They all made more sense than Zoning Enforcement’s autocratic decision did. Sanity prevailed and the city backed off its audit demand.

When Brilbeck broke that story I was preparing to write about new developments in good food being served in Des Moines bars. I didn’t even consider Lyons’ place because it doesn’t resemble a bar. It’s a restaurant that serves alcohol. Thankfully, Des Moines also has some bars that serve really good food. Places like Main Gate, Gerri’s, Giff Wagner‘s, and Euro Bar give our town character while reducing the number of drunken drivers too. Their number has been growing this summer. Kelly’s Little Nipper reopened with new ownership and new wood paneling. Its famous pool table and superb short order grill have returned.

Super wide pork tenderloins and Italian sausage sandwiches, both with a choice of fries or hand battered onion rings, were up to their old high standards. Even better, Kelly’s is now serving breakfast from 6 a.m. – a great tradition among east side bars. Bottoms Up also joined that club.

Also under new owners, East 25^th Street Pub has revived Liz’s famous flat top grill. Extra wide, expertly seared Graziano’s sausage sandwiches and burgers were served on old fashioned soft Italian bread.

How good are they? Babe Bisignano used to go there for lunch.

Capital Pub & Hot Dog Company opened on East Village’s southeast fringe. This brand new pub in an historic building had the vibe of a long standing neighborhood joint. Klement sausages were employed creatively. A Mobayashi delivered a tempura battered quarter pound sausage with spicy mayo, cream cheese, cucumbers and wasabi. A pickle spear and home made chili (more like Maid Rite than Coney Island chili) topped my coney.

Creativity went too far – mustard decorated buns made them too messy to handle. For extreme eaters, there was a sandwich that mixed two half pound dogs with two half pound beef patties, and half a pound of thin sliced sirloin.

Finally, Gas Lamp, a glorious restoration of the old Blues on Grand, is now open for lunch, serving Fatty’s Big Beef – the same Chicago style Italian beef sandwiches that Fourth Street Italian Beef has made popular.

They were served with a choice of hot, mixed or mild giardiniere, and a choice of wet, super wet or soaked, in au jus. They could also be ordered with Graziano sausage added.

Bottom line – Good food is not evil in bars, nor in restaurants.

Side Dishes

Bill Clinton adopted a vegan diet… Uncle Wendell was told his barbecue wasn’t healthy enough for downtown’s mid week farmers market.

Gas Lamp

1501 Grand Ave., 280-3778

Daily 11 a.m. – 2 a.m.

25th Street Pub
509 E. 25th St., 266-6885
Mon. – Fri. 11 a.m.-2 a.m., Sat. – Sun. 10 a.m.-2 a.m.,

Kelly’s Little Nipper

1701 E. Grand Ave., 265-2031

Breakfast Sun. 9 a.m. – noon, Mon. – Fri. 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. Sat. 8 a.m. – noon. Lunch till 2 a.m.

Capital Pub & Hot Dog Co.

400 SE 6^th St., 2HOTDOG, food service daily 11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Players Sports Bar & Grill

1760 Beaver Ave., 274-8639

Daily 11 a.m.- 2 a.m.

Valley Junction is Central Iowa’s “green field of the mind – that place where what the old poet called Mutability does not so quickly come.” Bart Giamatti’s metaphor for baseball fits this West Des Moines neighborhood known for antique stores and old fashioned services like Des Moines Shoe & Luggage Repair. Here, The Lagniappe survived the death of its owner with barely an alteration and Biff McGuire’s has been a sports bar since before anyone heard of sports bars. More than a year after Simo’s was replaced by another restaurant, Simo’s sign still graces its building. Similarly Green Grounds continues the business of its predecessors, more easily identified by its carryover signage “Coffee – Ice Cream.”

What passes for change in Valley Junction is often a compromise in which a lesser change is substituted for a more objectionable one.

Paula’s Maid Rite changed its name to just Paula’s rather than change its recipe for loose meat sandwiches to comply with new corporate standards. Long after its business changed into one of Iowa‘s most popular pizzerias, The Tavern kept its old generic name. So when a place expands into a new building on a different street, it’s a seismic event.

Nine years after opening their quaint Carefree Patisserie on Elm Street, sisters Jennifer Strauss and Christine Boelman moved into a much larger building on Fifth Street.

They produce about 2000 cupcakes every week – ten flavors at a time from a repertoire of some 150 flavors. Vanilla malt and white almond are always on their menu with eight rotating choices. Some of their most popular flavors are rather adult – Guiness chocolate, strawberry daiquiri, mai tai, margarita, etc. Others are quite the opposite – chocolate peanut butter cup. Kids stopping in after school are usually asked if their mothers know what they are buying.

Cupcakes are merely the frosting on this operation. Altogether Carefree goes through an average of 30 dozen eggs and 40 pounds of butter a week producing cakes for all occasions. During wedding season, May to November, they average nearly five more large cakes a week than the rest of the year. The sisters and their staff build customized cakes for all occasions. Last week they were working on a penis cake to feed 36. One cake recreated the Iowa State Fair Butter Cow, and weighed just under 1000 pounds. A wedding cake, for two young opera singers, recreated the opening night of “The Marriage of Figaro” in Milan’s La Scala Opera House. For a Salisbury House fundraiser last winter,

Strauss collaborated with a local architectural firm to build a gingerbread replica of Principle Park during a baseball game.

