By Jim Duncan CVFDude@aol.com

Best new restaurants

The year 2005 was the finest year of the decade for new restaurants in town, with seven joints blowing our napkins away.

1. Dish. This tapas bar in Clive has a style, a kitchen and menu all its own. Paul and Troy Trostel are longtime culinary trailblazers, especially regarding appetizers. So it's no surprise they re-defined that genre - with a no-smoking bar and a single entrèe, their signature prime rib five ways.

2. Cafè di Scala. Tony Lemmo's Calabrese take on Victoriana is totally uptown, combining old school Italian-Des Moines style with the "fresh-and-local" California thing. Tony's signature cavatelli have a home of their own now, and his seasonal "maiale ripieno" could become the pork version of "steak de Burgo," an only-in-Des Moines specialty that inspires copycats.
3. Star Bar. Jeremy Morrow's new place on Ingersoll is hipper, smokier and louder than his previous endeavors, but it still features his top-rate California cuisine, with the most deluxe bar food ever seen within the city limits.

4. Chef's Kitchen. Steve and Kristi Little's cafè on Beaver combines a steak-house with a family restaurant, and a gratis cookie jar. It's a neighborhood joint with a big-city feel and an old Des Moines menu that conjures memories of the dearly departed Johnny's Vets Club.

5. 777. This little cafè on Sixth Avenue is the most creative Vietnamese place in town. Nga Tran makes her stock by simmering beef shinbones for 24 hours. They transport her pho, the sine qua non of Vietnamese cooking, into epiphanies on the tongue. She is constantly experimenting with new recipes and new foods.

6. Cookry. Des Moines' first West African cafè is a history lesson in soul food and love of cassava. Ginger juice, hot sauce and two forms of greens are totally unique to Des Moines, scratch-made wonders of flavor. The fufu, served on Saturday only, is a five-day process.

7. Carnitas Don Javier. Sadly, this marvelous Mexican cafè closed the same year it opened, hoping to relocate somewhere free from competition from the East Side taqueria trailers.

8. Cafè Baratta. Diners pining for the Al Franco's homemade sausage and other Italian delights from the Downtown Farmers' Market (Sam & Gabe's booth) celebrated the winter solstice at Cafè Baratta in the Iowa State Historical Building. Everything is made from scratch here, even the ricotta.

Food Stories of the Year

1. War bogs down in Stalemate
Independent restaurants in Des Moines fought back against the invading horde of corporate franchise marauders. There were casualties on both sides (see "Rest In Peace" below) as the indies maintained control of the city while the franchises seized most of the suburbs.

2. "Eminent Domain" in East Village
The city of Des Moines' attempted seizure of two privately owned buildings, housing Zzz Records, was closely watched by agriculture groups. Farm Bureau even supported the legal fight against the use of "eminent domain" seizures for private development, because it's widely feared that a broader application of the 2004 Supreme Court decision that allowed one such seizure (of ocean front houses in Connecticut) would threaten farm owners anywhere near suburban developments.

3. Tea Room hangs it up
Younkers' Tea Room closed after dazzling Iowa for parts of three centuries. That made King Ying Low the longest operating restaurant in Des Moines and Gino's the longest running restaurant venue.

4. La Quercia hams it up
Norwalk's La Quercia introduced the first American prosciutto that is produced in the great tradition of Parma -just organic pig flesh, sea salt and time. It drew coast-to-coast endorsements from the culinary elite.

5.) Soy fights back
After a decade of losing shelf space to lower-fat Canadian rape seed, the soy industry jumped ahead of the next nutritional curve by producing, in Iowa, a bean that can crisply deep-fry foods without the newly discredited hydrogenated horror of trans fats.

Milestones

- This past year was the 100th year of Italian food retailers in Des Moines. It also marked the beginning of the second century of Chinese restaurants in the city.

- Minneapolis' Buca di Beppo left town, suggesting that there might be limits to our western suburbs' willingness to support outlet stores of collapsing corporations.

- Metro Market morphed from a farmers market to a farmer-friendly grocery store.
- The metro's first allergy-free cafè, Beyond the Grain, opened in West Des Moines.

Rest in Peace

This past year took two living legends, people known across the state by their one word nicknames:

- Helene "Fifi" Braswell, legendary bartender at Noah's for 30 years.

- Alphonse "Babe" Bisignano, restaurateur and scene maker for 7 decades.

- The year also took some of our favorite restaurants. Besides Younkers' Tea Room, we will miss: Carnitas Don Javier; Arthouse; City Fish & Chicken Castle; Raul's; Big Leagues Sky Box Grill; Enzo's; Gaucho's (in Newton); Capitol Grounds and China Palace.

Zeitgeist of the year

Grazing. From bustling Star Bar and trendy Continental to the elegant Dish, the best new places in town were emphasizing small plates and wine
sipping. Appetizer lists grew, with even the fine-dining likes of Sage promoting a bar menu. From 25th Street Cafè to Taki, martini nights paired food with drink, and wine dinners grew faster than you can say "Greg Norman." Even beer dinners became events.

Good ideas of the year

- "If you can't beat 'em, retail 'em." Des Moines' magnificent made-from-scratch bakeries - La Mie, Basil's and Centro - all expanded their distribution systems last year, popping up in coffeehouses and grocery stores that previously sold only lesser fare.

- The Ames Farmers' Market joined Drake's in requiring that all vendors be personally involved with the production of the foods they sell.
- Underground cafès. It works like this: You hire a chef to shop, cook and clean up, in your own unregulated, untaxed home. The trend made its way here from the West Coast this year.

- Vending machines in some Des Moines Public Schools were reprogrammed, with healthier foods replacing those laced with corn sweeteners.

Bad ideas of the year

- School Busing. The Des Moines Public School System reorganized their cafeterias, accommodating the newly remodeled, expensive Central Kitchen. Ovens were removed from school kitchens and, for the most part, freshly prepared foods were replaced with reheated dishes that had been bused. Sometimes, they were even double bused.

- The World Food Festival brought an ugly American know-how to the World Food Prize - pigging out for starvation.

- U.S. Rep. Steve King, the only Iowan on the House Ag Committee, inserted himself into the horsemeat wars, taking the side of the Japanese gourmands who ate Kentucky Derby champion Ferdinand. King became a key advocate for horsemeat facilities in Texas, where American quarter horses are slaughtered and processed as meat, which has devoted markets in France, Belgium and Japan. CV

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