Old Castle 8383 Birchwood
Court, Johnston 270-1425
Bar opens at 7 a.m., kitchen
is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. |
Old Castle
Expectations often mess with
our sense of taste. A drop of
red food coloring can drastically
alter the way a taster describes
the flavor of a white wine. Tests
show that most people prefer the
taste of a generic coffee if it’s
poured in a Starbucks cup. That’s
why branding works. When people
see golden arches, they expect
clean bathrooms and cheap burgers.
When they see a trailer-shaped
building with black and white
checkerboard patterns, they expect
malts and around-the-clock breakfasts.
Except in Johnston.
Inhabiting a former diner, Old
Castle Restaurant defies many
expectations. Its breakfast fare
is mostly just espresso drinks.
At night it resembles an East
European club, with live Balkan
music, dim, red lights and a lively
bar scene. Its remodeling has
an authentic Old European style.
Rather than tearing functional
things down to build something
new from scratch, the “make-do”
architects just added what was
needed to accommodate new functions
— dramatic lighting, a stage,
a full bar and a custom made rotisserie
big enough to simultaneously roast
three whole sheep. Old Castle’s
menu is written in Cyrillic script,
with English descriptions, but
the food resembles that of Des
Moines’ best bistros as much as
that of other Bosnian restaurants.
I’m not making this up.
The present kitchen evolved. Old
Castle opened last winter as a
Bosnian café and has since
been through three changes of
management and menu. Like the
remodeled ambiance, new foods
found a niche on the menu without
totally reconstructing it. In
short, it’s quite inconsistent
but it can accommodate many types
of diners. Rotisserie-roasted
Iowa lamb headlines the high end
of this eclectic menu. Available
only on weekends, it’s sold by
the pound ($15) and diners can
specify which part of the sheep’s
anatomy they prefer. I tried skin,
leg, ribs, shoulder and middlings.
All were testimonials to the value
of both whole animal cooking and
rotisserie roasting — there was
not a single dried out morsel
of meat. Two other dishes — hazel-encrusted
salmon ($13) and lamb chops ($12)
— made an even stronger impression
on a pair of local foodies. They
wrote Food Dude that these dishes
reminded them of the moment in
“Babette’s Feast” when Gen. Löwenhielm
declares he had tasted a certain
dish once before and had dreamed
about it ever since. Old Castle
inspired that comparison by reviving
recipes from the old Chat Noir
café. The moist salmon
was served with a divine Frangelico
cream sauce; the lamb chops in
a Chardonnay and orange zest reduction,
with sage mashed potatoes and
grilled asparagus.
More ethnic delights included
several forms of charcuterie.
Smoked beef and cured beef sausages,
available on a meza tray ($10)
with cheeses, should please any
love of hard salami and jerky.
Two kinds of fresh beef sausage,
cevapi and sudzukica, could be
ordered in degrees of spiciness
as sandwiches. Hearty daily specials
($6 - $7.50) included stuffed
sweet peppers, cabbage rolls and
a bean stew with sausage. A Bosnian
version of homemade pork tenderloin
was much better than its accompanying
onion rings or French fries. Kebabs
were moist and gyros had good
sear.
Breadbaskets contained fresh home
made white breads one day, but
stale ones two days later. Service
was more consistent. Explanations
about ethnic dishes were expertly
presented. One time an acceptable
order of roasted red potatoes
was replaced a few minutes later
with one that was much fresher.
A full bar carries several Balkan
beers and soft drinks, including
the hard to find sugar cola Cockta.
Coffee drinks were marvelously
different, uniquely presented
and made with a strong Turkish-type
coffee and perfect crema. Desserts
like carob cake and hazelnut crepes
were marvelous bargains at $3.50.
CV
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