By Jim Duncan CVFDude@aol.com
Mama & Sons: comfort + three
“What’s a good place for comfort food?”
That’s the question most frequently asked of Food Dude. It’s also nearly impossible to answer without knowing more about the person asking. Of all culinary genres, comfort food is the least objective and most broadly defined. Universities hold interdisciplinary seminars attempting to clarify what it means. I’ve actually attended such things only to become more confused. At one, each delegate was asked to name his or her favorite comport food. When it was announced that “grits” was the number one answer, a majority of the delegates groaned in repulsion. Utterly different comfort foods do share a common denominator — most of the time one’s personal comfort food triggers sweet memories, usually of either childhood or a regional homeland. Probably the least controversial definition then is “food that reminds you of Mom.”
Mama & Sons Southern & Italian Cuisine evokes comfort in several ways. From my mailbox at least, southerners are more apt to be homesick for their regional foods than people from any other part of America. Food wise, Des Moines’ most significant immigrants have been Italian, and a long line of our top Italian chefs and restaurateurs (Noah Lacona, Jerry Talerico, George Formaro, Tony Lemmo, etc.) learned to cook at their moms’ knees. Colette Brown has both these comfort bases covered. Her 42-seat café is designed without frills — it’s all about the food. Her southern menu fills a void where only Cracker Barrel franchises currently lurk. Mama features hard to find southern icons “meat + twos” and “meat + threes.” The former cost just $7 or $8, and the latter just $10 or $11. The super star of this kitchen is Brown’s pan-fried, hand-battered chicken. It takes half an hour and is worth the wait — steaming hot and crisply crusted. Dark meat was tender to the bone, and breasts were not dried out — an expectation of southern fried but a small miracle in Des Moines. Brown’s fried chicken ranks with The Radish’s as the best in the metro. Catfish also passed the moistness test, with a more crackling batter. Chicken fried steak, smothered in superb mashed potatoes and gravy, finished her trinity of fried entrees. Jambalaya was served in a good stock sauce with huge pieces of ham and two kinds of link sausage, but no shrimp and pasty rice. Shrimp poor boys, pulled pork and brisket joined catfish on the sandwich menu.
Sandwiches came with coated fries, but all other lunches delivered a choice of divine southern vegetables. I sampled sweet potato soufflés, fried corn (almost a pudding) and mac & cheese, all of which are capable of transporting a diner to another time and place where scratch cooking was normal and all its ingredients were real foods. Collard greens will do the same for others, though they were very sweet. Cole slaw actually resembled Midwestern style, with a creamy dressing. Hush puppies, like the sides of cornbread that came with every meal, had a denser crumb than anything I’ve been served around here.
In true southern fashion, desserts (just $3 each) were extraordinary. I have paid more than twice as much for lesser bread puddings, peach cobblers and especially apple crisps — Brown’s included a marvelous scratch caramel sauce.
The Italian menu didn’t stand out from others in town. Pasta, even cavatelli, were not scratch made. Marinara and marvelous meatballs were though, and sausage was from Graziano’s. Salads included fresh baby lettuces one usually only finds in the best cafes.
Side Dishes
George Formaro and Larry Cleverley will team up at Downtown Farmers Market to introduce prepared food made with farm fresh produce… By press time Wellman’s Pub’s second store in Ponderosa Village should be open with a rooftop garden and a menu designed by Matt Pearson (Skybox, Dish). CV
Caption: Pan-fried chicken with collard greens and mac & cheese at Mama & Son’s, 1903 E.P. True Parkway, 226-7975. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. and Friday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m.
