Phat Chef’s
1300 50th St., Suite 206
West Des Moines
327-9211 |
Phat Chef’s
Des Moines’ restaurant scene
has come a long way since I began
writing this column in 1995. Back
then nothing had replaced Babe’s
as a “go-to” restaurant downtown.
Several Italian cafes from Babe
Bisignano’s generation dominated
dining here, but there was no
young energy until half a dozen
chefs from the American South
started opening cafes in the late
’90s with fresh and local kitchen
philosophies. Then farmers markets
provided their best local suppliers
with a means to a livelihood.
Immigrant entrepreneurs infused
more new ideas. Creative manufacturers
of new foods, such as La Quercia
and Northern Prairie, allowed
people to think of Iowa as a producer
of quality food, rather than just
huge quantities of cheap food.
The gap between reading about
and experiencing the latest food
trends shortened.
A couple weeks ago, we jumped
that gap when the New York Times
proclaimed that chef-served menus
were the next “big thing.” Dean
Richardson has been doing that
at Phat Chef’s in West Des Moines
for quite awhile now.
“We get too busy usually on
weekends to do it, but my regulars
are used to it now on weekdays.
They like to sit at the bar and
just order “three or four courses”
and leave the rest up to me. It
keeps my creative juices flowing,
too,” he explained.
There’s always been a lot to
like about Phat Chef’s, an oasis
of fresh and local thinking in
the franchise-dominated suburbs
west of Valley West Mall. It’s
open for lunch with four excellent
scratch made soups, some 30 deli
sandwiches and several salads.
Table cloth and candlelight dinner
service has always provided reliable
steaks, from Richardson’s family
farm in Calhoun County, excellent
crab cakes with red-pepper coulis,
a Caesar salad in which you can
truly taste the freshly pressed
anchovies, one of the best applications
anywhere of Northern Prairie chevre
(cashew encrusted with homemade
tangerine-orange marmalade) and
good uses of seasonal Iowa foods
— from Spring morels to snow herbs.
But nothing in my dining career
has proved more consistently rewarding
than leaving a menu in the hands
of a good chef. So, on a recent
Tuesday night, I went for Richardson’s
(small) five-course menu without
asking any questions. I noticed
four other customers doing likewise
amongst a crowd of twenty. I’d
do it again in an instant.
My first course featured half
a slightly poached plum, a miracle
of Fed Ex delivery, with Port
Salut cheese and four kinds of
fresh sprouts, including Daikon
radish and Bull’s Blood beets,
dressed with clove oil. I was
dazzled before a giant Weathervane
divers scallop appeared, seared
and stuck with a slice of caramelized
pear over wilted pea and corn
shoots on top of a sweet pea puree
with a splash of tomato water
and a dab of goat cheese.
Next came three slices of skin-on
duck breast with Richardson’s
unique tangerine-orange marmalade
and wilted watercress. That was
followed by three slices of perfectly
seared, rare tenderloin of beef
under a generous dab of foie gras
and caramelized onions. He finished
me off with a trio of delights
from Sweet Binney’s — a flourless
chocolate torte and a chocolate
fudge smear flanking a lemon tart.
That cost about the same as an
appetizer and entree would have.
Richardson also offered small
tastings of wines paired for each
course for the price of a large
glass. Phat Chef’s wine list and
pairing suggestions carry as much
weight with serious wine drinkers
as any place in town.
Side dishes
Andrew Meek, owner-chef of Sage,
will open Torroco Italian Grill
in the former Jesse’s Embers at
86th Street and Douglas Avenue
by May 1. He plans a 110-seat
northern Italian style café,
with a new street front patio.
The restaurant will be less expensive
than Sage, with dinner entrees
in the $14 - $22 range, lunches
$7 - $11 and wines staying under
$50 a bottle. Meek said that sous
chef Dan Dixon will be promoted
to Chef de Cuisine at Sage. CV
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