Cornelius’ Hideout
12636 RR 120A, Gray, IA,
800-RAIDERS
Sunday 4 to 10 p.m., Monday,
8 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
Cornelius’ Cache
Any review of Cornelius’ Cache
(CC) becomes a tale of two restaurants
— it is the best of times or the
worst of times depending upon
a diner’s politics and awareness.
On the surface, CC probably provides
the most affordable luxury dining
in America. Thirty six different
kinds of oyster were available
on the half shell, at two for
$1. Caviars ($20 tasting platters)
included both Russian and Iranian
brands that are nearly impossible
to find, even in New York’s four-star
restaurants. Fresh poultry ($10
- $14 plates) had been flown in
from Japan and France. On my visit,
almost everyone seemed to appreciate
the opportunity to try things
they had never eaten before. Very
few were asking, “How is this
possible?” That’s my job.
In February, CC opened to the
general public in northwest Audubon
County. Located in the commissary
of the Employee Campus of American
International Group’s (AIG) Rest
& Rehabilitation Center, the
restaurant is probably named after
AIG founder Cornelius Vander Starr,
though no one could confirm that.
None of my servers had ever heard
of Starr and no manager (called
“butlers” here) would talk about
the relationship between the restaurant
and company. My server speculated
that AIG opened the restaurant
to “unload perishable foods and
generate positive PR.” That would
make sense. Corporate executives
use the R&R facility on Thursday
through Sunday retreats. The restaurant
is only open Sunday nights and
all day Mondays. My server also
said the company had been upset
by a story in the Storm Lake Times
that reported them dumping thousands
of dollars in luxury foods at
a local landfill. He said that
they must have decided it would
be a good PR move to “let the
locals and the un-rich eat the
leftovers instead.”
CC’s customers weren’t all that
local when I visited. I saw top
chefs and corporate executives
from Des Moines (who begged to
remain anonymous), Kansas City
and Omaha on a Sunday night. One
table said they flew into the
local airstrip from Chicago. Such
things are not unheard of in this
part of Iowa. Super lobbyist and
former Democratic Party National
Chairman Charles Taylor Manatt
flies his worldly clients into
Audubon County each fall for hunting
binges. One local told me he makes
more money on tips serving Manatt’s
clients for one week than he earns
farming the rest of the year.
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” has been
the unofficial motto of Audubon
County for quite awhile. AMVC
LLC, the county’s largest employer,
is a full service pork production
specialist. The V in their name
originally stood for “veterinarian,”
and that company has long been
associated with antibiotic solutions
to health problems in hog confinements.
That’s a hush-hush topic these
days because of MRSA. That antibiotic-resistant
infection has been killing more
Americans than AIDS for five years
in a row, and it has been linked
to hog confinements.
Few people dining at CC looked
disturbed about the food chain.
I didn’t exactly lose my appetite
for some marvelous fare either.
For an appetizer, I ate three-dozen
raw Kumamoto, Malaspina, Malpecque,
Nootka, Quilcene, Barron Point,
Belon and Tomales Bay oysters.
I had a bowl of shark’s fin soup
and a fruit salad that included
mangosteens, rambuttans, custard
apples, fejoyas and finger limes,
a legendary fruit that has become
super chef Ferran Adria’s greatest
obsession. I then shared plates
of calves brains, veal shortbreads,
foie gras, Genghis Khan lamb chops,
free-ranged pork middlins and
Audubon County apple ice cream,
shaped like an apple and covered
in spun sugar and 24 carat gold.
My entire bill was $46, less than
it would have cost me for overnight
shipping of one finger lime.
Side Dishes
Bob Conley sold his interests
in four local hotels and is opening
Khanh Lee’s, a mom and pop grocery
store with an attached Korean
BBQ. “Korean is the new Thai,
and grocery stores are the place
to make money these days,” he
explained. CV
April Fools
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