Kurry Xpress (KX) of Omaha expanded recently into a challenging strip mall in Clive. A Vietnamese crawfish joint and a Mexican restaurant both gave up after short runs in the same location. Because of a new traffic island, northbound 86^th St. provides the only entrance or exit. That’s a clue – the word “Xpress” is related to the verb “express,” as in “express yourself,” not the adjective, as in “express delivery.”

The store had been remodeled with wooden tables and chairs plus new blinds. The latter had stickers attached warning of the dangers of strangulation and its many complications. Lots can happen while you wait for an order. On each of my visits, everyone ordering at the counter was told “20 to 25 minutes” were required. My order, even drinks, actually took 41 minutes on my first visit and two items didn’t make it all. The next time, I called ahead and my food was waiting when I arrived 35 minutes later. The dining room was rather full each time, mostly with people waiting for carryout orders. Indian movies played on one TV with volume while muted Country Western music played on another – Toby Keith seemed to be singing a Hindi dance tune.

South Indian dishes were full of bold flavors. I tried two called “Chettinad,” a word which can refer to a region as well as to the Hindu caste devoted to the culinary arts. A lamb dish by that name tasted of coriander and tender meat with curry leaves, red chilies, fennel and poppy seeds in a tomato based gravy. My lamb vindaloo was not nearly as flavorful as the Chetinnad style. Cumin rich tadka dhal (yellow lentils) was served in a superb reduction of onions, tomatoes, garlic and ginger. Saag paneer (homemade cheese with spinach) was less creamy than others in town.

Naan (bread) was thinner and crispier than what Des Moines is used to.

Samosa chaat (egg roll snacks) buried pieces of chopped samosa at the bottom of cholay masala (chick pea stew). Rice stuck to the paper plates on which it was served, even turned upside down.

“Take out” orders were served in plastic containers with lids, “dine-in” orders in the same containers without lids.

Despite liking some curries, it‘s hard to recommend KX. Namaste is just twelve blocks away with more sophisticated South Indian cuisine, considerably better service, comparable prices, a lunch buffet, a beer and wine license, and easy access. Movies are similar though.

Across town, Tong Baccam seems to have found an ideal spot to introduce Vietnamese cuisine to the south side. His Aroy-Dee (Thai for “yummy-yeah“) has taken over another location that saw multiple cafés quickly come and go. Remodeling added tables plus an entryway that reduced winter drafts. Business was booming on each of my visits distinguished by quick, friendly service.

Owner chef Baccam opened this place after selling the popular Vietnamese café Pho Ha Dao. Fans of the latter can find most of the Indo Chinese dishes they liked there plus some 25 Chinese choices. That means bargains like an entire angry catfish with rice for just $8.50.

“House special” stir fry dishes cost as little as $6.50.

Bun thit nuong ( rice noodles with grilled pork) included eight vegetables and lemon sauce for $6.50.

Pho tai chin (beef stock noodle soup) lacked the rich brothy flavor of the best in town (TNT), but delivered excellent brisket and rare rounds of beef plus a plate of fresh culantro, cilantro, sprouts, chilies and basil for as little as $7.

Side Dishes

In just 15 months, All Spice owner Alex Rhodes influenced as many top chefs as anyone in Des Moines has. May cinnamon angels sing him to his rest.

Aroy-Dee

2128 Indianola Ave., 528-8009

Daily 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Kurry Xpress

1679 NW 86th St., Clive, 223-2202

Sun. and Tues. – Thurs. 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. 9 p.m., Fri. – Sat. 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

As often as not, the proverb “there’s no replacing an institution” is wrong. Quality education for Catholic girls did not end with St. Joseph’s Academy. The Des Moines Register managed to publish after both Babe’s and The Office closed. The Polk County Courthouse still operated without The Milner or Chapter 13. Here are two recent cases in point.

Chip Coil closed The Library last year after a 19 year run hosting the Drake community with scratch nachos, cheap beer and the city’s pithiest little billboard. With only 38 seats, the place seemed an unlikely fit for new owners Full Court Press (FCP), whose résumé includes Royal Mile, Red Monk, Hessen Haus, High Life Lounge, Fong’s Pizza, El Bait Shoppe, Mullet’s and Sbrocco. On the other hand, FCP is nothing if not savvy. They kept the billboard and the nachos – each batch is freshly cut, deep fried and served hot with a choice of five toppings, plus fresh pico de gallo, banana peppers, pintos, sour cream and cheese.

