Truffled cauliflower soup

Azalea has been one of Des Moines’ most recommendable restaurants since opening in 2007 in the former Kirkwood Hotel. It’s a spectacularly good looking place, faithfully restored in Deco style by developer Mike Hutchison and architect Rob Whitehead. Two-story concrete pillars frame a visitor’s first impression which is also reflected by an entire wall of tall mirrors. The dining area includes exclusive niches (three distinctively different dining areas, including a loft) without giving up a sense of democracy – half walls and glass guard rails open things up. Pampering is accomplished without snobbery by the open loft and with elegant booths. These things help compose a rare Big City vibe that rocks prior to big events at the Civic Center. Before now, the food has not been as distinctive as the space, not that there’s been anything wrong with it. It just wasn’t as nearly unique as the venue. When we first reviewed Azalea, we described its menu as “Jeremy’s greatest hits,” explaining that executive chef Jeremy Morrow was reprising many dishes he made popular at other restaurants.

Morrow retired from the restaurant business last year and Azalea’s kitchen fell into the hands of Sean Wilson, a young Carolinian who worked under celebrated chefs Todd English and Jonathan Sundstrom before moving from Seattle to support his wife’s career. Lucky us. Wilson spent months familiarizing himself with Central Iowa’s best farm products including Griffieon Farms Limousin beef (which is now recognized as the superior veal producer). Then he premiered a completely new menu rich in folk food.

Wilson reminds us of his Seattle background with a spectacular charcuterie platter that pays homage to Armandino Batali – the Seattle owner of Salumi, who is also the father of Mario Batali and the American master of charcuterie. Wilson’s Big Board platter combined house made pâté de campagne (country style pâté),

rilletes (pork cooked in pork fat), green tomato jam, duck breast prosciutto, and roasted peppers plus imported fermented meats copa, fennel finocchiona, and soppresetta. His rillettes, sealed with an aspic of duck, blew me away. Other standout starters included: a truffled cauliflower soup served with a potato crouton;

calamari escabeche with a Jamaican pepper sauce;

and wood fired pizza – including one made with duck confit, pecans, blue cheese and grape jam and another with maple-fennel sausage.

Then there was the roasted bone marrow, one of the great decadent dishes of the world. Wilson served three perfectly roasted large veal shanks upright with mini spoons marvelously paired with home made jam of Syrah and red onions. Be still my heart.

Among the entrees, a garlic and thyme basted shoulder steak, with blue cheese creamed spinach and fingerlings, delivered tenderness unexpected in that cut of beef.

Butternut squash ravioli was served with chevre on a bed of mustard greens and cured duck breast with apple butter sauce. Wine braised short ribs were paired with home made (like all pasta here) papardelle and vegetables, a most memorable beef & noodles.

The star though was a Benedict dish that presented seared scallops on fried green tomatoes, on top pf country ham grits, with roasted peppers and caramelized onions and Hollandaise sauce.

Among desserts, a homemade balsamic ice cream delivered the flavor of tamarind while a goat cheese ice cream had a texture that lingered nicely. Banana bread pudding included malt Anglaise and peanut brittle.

Lemon semifreddo was paired with blueberry compote and candied lemons. Despite all the innovations, Azalea’s prices ($5 – $27) were reduced from previous menus. Creative cocktails included homemade vermouths and bitters of distinction. Wine list ran $24 – $52 with all 25 selections available by the glass.

Azalea

400 Walnut St., 288-9606
Mon. – Thurs.: 5 p.m. – 10 p.m. , Fri. – Sat.: 5 p.m. – 11 p.m.

In gambling, the idiom “I’d rather be lucky than good” has some legs, at least in the short term. In the restaurant business though, people make their own luck, with help from their PR agents, research departments, test kitchens and sleepless nights. Sometimes, luck and hard work merge. The Travel Channel’s successful extreme eating show “Man vs. Food” shot 14 hours of film this summer at Jethro’s. Host Adam Richman took the Adam Emmanecker Challenge – to eat a sandwich named after a former Drake basketball star in just fifteen minutes. It included a fried pork tenderloin, an Angus burger, brisket, bacon, fried cheese, chicken tenders and cheese sauce. Richman’s effort will be revealed on an October 6 premiere and rebroadcast many times. Other bars and restaurants featured on “Man vs. Food” challenges have seen business triple after a show premiered.

Sudden influxes of new business can be both a blessing and curse when a restaurant isn‘t ready for them but Jethro’s partners Bruce Gerleman and Dominic Iannarelli are prepared for their lucky break. They opened a second store, Jethro & Jake’s, between I-80 and Prairie Meadows, in early September – just in time to work out any kinks before Richman puts them on the Travel Channel map.

