dsm Dish - July 11, 2025

Oak Park is branching out with Canopy

By Michael Morain
dsm Editor

Sometimes the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree. The team behind Oak Park plans to open a spinoff restaurant and market just a block west.

The new project is called Canopy, a riff on the oak tree’s branches, and is slated for 4001 Ingersoll Ave. in a boxy brick building that currently houses the music education nonprofit City Voices.

Oak Park owner Kathy Fehrman said she hopes to finalize the purchase in September. She said her team was planning to file preliminary paperwork this week with the city, but it could be a full year before the place opens to the public.

The concept is still evolving, but it’s likely Canopy will be open for breakfast and lunch, probably 7 a.m.-4 p.m., with a more casual feel than Oak Park. The menu is still undefined, but its creator may be nearby. “We’re hoping to promote from within, to promote a back-of-the-house staffer to be the executive chef,” she said.

She has enlisted architects from Hartman-Spiller, who designed Oak Park, to renovate the 2,200-square-foot mid-century modern building, built in 1957, and double its footprint with a patio that can be enclosed.

The new space will also accommodate an indoor market to feature locally grown and made products, including some created in-house. It’s likely the market would include some of the local producers who currently supply Oak Park and sell their products directly to customers at an occasional farmers’ market in the restaurant’s parking lot. The Canopy market could extend those opportunities year-round, which was part of Fehrman’s overall strategy when she opened Oak Park.

“If someone asked me about my mission in life, I’d say it’s to make my neighborhood the coolest neighborhood ever,” she said.

Quick Bites

Lola’s Fine Hot Sauce has announced a nationwide expansion into 1,500 Target stores that began in June. With the addition of Target, the Iowa-based Lola’s products can now be found in over 14,000 retailers across the United States, Canada, Virgin Islands and Philippines.

The Iowa State Fair released this year’s list of 67 new foods, ranging from humble Loaded Cowboy Fries to the High Roller Combo, a pair of lobster rolls topped with caviar and gold, with a bottle of Dom Perignon tossed in just for fun. (Price: $600.) Read the full list in all its over-the-top glory in the Des Moines Register.

Gateway Market is firing up the flavor with a Korean BBQ Wine Dinner on Aug. 5 in Django’s Reinhardt Room downtown. The four-course feast features dishes like gochujang-marinated salmon and cereal milk ice cream, each paired with hand-picked international wines. Tickets are $95 and include food, wine and gratuity.

At the Library of Things, you can borrow nifty kitchen gadgets courtesy of the Des Moines Public Library. Need a bamboo steamer? Or a vacuum sealer? Or kits to make macarons or can produce? Before you buy another item to use just once, check out a version from the library for a trial run.

Events

July 17: The Art of Wine Dinner at the Des Moines Art Center offers a night to sip a flight and see the sights at the art museum. Docents will lead tours of the museum before a four-course dinner from Tangerine.

July 22: The Farm-to-Table Vegan Dinner features three courses made with locally sourced ingredients, including veggies grown on site at the Wallace Center in Orient.

July 26: The World Food Prize Foundation hosts a summer gala at the Hall of Laureates to raise money for its ongoing efforts to make food more plentiful and accessible. The red-carpet event features comedian Donald Gee and the NOLA Jazz Band.

July 27: The Des Moines Tea Festival at Des Moines Heritage Center will highlight more than 10 vendors during the daylong festival, sharing history and how-to tips for casual sippers and connoisseurs alike.

July 30: The next Wine Dinner in a series at DMACC’s Iowa Culinary Institute features five wine-paired courses prepared by alumna Katie Van Dyke, who’s returned to Iowa after a stint in Napa Valley. Registrations close July 17.

My French revolution: bouillabaisse at home

By Mary Jane Miller

Every July 14, France celebrates Bastille Day, the day in 1789 when peasants stormed the notorious Bastille prison in eastern Paris and sparked the revolution. There are parades, fireworks and, of course, great food.

I celebrate because it happens to be my birthday. In 2020, when all the restaurant closures forced us to eat at home, I decided to make bouillabaisse, a very French dish.

What started as humble fisherman’s stew in Marseille is now a luxe bowl of seafood in a rich fish broth flavored with saffron, fennel and white wine. In restaurants, a bowl often costs $35 or more. At home, it cost me about $50 to make a pot for six.

Bouillabaisse (BWEE-yuh-bess) is as easy to make as vegetable soup, and the directions are right in its two-step name, a combination of “bouillir” (to boil) and “abaisser” (to reduce). But the ingredients are just a little trickier to find in landlocked Iowa.

I called up Waterfront and asked about getting fish trimmings, specifically, 2 pounds of bones and heads from whitefish. (The bones of oily fish, like salmon, are better for other dishes, like salmon chowder.) Shawn Hanke, the owner, told me he’s glad to see them put to use. "I’m happy to give bones for free to regular customers,” he said. “If they’re not regular customers, I’ll charge them.” I just moved back to Iowa after being away for 25 years, but I guess I counted as a regular after I bought the rest of my seafood.

Bouillabaisse

The broth
Makes about 8 cups

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 leek, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Strips of orange zest from 1 orange
Pinch of saffron
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon fennel seed
2 sprigs each, parsley and thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned are fine)
2 cups dry white wine
2 pounds fish bones from red snapper, halibut or other whitefish

Instructions
Heat a little olive oil in a large stock pot. Cook the onion, garlic and leek until they just start to soften. Move the veggies over to the side and add the tomato paste to the space you just made; cook a few minutes longer until it begins to darken.

Add the rest of the ingredients. Stir well and bring to a boil, then cook for 5 minutes.

Add the fish bones (cut to fit, if necessary), then enough water to just barely cover the bones. Bring the pot to a boil again and cook for another 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat and simmer 30-40 minutes or until the meat starts to fall from the bones. Strain the broth into a clean pot and discard the solids. You can make the broth up to three days ahead or freeze it for six months.

The seafood
Plan on about 2 pounds of seafood per person. Choose a firm whitefish, like cod, flounder, halibut, monkfish or red snapper, and cut it into serving pieces of about 4 ounces each. I round out the mix with mussels, clams and shrimp. Crab, scallops, and lobster are delicious, too. Bring the broth to a simmer, gently add the fish and allow it to poach until the fish just flakes. Remove the fish to a serving platter and keep it warm. Add the rest of the seafood to the broth, cover it, and cook until the shells open and the shrimp are pink. Remove to the serving platter.

The rouille
This garlicky, peppery sauce is classic with bouillabaisse and perfect on toasted baguette slices.

Ingredients
2 cloves garlic, finely minced garlic
Pinch of saffron
¼ cup stale breadcrumbs
1 egg yolk
2 roasted red bell peppers (jarred is fine)
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions
In a food processor or blender, mix the first five ingredients until smooth. With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil. Add salt to taste. Cover and refrigerate for up to three days.

This is great buffet fare. Each guest can pile seafood into a soup plate or pasta bowl. Grab a piece of toast from the basket, smear on some of the rouille and tuck it alongside. Then ladle the broth over it all. Add a salad to start and cake for dessert, and you’ve got one heck of a birthday or Bastille meal.

Contributing writer Mary Jane Miller has worked as a food writer, chef, cooking teacher and food scientist for various clients, including Betty Crocker, the Food Network, Pillsbury, Target and the Minnesota Governor’s Residence.