They completely upgraded the beer menu. “Basically, what we have here is a consensus of what we learned at Royal Mile, Hessen Haus, Red Monk and El Bait Shop,” partner Jeff Bruning explained a tap that featured both domestic and imported “Belgians,” the only Paulaner Munich Lager in Iowa, Iowa brews from Knoxville and Iowa City, plus hits from England and Ireland living peacefully under the same roof.

Their cooler featured an array of cans, including Cain’s, an interesting dark brew from Liverpool. “As long as you don’t actually drink out of the can, they provide the best delivery system for beer,” insisted Bruning.

Italian chicken soup featured al dente angel hair, stewed chicken, smoky tomatoes and fabulous broth made with white chicken stock.

Hand breaded prok tenderloins

and freshly ground hamburgers starred on a good sandwich menu, especially with skinny onion rings.

Corned beef was quite lean. Pasta in home made mac & cheese was so soft it dissolved between my tongue and the roof of my mouth.

An Italian roast beef sandwich was neat enough to eat while driving – no juices dripped.

Blues on Grand (BG) closed in 2010 after 11 years. Its demise was mourned by multitudes though “lack of business” was cited as its failing. BG outlived its milieu which has transformed from a strip of adult book stores and homeless shelters into a new culture zone featuring a $240 million insurance building, an elite sculpture park, and Meredith headquarters. The zone’s protectors have vocally objected to a Subway outlet with a marble façade, so new owners Frank Farrell, Ryan Flattery and James Wilson artfully upgraded the venue and renamed it The Gas Lamp. Ceiling high windows provide a view of Yoshitomo Nara’s creepy little girl, the latest source of pride for the zone’s arbiters of fine taste.

Gas Lamp retained BG’s popular Friday Work Release Party (with Sumpin’ Doo) which includes a buffet and draws a crowd that would have been at home in The Milner. Otherwise, entertainment is eclectic – everything but hip hop. Gas Lamp will even host this summer’s initial Bloomsday Iowa, an event celebrating James Joyce and other Irish things sophisticated enough to drink whiskey without embarrassing the culture police. The bar also added a menu that features authentic versions of Chicago dogs (with Sport peppers),

 Fontanini meatball sandwiches, Graziano sausage sandwiches, and Chicago style Italian beef.

The latter was made to be eaten while leaning over the bar so that its ample, sloppy juices drip somewhere appropriate. Thus, the sandwich symbolizes Gas Lamp’s role in its new hood – providing a proper place for the sloppy juices to drip.

The Library

3506 University Ave., 255-0433

Mon. – Fri. 11 a.m.-2 a.m., .Sat. 8 a.m. – 2 a.m., Sun. 8 a.m.-midnight. Kitchen closes at 9 p.m. daily

The Gas Lamp

1501 Grand Ave., 280.3778

Mon. – Fri. 11 a.m. – 2 a.m., Sat. – Sun. 2 p.m. 2 a.m., kitchen open lunch, late night and most other times.

Side Dishes

Baru66 celebrates the life of Georges Auguste Escoffier all of March with specials from Le Guide Culinaire… Subway is partnering with Diet Coke to support heart disease awareness.

Eight years ago, we editorialized about the possibilities for an Iowa bacon festival, suggesting one could become a late summer equivalence of Wine Fest. Living History Farms picked up on that idea but their September bacon event died after two years. Like us, they were thinking in 20^th century terms. Last summer, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange ended the trading of pork bellies (from which bacon is made) after a 50 year run that made them the media icon of all commodities futures. In the 20^th century, pork belly contracts were heavily traded because buyers needed to reduce risk of price fluctuations, mainly driven by huge demand for BLTs during late summer when tomatoes ripened. In the 21^st century, pork bellies were barely traded at all because bacon demand leveled out over all seasons.

This February, Des Moines’ Blue Ribbon Bacon Fest (BRBF) demonstrated that tomatoes need bacon more than vice versa. Once a mere bigamist married to both eggs and tomatoes, bacon now sluts around with everything from Pearl vodka, to Alsatian choucroute garni (Baru66), butterscotch cupcakes (Carefree Patisserie), peanut butter pizza (Gusto), and brown roux etouffee (Jethro’s). As bacon’s most conspicuous facilitator, BRBF has supplanted pork belly futures as a media icon. It drew: a front page story in the Wall Street Journal and a feature on National Public Radio; the ire of PETA and the Committee for Responsible Medicine; and a boycott by advocates of sustainable agriculture and animal welfare. Oooooo, bacon.