Customization builds customer loyalty. “We know our customers pretty well. For some we have designed their wedding cakes, their baby shower cakes, and their anniversary cakes, while keeping the same theme going,“ Strauss explained.

Dedication keeps customers happy too. During their recent move, Strauss suffered an electrical shock hooking up a stove. That triggered a heart attack. Every order was filled and the new store still opened on schedule with Strauss returning to full time work somewhat faster than doctors advised.

Their new store has allowed the ladies to expand into cake baking and decorating supplies, a open niche in Des Moines now that Clayton’s is closing. The Patisserie has three rooms of supplies like edible glitter, palettes, sugar crystals, sixlets, non-pareils, and jimmies, plus a full line of children’s baking clothes and utensils, books, aprons, lunch boxes, etc. There’s now a tasting room, a party room and a front porch to enjoy your treats, as if this were another era.

Side Dishes

Valley Junction’s first grocery in decades, Tall Grass Co-Op, was scheduled to open by press time… Cityview readers voted Noah’s, Angelo’s, Fong’s, Sam & Louie’s, Mama Lacona’s, Bambino’s, Coach’s, Centro, Big Tomato, Pagliai’s, Gusto, Felix & Oscar’s, La Pizza House, Bordenaro’s, NYC, and Orlondo’s the top sixteen pizzerias in town.

Des Moines’ restaurant scenery was painted with an edgy palette. Early last century, newspapers frequently reported police raids of George Wee’s Chinese cafés. “Scantily clad women scurried out windows” as Wee was arrested to applause along with “alleged actresses” and “patrons from fine families on self-described slumming adventures.” During Prohibition, speakeasies ruled the scene. Many morphed into popular cafés during WW II. When downtown’s restaurant scene dried up in the latter quarter of the century, the edge moved to Eighth Street in West Des Moines where Jimmie Lynch operated Jimmie’s American Café (JAC) and three other ahead-of-their-time restaurants. He lost all of them after a notorious sexual harassment lawsuit won against him by waitress Kelly Cunningham. Lynch claimed he was scammed. When the plaintiff’s mother later plead guilty in the mother of Iowa scams – the CIETC scandal, some people began wondering about that.

Still, without Lynch around, Eighth Street lost its edge. Some said it died. In the last three years, four different restaurateurs told me the JAC property had deteriorated irreparably. But nothing ever dies in the cyclical restaurant business – consider downtown Des Moines. It takes edgy vision to see that sometimes. Last year Pelican Club owner Tommy Mauro began restoring the JAC property. He filled its parking lot with trucks and crews for a couple months. Then in May Mauro lost his bid for a West Des Moines liquor license, by a 3-2 vote. Nay voters cited 14 misdemeanor convictions going back to 1982, the most recent a “bootlegging” charge after a Pelican Club bartender served Mauro through an open window.

Mauro’s project was saved by another historic restaurant family – Pete Leonetti and son Joe. They are the opposite of notorious. People usually say things like “nicest guy you’ll ever meet” when speaking of Pete. Their family history has direct links to two of the most adored obsessions in Des Moines. Joe’s grandfather played for the Chicago Cubs and his great grandmother was “Aunt Jenny” Randa – the granduchessa of Italian Des Moines cuisine. Odds are very short that your favorite marinara is a slight variation of the one she served in her restaurant when Ronald Reagan worked at WHO and ate there. Her Italian salad dressings also influenced four generations.

Restoration work here is fabulous though one would have needed to have seen how badly the vacant space had deteriorated to appreciate Mauro‘s efforts. The legendary patio now includes tented pool tables, ceiling fans, high def TV’s, a full bar, and superb terracing. Jimmy Buffet nights on Wednesdays ($10 margarita pitchers and buckets of Coronas) are attracting crowds. So are three hour nightly Happy Hours with $1.50 draft beers and well drinks. Exposed brick and woodwork has improved the old ambiance, with a large cocktail mosaic in the floor of the main dining room where Rat Pack era music plays.

I tried marinara many ways: with hand fried pepper rings, hand breaded mozzarella sticks, garlic bread, and

hand made ravioli for appetizers.

It is also served with six different pasta and two other entrees.

The best was chicken parmesan, a very generous two breasted serving crisply fried and plated on linguini with marinara and mozzarella.

My only disappointment was a rib-eye served without any sear.

However, a steak sandwich had a decent sear, so hopefully that was a one time glitch.

Lunch brought one of the best BLT’s of the summer, with ripe fresh tomatoes and thick bacon, plus some deep flavored tomato based soups. Dessert menus and additional hand made pasta were being added to the fare.

Bottom line – Excellent bargain priced foods with historic implications. Nostalgia trumps edginess on a revived Eighth Street.

Leonetti’s Bella Cucina in the Palm

1238 8th St., West Des Moines, 223-0801

Mon. – Fri. 11 a.m. – 2 a.m., Sat. 2 p.m. – 2 a.m., Sun. 2 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Side Dishes

A US Department of Agriculture speaker recently announced USDA had more value-added agriculture grant money this year than was even applied for last year… Seed Savers heirloom tomato tasting and seed saving workshops will be Sept. 3 at Heritage Farm, Decorah.

Seeking an Iowa Icon

“Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.”