For starters, the new place (formerly Godfather’s) seats 170, two thirds again as many as the Drake store. The smoker in Altoona holds 1400 pounds of meat at a time, twice that of the Drake venue. It’s allowed Iannarelli to push smoke time a bit.

That resulted in perfect briskets on both occasions I tried them, tender enough to break apart between my tongue and the roof of mouth. I was able to order it freshly sliced off the point (fatty) end too. The new smoker used hickory exclusively and this was the first time I have ever encountered perfect brisket without oak or mesquite involved. Don’t tell Texas. J & J’s steaks, an innovation not available in Dogtown, were prepared in an oak and hickory pellet cold ( 95 degrees F) smoker. A ribeye, the steak best composed to tolerate the rigors of slow cooking, delivered the advertised “campfire” flavor. Those who like their steaks rare will probably stick to high heat searing methods though.

Fans of the Drake Jethro’s will find everything they like in Altoona: sports bar class television; Cabela’s class woodwork; large portions of food at family friendly prices; superb side dishes; and a variety of good sauces.

Pulled pork was consistently moist and juicy, crunchy and smoky at the same time.

Jethro’s ribs had a deep pink ring, a sweet bourbon glaze and competition-ready texture. Chickens were offered pulled as sandwiches, and on the bone in dinners. Half pound burgers, plate wide pork tenderloins, and thick catfish filets all could seduce barbecue loyalists. Sauces covered the sweet-sour radar from sugary Texan, to vinegary Carolina style, sweet & hot Bahamian and even Bob Gibson’s famous white sauce recipe (cider vinegar and mayonnaise) from Alabama.

Iannarelli’s macaroni and cheese was made with shell pasta, cream and aged white cheddar. His fried cheese also used aged white cheddar. Onion rings were buttermilk washed, lightly fried and expertly seasoned. Chicken wings were smoked and fried yet remained moist. Chips and dip were served with a blue cheese-artichoke-spinach sauce. Sweet potato fries and mashed potatoes with gravy were both scratch-made. Excellent gumbo used sassafras and chicken stock with smoked chicken and andouille sausage. Baked beans consisted of home-soaked kidney beans in barbecue sauce. Cole slaw came in hot German and cold Midwestern versions, the latter overly liquid.

Bottom line – Jethro & Jake’s looks like the best bet in Altoona.

Jethro & Jake’s

2601 Adventure Dr., Altoona, 957-9727

Mon. – Thurs. 11 a.m. – 11 p.m., Fri. – Sat. 9:30 a.m. – midnight, Sun. 9:30 a.m. – 11 p.m.

Midori has two extremely cute cocktails for the holidays. Merry Melon to all.

Midori Holly-Daze

1 1/4 parts Midori Melon liqueur

3/4 parts Skyy Infusions Citrus

1 part Finest Call Simple Syrup

1 part Half & Half

1 Raw Egg (No Shell)

Procedure: Combine Ingredients into a mixing tin with ice. Shake hard for 30 seconds &

Strain into a 10 oz glass over fresh ice.

Garnish:  Depending on holiday, Red & Green or Blue & Silver sprinkles

Midori’s Elf Kiss

1 1/2 parts Midori Melon Liqueur

1 1/2 parts Sweet & Sour

1 part Skyy Infusions Citrus

Juice of 1/2 a Lemon

2 1/2 inch squares of Fresh Ginger

Top with Cranberry Juice

A floater of Orange Liqueur

Garnish:  candied ginger and a cranberry.

Fill tall glass with ice, pour Midori as the bottom layer.  Muddle fresh ginger and juice of 1/2 a lemon.  Add sweet & sour and Skyy Infusions Citrus.  Shake with ice.  Strain and pour over the bottom layer. Finally, carefully top with cranberry juice and a floater of Orange Liqueur.  Garnish with candied ginger and a cranberry.

Man can’t live by bread alone but it’s a damned good start toward building more elaborate food enterprises. In the last decade, George Formaro, along with Steve and Joe Logsdon parlayed two superior bakeries into seven of the best restaurants in the state. Of the three men, Joe Logsdon has been the most focused, keeping all his eggs, and flour, under just one roof – La Mie, a French bakery-café of deserved renown and minimal flair. Its authenticity is based in techniques that are employed invisibly. It is a genuine scratch bakery. Logsdon would rather eat Velveeta than use a pre-mixed flour. Since he apprenticed with an international cheese importer, he’s not about to do either. His bakers break their own butter and fold it by hand, carrying their dough from sheeting to usage. That’s a two to three hour process that very few American bakeries bother with anymore. La Mie bakers also roll baguettes by hand and practice true lamination – two lost arts.