BRBF kicked off a week of celebrations with a “Bacon Elegance” dinner at Catering DSM. Chef Aaron King’s first course wrapped the chosen food around monkfish served on roasted tomato-Pernod cream studded with lardons (bacon).

His second course brought a spinach salad with blue cheese, candied walnuts, poached eggs and bacon – in a hot dressing that featured more bacon.

His main course wrapped bacon around a pork tenderloin rubbed with bacon sausage and sun dried tomatoes. It was served on bacon & squash risotto.

King’s root beer float was made with rye whiskey and home made bacon-coffee ice cream, served with a chocolate straw and a candied bacon spoon.

Officially, BRBF took a day off while Xi Jinping, the future leader of China, visited Des Moines. However, Embassy Club‘s Michael Bailey prepared an all Iowa menu for Xi that also loaded on both bacon and its pork cousin prosciutto. Canapés included BLT bites. Bailey’s first course presented a carrot-ginger terrine with prosciutto rosettes and bread. His main course featured bacon wrapped pork tenderloin, and beef tenderloin, with demiglace, onion rings, cheddar stuffed baked potatoes and sautéed butternut squash.

Politico wrote about nutritionists protesting Bailey’s menu. Mostly, they objected to the bacon. However Tibetan refugees, in Des Moines to protest Xi‘s visit, embraced both pork and beef while accounting for Gas Lamp’s busiest lunch ever. “They completely ate us out of Chicago dogs, meatball sandwiches and sausage sandwiches. They nearly cleaned us out of Italian roast beef sandwiches too,” explained Tommy Farrell.

Café di Scala hosted BRBF sponsors on Wednesday of Bacon Week. Chef Phil Shires presented: bacon wrapped dates stuffed with gorgonzola and toasted walnuts; puff pastry with scrambled eggs, cheddar, bacon and Béchamel sauce; pizzette with bacon vinaigrette, Gouda, more bacon, plus pancetta, onions and thyme; BLT sliders; and braised pork belly tacos in both Korean and Latin styles.

A Bacon Queen competition drew crowds to Johnny’s Hall of Fame on Thursday before Saturday’s grand finale hosted 4300 enthusiastic fans at the state fairgrounds (up from 1700 last year) with much vodka, beer and pork bellies.

Bottom line. BRBF is Iowa’s Lupercalia, the main outlet for youthful exuberance between New Years Eve and St. Patrick’s Day.

Catering DSM

400 Locust, St., 508-0829

Side Dishes

During BRBF, Bolton & Hay hosted a “Raw & Vegan Smoothies & Juices Workshop” which sold out at $60 per head.  

To preserve her leftovers, my grandmother kept a stock pot simmering on her stove around the clock, even after she bought her first refrigerator. Most of the foods that helped our Iowa ancestors survive long winters ended up in such pots where bones became the original brain food. (Anthropologists believe that human brain sizes only became possible after hominids began eating bone marrow.) Soups of potatoes, carrots, onions and especially squash figured prominently in early Iowa cookbooks.

Alba’s butternut squash with green apple soup

So did things that could easily be dried and dehydrated – mushrooms, fruits, legumes, meat and fish. In the 1950’s President Eisenhower hosted Soviet Union Premier Khrushchev at an Iowa-grown dinner in Des Moines. Their first course was split pea soup with smoked trotters. Soon after that, two crop agriculture put an end to Iowa split peas and centralized meat processing removed trotters from the state’s diet. Stocks were replaced with convenient soup starters or bouillons that lacked the nutritional values of liquefied bones. By the late1970’s, few Iowa restaurants bothered with the labor of bone stocks.

Then Governor Bob Ray saved our soup. His leadership in bringing southeast Asians to Iowa led to a number of restaurants specializing in pho.

That scrumptious soup is usually made here with a white stock (raw bones are used) of beef, and sometimes pork, bones. They simmer for at least eight hours before rice noodles, sprouts, cilantro and choices of meats are added. This winter at Lucky Dragon, Pho 888 and TNT, the Caribbean herb culantro has been added to the mix.

At Simply Asian, a similar glass noodle soup included black fungi and enoki mushrooms plus divine tofu skins while bar kut the, a mushroom soup,

added lychees and pork ribs or viscera.

Most stocks in Asia (and curiously Montreal) are made with pork bones but the only pork stock soup I found in Des Moines this winter was a ramen at Gateway Market Café. Chef George Formaro spent a year translating Japanese recipes before he settled on this one which also adds chicken bones, leeks, onions, garlic and ginger to the pot. Most non-Asian chefs in Iowa only make white stocks with chickens.