In its 1960’s heyday, Chevrolet loaded their advertising with patriotic icons. Times changed. Baseball is now fighting to remain America’s number three sport, hot dogs now trail nachos in concession stand sales and Chevies went the way of Cedar River levies, unable to cope with the floodwaters of imported automobiles. Apple pie is thus the only All American super symbol to survive into the 21^st century untarnished. Ironically, it isn’t even American.

Apples probably originated in Kazakhstan and pie evolved from the Babylonian “filo.” Crusaders would bring pastry-making back to Europe and the Pilgrims took apple seeds to New England. Pie quickly conquered the American frontier for very practical reasons: its crust required less flour than bread; it could be baked over an open fire, in simple Dutch ovens; and its fillings stretched meager provisions of pioneer life.

Pie making evolved considerably in Iowa. By definition, pie crust is a concoction of flour, fat, and water. Most all nineteenth century Iowa pie recipes used rough flour mixed with suet. When hogs replaced cattle as the primary livestock, our pies began using lard instead of suet, and finer flours. Today, Iowa pie makers argue over the type of fat, the quality of the flour and the purity and freshness of the stuffings.

“When I first moved to Iowa five years ago, everyone I met was rendering lard, for a better pie crust. I began wondering where on earth I had come,” recalls Organic Gardening editor Ethne Clarke.

One of the people Clarke noticed rendering lard was Karen Strohbeen, TV’s “Perennial Gardener” and an artist who deconstructs American pie.

“We had been using Julia Child’s recipe for pie crust, which calls for “shortening” for a flaky crust. But available shortenings, like Crisco and margarine, left an icky flavor. So we began rendering our own lard from Niman Ranch leaf lard. We would spend an entire day gathered around an outdoor pot, cooking it down. But it really improved the flavor, and the color of the crusts,” Strohbeen explained.

A search for the holy grail of Iowa pie must travel through the Iowa State Fair’s apple pie competition. This year’s contest was attended by two legendary cooks. Louise Piper of Garner and Dianna Sheehy of Audubon have won more blue ribbons and national accolades than anyone else the last three decades. So many ribbons that neither was competing in this year’s contest. Piper was ineligible because she won the previous year, but she came to check out the state of the art.

 

Sheehy won so many major competitions in 2007 that she decided to take the whole Fair off. She judged this year’s contest. These two champions hold opposite beliefs in the great pie crust debate. Piper prefers soy oil and milk crusts. Sheehy’s first choice is pure rendered lard.

“I know that most people believe in lard and I think lard is best for yeast bread and cookies. But my soy oil recipe works for me in pies. I found it years ago in a Betty Crocker book and I readjusted the salt, but outside of that I have been using it ever since,” Piper told us.

She was seated with eventual 2008 champion Lana Ross of Indianola and other contestants. Someone compared Sheehy’s sitting out the contest competition to Tiger Wood’s not playing golf tournaments.

“It’s an opening for all the rest of us,” Piper said, with the others nodding in agreement.

Even Sheehy has no idea how many blue ribbons she has won.

“Someday, I’m going to count them. There are hundreds and hundreds of them,” she admitted.

Twice Sheehy has been a top ten finalist in Proctor & Gamble’s national pie making championships – her rhubarb pie was first runner-up in 1989. In 2007 she won both divisions of the Iowa State Fair’s cinnamon roll contest, the Fair‘s glamour cooking event. No one had ever done that before. Sheehy thus competed against herself for the overall prize.

“She won $5,000 for that. I told her to be sure to spend some of it on herself, she had surely earned it. You know what she did? She put all her prize money toward an antique Allis Chalmers tractor that her husband wanted,” said ISF Food Center Superintendent Arlette Hollister. “

Sheehy might be an old fashioned cook, but she’s a modern day farmer.

“I grew up on a farm and married a farmer and we’re trying to keep the family farm going. It isn’t easy. My husband is a full time oversized trucker. We also do drainage tiling in the fall and spring and custom backhoe work year around. On weekends we crop farm – beans, corn and hay. It’s crazy but if you’re a small family farmer it takes all that just to keep things going,” she said, before explaining that she came to the ISF directly from a 5000 mile round trip delivering a Vermeer Rock Trencher to the Canada’s Northwest Territory.

Sheehy is also the chef behind a bona fide food extravaganza. When former Democratic National Committee Chairman and super lobbyist Charles Mannatt hosts associates from around the world at his Audubon County lodge each fall, Sheehy prepares feasts to show off the bounty of Iowa.

“We always make ten different pies at those suppers: Audubon cherry, rhubarb, apple, North 40 berry, pecan, pumpkin, caramel pecan, French silk chocolate, coconut cream and sour cream raisin. There is even a pie eating contest,” she recalled.

Though her pie making techniques are traditional, they’ve also altered with changing times.

“When I first started competing, my grandparents butchered and rendered my lard. When they died, I started getting lard from Milt Sheeder, a farmer in Guthrie Center who has hormone-free and antibiotic-free meat. Good lard is important. I‘ve been coast to coast representing Iowa in Crisco‘s national pie making championship, so I don’t have anything bad to say about Crisco, but I prefer good lard when it’s available,” she said.

“I am known for “North 40 Berry.” It has wild blackberries that I pick in the woods, mixed with red raspberries from farmers’ markets. I have won a lot of firsts and overalls for that pie. This year, I am sponsoring a “North 40 Berry” pie contest,“ she said.