Their results rank among the great food discoveries in Iowa. Six to eight fresh artisan breads are baked each day as are some 30 fresh pastries, the textures of which can produce tears of gratitude. Sticky rolls, scones, brioches, croissants, pecan rolls, caramelized apple Danish, rhubarb cream puff pastries, tarts of seasonal fruits, almond cakes drenched in marzipan and authentic macarons are all de rigeur at La Mie. So are exquisite sandwiches, soups and salads, all served with the divine breads, real butter and high end jams. In a previous review I wrote that “it would be impudent to want anything more.” I take that back, gratefully.

Logsdon has now expanded La Mie into evening hours and dinner service. He did that once before but this time his focus is different and unique to Des Moines. He detected two voids in local dining: inexpensive family fine dinning, and affordable pairings for white wine drinkers. Two fill those holes, all La Mie dinner items cost between $7 – $18. Twenty one wines are priced between $18 – 34, with nine available in carafes measuring one third of a bottle and costing just one third the price of a full bottle. On each of my visits, six of the eight entrees were seafood dishes while other offerings included omelettes, quiches, pasta & rice, salad and antipasta platters of seafood.

The kitchen is in the hands of Logsdon protégés Stephen Hallam and Ashton Cross. They demonstrated deft hands during the hectic first weeks of the new service. Of three fish I tried, two were served perfectly moist and flaky and the third was overcooked but only as much as it is usually is in town.

Bread service, complimentary, is more like a free course than an amuse bouche. One night it came with a “fisherman’s spread” that blended oil, whitefish and potatoes with a a slice of deviled egg topped with relish, and plated with cornichons and raw cucumber slices.

Another night the spread with a soft cheese inside a roasted pepper with a cucumber-pineapple salsa and olive oil, plated with poached spinach.

Saffron risotto presented Arborio rice cooked in butter and home made chicken stock with an unmistakable flavor of crocus pestles, the world‘s most expensive spice. Asparagus were added late and shiitake mushrooms were added early enough to absorb the marvelous flavors of the dish. A pizza brought a thick pie topped with hummus, avocado, sprouts, fresh basil, and tomato.

An antipasti platter of wild salmon included poached spinach, pickled cucumber chunks, sun dried tomatoes and jicama sticks all laid on a bed of fresh basil.

A salad included fresh mexclun, craisins, soft cheese, almonds, apples and avocado. French onion soup of home made beef stock was topped with melted cheese and croutons. Quiches were served in perfect pastries, with bruleed eggs and layers (rather than immersions) of fromage blanc, asparagus & tomato, sausage & pepper, or bacon and onion treatments. Omeletes are offered with spinach and mushrooms, prosciutto & asparagus or smoked salmon.

My favorite dish was a perfectly poached sea bass, on creamy polenta with kale, leeks and broiled acorn squash. A tombo (albacore) wasn’t quite the fish the bass was, but it didn’t cost as much either.

Grilled ribeye, aged 21 days, was served with a de facto de Burgo of butter and oil with two sides.

Opera cake, raspberry tarts, macarons and several chocolate offerings comprised the lightest, least expensive dessert menu in town. La Mie’s Kids Menu also cuts new ground. For $4-5, kids could choose a soup, salad, jello or vegetable plate as well as amongst an egg dish, pasta, turkey antipasti, or a grilled ham & cheese.

La Mie Bakery & Café

841 42nd St., 255-1625

Mon. – Sat. 7 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Wed. – Fri. 4 p.m. – 9 p.m.

While half a billion Iowa eggs were being recalled, our mailbox filled with reader inquiries about drunken baboons, cannibals, happy hour deals and kid’s meals. Grateful to not be chasing the egg story, I determined to investigate their more esoteric concerns.

Newly protected as endangered species, baboons are now running amok in mountain vineyards outside Cape Town, South Africa. They feast on grapes that have turned alcoholic on the ground and then terrorize the town‘s best neighborhoods. This caused one Cityview reader to worry about raccoons eating his fallen grapes. We asked Jasper Winery’s Jean Groben if there was cause for concern.

“Lately in the early morning hours. we’ve been observing deer dancing, quite awkwardly, with raccoons in our vineyards. So yes, you’re right to worry,” she responded.

Another reader, recently returned from summer travels, wondered why happy hour food deals were relatively hard to find in Des Moines. Last summer we wrote about good bargains at Fleming’s so we revisited to find lesser deals this year. They still run a “five (items) for six (dollars) till seven (p.m.)” special but without the fabulous crab cakes that used to grace that menu. We did find $1 oysters at Splash, 801 Steak & Chop, and Django. 801 impressed us as the best overall happy hour food deal with $1 cheese burger sliders, $2 oyster po boys, and $3 steak sliders. They offered no deals on drinks though. Centro took the opposite tack, with martinis going for $5 across the board but no food deals. Gateway Market Café offered $3 glasses of wine (up $1 from a year ago) but no food deals. Django matched Centro’s martini deal and also offered fabulous half price charcuterie and cheese platters.