Lisa LaValle starts with six whole hens and mirepoix for her chicken and noodle soup at the Art Center Café – the richest tasting such soup I‘ve ever found, with little hand made dumplings for noodles. At Mojo’s on 86^th, Anthony Johnson makes chicken stock with Iowa raised, free ranged chickens and Cornish hens. That was the base recently of his Italian chicken tomato soup.

At Tally’s, Robert Sanda makes a crustacean shell stock for his lobster bisque.

Most classic European soups in Des Moines are made with brown stocks (of roasted bones). Little else is consistent one chef to the next. Formaro uses veal and beef bones in Django’s French Onion soup. David Baruthio uses veal and marrow bones in his version at Baru 66. Enosh Kelley mixes roasted duck and veal bones in his sumptuous caramelized French onion soup, finished at Bistro Montage with sherry. At Tally’s, Robert Sanda even makes a brown stock of veal bones for his chili.

Iowa’s mother soup is squash. Two of its most illustrious varieties — Acorn and Sibley — were born here and stay fresh all winter. Iowa soup makers are divided over whether squash soup should use chicken or vegetable stock. State Fair champion soup maker Lynn Jeffers prefers chicken stock. At Alba, Jason Simon makes his pureed butternut squash & Granny Smith apple soup with leek stock. Other vegetarian soups impressed us this winter too. Baru 66’s celery root soup has deep flavor and divine texture. The Art Center Café’s ginger lentil soup and multiple dhals at both Namaste

and India Star all have flavors that could bring back Iowa legumes. Ike and Nikita too.

Side Dishes

Dom Ianarelli (Jethro’s) won the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society chili cook off… Amateur Ellen Yee won Slow Food Des Moines’ soup competition with a spiced parsnip soup with Marsala, in white chicken stock.

Art Center Café

4700 Grand Ave., 271-0332

Tues. – Sun. 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Des Moines has become a serious charcuterie town. Ten years ago Des Moines delicatessens typically sliced cured meats from industrial purveyors like Hormel. Antipasti trays in Italian restaurants here resembled Hy-Vee deli platters more than those of restaurants in Italy. Then suddenly the city became Parma on the prairie. Herb and Kathy Eckhouse began curing hams here in the ancient way of Parma, where they had lived while working for Pioneer. Their La Quercia brand became a national sensation. Playboy labeled it “the pork of the gods.” Vogue’s Jeffrey Steingarten said theirs was “the best prosciutto one can buy, domestic or imported.” Mario Batali declared “it’s what I eat at home.” Bon Appetit wrote of their white spread, “if butter went to heaven it would taste like this.”

La Quercia expanded into additional artisan cured meats. They now make prosciuttos, pancetta, coppas, speck, lonza, guanciale, and lardo. Yet for a few years it was easier to find these products, or other home made charcuterie, in Napa or Healdsburg than Des Moines. Then Gateway Market and European Flavors began making new fans for artisan meats. Gateway even developed their own charcuterie, including a divine nduja (fermented spicy salami with texture of pâté).

Restaurants started taking charcuterie seriously. Django makes several sausages and their own bacon, plus rillettes (pork reduced to a spread in duck fat) and a country pâté with brandy and fennel. Bistro Montage offers a pork terrine with raisins and pistachios as well as a classic pâté. Mojo’s on 86^th puts forth a charcuterie plate entirely of house cured meats. Baru66’s house pâté shares the menu with terrines which change seasonally and home made Alsatian style cured meats and sausages. Alba changes its terrines weekly and cures sausage and bacon. Gateway Market and Cheese Shop of Des Moines slice La Quercia products with state of the art European machines.

Charcuterie entered the upper echelon of fine dining here earlier this month when Splash developed a new menu. Like Django they can pair charcuterie with a raw seafood bar and a grill. Splash brings the state’s most celebrated wine cellar to the party too.

“We have 100 members in our wine club now and felt that charcuterie was a natural way to enhance the wine experience,” explained Splash chef Dom Iannarelli.

Splash’s “Iowa platter” presented a prosciutto and a coppa from La Quercia with blue and sharp cheddar cheeses from Maytag and Milton Creamery’s Prairie Rose.