“My personal favorite pie is rhubarb, probably because I can just open my back door and pick it. I like peach pie, but my peach tree doesn’t always produce enough fruit. Plus, birds love the peaches on the top of the tree. I like cherry pie, but I don’t have cherry trees anymore, so I pick them at friends’ places in Harlan and at the Beaver Creek Apiary. My apple tree is laden down with apples this year, so that will be keeping me busy,” she explained in early August.

Sheehy admits that standards are changing in apple pie.

“I don’t understand a lot of what’s happening. To me, an apple pie should taste like apple pie. A little cinnamon brings that out, but half a dozen spices, especially nutmeg, disguise the apple flavor. If you don’t use too much spice, I can tell you exactly what kind of apple you used. I don’t understand all spice in an apple pie, unless you’re trying to make Jamaican jerk apple pie.

“I don’t understand, or like, Granny Smiths in a pie. Jonathan’s are the only apple I use. Plus, they’re native to Iowa. The closer you stick to your roots, the better your pie will taste.”

 

Dianna Sheehy’s Pie Making Tips

1.) Work with cold ingredients. The colder something is, the less active and the less likely to disrupt a recipe.

2.) Don’t overwork your dough.

3.) Start your oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for fifteen minutes in order to properly cook the bottom crust.

4.) Brush some milk lightly on your top crust and sprinkle some sugar on it before you bake.

5.) Don’t do a crumble crust for a serious fruit pie competition. Double crusts are the essence of fruit pies.

6.) Use fresh and local ingredients, as fresh as possible. If you can pick them and use them immediately, do that.

7.) Freeze freshly picked fruits for use year around, but never freeze apples, they will keep in the refrigerator all winter.

8.) Wrap a strip of aluminum foil around the outer crust for part of the baking time. That protects the edges.

9.) Use good lard, or don’t use lard at all. If you can render your own lard, do it. If you can’t, find a farmer who does and buy from him. Much of the lards being sold in supermarkets are inferior to vegetable shortenings.

Dianna Sheehy’s Apple Pie

Crust

2 cups unbleached flour
1 tsp. salt
Three fourths cup good rendered lard
1 egg
Half cup water
1 tsp. cider vinegar
2 tbsp. butter

Start with cold lard, cut and fold into flour and salt. Beat egg and blend in the water and cider vinegar. Add just enough liquid so the dough is rollable. Divide into two portions and chill for two hours.

Filling

6 and a half cups peeled and sliced Jonathan apples
Half tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Two thirds cup sugar
2 tbsp. flour
Half tsp. cinnamon

Prepare the pastry. Spoon the filling into pastry-lined 9 inch pie plate. Dot with 2 tbsp. butter and cover with top crust. Make slits. Fold top crust over bottom crust and crimp the outer edge. Cover edges with aluminum foil. (Remove foil the last 15 minutes of baking.)
Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes, reduce temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 40 minutes, until crust is golden brown

Young Blood in Des Moines

Des Moines is a triple A town. We compensate for whatever we lack in size with intimacy. My father saw several World Series yet said his greatest baseball thrill was watching teenagers Bert Blyleven and Vida Blue break records on consecutive nights in Des Moines. Both players spoke to him afterwards, an unthinkable thing for average fans in major league towns. Here we nurture young talent like crops. Aficionados like Dad relish such opportunities to catch a glimpse of budding greatness.

Our food scene is now AAA too. Independent restaurants are healthy enough to expand their brands like big league indies do. Among our most honored chefs only Jerry Talerico (Sam & Gabe’s) still regularly cooks in his restaurant. Younger top chefs have become teachers, managers and front of the house men as much as cooks. Several now run more than one place. The upside of this big city model is that Des Moines now attracts the kind of enthusiastic and creative prodigies who used to move directly from culinary school to the nation’s food capitols, like Central Iowa’s most famous chef Eric Ziebold did twenty years ago.

Bree Ann Leighton, 21, graduated from culinary school one year ago. She has California in her pedigree and family in Las Vegas, yet she’s been banging pans in Des Moines the last year at Azalea, Baru and Alba. Other chefs, generally a very self confident lot, admit Leighton’s chops are something special, like Blyleven‘s curve ball forty years ago. She’s been pestering Jason Simon at Alba to let her open his restaurant on Sunday nights for special fixed price ($65) dinners. Being himself a former prodigy who left Iowa for the culinary capitols, Simon said yes.

“All young chefs think they can do something special. Most find out that actually doing it under pressure is another story. Bree is ready though,” he explained.

For her first “Wandering Chef” dinner, Leighton recruited talented friends Jessica Dunn, 23, and Benji Lefebvre, 20, from Baru’s kitchen, plus Michael Kesterson, 23. It’s not easy getting young people to spend their rare nights off doing the same work they do all week. “We just all love what we do,” Dunn explained.

They do it all quite well.

Lefebvre began the meal with a spicy crab mousseline plated with cool cucumber carpaccio and two emulsions – sweet corn and coconut.

Leighton followed that with a terrine of Robiola di mia Nonna goat cheese, roasted patty pan squash and mushrooms.

She plated it with local rockets (arugula), balsamic vinegar reduced with raspberries, and mixed nuts.

She followed that course with tender lamb lollipops, twice breaded and rolled in bread crumbs, served on curried cauliflower puree with salade Nicoise.

