When Restaurants Disappoint, Head Here

For the win: Grade A Gardens and The Cheese Shop of Des Moines, all summer long!

It’s been a dispiriting stretch on the restaurant front. I went out hoping to report on a promising-sounding restaurant salad, only to find myself poking through a mountain of indistinct greens to get to a few better—yet wholly unexceptional—ingredients here and there.

A few days later, I arrived at a genial, sleek-looking counter-service spot, where I asked whether the chicken bowl was served warm or cold. I was told it was a warm chicken breast over cool ingredients—which sounded just right. Instead, the entire dish arrived piping hot almost from top to bottom. Not a disaster, of course, but also not what I’d hoped for on that 85-degree day. And like so many places now, the payment screen had already nudged me toward an 18 to 22 percent tip before I’d even sat down. Call me bougie, but I say if you’re going to shake people down for a service charge at the get-go, please, offer some semblance of service, which includes, I might suggest, knowing the menu.

Any wonder I’m feeling drawn back to the pleasures of dining at home? This week, I’m ever so grateful to The Cheese Shop of DSM for purveying some truly exceptional ingredients—and knowing everything one can know about them. I’m also grateful for the Grade A Gardens team, who, this time of year, pluck young, tender greens that taste vividly alive, and who also pull from the rich black earth the most colorful and delightful radishes of the year. Check out what I did with this bounty.

An Exciting Ham and a Time-Honored Cheese at the Cheese Shop

The Big Cheese. Did you know that wheels of Emmentaler are the largest of any cheese in the world? That’s what Cheese Shop pro Darren Vanden Berg, pictured, told me.

I went to the Cheese Shop on a quest for their City Ham from Lowery Farms. Note first off that this is not “city ham” in that egregious, water-logged canned-ham vein. No, really, this is a best-of-two-worlds ham, those two worlds being France and the U.S.A.

Like the famed Jambon de Paris, it’s whole-muscle ham—meaning it has not been pressed and shaped into something meant to resemble ham. This makes it silky and real. But unlike the more subtle Jambon de Paris, this City Ham is smoked and delicately seasoned with rosemary, bay leaf, juniper, and black pepper—nothing I’d ever be able to pinpoint one by one, but rather, a phantomly engrossing whole.

This ham merits being served, like prosciutto, on a charcuterie board. But I’d also recommend using it for your best ham sandwiches. Cheese shop purveyor Darren Vanden Berg told me that they serve theirs on toasted Pan de Cristal. Imported from Spain, it is often described as having a “shatteringly” (i.e., glass-like) crust and an airy crumb. The Cheese Shop also uses Beurre d’Issingy, the famed French butter.

And that is all.

Because frankly, that is enough. I was going to make the classic jambon-fromage French sandwich, so I also picked up some 18-month aged Emmentaler cheese. But when I got home and tasted more of that City Ham, I thought, “don’t be stupide.” This ham stands alone. See my recipe—if you could call it a recipe—below.

The Grade A Gardens et al. Farm Stand

The stand was surrounded by happy customers, so my photo provides a limited view. In the mix: those beautiful radishes, baby romaine, spinach, garden lettuces rhubarb, black walnuts, strawberries galore, and more.

After I had visited The Cheese Shop, I spotted the little Grade A Gardens-anchored farmers’ market popping up for its second Tuesday of the season. This mini-but-mighty market, which receives grateful customers on Tuesdays from 5 p.m. to 6:30 through the season, also stars meat vendor Crooked Gap Farms, plus a baker. Find it in the parking lot behind the Des Moines Community Playhouse.

I nabbed some radishes, fresh spinach, garden lettuces, and spring onions, and I made exactly the kinds of salads I seek.

An Emmentaler-Walnut-Spinach Salad to Go with My City Ham Sandwich

All was wonderful. Well, except the bread. I need to work on that—I want to find a baguette with a shatter-crisp crust and a feather-light crumb that truly works for baguette sandwiches. And no, sourdough won’t do.

The next day, I made a simple ham and butter sandwich for lunch. Alas, I had no Pan de Cristal, so I used a decent though not remarkable Italian country-style bread. The star was the marriage of the ham and the butter, and I can only imagine how much better this would be with proper bread.

What to do with that powerful 18-month-aged Emmentaler? That was easy! I had picked up fresh, local spinach from the Grade A farmstand. I know from vast experience with Alpine cheeses that these go beautifully in a salad with walnuts and spinach and—believe it or not—just a touch of curry in the vinaigrette. Here are my proportions for a salad that serves four:

Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (I use Vadouvan Curry from Allspice. It’s a French take on curry I love—but go ahead and use your fave).

Combine the vinegar with some salt and pepper and stir until salt dissolves. Whisk in olive oil, mayo, and curry. Toss with toasted walnuts, ultra-fresh-and-local spinach, and thin strips of Emmentaler. Sprinkle the salad with a little more salt. Serve.

Composed Starter Salad with Radishes, Asparagus, Garden Lettuces, and Basil (or Mint)

I was pretty sure that asparagus and radishes would go well together, but felt even more sure when I spotted this recipe from The Kitchn, which inspired my recipe, pictured above.

I don’t know. I’m worried that if you try this salad, you’ll be as unforgiving as I am next time you’re faced with a passionless restaurant dinner salad with boring greens, a plop of dressing, those thick and cumbersome cucumber coins, and uncut grape tomatoes. People! It doesn’t have to be that way.

So try this: Grab some fresh asparagus and scrape off the scales if the stalks are thick. Trim and discard the woody bases, then cut stalks into 1 to 2-inch pieces. Saute in butter for 2 to 3 minutes—you want them still crisp, but a little more tender than when you started. Set aside. Make a vinaigrette with your best olive oil, a little white-wine vinegar (go for a five to one ratio here), and salt and pepper, and do not use mustard or garlic in this case.

Gently toss together:
• Some thinly sliced radishes and tender greens from Grade A Gardens (or sourced from another local farmer in the coming weeks)
• The asparagus.
• Basil or mint leaves (I prefer basil).
Plate and sprinkle with a little more salt.

Repeat until the spring radishes are no more…

See You Next Week!

And hopefully by then I’ll have better restaurant news to report. In the meantime, I’ll keep searching for the things I most want to eat this time of year: salads that taste like someone cared and dishes inspired by the bounty currently coming out of our spring markets. And, as previously promised, I’ll keep an eye out for good values, too.