A “ham platter” matched La Quercia’s subtly smoked speck with Surry-ano ham from Virginia and Benton country ham from Tennessee. That Virginia ham was about half as dry and salty as most that bear that state’s name. It paired well with the sweet cheese from Milton Creamery. The Benton ham was sweeter and less salty than either of my prosciuttos. Both plates were accompanied by a relish tray that included house smoked cherry tomatoes in a vinegar and Srichacha sauce, pickled peppers and a trio of olives. Plates were also garnished with generous amounts of fig jam, stone ground mustard, candied nuts and dried fruits.

Sommelier Jason Vogelgesang selected a glass of Julien Frey 2009 Alsatian Riesling because “its dry acidity accentuates those cheeses” plus a glass of St Joseph Domaine Flacher 2008, a French syrah which was considerably subtler and more balanced than any California syrah with which I ever spent a night. Splash is able to pour such exceptional wines by the glass because they have Vinfinity Wine Preservation Systems that keep opened bottled under vacuum.

Bottom line – like Playboy said.

Splash Seafood and Oyster Bar

303 Locust St., 244-5686

Oyster Bar Lunch: 11:30 am to 2 pm, Mon – Fri

Splash Dinner: 5 pm to 10 pm, Mon – Sat

Side Dishes

Each final Tuesday of the month, Vogelgesang and Iannarelli will host a wine tutorial at Splash pairing worldly wines with appetizers. February’s class will feature chardonnays. 6 p.m., $35… Attendance at Bacon Fest 2012 tripled from the previous year, making it the most popular charcuterie event in Iowa.

Café di Scala

2011’s top local food trend was expanded hours. Restaurants, grocers, even farmers markets added hours and days of operation. On paper, that made sense – you have to work harder to make ends meet in a stagnant economy, right? Certainly if you’re trying to qualify for a bank loan in this era of tight assed, formulaic diligence. That got me thinking, what if Tony Lemmo took his 2005 business plan for Café di Scala to a banker today. The latter would probably gather his colleagues for a good laugh. “This guy wants to borrow money to buy a nineteenth century restaurant, without a parking lot, and he’s only going to be open three nights a week.”

Café di Scala makes Des Moines’ best case for keeping things simple. They still only serve dinner and only three nights a week. They added a brunch service but just once a month. Their dinner menu includes just three entrees, three pasta, one soup, two salads and eight antipasti. There’s always a special or two. Staff seems energized and the café always seems to bustle with a cosmopolitan vibe.

Lemmo is a third generation Calabrese Des Moines restaurateur. His mom is a Lacona, as in Noah’s, Mama’s, Bambino’s, etc. Tony’s paternal grandparents owned Lemmo’s. Café di Scala is housed in a magnificent Victorian mansion with a wrap around porch. Its menu and wine list are all Italian. The latter includes rare brands and up-and-coming varietals like Montepuliciano from Abruzzo, Lagre from Trentino, Negroamaro from Apulia, and Gaglioppo from Calabriaalso. Lemmo makes food and wine pilgrimages to Italy to keep it current and he keeps winning top restaurant awards from both “Wine Enthusiast” and “Wine Spectator.” Inexpensive wine sips are sold to help guests appreciate regional subtleties.

Chef Phil Shires’ menu remains small but changes seasonally. Pizza now appears on the appetizer menu.

Blue mussels do too, in a white wine and cream sauce with shallots ideal for pairing with wine.

Polenta cakes, resting on Pecorino and covered with a traditional Calabrese tomato ragu, resembled the texture of risotto more than of cornbread.

Thinly sliced roasted Brussels sprouts, served in a salad bowl with olive oil and finished with Gran Padano and truffle oil, added to the city’s new found love of this vegetable.

Café di Scala writes its signature in egg and flour – 100 per cent scratch pasta, an art Lemmo learned from his mother.

Cavatelli are legendary in Des Moines, the traditional Sunday dinner of Italian Des Moines and of pre World War II Italy. Today its hard to find real homemade cavatelli. Many places just call any combination of dried pasta “cavatelli.”

On my most recent visit, Shires tossed them with marinara, Pecorino Romano, Graziano’s sausage and fresh basil.

Carrot tagliatelli can leave me breathless. Often they are served in a cream sauce with La Quercia speck, grilled fennel and crimini.

My favorite pasta this winter are his cappellacci, stuffed with roast winter squash and served with Romano, crisply fried sage and brown butter.

Entrees are hearty. An Iowa pork chop was served over sausage stuffing with mushroom wine sauce. Prosciutto wrapped chicken breast was stuffed with cheese and served with risotto. New York steak was served with wine-prosciutto butter and polenta.