Her main course was similar to the signature dish in “Babette’s Feast,” though Leighton had never even heard of that short story nor the iconic movie.

She stuffed whole quail with foie gras and cornbread, glazed them in maple syrup and plated them with ratatouille, fresh peach coulis, and freshly picked squash blossoms.

She followed that with almond and panko crusted balls of Pierre Robert (a decadent triple cream cheese) served with a homemade lemon drop melon sorbet that coaxed more flavor out of fruit than any ice cream I’ve eaten all year. She topped that plate with a crisped, thick sliced piece of prosciutto.

Dunn completed the meal with an equally decadent dish. She made sweet corn butter cakes, served them atop fresh caramel and paired them with a home made sweet corn ice cream served in a confit of lime.

The gang of four provided their own service – chef’s table style. Intimacy trumped grace and polish, AAA style.

Bottom line: These talented young guns plan to serve two such Sunday evening dinners a month, probably beginning in late August or September. Catch them while you can.

Wandering Chef

Mailing list for future dates:

wanderingnearyou@gmail.com

Side Dishes

Jethro’s broke ground on a Cajun restaurant in Hawthorne Plaza… Forbes.com named Central Iowa native Eric Ziebold one of the ten most influential chefs working in America.

Des Moines’ Traditional Italian Restaurants

Most Italians came to Central Iowa from just two regions of Italy. The majority who settled on the Southside of Des Moines immigrated from the extreme south, Calabria and Sicily. That part of Italy is far from the dairy line, but rich in olive trees. As a result, the traditional cuisine, developed before refrigeration was widespread, was based on olive oil, seafood and tomato sauce. By the mid 1950’s, Johnny and Kay’s, Vic’s Tally Ho, The Latin King and Babe’s dominated fine dining in Des Moines. All were owned by sons of Calabria.

Most Italians who originally settled northwest of Des Moines came to work the coal mines and hailed from Modena in Emilia-Romagna, the fat part of Italy where the legendary cuisine was based on dairy products and elaborate pork products. When the coal mines closed, these families moved into Des Moines. One North Italian restaurant from Madrid, Anjo’s, moved to Windsor Heights, preserving its unique style until the 1990’s.

Today some Des Moines’ Italian-American restaurants represent a syntheses of the two regions cuisines, often as they were filtered through New York City’s Little Italy. Here is a genealogy of Des Moines’ best traditional Italian restaurants.

Gino’s 2809 6^th

Gino Foggia calls his 15 years at Johnny and Kay’s, “my college education.” He opened his own place in 1966, in the old Chick-a-Dee cafe, a continuously operated restaurant since 1928. A lot has changed, the last grain elevator in Des Moines was torn down behind Gino‘s, and Riverview Park closed across the street. Most important things have not changed. Gino still buys prime beef for steaks, still makes all the pasta from scratch, including his famous cavatelli and gnocchi. He still pan fries chicken and he still makes the traditional hot anchovy sauce from Scalea, his father’s home town on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Tumea & Sons, 1501 SE 1st

Joe Tumea is Sicilian-born and his late wife Lucretia Berardi was Calabrese. His menu is a synthesis of two families’ recipes. The “Sicilian spaghetti” is a baked specialty and the “brashiole,” a meat roll, is also Sicilian. The garlic butter, marsala reductions and picatas that enrich other specialties are family heirlooms that have adapted over the years. This is one of the few places left in Des Moines that still serves Calabrese “pastachena,” cannoli and guandi.

Noah’s Ark, 2400 Ingersoll

Calabria-born Noah Lacona opened a restaurant on Court Avenue in 1946 and, one year later, opened another at the present site on Ingersoll. After designing a gas oven that simulated wood-burning ovens and a pie making machine that duplicated a Neapolitan style crusts, he served what was probably the first pizza in Iowa, in 1947. All Noah’s recipes came from his mother, Teresa, and none have changed in over 55 years, though the menu has added many new dishes as it grew through four additions and remodelings.

Lasagna here is Calabrese style, made with rigatoni, not flat pastas. Fettucini, cavatelli, ravioli and gnocchi are made from scratch daily. So are the Italian sausage, meatballs and fresh breads, and famous dinner rolls. The spumoni with rum sauce is, perhaps, Des Moines’ most famous dessert.

Café di Scala

644 18th Street, 244-1353

www.cafediscala.com

Tony Lemmo’s mama is a Lacona and his dad owned Lemmo’s so his fate was sealed. His Italian bistro in Sherman Hill consistently wins “most romantic” laurels with its charming Victorian ambiance. Lemmo keeps the town’s only all Italian wine cellar, carefully researched on trips to Italy. Café di Scala is one of just three places in town that make all pasta fresh from scratch. Chef Phil Shires uses garden fresh produce to help give his kitchen the most contemporary take on Calabrese cuisine.

Baratta’s, 2320 S Union

Calabria-born Charlie “Cat’ Baratta and his brother Mike operated an Italian grocery store on the southside through the 1940’s and 50’s. In 1967 they converted it into a restaurant. Joe Gatto, whose father came here from Calabria as an exchange student, landed his first job working for Cat when he was 14. In 1993, along with southside friends Lisa and Curt Krueger, he bought the place.

