December 20, 2008

  • Phat Chef's

     Phat Chef’s

    Des Moines’ restaurant scene has come a long way since I began writing this column in 1995. Back then nothing had replaced Babe’s as a “go-to” restaurant downtown. Several Italian cafes from Babe Bisignano’s generation dominated dining here, but there was no young energy until half a dozen chefs from the American South started opening cafes in the late ’90s with fresh and local kitchen philosophies. Then farmers markets provided their best local suppliers with a means to a livelihood. Immigrant entrepreneurs infused more new ideas. Creative manufacturers of new foods, such as La Quercia and Northern Prairie, allowed people to think of Iowa as a producer of quality food, rather than just huge quantities of cheap food. The gap between reading about and experiencing the latest food trends shortened.

    A couple weeks ago, we jumped that gap when the New York Times proclaimed that chef-served menus were the next “big thing.” Dean Richardson has been doing that at Phat Chef’s in West Des Moines for quite awhile now.

    “We get too busy usually on weekends to do it, but my regulars are used to it now on weekdays. They like to sit at the bar and just order “three or four courses” and leave the rest up to me. It keeps my creative juices flowing, too,” he explained.

    There’s always been a lot to like about Phat Chef’s, an oasis of fresh and local thinking in the franchise-dominated suburbs west of Valley West Mall. It’s open for lunch with four excellent scratch made soups, some 30 deli sandwiches and several salads. Table cloth and candlelight dinner service has always provided reliable steaks, from Richardson’s family farm in Calhoun County, excellent crab cakes with red-pepper coulis, a Caesar salad in which you can truly taste the freshly pressed anchovies, one of the best applications anywhere of Northern Prairie chevre (cashew encrusted with homemade tangerine-orange marmalade) and good uses of seasonal Iowa foods — from Spring morels to snow herbs. But nothing in my dining career has proved more consistently rewarding than leaving a menu in the hands of a good chef. So, on a recent Tuesday night, I went for Richardson’s (small) five-course menu without asking any questions. I noticed four other customers doing likewise amongst a crowd of twenty. I’d do it again in an instant.

    My first course featured half a slightly poached plum, a miracle of Fed Ex delivery, with Port Salut cheese and four kinds of fresh sprouts, including Daikon radish and Bull’s Blood beets, dressed with clove oil. I was dazzled before a giant Weathervane divers scallop appeared, seared and stuck with a slice of caramelized pear over wilted pea and corn shoots on top of a sweet pea puree with a splash of tomato water and a dab of goat cheese.

    Next came three slices of skin-on duck breast with Richardson’s unique tangerine-orange marmalade and wilted watercress. That was followed by three slices of perfectly seared, rare tenderloin of beef under a generous dab of foie gras and caramelized onions. He finished me off with a trio of delights from Sweet Binney’s — a flourless chocolate torte and a chocolate fudge smear flanking a lemon tart. That cost about the same as an appetizer and entree would have. Richardson also offered small tastings of wines paired for each course for the price of a large glass. Phat Chef’s wine list and pairing suggestions carry as much weight with serious wine drinkers as any place in town.

    This Fall, sous chef Hal Jasa hal jasa

    initiated a $10 special Mon. - Thurs.. These were graciously offererd and enthusiastically endorsed on each of my visits. That's the key, if you're going to have low price bargain, don't shame people out of ordering. You know who I am talking about.

  • Maverick Grill

    Maverick Grill

    Decked out in something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue, Maverick Grill could make a lovely bride. The old part is local legend — the father of this bride is Miller Ream, a notable financier and bon vivant from Northern California who never forgot his Iowa roots. Ream was also the proud daddy of The Rusty Scupper, an upscale chain (only one still exists, in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor) that dazzled 1970s Des Moines with its restaurant on Grand Avenue. The Scupper was Iowa’s first million dollar restaurant property, and it introduced Des Moines to bartenders in formal attire, surcharges for side dishes and perfect prime rib. Scupper menus were written on boat oars, one of which has been borrowed and embedded in Maverick’s entryway reminding us that not too long ago, $9 (a bottle) Chateau Neuf de Pape was the top of the wine line, and fresh abalone was not only sold in Des Moines, it was cheaper than crab.

    Most everything else about Maverick is new. The restaurant’s name refers to Mavericks, a legendary point break surf near Half Moon Bay, Calif. Murals detail passions of Miller Ream, his family farm and the deep blue seascapes of coastal California. Restaurant trappings are splendid — solid nautical wood paneling and furniture, polished brass, fine marble tables, a heat resistant glass bar wall, a stylish open kitchen with bar seating, etc. Yet prices were surprisingly moderate. Lunch offered soup, sandwich and salad combos for $5 to $8. A panko-crusted cod was best man among sandwiches. A well seared Maverick burger was more than most people can eat for less than $10, but the beef in a similarly priced French dip was scant as a bridesmaid’s garter. Each sandwich included a choice of side dishes. Both cioppino and bouillabase, the grand dames of seafood stews, delivered plenty of fish and crustacean flesh in flavorful stocks for just $16. A cream corn pasta with blackened scallops cost even less and was my favorite dish. Lasagna in house-made marinara was exactly what one expects in this Italian restaurant town.

    Crab cakes had a nice crust and good crab flavor but no lumps of crabmeat. Fish & chips were less successful. Halibut seemed like a strange choice as its price has skyrocketed this year. Maybe that’s why it was parsed out and hidden in heavy breading. One expects more flesh in fish sticks, let alone fish & chips.

    The biggest disappointment was prime rib. After requesting something quite different, I was served an end cut. That would have been OK if it had the flavorful crust one expects from a prime rib related to the Rusty Scupper’s. Alas, this one was light gray and bland.

    Desserts ($5-$6) were basic as fudge cake, cheesecake, Snicker bar pie and flan. A well chosen wine list ranged between $27 to $48, with one $75 champagne splurge. A unique cocktail menu priced its specialties around $8.

    This place is new, and service was understandably inconsistent. Some specific orders were not communicated to the kitchen or the bar, but apologies were profuse and sincere. In one instance, we were told that an order for a “gin” martini had confounded the system. In the Scupper’s day, before vodka conquered the cocktail world, all martinis were made with just two ingredients — gin and vermouth. Our bill added a surcharge for the vermouth.

  • Having written about Iowa food for 20 years, it's time we started making our work available to the blogset. Let us know what you want to see here.

    Jim Duncan - Des Moines Food Dude