My wife and I went to Des Moines for a weekend getaway earlier this year and one of the places that she wanted to go to was La Mie, a bakery/eatery that I was familiar with, but had never been to before. Actually, I was rather impressed that she knew about La Mie. I'd been wanting to check the place out and we had the chance to do that for lunch when we got into Des Moines.
The story of La Mie starts with two brothers - Steve and Joe Logsdon - who decided to get into the restaurant business together. They opened an Italian restaurant - Basil's - in a food court in the Locust Mall food court in downtown Des Moines. That venture went so well that they soon opened a new venture - Basil Prosperi - in the skywalk system.
The partnership between the brothers came to an end in 2003 when Joe Logsdon broke away to start La Mie and Steve Logsdon started Lucca. At first, La Mie was known for its artisan breads and pastries before getting into more of a deli/sandwich shop. It was a destination for many looking for authentic croissants and quality fresh-baked bread.
Behind the scenes at La Mie, Joe's wife Christina was doing little things such as running the restaurant's booth at the Des Moines Farmers Market and helping out in the restaurant from time to time. Christina grew up in a family who liked to cook, but working in a restaurant was not on her list of things to do after she got her degree in textiles and clothing from Iowa State. However, her professional career consisted of working in some retail stores and not in the design of clothing. Feeling a little disjointed, Christina tried selling real estate for awhile before deciding to become a stay-at-home mom for the couple's children. Pressed into duty by the success and growth of La Mie, Christina started to work at the restaurant in 2007 primarily running the front of the house.
Pictured right - Christina Logsdon. Photo courtesy Des Moines Register.
After a couple of years working together, Joe and Christina were thinking what they could do to add value to La Mie while keeping the core of the business philosophy intact. It was at that time when Christina decided to enroll in the highly acclaimed French Pastry School in Chicago to learn the art of baking. One of the best - if not THE best - pastry schools in the U.S., Christine took a six month course to learn how to make cakes, sweet rolls, chocolates, tarts and what has turned into her signature dessert - macaroons. The world class pastry chefs who Christina studied under taught her the meticulous style that transferred to her work of art desserts that she (along with an assistant) make daily at La Mie.
It was a busy Saturday afternoon when we pulled up to the parking lot behind La Mie which is located in the Shops of Roosevelt strip mall along 42nd Street just north of the I-235 freeway. (see map) The narrow place was packed when we made our way to the front of the restaurant to stand in line to place our order.
The menu for La Mie is located on a chalk board behind the front counter. Ready-made sandwiches, sides and drinks were in the coolers up front. On a table behind the front counter were a number of breads, pastries and baguettes. I've heard that La Mie's croissants are fabulous and was looking to pick some up. However, they were all gone from the table. The croissants are usually the first thing to sell out at La Mie during the course of the day. I thought I could maybe get a sandwich made with a croissant.
But it turned out that wasn't possible. The only problem I had with La Mie's menu was that the sandwiches that you could order were as is - they won't let you pick your bread, pick a cheese, pick the meat, etc. I'm sure it's to help speed up the process of ordering and making the sandwiches, but I felt that the menu was a little shallow and restrictive.
I ended up getting a tuna salad sandwich mixed with nuts and raisins and served on a homemade focaccia bread. It was fine, but I think it would have been even better on a croissant. The tuna salad was all right - the nuts and the raisins gave it a different taste, but I was fine with what I got.
Cindy ordered up the smoked salmon salad - a smoked salmon filet on top of fresh greens topped with a sliced hard-boiled egg and sliced red onions. She was told that red wine vinaigrette would come with the salad, but when it was brought out to her it came with a small container with ranch dressing. She said she was all right getting the different type of dressing, but did admit later on that she thought it would have tasted better with the red wine vinaigrette.
We thought about getting some dessert to go, but the line was still about a dozen people deep by the time we finished. We decided to deep-six the desserts and let someone who was waiting for a table to take ours.
And my wife was happy with La Mie and that's all that counts. Sure, it's an eclectic place with an interesting menu and it's tough to beat the fresh baked goods in the place. Like I said, I thought the menu was a little shallow and unwavering. Still, I was fine with what I got for lunch. I didn't need much for lunch that day and the tuna salad/focaccia sandwich was good and filling. I would like to get back at some point to buy some of their croissants, but it will have to be early in the day.
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