The building and the menu have been remodeled, but Mike’s pepper steak and Cat’s spaghetti are original dishes. Amaggio ( olive oil, wine, garlic, basil, lemon juice) is an old Des Moines-Calabrian favorite and the ravioli are made from scratch in the house. Early bird specials are amongst the most popular in town.

Chuck’s 3610 6^th

Linda Bisignano began working in her father’s restaurant when she was 12.

Chuck Bisignano was the American born son of Calabrians and the brother of Des Moines’ most famous Italian restaurateur, Babe Bisignano. Chuck’s has been a Highland Park institution since 1956, serving homemade dishes the old fashioned way.

“We still do almost everything the same way we always have. We aren’t a trendy place. We even have the same pizza oven we started with,” said Linda, who does just about every job there is to do in a restaurant. She and her brother make breads, salad dressings (with whole cloves of garlic marinated at least 2 months), Italian sausage, cavatelli and three kinds of ravioli from scratch. Dishes like maruzze (3 cheeses in a pasta shell), chicken diavalo (marinated in hot dried pepper oil) and spinach lasagna have long southern histories, and hundreds of loyal fans.

Tursi’s Latin King, 2200 Hubbell

Jimmy Pigneri came to Des Moines from Calabria, but first spent some time in New York City’s Latin Quarter, when that meant Italian, not Spanish speaking, immigrants. He worked in restaurants there and brought the Little Italy influences to Des Moines where he and wife Rose opened the Latin King in 1947.

In 1983 the Pigneris sold to Bob Tursi, the American-born son of Calabrese parents. While twice remodeling the original building, Bob and wife Amy kept faith with the southern Italian and Little Italy flavors. They avoid short cuts. For instance, American fried potatoes are still made like they were in the 1940’s, with sliced fresh potatoes in a covered pan. They are the best in town and some people come here just because of this side dish. Similarly, the tomato sauces are made with a heavily concentrated, home made pastes that evoke another time. Ravioli, manicotti and the legendary potato gnocchi are made fresh in the kitchen.

Chicken spiedini is a signature dish, marinated breast chunks are breaded and broiled and served with a choice of home made sauces. In Calabrese fashion, there are four different preparations here for chicken livers or gizzards. The steak de burgo recipe is from Johnny & Kay’s, which half of Des Moines believes to be the original. Desserts presented excellent choices from both the home made and the Fed Ex schools of thought. The excellent tiramisu and cannoli were prepared in the kitchen. Gelato dishes, such as Tartuffo, came from Chicago and sorbets and cheesecakes from Milan.

Christopher’s 2816 Beaver, and Mezzodi, 4519 Fleur

Christopher’s owner Joe Giudecessi’s dad, Jim, came here from D’alla Vecchio in Calabria. Christopher developed into an Italian restaurant and after a couple years, the family sauce recipe appeared in spaghetti dishes. Lasagna is straight Calabrese. The Giudecessi chicken Parmesano, has always been made in (northern) Italian, rather than Italian American style, with white sauce rather than red.

One reason Giudecessi’s sons Ron and B.J. opened Mezzodi was to expand on Christopher’s menu, offering more southern specialties, like bruschetta, which uses balsamic reduction, tomatoes and arugula and a two way calamari, as well as dishes associated more with north Italy, like lobster risotto and mushroom ravioli in gorgonzola cream.

Sam & Gabe’s, 7700 University, Clive

Owners Jerry and Julia Talerico are second generation Des Moines restaurateurs. Their father Vic Talerico, who owned the legendary Vic’s Tally Ho on Douglas, came from Calabria, but his wife Sophia was Modenese. The menu at Sam & Gabe’s includes family recipes from both sides of the tree. The steak de burgo, which half of Des Moines believes was invented by Vic, is made southern style, with olive oil, garlic and herbs. The chicken Sophia, is pure Emilian, chicken thighs, sun dried tomatoes, basil and mushrooms served on penne in a sauce made with chicken stock, butter and cream. Most pastas at S&G’s offer a choice of that cream sauce or marinara.

　

Basil Properi’s two locations

Steve Logsden’s cafes are named after his Italian-born grandfather, who was murdered in Des Moines, probably for dating the wrong woman. Basil Prosperi came from Lucca, in Tuscany and Steve uses a family recipe on weekend specials when he can find the ingredients. This pasta from Lucca is made with roasted chickens, a porcini ragu plus all spice, cinnamon and cloves. Logsden says his Tuscan bread is distinguished by the absence of salt, something important in a region where meats are so salty.

Centro,10^th and Locust

George Formaro’s parents came from the south of Italy, mother Gina from Palermo and his father George from Calabria. George learned to make breads in Sicily and northern Italy, but his pizzas, like most of the menu at Centro, are inspired more by Little Italy in New York than by Italian influences.
“I think that New York Italian is a true cuisine of its own. For instance, I have never seen a meatball in all the time I have spent in Italy, but I love meatballs and wouldn’t think of not having them on the menu…Our pizzas are somewhat Neapolitan, but they are more New York City, particularly in the choice of fresh mozarella that is dryer than what would be found in Italy… The most Italian thing on the menu, and the purest family recipe, is our roasted garlic vinaigrette salad dressing, that is mom’s heirloom.”

Set in the historic Temple for the Performing Arts, it is itself a work of art and is rivaled only by 801 Steak & Chop House for the celebrity of its guest registry. A Democrat Party favorite during caucus season, Centro is a place to see and be seen. Built around 800 degree coal burning pizza ovens, the menu pays dual homage to Italian traditions of both New York City and Des Moines. The weekend brunch’s offer sinful breakfast temptations.