Kid’s menus inspired rather different inquiries. One parent lamented the state of kids’ menus and asked “Why can’t they be healthier than the same old corn dogs, chicken nuggets, burgers and melted cheese sandwiches, all with fries, and dreadful OREO sundaes?” We discovered that Panera’s kid’s menu included organic breads, low fat deli meats, and fruit sides. Cosi Cucina and Centro offered grilled chicken, good pizza and pasta options. Star Bar offered a grilled chicken breast with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Denny’s presented the best value – free kids’ meals in the evening, including fruit sides, vegetables of the day, pasta, and chocolate chip pancakes. La Mie had the best kids deal of all though. For $4-5, kids could choose a soup, salad, jello or vegetable plate as well as amongst an egg dish, pasta, turkey antipasti, or a grilled ham & cheese.

A second kid’s menu inquiry pondered why it’s sometimes necessary to order from a kid’s menu to get an adult sized grilled cheese sandwich with fries. That reader asked “Who decides these things?” We went to the ultimate authority, Mintel Menu Service’s Director of Research Eric Giandelone.

“There is no man behind the curtain. At chains the corporate chef decides. At independent restaurants, the executive chef does. They just seem to all copy each other based on the premise that kids will only eat a few things,” he said.

Another reader worried about “compassionate cannibalism,” the philosophy behind Flime restaurant in Berlin, Germany which has asked diner members to “donate any part of their body” through an “open-minded surgeon” for other members to eat. So far the location of their restaurant has not been disclosed. Figuring this to be the ultimate rendition of both pop-up and underground cafés, our reader asked if those trends were now dead. We went to Hal Jasa, Des Moines original underground chef.

“I think the base underground restaurant like I ran is dead as dead can be. The money is not there as well as the fact anymore it’s not the new hip thing. I would not consider “pop up” dining to be the same thing as everything is legit with real kitchens, liquor licenses, insurance, etc. We’ll see. You just may see a pop up here very soon,” he teased.

Django

210 10th St., 288-0268

Happy Hour: Mon., – Fri. 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.

801 Steak and Chop House

801 Grand Ave., 288-6000

Happy Hour Mon – Fri. 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Splash

303 Locust St , 244-5686

Happy Hour 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.

When Madison Avenue produces a “follow your bliss and open a restaurant story,” usually for a credit card company, things work out magnificently well. Middle aged families quickly transform dives into palaces, doing all the remodeling with smiles on their faces. On opening night, their place is packed with glamorous couples, toasting the owner-chef with champagne while his wife-hostess pops corks.

Sometimes things work out well in real life but never quite so quickly. Sometimes they don’t at all. Restaurants are a brutal business. The Des Moines Register’s restaurant critic recently published a list of the places that had gone out of business after she had reviewed them. It totaled 106 restaurants and only counted those she had actually reviewed in the last twelve years. That’s nearly nine per year. When you subtract all the “preliminary visits” that often replace reviews in the Register, and also subtract repeat reviews of the same restaurant, you’re in the ball park assuming that around 30 new places have been reviewed each year. That would mean roughly 30 per cent have been going down and that’s out of a superior restaurant gene pool. The Register has barely covered the lower rent segment of the industry where we often hang out hat.

The last two years, restaurants have been opening and closing so quickly that some readers have lectured us about “doing a better job of investigating the long term financial viability of a place before recommending it.” I imagine some bankers have heard that too. Yet the dream lives on. Last week we reviewed two new places that had opened in venues deserted by multiple ventures. Add The Oasis Ristorante to their number. It’s a Mom & Pop café that last month moved into the cozy underground confines long inhabited by La Trattoria and later by two other, short-lived cafés. The last one had covered an historic brick wall with palm thatch and built a bamboo Tiki bar. Mom & pop Levitt uncovered the walls and painted the bar. The place, on the Historical Register, is far more charming with this restored, minimalist look. It also fits the restaurant’s character better. Jeff Levitt is a middle aged guy who loves to cook. He developed his palate on the road, not in culinary school. His family has traveled extensively in the Mediterranean region and lived in Israel. The restaurant shares the Levitts’ bliss for the foods they love.

The Oasis menu features familiar Mediterranean items executed with fresh ingredients.

A gyros delivered meat that was both crispy and moist, fresh tomatoes, onions and lots of home made tzatziki (yogurt based sauce) on hefty pita. Potato salad was made with large, thin sliced potatoes and lots of creamy dressing.

Tabbouleh was delightfully light with fresh lemon and mint dressing its bulger wheat, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions.