Desserts vary but almost always include a family recipe cannoli with ricotta cream and a

panna cotta served expertly outside its mold. Last week, the former was served in a cannoli cup and the latter with a reduction of cloves and red wine.

The monthly brunch features Beattles music, a savory and a sweet course, plus an after dinner drink. If they ever become more frequent, I might order something other than the rum-flambéed banana crepes with nutella.

Bottom line – Less is definitely more at this paragon of contemporary Calabrese Des Moines cuisine.

Café di Scala

644 18^th St., 244-1353

Thurs. – Sat.: 5 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Side Dishes

Rumors have a new wine bar coming to East Village… More than 400 attended Cheese Shop of Des Moines’ recent open house.

We’ve heard from folks who like going out to watch a game but find sports bars too rowdy, or too downscale food wise. These are our six favorite places to have dinner while watching a game. All are bars in restaurants where only the bars have TV. All have quality HD TV.

Fleming’s

The first three items here have been on the rotating 5-6-7 menu at Fleming’s, meaning they sold for just $6 in the bar. The fourth cost considerably more.

Beef tartare

Seared tuna

Crab cakes

Irina’s

Irina’s has the best vodka selection Iowa and a full line of Baltika beers. Pair them with:  

mussels,

clams,

lamb chops, or

or kebabs.

Smokey D’s

This BBQ is so busy the meat needs never be refrigerated for reheating. The bar has more HD TV’s than we could count. Ribs are a specialty of course

but you also need to try the pulled pork

brisket burnt ends

and smoked chicken.

Comfort food like chicken fried steak

and apple dumplings are also superb too.

The Palm

The Palm has HD TVs on its patio but five big screens keep the bar room up to date.

Old Calabrese style cuisine dominates with great marinara

on several dishes

and steaks dominating the rest of the menu

Johnny’s Italian Steak House

Johnny’s is filled with testoterone-seeking trappings – leather, polished brass and wood. There is no Happy Hour but lunch menu is a bonus, with lots of $10 specials, like crab cakes

with French onion soup.

Christopher’s

Christopher’s the best spot in Beaverdale to watch a game. Ron Giudecessi runs the bar with an old athlete’s appreciation for sports. The family recipes have been a legend for most of 50 years.

The prime rib, seeen here with a dish of spaghetti, is so popular it’s usually sold out by 6 p.m.

The lore of most religions includes parables in which some godly presence disguises itself in humble form to test the sincerity of believers. In contemporary vernacular, the moral of such stories is “never judge a book by its cover.” Namasté India is the local culinary example of that. The restaurant and grocery store has been evolving for five years now in a strip mall in Clive, a town that shares its name with a warlord who made it possible for Britain to plunder the riches of India for 200 years. Maybe that’s why Namasté’s majestic foods hide out in such humble trappings.

When the store first opened, its restaurant was connected to its kitchen by a literal hole in the wall through which cooks dispatched divine South Indian foods that Des Moines had never seen. A couple years later, the store expanded, adding tables, chairs, waiters and a wall dividing the café from the market.

A superb lunch buffet followed soon afterwards with two large television monitors running Hindi and Dravidian language movies. From my experiences, these films are all musicals from the 1970’s in which lovers travel through four seasons and five continents without ever kissing, or pausing from their song and dance routines.  

One can easily find sumptuous, creamy versions of north Indian dishes popular in most Indian restaurants in America: aloo saag (spinach puree with potatoes),

bhindi masala (okra with tomatoes, onions and herbs), mutter paneer (homemade cheese and peas),

makhani dhal (lentils in gravy), butter chicken,

pakoras (breaded fried vegetables), including an onion version that is my favorite “onion ring” in town.

Namasté’s menu also compiles a culinary history of India. English influences include samosas (small savory pies) and curries.

Portuguese imports to India (chili rich vindaloo dishes) are given their due, along with Mughal gifts from clay ovens (tandoori chicken, naan, tikka) and “dum pukht” (slow cooking in sealed pots) kitchens.

There are four versions of biryani, the most famous “dum pukht” dish. Before the Mughal invasion, rice was simply boiled in water. The high living conquerors from Persia, particularly in Hyderabad, preferred to parboil rice and then cook it “dum style,” slowly along with marinated meats, ground pulses, spices and vegetables. The word “dum” translates “breathe-in” and a steaming plate of Namasté’s Hyderabadi chicken biryani reminded me why -aromas rose from the dish like savory perfume. This is what people were eating in India when Colonial Americans thought fine dining meant beans, porridge, boiled meat and dark bread.