Lucca

420 E. Locust Street, 243-1115

www.luccarestaurant.net

A masterpiece of eye catching Minimalism by architect Kirk Blunck, Lucca drops white stained ash and Plexiglas designs within an unadorned brick shell from 1880. Bathroom boxes look like Donald Judd sculptures and a black piano is parked in the dining room, not in the bar. Owner Steve Logsdon, named a top 20 Midwest chef by the James Beard Awards, keeps his menus appropriately simple, offering artful three course meals at prices that would be stunning bargains in Chicago or San Francisco. His heritage is Tuscan – his grandfather Basil Prosperi was murdered for dating a Calebrese girl in Des Moines.

Riccelli’s, 3803 Indianola Rd.

A grandson of Calabria, Pete Riccelli opened Tally’s in 1958 after learning the business at Caesar’s on Fleur and Luigi’s on Forest. Later he owned three Ricelli’s, plus the Mainliner night club, but has settled into the single operation now. Ravioli and cavatelli are home made here as are all the Calabrian sauces for popular dishes like lasagna and cacciatore.

We receive a lot letters about bad service. Many of them insinuate that we played a part in their bad experience because we encouraged them to go there in the first place. My favorite read

“After reading your review of Mama & Sons we visited only to find the place closed. In the future, you should do a better job of investigating the financial viability of restaurants before you review them.”

I always read these letters, usually remember them but never have written about them, until now. A reader recently shared an exchange he had with Mars Café owner Larry James. After detailing a deal-breaking incident at the café, James responded: “While you indicated in your letter that you would not accept apologies, I apologize… If, by some change of heart, you wish to visit us again, please contact me directly. I would welcome a cup of hot tea with you and your wife.”

Mistakes happen and a manager or owner can make things better or worse by dealing with them. Here are two lowlights:

1.) A Summit Beer dinner at a West Des Moines Hy-Vee this year demanded prepayment and then informed me, the day of the event, that the event was being canceled – by leaving a message in my voice mail: “We didn’t have enough advanced sales to see how it would be profitable so it’s off.” OK, wine and beer dinners get canceled, more frequently than they should. Hy-Vee made a bad thing worse though. Though they took my money over the phone, they insisted I come into the store to get it refunded.

2.) At the no longer in business DuBay’s, a waiter informed our table, which consisted of myself and the restaurant critic at the time for the big local paper, that he was about to take his cigarette break so, if we wanted anything in the next ten minutes we better tell him now. A majority of diners now resent being waited on by people who stink from recently smoking, so we felt justified in complaining but no one could tell us who was in charge that night, so no one wanted to hear about it.

Overall, is service better or worse than it was 20 or 40 years ago? Here’s a recent letter I received:

“I recently was charged twenty percent automatically for service. Time was when tipping that much was a diner’s determination of exceptional service, something beyond expectations of a quickly refilled glass of ice water, complimentary bread and butter, timely delivery and clearance of courses, and thoughtful boxing of leftovers. Now it seems to be perceived as an entitlement.”  

Fifty years ago in Des Moines Italian restaurateurs established basics of good service. 1.) The owner was always there to take care of problems and make sure you knew your business was appreciated. 2.) Bread and butter were promptly served and glasses of iced water were quickly refilled. 3.) Courses were served and cleared in a timely manner. 4.) Leftovers were bagged to take home.

Italian restaurateurs still do the best job of covering these basics in Des Moines. At Christopher’s, Sam & Gabe’s, Tursi’s Latin King, Noah’s, Chuck’s, Gino’s, Baratta’s, Café di Scala, and Orlondo’s. I expect that kind of service and am rarely disappointed at all. Same thing is true at non Italian gold standards like Greeenbriar, 801 Steak & Chop House, and Skip’s

Lately I’ve been impressed by more courtesy tastings, offered to be diners who seem curious but wary about an item. One theory is that brew pubs, like CABCO and Raccoon River here, set the mold here by enticing customers with tastings and the practice jumped the beer barrel. Courtesy tastings, be there amuse bouches, chocolates with coffee, thimbles of soup or sips of wine are a mark of good service. I have seen chefs come out the kitchen at Dish and Mojo’s to offer courtesy tastings of new menu items. Amuse bouches at Baru’s and Bistro Montage extend a meal by a de facto of two. Even the soul food café Patton’s and the Mexican mom & Pop La Rosa’s practice this. Chip’s introduced the complimentary basket of freshly fried potato chips and some others have followed suit.

The new bistro Luna takes the bread and water dynamic to a new level. With self serve breads from La Mie and olive oils, plus pitchers of iced water naturally flavored creatively with fruits, herbs and vegetables. Sbrocco, Dish, Alba have all offered little sample plates in the last year.

　 Not being there is the biggest overall change for the worse. Babe Bisignano told me he closed his restaurant because he could no longer be on the floor all hours. He preferred closing to disappointing customers who expected to see him personally. Today his niece Linda Bisignano has not even allowed her chemotherapy treatments stop her from being at Chuck’s every night. Yet some restaurateurs don’t think this is important. I recall going to one place, no longer in business, three times without seeing the owner/chef. That place was only open four nights a week too. Another place, also no longer in business, was closed for three weeks once without putting a note on their door, on their answering machine, or in the PR airwaves. They just let customers show up and wonder day after day.

