By Jim Duncan CVFDude@aol.com

Huynh Ky BBQ

Watching Charles Phan and three other Northern California chefs work the Hotel Fort Des Moines kitchen last week, I remembered how, during the 2004 baseball pennant race, a Los Angeles fan explained the intense booing of San Francisco players.

"Dodger fans absolutely hate San Francisco, not just the team, the city. They think they're so superior, and what have they ever won? No World Series, ever. So the average San Franciscan actually believes the James Beard Awards are more important than sports. It needs to stay that way."

Phan won the James Beard Award that same year as the top California chef. The other two finalists were from Los Angeles, a proportion that was perceived as an insult to the city by the bay. Even before the award, Phan was a folk hero. In an era when academic backgrounds are as common in top kitchens as in research labs, Phan is self-taught, though he'd credit his mom. His immigrant parents opened a small Vietnamese café where Charles became chef. He distinguished his restaurant from other ethnic family cafés with a fresh and local philosophy that included Niman Ranch meats.

Niman brought the Northern Californian chefs to Des Moines last week to cook for their pig farmers and other supporters of the humane treatment of livestock. Jeremy Morrow of Star Bar, Matt Steigerwald of Lincoln Café (Mount Vernon), Rob Beaseley of Mojo's and Chris Place of 43 joined them in a whole hog presentation of the glory of pork - from trotters (pigs' feet) and bellies to Phan's rather famous lemongrass shoulder with cukes and mint.

The Niman dinner fattened our mailbox with questions about finding trotters and such in Des Moines. In a happy coincidence, Kim Huynh recently opened a new "Chinese BBQ" featuring whole hogs and ducks, another much neglected item on the local scene. In this case, the word "BBQ" implies a commonality with marinades and sauces, not with smokehouses - these meats are baked. On each of our visits, whole suckling pigs hung alongside whole ducks, both marinated and caramelized. Pork, in sauce or not, was sold by the pound ($5.49) and ducks were sold whole ($13.99) or halved. Those prices are just slightly higher than what one would pay in San Francisco's Chinatown, where such shops are very competitive. We also availed ourselves of a rice plate ($5.50) and a sandwich (three for $5) special, plus some pork buns, egg rolls and meatballs. That pretty much covered the regular menu, though the friendly servers told us about a weekend grilled catfish special ($20 - $30) that sells out regularly.

Pork is cut when you order it. You can request certain cuts, though there is no guarantee they will be available. One order included ribs, loin and belly; another, shoulder and ribs. All included crispy skin that delighted when eaten in plain sight. Sandwiches can be full of surprises though. These wonderful bargains come on hoagie-sized buns filled with chopped pork, cilantro and vegetables. When you bite into them unexpectedly, crispy skin sometimes seems dense as bone. Trotters, ears, stomachs, jowls and lips were sold separately in a sauce that resembled chili oil.

Our ducks were beautiful. Even the duckbills formed a smile. The skin texture was somewhere between French (soft) and Chinese (crispy). The presentation is not for everyone, as awkward bones must be picked out of several pieces. Ask for the duck to be halved or quartered if that bothers you. The heads, necks and bones add tremendous flavor to stock.

Sit-down service is not a priority, and the staff here was not as forthcoming with information about ingredients and method as their competition at Le's, Des Moines first "Chinese BBQ." Other than that, the biggest difference between the two places is that Le's is closed on Tuesdays and Huynh Ky is not.

Food Skinny

Consumer Reports readers rated the top supermarkets in America. Costco ranked seventh, Hy-Vee ninth and no other chain with a local outlet made the top 10. CV

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