By Jim Duncan CVFDude@aol.com

Hilltop Lounge and Restaurant is well known as a popular neighborhood joint, but that's like calling the Wells Fargo Arena a nice gym. Hilltop's parking lot, about the size of the Iowa Events Center's, could drive environmentalists into anti-depressant abuse. It serves a 250-person banquet room and the 75-person party room, not that the rest of the restaurant isn't big and busy in its own rite.

Everyone here seemed to be on a first-name basis with everyone else. I had been told this was the place for a pizza after East High football games, so on one of my recent trips, swaggering diners gave me the impression I had run into a Monday Night Football crowd celebrating a victory. Deeper eavesdropping revealed that the celebrants had come not from Williams Stadium, but from a Des Moines City Council meeting where the locals had assaulted a parks department alleged plan to alter another local hilltop - at nearby Grandview Golf Course.

Obviously, this is a neighborhood joint like no other, beloved since the 1950s. I came looking for the reasons why, and service hit the top of our list. The place is run by pros who can accommodate diners under difficult conditions. One time our small party was seated just as two enormous groups were placing their orders, with our waitress. She immediately told us not to worry. She'd get our order in pronto. I was served faster than some places manage when I was the only customer.

Prices here are as anachronistic as the music, which on three visits never included anything recorded before Bobby Kennedy's assassination. The most expensive dinner on the menu was $12.50. That garnered either a T-bone steak, with starches and salad to boot, or loin-back ribs. For $11, I tried an evening special: prime rib. I ordered it rare, knowing it's a rare thing when any place delivers such. Hilltop astonished me with a perfect rare cut, juicy and salty as it should be. I have paid three times as much for much less. The salad dressings, most of which were homemade, were heirlooms, especially a vinegar-and-oil-and-garlic concoction that reminded me of South Des Moines in Ike's day. Less memorable nostalgia came in the breadbasket. Remember Vienna bread, the stuff that resembles nothing from Austria so much as Wonder Bread cut thick? It's alive and well here. Forget about asking for olive oil, or even butter, this is an all-margarine place (except for the "butter-fried chicken livers").

The Hilltop has a big reputation for handmade onion rings and pizza. Thin rings were crisp and not the least bit greasy, but tasted too much of breading. The pizza was OK: doughy thin-crusted and friendly with good toppings like Graziano sausage. But it left us dreaming about Chuck's. Pasta dishes delivered overcooked spaghetti and ravioli with pasty marinara. Deep-fried ("not broasted") chicken is a delightful anachronism, as long as it doesn't become a habit. Like the prime rib, steaks were notable bargains - an $11.50 sirloin dinner shamed some that cost exponentially more.

The Hilltop told me they were making a serious concession to modern times and that by the time this is published, they could be offering their first ever dessert menu, with homemade pies and cheesecakes. The full bar is justifiably famous; the wine list undistinguished, but inexpensive.

Food News

Coffee is the weapon of choice in the latest restaurant wars, with convenience stores, gas stations and now fast food chains upgrading their beans. McDonald's was first with 100 percent Arabica, now Burger King in Des Moines trumped them with "BK Joe," bringing delivery systems that freshly brew each all-Arabica cup. They also promote "high octane" coffee with 40 percent more caffeine. We thought it tasted like flavored coffee, the stuff used in coffee ice cream. Strange, whatever it is... Scooter's Coffee is about to open in the old Bruegger's on First Street in West Des Moines. CV

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