By Jim Duncan CVFDude@aol.com
La Paris puts French back in Indo China
Southeast Asia’s contribution to Des Moines’ culinary diversity enters new territory with the opening of La Paris Café. Owner Chris Low explained that the River Bend neighborhood needed a sports bar and a coffeehouse, so La Paris became both in addition to an Asian restaurant.
Chris and his wife, Sue, have some experience with coffeehouses, having partnered in the excellent French Belwood Bakery outlets in the western suburbs. La Paris’ croissants and Danish were freshly made, laminated pastries a la Belwood. They anchored the coffeehouse menu along with desserts like key lime calypso and verrines (creams, crumbs and compotes layered in a glass) such as tiramisu, dulce de leche and white raspberry. Asian pastries and desserts like sesame balls, steam buns and Asian donuts (which use no yeast and hence are not as flaky as American donuts) were also offered. So were the Vietnamese breakfast staple banh cuon — rice paper crepes filled with pork and mushrooms, and resembling rice noodle rolls in Chinese dim sum. La Paris is the first coffeehouse in town to balance Vietnamese coffee drinks, bubble teas and smoothies (taro, mango, lychee) with espresso bar drinks.
The dinner menu included just 14 items. Deep fried dishes appeased sports bar fans with tempura style chicken wings, shrimp wraps and calamari, all fried golden in panko. Wings had been marinated and brined so that meat fell off the bone. They were served with familiar sauces in three degrees of heat. My calamari included strips, heads and rings, plus a side of tempura mushrooms and a sharp chipotle dipping sauce. Shrimp wraps were a take on crab Rangoon, with whole large prawns wrapped in rice paper with cream cheese and scallions. They were served crisp with sweet and sour sauces and a side of tempura squash. Salmon rolls were typical of spring rolls, only with grilled salmon replacing shrimp in rice paper wraps with noodles, cucumber, sprouts, greens, mint, carrots and cilantro.
Baby back ribs had been parboiled and deep fried, then served with sticky rice. They resembled Mexican carnitas with marvelous crunch and multiple textures. Catfish were fried whole with peppers and basil in sweet sauce. Lamb chops and two steaks completed the entrée menu with traditional grillwork. House specialties included som tam (green papaya salad) in a medium hot sauce of chilies, garlic, fish sauce and fresh limejuice. It was served with cabbage and a bowl of rice. Larb kai (chicken salad) was made with crispy chicken cracklings, breast meat, fresh herbs and a sweet vinegar dressing (it can also be ordered with skinless chicken breast). Nam kao (crispy rice salad) included pork cracklings, roast pork, sausage, three kinds of dried seafood, the freshest mesclun one can find this time of year, cucumbers and cilantro.
Soups kao poon and kao piek were made respectively with bone stocks of beef and chicken. The latter also included pig’s blood and coconut milk. Both added rice sticks, vegetables and herbs. They should gain immediate entry to Des Moines’ soup hall of fame. Bahn mi sandwiches, made with fresh baked baguettes of the same name, were just as special with roast pork, home made headcheese and wurst, marinated carrots, pickled onions, cucumbers, herbs and vinegar dressing.
Bottom line — La Paris Café stakes a unique brand while highlighting Southeast Asian cultural integrity.
Side Dishes
Living History Farms will host two unique new food events: a Beer and Bread fundraiser March 6, with Iowa brewers and bakers offering the best of their experiments with yeast ($15, $25 for two); During March, “Irish Bill of Fare” historic dinners each Wednesday through Sunday, will feature roast leg of lamb and champ (potatoes and onions in cream and butter) in the 1875 Tangen Home ($50). Reservations required 278-5286. CV
Caption: Crispy rice salad included pork, three kinds of dried seafood and the freshest mesclun one can find this time of year at La Paris Café, 1517 Second Ave., 288-3800. Hours are Monday and Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 11 p.m.; Wednesday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.; Saturday from 9:30 to 2 a.m. and Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