A surf & turf variation brought two perfectly seared, rare lamb chops and a large seared scallop in a balsamic reduction, for just $9! Kefta kebabs were Persian style – resembling a grilled meat loaf more than cubed skewer meat. Among other menu highlights, stuffed mushrooms, chicken schnitzel and onion rings were all freshly breaded, chocolate covered strawberries were stuffed with minted goat cheese, and salads smelled of freshly sliced onions and tomatoes. Lunches were priced $5 – $9 and complete dinners ranged from $9 (chicken Parmasan, pasta of the day) to $15 (creamy style steak de Burgo, seared tuna and salmon). Beer and wine were available.

Bottom Line – The Oasis provides refreshing bargains and scratch made food in one of the city’s unique spaces.

Side Dishes

  Living History Farms offers German Harvest Dinner through Nov. 28. $50 per person , 378-5286.

The Oasis

207 4^th St., 288-4502

Mon. – Fri. 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Mon. – Thurs. 5 p.m. – 10 p.m., Fri. – Sat. 5 p.m. – midnight

In a strange year that has seen restaurants open and close in the same month, three new places appear to have long term potential. Molly’s Delicatessen debuted this summer in a Northland Building space where Blaxicon labored for months without ever opening before Chef Joe’s moved in and out.

Much of that historic building has been converted into artists’ studios lately and Molly’s fits in well, projecting the arty ambiance of a coffee house. People linger on their computers and children run about the antiques. Molly’s is in a second stage itself, having served the Second Avenue area a decade ago. Owners Kathy Holden and her mom Melanie Bowers made some fans there – four different happy people wrote or called to inform us that the deli was back in business.

Molly’s executes a short deli menu.

Corned beef and pastrami were lean, thin sliced brisket products. Roast beef and turkey, home made tuna, chicken and egg salad, and cheese completed the adult sandwich menu. A kid’s menu offered peanut butter, turkey, or cheese sandwiches with cookies and juice boxes for just $3.49. Sandwiches were served on Rotella’s breads. Reubens, stuffed tomatoes (with tuna or egg salad), and soups completed the lunch service. The latter were special. Matzo ball soup (Friday only) delivered rich chicken stock and French onion had a memorable beef flavor with shredded cheese and home made croutons.

Home made potato salad, pasta salad and cole slaw all came dressed in mayo-rich style. Marvelous home made pies included fresh fruits (peach and apple), light meringues and blue ribbon crusts. At $2.25 a slice, they were bargains.

After a decade in the same venue, El Rey had to move out of its strip mall this summer to make way for a video store. Fortunately El Rey were able to relocate just a few blocks west in Normandy Plaza. Their menu remains the same, with breakfast, chiles rellenos, fajitas and traditional stuffing for various sized tortillas ranging up to majestic burritos that are two feet long. This restaurant has become a late night magnet, particularly for restaurant workers. If anything, that seems enhanced by the move. Their new location is half again larger, accommodates a bar (that was not possible in the old space), and has a far more convenient parking lot.

La Casa del Pollos Rostizados opened in a Douglas Avenue venue where both Magic Wok and Central Grill were short lived. The new place looks like it’s found a niche. On my first visit, twenty people were waiting on a Sunday for orders despite the fact the charcoal-fired rotisserie was fully employed, roasting fifty birds at a time. Weekday lunch hour service was much faster and food was superb. Four salsas, including a smoky chile de arbol, were delightfully fresh and zingy. Pinto beans were cooked whole not mashed, and rice was spiced with paprika. The chickens might be the best rotisserie style birds in town.

They were splayed and racked before being circulated around two rows of burning charcoal. Their skins were perfectly golden with a hint of smokiness. Meat, even breast meat, was moister than what I find in supermarket rotisseries where birds are cooked whole. Hamburgers and French fries completed the menu.

Bottom Line – El Rey has definitely upgraded. Molly‘s and Casa del Pollos are serving some really good food.

Side Dishes

Tickets are on sale ($5 advanced, $7 at the door) for Taste of Altoona at Prairie Meadows Oct. 28. All food is covered by admission. Call 967-3366.

Molly’s Delicatessen

621 Des Moines St., 323-3354

Mon. – Fri. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

La Casa del Pollos Rostizados

2734 Douglas Ave., 255-9953

Daily 10 a.m. – 11 p.m.

El Rey Burrito

1960 Grand Ave., West Des Moines, 221-3577

Mon. – Thurs 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., Fri. Sat. 10 a.m. – 3 a.m., Sun. 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Atlantic Café Practices Healthy Respect for Farmers

This September, US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new program to develop local food systems – “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food.” The former Iowa Governor launched that initiative by recording a video. On both counts, Charlene Johnson was way ahead of the Secretary.

