Gateway Market Café — a diner for the 21st century

Knowing that George Formaro’s love of horror stories inspired Zombie Burger + Drink Lab, I used to assume that Gateway Market and Café was named after a bloody piece of American cultural history. The LaBianca family, murdered by Charles Manson’s followers, owned an identically named chain of stores. After all, Gateway here sits kiddy corner from Des Moines’ most venerable cemetery. 

Formaro, the creative force behind both restaurants plus others, said he was unaware of the connection “at least on any conscious level.” Gateway Market and its café are still compelling stories with much happier endings than their infamous namesakes.

Formaro’s career as a restaurateur began when he hand-built South Union bakery next to Graziano’s centenarian grocery store on the southside. When Gateway was being conceived, nearly 20 years ago, it became necessary to move the entire bakery operation into the lower level of the then new store. As bread is the staff of life, great bread is staff that allowed Des Moines to raise a great food culture. 

South Union and the precursor of La Mie arose in Des Moines about the same time. Before those bakeries, food travelers such as I would carry bread home from both coasts and Chicago. Now it makes the difference between good diners and great ones. 

The symbiosis between Gateway’s retail store and café conjures charms not found elsewhere. Buy a bottle of wine in the store and drink it without corkage fees in the café. Cheeses from the cheese shop are fine in the café. Aspects (meat, cheese, wine, fish) of the supermarket rank with Whole Foods in quality but at lesser prices. The bakery is totally superior. For instance, where else can you find both French and Italian baguettes? 

Gateway’s brightest attraction, though, is its café. Many of its best parts are invisible. Poultry is brined. Ramen is made with bone stock, or sesame soy miso in the vegetarian edition. Noodles are scratch made, too. The burgers are constructed with six-ounce patties of “George’s grind,” a mix that includes brisket and short ribs in its secret formula. Before AI was common, Formaro paid translators to make sense of Japanese recipes for ramen broth and noodles. 

Gateway’s best-in-town fish and chips are the result of Formaro’s dedication to the dish; he is a card-carrying member of the United Kingdom’s National Federation of Fish Fryers. I am not making that up. Hummus (red pepper), guacamole and artichoke dip are so popular that they are stocked in the grocery section. Best-in-town mac and cheese is made with different recipes for different occasions.  

Dinners include a choice of side dishes that include some things rarely seen in diner style cafés — roasted beets, jalapeno creamed corn, Caprese tomatoes, quinoa salad, tabouli, potatoes O’Brien, etc. Vegan burgers are available in two forms — Beyond Burger and Formaro’s own black bean patties. Tofu comes from different recipes in breakfast and dinner options. Vegan chicken is made with seitan. 

Some things changed out of necessity since opening. First of all, it only became profitable after four years. Bone-in fried chicken was retired because it was too difficult to make it consistently in a kitchen that constantly experiences the same turnover that haunts all restaurants. 

Breakfast was also retired on weekdays for lack of demand. On weekends, it’s probably the busiest time of the week in the café. Of course, South Union’s exquisite pecan rolls, muffins, cinnamon rolls, cookies, kolaches, biscuits and toasts star. Waiting for a table, rarely a problem, is not so annoying when one can get his shopping done or sip beer or wine in the interim. Biscuits are exceptional, the result of scores of Formaro trials. French toast is made with challah, roasted pecans, fresh strawberries and real maple syrup.

Bottom line

Gateway offers an affordable excellence, which appeals to its neighborhood. It’s a new-century diner that’s hipper and trendier than its predecessors in the genre. ♦

Jim Duncan is a food and art writer who has been covering the central Iowa scene for more than five decades.