Here are some other bad trends in service that readers complain about:

1.) Allowing substitutions used to be a mark of good service at any level lower than haute cuisine. In an era when food allergies are suddenly prevalent, it should be easier than ever. Instead it’s often the opposite. Too many places complicate simple recipes (like hamburgers) with dozens of precise ingredients. If you ask them to hold the blue cheese, the caramelized onions, the smoked radish, etc, you still are charged for them.

2.) The number of places that crumb your table between courses and replace a dirty napkin when you use the bathroom has decreased in the last five years. Sage was the best ever at such but some restaurants that used to do this don’t anymore.

3.) Leftovers used to be cheerfully bagged. Now it’s common to have Styrofoam containers dropped off at your table, or to have waiters point to service table where they are kept. I was astounded recently when The Café wrapped my leftovers in Saran Wrap, bagged them and staple a hand written not identifying each bags contents. La Mie sometimes offers dinner customers a complimentary loaf of their exquisite breads as a parting gift. La Rosa has stuffed a complimentary tamale in my bag. Jasmine Bowl used to do the same thing but when that place changed to Mao’s Eggroll’s, that good service ended. More than once I had leftovers thrown away. Once when that happened at Trostel’s Greenbriar, a small piece of steak was replaced with an entire steak. And I was offered a complimentary beverage while I waited for the chef to cook it.

3.) Things should cost what the menu indicates they cost. Too often this is not the case. Usually employees are empowered to fix such mistakes when they are pointed out. At both Culver’s and Aberlardo’s though, employees just told me that the cash register price was correct and that the menu price was wrong. Period. Stupid me.  

There are some good trends in service too: No corkage fees; Twitter specials; Free live music.

A Liberating Experience

My only visit to Burma was restricted by a 24 hour visa. Airport red tape took about four hours and Rangoon was under curfew for ten. That was in the 1968 and things have never really opened up except for a brief break from military dictatorship in 1988. Burmese cuisine has thus become a virtual ambassador for the indomitable spirit of people who refuse to be restrained in their love of life, food and freedom. Excellent Burmese restaurants have been popping up in Europe, New York and California the last few years. Now Hung Suan has opened Central Iowa’s first Burmese restaurant.

Simply Asian adds to a Douglas Avenue strip enriched by the city’s most eclectic mix of food experiences. It’s in a building that recently housed both Bosnian and soul food cafés. Across the street are Hawaiian and African food outlets. Iraqi, Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese and Bosnian joints are within a few blocks. The diners I saw at Simply Asian were an equally eclectic mix. On my first visit I asked two ladies what they had tried.

“We don’t have any idea. We’re pretty sure, from the menu descriptions, that we didn’t get anything that we ordered. But everything we did get was wonderful,” they responded.

That day my waiter’s command of English was challenged. He brought dishes I didn’t order and threw away leftovers I had asked him to box up for taking home. Hung apologized and offered to make new dishes and I never saw that waiter on subsequent visits. I did however see the ladies who had received incorrect orders. Good Burmese food is worth a little chaos.

Hung worked at the superb Thai restaurant The King & I before setting off on her own. She picked up a few good recipes there: haumacs (marinated fish steamed in banana leaf boats),

Thai curries,

Thai toast and Rama showers (spinach and meat with peanut sauce). Her Burmese menu was even more interesting. One salad included pork tripe, heart, kidney, stomach, garlic and chili. Another mixed pig ears with lettuce, cilantro, tomato and chilies.

Tempura included gourd and chick peas. Fish cakes and Thai toast (with shrimp & pork) had textures of French toast.

Beef salad balanced five flavors, plus warm and cold, with cucumber, mint, chilies, lemon grass and a lemon/fish sauce.

Tom yam gai was based on a deep flavored chicken stock with lots of galangal, lemongrass and mushrooms.

 

A Burmese style glass noodle soup included black fungi and enoki mushrooms plus divine tofu skins. Bar kut teh was a rare mushroom soup with lychees and pork ribs, or viscera. I tried two of three different green papaya salads:

Thai style brought raw peanuts and sweet lemon sauce while

Burmese style included noodles that mellowed the usual sourness.

Burmese curry was more Indian than Thai, with more tomato and less coconut milk than others.

“Sampa” shrimp featured both fresh and dried shrimp in a buttery paste of ginger and chilies.

Frog legs were the most disappointing dish I tried, too small to eat easily and sauced in a thick flavorless brown gravy.

Tender “drunken squid” swam in much more interesting sauce.

Faluda made a photogenic dessert of rice balls, gelatins, fruits and coconut milk.

Mok lon ye bor was a simpler dessert of large sweet rice balls in homemade syrup.

Burmese sweet bread could have passed for a state fair treat.

Bottom line – Burmese cuisine symbolizes freedom, from boring food as well as tyranny. Simply Asian is a liberating experience.

Simply Asian

3811 Douglas Ave., 277-4494. Mon. – Fri. 10 a.m. – 9 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m. -9 p.m., Sun. 1 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Side Dishes

The former Timothy’s Steakhouse space on Douglas is being converted into Wasabi Chi with Japanese, Chinese and Thai cuisines… W Chinese Buffet opened in Park Fair Mall.