Namasté distinguishes its kitchen from others in town with Dravidian dishes – South India’s dosa and uthappam. Their menu has changed slightly over five years (they no longer make the cylindrical paper dosa) because in-demand dosa chefs are a transient lot and each has his own style.

Dosa is the original crepe. Its batter is made by soaking rice and black lentils then blending them with fenugreek seeds and oil. Namasté makes eight styles, with different stuffings. Potatoes, butter and cheese featured in several. Mustard seeds distinguished a masala dosa. Slightly crunchy textures were consistent to all. They were served with coconut chutney and sambar (vegetable stew usually featuring tamarind).

Uthappam is South India’s pupusa. Its batter is similar to dosa’s but rarely includes fenugreek. Several vegetables are often added directly to the batter, rather than stuffed in a cooked shell as with a dosa. Namasté has six versions, all vegetarian, several vegan. The restaurant also has a trendy (in India) Indo Chinese menu, a chaat (street cart food) menu, beers, wines and desserts.

Bottom line – divine food with delightfully bad movies.

Namasté India

7500 University Ave., Clive, 255-1698

Buffet: Tues. – Sun. 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Dinner Sun. & Tues. – Thurs. 5 p.m. – 9 p.m., Fri. – Sat. 5 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Side Dishes

A Poll Position survey revealed that three chains (Starbuck’s, McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts) are preferred coffee vendors for nearly 70 per cent of all Americans… Urbandale’s Library Board allowed its coffee shop operators to remain open after falling 14 months behind on the rent.

To preserve her leftovers, my grandmother kept a stock pot simmering on her stove around the clock, even after she bought her first refrigerator. Most of the foods that helped our Iowa ancestors survive long winters ended up in such pots where bones became the original brain food. (Anthropologists believe that human brain sizes only became possible after hominids began eating bone marrow.) Soups of potatoes, carrots, onions and especially squash figured prominently in early Iowa cookbooks. So did things that could easily be dried and dehydrated – mushrooms, fruits, legumes, meat and fish. In the 1950’s President Eisenhower hosted Soviet Union Premier Khrushchev at an Iowa-grown dinner in Des Moines.

Their first course was split pea soup with smoked trotters. Soon after that, two crop agriculture put an end to Iowa split peas and centralized meat processing removed trotters from the state’s diet. Stocks were replaced with convenient soup starters or bouillons that lacked the nutritional values of liquefied bones. By the late1970’s, few Iowa restaurants bothered with the labor of bone stocks.

Then Governor Bob Ray saved our soup. His leadership in bringing southeast Asians to Iowa led to a number of restaurants specializing in pho.

That scrumptious soup is usually made here with a white stock (raw bones are used) of beef, and sometimes pork, bones. They simmer for at least eight hours before rice noodles, sprouts, cilantro and choices of meats are added. This winter at Lucky Dragon, Pho 888 and TNT, the Caribbean herb culantro has been added to the mix.

At Simply Asian, a similar glass noodle soup included black fungi and enoki mushrooms plus divine tofu skins while bar kut the, a mushroom soup,

added lychees and pork ribs or viscera.

At Cafe Paris, a pigs blood soup is made with chicken stock.

Most stocks in Asia (and curiously Montreal) are made with pork bones but the only pork stock soup I found in Des Moines this winter was a ramen at Gateway Market Café. Chef George Formaro spent a year translating Japanese recipes before he settled on this one which also adds chicken bones, leeks, onions, garlic and ginger to the pot. Most non-Asian chefs in Iowa only make white stocks with chickens.

Lisa LaValle starts with six whole hens and mirepoix for her chicken and noodle soup at the Art Center Café – the richest tasting such soup I‘ve ever found, with little hand made dumplings for noodles. At Mojo’s on 86^th, Anthony Johnson makes chicken stock with Iowa raised, free ranged chickens and Cornish hens.

That was the base recently of his Italian chicken tomato soup.

Most classic European soups in Des Moines are made with brown stocks (of roasted bones). Little else is consistent one chef to the next. Formaro uses veal and beef bones in Django’s French Onion soup. David Baruthio uses veal and marrow bones in his version at Baru 66. Enosh Kelley mixes roasted duck and veal bones in his sumptuous caramelized French onion soup, finished at Bistro Montage with sherry. At Tally’s, Robert Sanda even makes a brown stock of veal bones for his chili.

