By Jim Duncan
CVFDude@aol.com
Twitter.com/foodude

Pollo con crema at El Centro Americano, El Centro Americano 2811 S.E. 14th St., 288-3799. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Abelardo’s 2510 Ingersoll Ave., 243-3743. Also opening at 300 Grand Ave. in West Des Moines. Open 24 hours, daily.

My mail suggests that restaurant customers care less about food than service — perceived bad service anyway. Some complaints seem more justified than others. Over the last three winters, I was informed about four places that readers considered amiss at shoveling their sidewalks or parking lots. I found three of those walkways still covered with snow days later. None remain in business today. I also heard from someone who thought a busy restaurant had dishonored a friend’s contract to use their place, on a Saturday night, for a wedding reception. That restaurant’s partners told me that they only said that they “would work with” the wedding party and only before hearing that they wanted to bring their own food and that their previously quoted budget was for an entire wedding — not just the reception. Good service is in the eye of the behooved.

Two new Latino restaurants define service rather differently. On my first visit to El Centro Americano, the door was locked during normal operating hours. I called to make sure they were still in business. Someone told me that he had only closed briefly to pick his daughter up at school and that he would be open the next day, unless he had to pick his daughter up again. I made sure I had plenty of time for my next visit. That was wise.

El Centro Americano had a delightful, immaculate look including new murals, but I waited over an hour to be served. The owner, a personable young man named Jose Kino, provided a charming explanation. “I am so sorry for the delay. My chef today is my grandmother, and I can’t tell her to rush just because we’re backed up. She’s my grandmother.”

Grandmother’s cooking was worth the wait. Plantains were stuffed with beef, Honduran cheese and mild salsa. Pupusas were considerably less oily than most around town, stuffed with chicharones (pork skins), beans and cheeses, and served with freshly made curtido (cabbage, onion, carrot and chile slaw) and salsa roja (tomato, lime and chile). Vigoron presented fried yucca root paired with fried chicharones, with meat attached and another curtido. The piece de resistance though was pollo con crema. Large pieces of tender chicken breast were covered with a rich sauce of peppers, tomatoes, Salvadoran cream and chicken stock. That was plated with a salad, yellow rice with corn and mashed black beans. A full bar kept people content while waiting for Jose’s grandmother.

Abelardo’s won me over. When they first opened, I resented that prices on menus differed from cash register prices and that employees couldn’t refund the difference. They fixed that problem, but for a while I preferred frequenting local taquerias instead of this Nebraska chain. It’s hard though not to admire Abelardo Gonzalez. He started his first restaurant 10 years ago when he was just 21. In today’s economy, he’s managed to open three restaurants in Omaha, one each in Wichita and Spokane Valley, and now two in Des Moines. His restaurant on Ingersoll is open 24-7 and becomes quite busy, yet efficient late at night.

Abelardo’s food ranks with that of our better taquerias, too. Carnitas have been consistently both tender and crunchy. Egg dishes were cooked perfectly as ordered. Tongue and beef cheeks added creative variety, and adobo had a New Mexican style tang. Chiles rellenos were made with whole, stem-on Anaheim or poblano chiles. Chicken, shrimp and fish dishes were all bargain priced. Abelardo’s condiment bar — with three fresh salsas, pico de gallo and pickled carrots with chilies — might be the best in town. Soft drinks, even Coke, were made with cane sugar while four kinds of horchata/fruit punch were also available.

Side Dishes

Casey’s extended the hours at six metro stores to 24-7... Raccoon River Brewing Company introduced prix fixe menus with optional beer pairings. CV