The Atlantic restaurateur’s TV series “What’s Cooking Atlantic?” (on Cable Channel 10 in SW Iowa) has always emphasized her direct relationships with producers of fresh foods. On her shows, Johnson brings her farmer-suppliers into her kitchen and even visits their farms to educate viewers. For instance, at A to Z Farm, she showed exactly what Alan Zellmer’s wagyu cattle ate – corn, hay, distiller’s corn gluten, commercial protein and corn syrup. Referring to the adage “You are what you eat,” Johnson deduces that you are also what your food ate.

“Direct connections are so important – people want to know that they can trust the people who raised the things they eat as well as the people who cooked them – to know it‘s going to be healthy as well as good to eat,” she explained.

Charlene and her son Mark Johnson know quite a bit about all those subjects – farming, cooking and health. They have traced their family farming roots back to Sweden in the 1700’s.

“Our ancestors came to America in the early 1900’s. Each generation of the family farmed until modern chemicals made Dad sick. Then Mom became a nurse,” Mark said.

Charlene was head nurse at the Cass County Hospital where she started the Diabetes Center. Mark graduated from Grinnell College as a Russian language major before discovering that part time jobs in restaurants were his true vocation. He started cooking at the Danish Inn in Elk Horn before becoming the banquet chef and later a general manager at a Wisconsin resort. Charlene said she began collaborating with him by telephone.

“He started calling me at all hours of the night, asking me how to make this and that,” she recalled.

Those phone calls increased after Charlene retired in 2002 and moved to Atlantic from Walnut. Mark had been looking for the right opportunity to buy his own restaurant and during one of those calls, his mom told him about vacant storefronts on a somewhat infamous downtown Atlantic street.

“Walnut had been tavern row. It was pretty much nothing but bars,” Charlene said, adding that her current restaurant occupies real estate that formerly housed three different taverns.

“We bought this place one bay at a time. The third bay, on the corner, was a real mess. Mushrooms, over a foot wide, were growing out of the yeast from spilt beer that caked the floor,” Mark recalled of a room that now sparkles with bright, old fashioned soda fountain décor. “The main room wasn’t so hard to convert because it had already added a kitchen,” he continued.

“Yeah, after the owner’s wife got religion we’re told,” Charlene added.

The restaurant was supposed to be just Mark’s business.

“First he asked me to help bake pies. He wanted a sour cream raisin pie and I don’t even eat raisins,” Charlene said of a pie that has been named one “500 Things to Eat Before It‘s Too Late” by Gourmet Magazine columnists Jan & Michael Stern.

It wasn’t long before Charlene was doing considerably more than baking pies.

“Now I am here for several hours each day before the breakfast prep staff even comes in,” she said.

“It’s how we keep Mom alive,” Mark added, explaining that Charlene is unable to take pain medication because of sclerosis and thus copes with considerable other pains by staying active. Charlene counters that Mark also keeps working through life threatening illnesses and injuries.

“The long hours keep us young. Besides, I am definitely not a coffee club type of person. I can’t even sit still long enough to watch a television show from start to finish,” Charlene admitted.

“I make sure everyone sees for themselves how much Mom loves working here. So they won’t blame me if she dies on the job,” Mark joked.

The Farmer’s Kitchen is no small café – it has over 100 seats in the two bays that are always set, plus an extra room for special occasions. Charlene does most of the baking in a kitchen that makes all its own breads and desserts, except for one sandwich bun. She also supervises a kitchen staff that ranges between two and five people during the 12 hours they are open, six days a week. She still finds time to chat up guests in the front of the house even on Wednesday night’s when a labor intensive, pan fried chicken special draws a large crowd. Holidays are also quite busy.

“We’re the only place open on Thanksgiving, for quite a distance. That‘s why we do it. So people with nowhere to go have a place – especially the crisis center people,” Charlene said, alluding to Atlantic’s Family Crisis Support Network which serves eight counties and also draws from both Omaha and Des Moines.

Mark’s in charge of the menu but entrusts all the decorating decisions to Charlene, with just one caveat.

“I told her she can’t do cute,“ he said with an indecisive inflection in his voice.

Antique signs, notoriously ersatz in most “farmer” theme restaurants, are genuine here. They come from nostalgic local places like Surge Milker in Elk Horn and Arnold’s Meat Market in Atlantic.

“I cleaned out my closets,” Charlene explained pointing to family photos of bachelor uncles, great grandparents and Charlene’s grandfather’s bar in Boonefield, Nebraska. One back wall displays some marvelous sculptures that her husband made of his father’s farm, plus a miniature windmill. Other walls hold lots of children’s art.

“I have a soft spot for that,” Charlene admitted.

Both Charlene and Mark have won serious cooking awards. Mark took the People’s Choice prize in the International Chili Society’s World Championships with a recipe that features Anaheim chilies grown by one for the restaurant’s chefs. Mark credits Charlene with helping secure that award.