Iowa’s mother soup is squash. Two of its most illustrious varieties — Acorn and Sibley — were born here and stay fresh all winter. Iowa soup makers are divided over whether squash soup should use chicken or vegetable stock. State Fair champion soup maker Lynn Jeffers prefers chicken stock.

At Alba, Jason Simon makes his pureed butternut squash & Granny Smith apple soup with leek stock. Other vegetarian soups impressed us this winter too. Baru 66’s celery root soup has deep flavor and divine texture. The Art Center Café’s ginger lentil soup and multiple dhals at both Namaste and India Star all have flavors that could bring back Iowa legumes. Ike and Nikita too.

Side Dishes

Dom Ianarelli (Jethro’s) won the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society chili cook off… Amateur Ellen Yee won Slow Food Des Moines’ soup competition with a spiced parsnip soup with Marsala, in white chicken stock.

Art Center Café

4700 Grand Ave., 271-0332

Tues. – Sun. 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Small restaurants indicate the future. It’s always been that way in Europe and Japan. The New York Times recently reported that the hottest restaurant in Paris this year has just 16 seats. Jim Lark, owner of Michigan’s most famous restaurant, explained why he draws the line at 50 guests. “Once you have more than 50, bad things happen, not the least of which is that the actual cooking is no longer done by the real talent – your chef and sous chef.”

Des Moines’ restaurant scene was transformed by small chef-driven cafés (Under 50‘s) in the late 90’s and early 00’s. Butch’s Hollywood Bistro, Bistro 43, Corner Café, South Union Bread Café, and Basil Prosperi taught the city to appreciate California and European style fare in tiny stores. Café di Scala began as a stall at Metro Market. Taste of Thailand, Soul Africa and original versions of La Tapatia and A Dong revolutionized the way ethnic foods were presented here in similarly small cafés. The last decade conspired against Under 50’s here. Zealous regulations and inflation raised the fixed costs of overhead (grease traps, equipment, permits, licenses, inspection compliance, insurance, energy, etc.) so much that it became much easier for larger places to get approved for loans. The mortality rate for Under 50’s rose faster than that of large places too. Today it takes brave souls to open a small café.

Ryan and Kara Cooper and Randy Hagen did that last November in one of the best Under 50 venues in town. Best known as Simo’s Cafisto and most recently known as Accordion, their charming 44 seat café in Valley Junction never looked better. It’s been given a superb makeover by Cooper’s uncle Bob. That’s Bob Cooper, whose woodworking style distinguishes the new World Food Prize building, the Hotel Pattee and several handsome Des Moines restaurants such as Mezzodi’s, 801 Steak & Chop House, Embassy Club and Trostel’s Greenbriar. Bob built a new bar here with his trademark inlays. It is the focus of the single room.

Cooper’s kitchen produces comfort food. I’d call it diner food except that implies breakfast and Copper’s is only open evenings and Sunday afternoons with an abbreviated menu. Among its comforting aspects were prices that ranged $11 – $18 for entrees (including salads and fresh vegetables), $9 – $10 for sandwiches (with sides), $4 – $10 for soups and salads, and $7 – $9 for appetizers.

In that latter category, pulled pork nachos delivered delightfully puffy, freshly fried flour tortillas, with three cheeses, black bean relish and wasabi cream.

Pulled pork egg rolls may not rock the world like those that Smokey D’s introduced recently but they delivered more wasabi cream, black bean relish and pulled pork with a different starch.

Panko breaded zucchini strips were the least complicated and most appreciated appetizer.

Chicken tortilla soup was a hit with multiple flavors and plenty of heat.

A Cuban sandwich was faithfully grilled on Cuban bread and served with more pulled pork plus ham, pickles, grainy mustard and melted Swiss.

Half pound burgers had good sears – the menu even offers “Pittsburgh style,” the ultimate in searing. Can’t remember when I last enjoyed a New York strip dinner that cost just $15.

Copper’s version had good sear and was paired well with grilled onion rings, roasted peppers and buttered baby potatoes.

Cajun meatloaf was my favorite dish with crisp edge, tender center and expert spicing. Short ribs, mac & cheese, Swiss steak Marsala, and a seafood ravioli dish were also featured on a sensible 20 item menu.

Cooper’s on Fifth

227 Fifth St., West Des Moines, 255-9895.

Tues. – Sat. 5 p.m.- 10 p.m.

Sun. 11 a.m. to close

Side Dishes

Chicago style Italian kitchens are in the works at both Gas Lamp and The Library, with Chicago Italian beef, Chicago dogs, sausage and meatball sandwiches…