 Troy
Trostel’s winning plate |
Iowa restaurants — lucky
and good
The Iowa Restaurant Association
(IRA) named this year’s 75th anniversary
awards gala “Celebrating Excellence.”
Professional organizations usually
use such events to stockpile hyperbole
like coins in a “Need a Penny”
tray. IRA is unusual, bestowing
only a few, well-deserved honors.
Linda McCallum was named Employee
of the Year for running Huntington
restaurant’s entire operation
while her boss tended to life
threatening health problems —
twice in the same year. Darin
Beck, who owns several restaurants
under the Barmuda LLC banner,
won both the Good Neighbor Award
and Restaurateur of the Year honors.
He raised more than $75,000 for
Iowa tornado victims even while
his own restaurant was swamped
by floodwaters.
Holding a half-full glass, Beck
said that Iowa was “a lucky place
to be right now,” regarding the
nature of banking and credit.
While heavily leveraged franchisers
have been stalled in their expansion
plans, by heavily leveraged super
banks, Beck said that close personal
relationships with Iowa banks
helped him open two restaurants
in the last two months while moving
forward with plans to open four
more soon. IRA godfather Mike
Whalen (Machine Shed, Johnnie’s
Italian Steakhouse, etc.) disputed
Beck’s overall assessment of credit.
“Banks are using liquidity to
buy banks, not to make loans,”
he said. Whalen did predict that
the proportion of Mom & Pop
restaurants (compared to big chains)
would continue to rise.
IRA hosted a top chef competition
that required contestants to pair
two unfamiliar foods (in Iowa)
looking for bigger markets: beef
tri-tip and soybean side dishes.
Some chefs went over-the-top —
Drew Stinson (Johnnie’s Italian
Steakhouse) stuffed his tri-tip
with lobster and paired it with
a soybean crab cake. Others were
simply creative — Zephaniah Leaton
(Ruthie’s in Riverside Casino),
a young chef to watch, was the
only competitor to braise tri-tip
(in bourbon and apple cider),
producing that melt-on-the-tongue
tenderness associated with the
best briskets. He served those
with risotto reduced in soymilk
with soy cheese, topped with Swiss
chard. Ephraim Malag (Oak View
at Tournament Club) was the most
thoroughly devoted to soybean
themes. He marinated tri-tip in
miso (fermented soy beans, rice
and barley), ginger and saki,
grilled it and served it with
mango-edamame (young soybeans)
salsa and breaded tofu (soy curd).
Haley Silhacek (Ferrari’s Ristorante)
edged Malag for the Judge’s Award
with his stuffed tri-tip in a
blood-orange miso reduction matched
with edamame and tofu orzo. Troy
Trostel (Greenbriar) won the People’s
Choice Award with his grilled
tri-tip (encrusted with cumin
and soy nuts) on ginger black
rice with chile oil and wasabi
(horseradish) foam, plus an edamame
salad that included brilliant
cold-smoked tofu croutons.
Elsewhere this month, Scott Stroud
served his last menu at Dos Rios
to launch that restaurant’s tequila
dinner series. The gifted 23-year-old
chef then moved to South Florida
to open a French restaurant. He
said he’ll return to Dos Rios
in March, but South Florida is
one of the nation’s top launching
pads for culinary stars. For his
last supper here, Stroud used
tequila in eight different preparations.
The best was an oyster on the
half shell with salmon (smoked
in tequila-soaked wood) and cilantro
cream. His main entrée
paired smoked spare ribs and sweet
potato slaw with pulled pork shoulder
and chile slaw. For his final
dessert, Stroud made his “first
ever” angel food cake, with tequila.
No one in Des Moines this year
was more creative with new foods,
nor more loyal to local farmers,
than Stroud. He introduced much
of Central Iowa to goat and heritage
poultry. His tequila dinner, which
will be repeated monthly this
winter, was a bargain. The bar
bill alone (seven upscale tequila
drinks) could likely have exceeded
the $60 tab.
Side Dishes
Scott Carlson (Court Avenue Brewing
Company) won IRA’s Championship
Award for his work lobbying Iowa
legislators… Patisserie Café,
where all things are expressed
as cupcakes, opened a holiday
season shop in West Glen. CV
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