“I had her serve it. She yelled a lot at the judges and made an impression,” he laughed.

Mark’s Cy-Hawk burger, now on the menu, won WHO Radio’s “Best Iowa Burger” contest this September. Earlier this year, Charlene entered the American Pie Council’s National Pie Championships in Orlando, Florida for the first time. Her chocolate peanut butter explosion was named the nation’s best peanut butter pie. As awards come their way, the Johnson’s shift credit to others, emphasizing the role of local farmers.

“We get all our eggs from Lyman Produce, all our Kobe burger from Zellmer’s and all our regular burger is all fresh ground each day at Henningsen’s (meat locker in Atlantic). We get our bacon from them too. We get seasonal produce from Rhonda Elbert in Marne and she also grows greenhouse tomatoes,” Charlene said.

Those suppliers are not the only reason the restaurant is named The Farmer’s Kitchen.

“Ninety percent of our cooking is complete scratch cooking – old fashioned farm style,“ Mark said.

Charlene’s two award winning pies, plus several others, are available every day. Mark’s championship chili, made with just chilies and meat, is not – he substitutes a tomato rich recipe that fulfills more popular expectations for that dish.

“My competition chili would have to sell for about $10 a bowl to break even. And people expect chili to taste like tomatoes,” he explained.

Their menu focuses on traditional Iowa café dishes. Slow food techniques distinguish them. Hot beef sandwiches are made with bottom flats, far more tender than rounds, which produce plenty of trim for old fashioned stock pot gravies. French toast is made with Charlene’s leftover cinnamon rolls. Charlene’s meat loaf, a perennial best seller, manages a wondrous crust as well as a moist interior, even on the last piece in the pan.

“That’s always the challenge with restaurant meat loaf – to keep it from drying out. We experimented for years and finally tried something we didn’t believe would work. We substituted oatmeal for bread crumbs,” Mark admitted.

In one instance, Mark isn’t interested in prizes. Six ounce pork tenderloins are cut an inch thick and marinated in fresh buttermilk before being tenderized three times and then fried. The result is remarkably tender for such a thick cut of pork. Mark says he knows he will never attain an award-winning color with such a thick cut but he thinks customers prefer a significant piece of meat over a golden glow. People who want their pork tenderloins to look perfect order Mark’s “Pig Lips” which are tenderloins cut into thinner strips.

Mutual experiences revealed insight to the Johnson‘s.

“The restaurant business and the medical business have more in common than I ever imagined. The stress level is similar because in both cases there’s always too many things to do and too little time, explained Mark.

“But they are also similar on a more gratifying level. When I try to explain the long hours and the low pay, it comes down to this – there’s no where else I can think of where you get so much instant gratification. Where you can please folks in just the time it takes to serve a good meal?” Charlene asked.

As for nursing, Charlene says she only misses it when she hears emergency helicopters landing at the hospital.

“That gets my adrenaline going. Otherwise, this is where I want to be,” she said, admitting that they have found a way to bring her two callings together:

“Once a month, we feed the crisis center people. That’s just something we feel like doing, especially for the children. Their world is falling apart and they can really appreciate a good meal and a friendly place to eat it. That’s good medicine.”

FARMER KITCHEN’S SOUR CREAM RAISIN PIE

2 cups sour cream
4 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)
1 cup sugar
4 heaping tsp. flour
1 and half cups raisins

MERINGUE

4 to 8 egg whites

quarter tsp. cream of tartar
4 to 5 TBS. sugar

Stir sour cream & egg yolks in a saucepan.
Add sugar, flour & raisins. Mix.
Cook over medium heat until raisins are plump & mixture is glossy.
Pour into a 10” baked pie crust.

Beat egg whites & cream of tartar on high speed until frothy.
Add sugar slowly until peaks form.
Using a rubber spatula, spread meringue over warm pie filling. Spread over pie edge to insure firm seal.
Swirl top of meringue with spatula to create peaks.
Bake until peaks are golden brown.

The accordion is music’s metaphor for confusion. It was adored by Tchaikovski and Charles Ives, as well as by John Mellencamp, Tom Waits, They Might Be Giants, Weird Al Yankovich and subway buskers worldwide. The accordion is the main instrument of folk music from valenato and cumbia in Colombia, to baião and forro in Brazil, sevdalinka in Bosnia, zydeco in Louisiana, tejano in Texas and Mexico, tango in Argentina and Viking metal in Scandinavia. Yet many Americans still think it begins and ends with Myron Floren and the Lawrence Welk Show. That’s a tough mental block to chip. Between two wildly successful books (“The Shipping News” and “Brokeback Mountain”), E. Annie Proulx wrote “Accordion Crimes.” That book traced a cursed accordion from 1890 Sicily through New Orleans, Texas, Maine, Minnesota and Prank, Iowa to its end in 1886 Florida. Despite its epic scale, it was Proulx‘s biggest flop.

Accordions are a tough sale so it figures that an accordion themed restaurant might be too. Sergey Lozovich though is a true believer whose Valley Junction café reflects the scope of the instrument by serving dishes from countries with great accordion traditions – Ukraine, Russia, Germany, France and Ireland among them. Lozovich plays his own accordions and at other times he plays accordion videos that range from tango to Tchaikovski. I once asked him about a soup recipe and he responded by comparing eight button accordions to some other kind.

His kitchen is the accomplished hands of Chris Place whose resume covers as many superb Iowa restaurants as anyone‘s. He was the last chef at 43 and the original chef at both Django and Proof. Lately he’s been working for Hong Willer at Café Shi in Ames. So the diversity of a multi-ethnic menu doesn’t phase him in the least.

“We’re just getting started. Pretty soon, I plan to get into baking some East European style rye breads

but for now our mixers are completely employed making pirozhok (savory turnovers), noodles, pelmeni ( a pasta) and dessert pastries,” he explained.

Hearty foods dominated Accordion’s first autumn menu. A borscht delivered spectacular stock (made exclusively with marrow bones), beets that had been sliced, diced and cubed, and some very lean beef cubes. Lapsha resembled chicken noodle soup with deep chicken stock, homemade noodles, diced vegetables and homemade croutons. Chunks of breast meat were the least flavorful things in the pot.

Pelmeni were a cross between ravioli and shu mai, with beef stuffing and a vodka tomato sauce. They were served with sautéed fresh spinach.

Shashlik were kebabs of lean beef and vegetables served on a fabulous bed of spiced green lentils with fresh haricots verts and black walnuts. Potato options included a German style potato salad that my German grandfather would have liked and freshly cut pommes frites.

Accordion’s beer braised pork was the least interesting dish. Lean loin didn’t stand up well to the braising, though lemon pepper, onion, and sautéed spinach-tomato-garlic accompaniments compensated. Good side dishes included home made pickles, and a salad of herring with several root vegetables.

Deserts included apple pirozhok with sauce Romanoff (resembling Bavarian cream) and khvorost – Russian “Twig” cookies dusted with powdered sugar. Croquettes of beef, seafood stew, homemade brats, burgers and potato encrusted fried dishes of whitefish and chicken breast completed the menu. An excellent international beer list and an inexpensive wine list pushed a festive mood.Bottom line – Scratch recipes from the Old World and live accordion music make this place unique in Iowa.

Accordion

227 5^th St., West Des Moines, 255-9895.

Tues. – Sat. noon – 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Nearly a year behind schedule, Copa Cavana plans to open any day now in the old Ingersoll theater while Tommy Farrell’s plans to open a second Italian Beef restaurant on Ingersoll have fallen apart… Rib Shack opened next door to the National Sprint Car Museum in Knoxville while Smokey D’s moved into a larger venue next to the Big Barn Harley Davidson on Second Ave.

BACARDI® ZOMBIE
3 1/3 parts BACARDI® Superior Rum
1 part grenadine
1 part triple sec
2 parts sweet and sour mix
2 parts orange juice
Shake all ingredients with ice and pour into tall glass.
Float small portion BACARDI ® 151° Rum. Garnish with fresh fruit.

BACARDI® O™ SCREAM

1 part BACARDI® O™ Flavored Rum

4 parts Cream Soda

Pour ingredients over ice. Garnish with orange wedge.

BACARDI® RED RUM
2 parts BACARDI 8 Year Old Rum
½ part Sloe Gin
2 doz. Redcurrants
½ part fresh lemon juice
½ part vanilla syrup
Cubed Ice
A small bunch of redcurrants to garnish

Muddle the redcurrants in the bottom of a shake
Add all other ingredients (except the garnish)
Throw in some ice and give a good hard shake
Double strain into a chilled or frozen cocktail glass
Garnish with redcurrants

BACARDI® SCORPION
2 parts BACARDI® Superior Rum
1 part Cognac
2 parts Fresh Orange Juice
½ art Orgeat Syrup
1 part fresh lemon juice
Cubed Iced
Sprig of mint to garnish

Pour all the ingredients (except the garnish) into a shaker
Throw in some ice and give it a good shake
Strain into a highball or Collins glass half-full of ice
Garnish with a sprig of mint

BACARDI® BAT BITE SHOT DRINK

3 parts BACARDI® Superior Rum

1 part Raspberry Liqueur

2 parts Cranberry Juice

Mix together in a shaker with ice and strain into a shot glass.