A Dish of something different: Paul Trostel takes on tapas

Just like the beef in his restaurants, Paul Trostel is in his prime.

A restaurateur of 42 years, he has perfected the recipe for building an establishment from the ground up and making it a successful part of the Des Moines community. To Trostel, running his three Des Moines area restaurants – Trostel’s Greenbriar, Chips and his newest enterprise, Trostel’s Dish – is like raising three children.

Consider these children honors students.

“I’m in one of the three restaurants every night of the week – especially Dish because it’s the baby,” Trostel said. “When you get into this business, it’s more than a job. It’s a lifestyle.”

Trostel’s Greenbriar in Johnston, which is beginning its 20th year of operation, is his oldest current establishment. The restaurant’s prime rib is heralded by many as the finest in town. It’s aged and cut in house, and slow cooked with Trostel’s secret seasonings. Chips in Ankeny, established in 1994, offers casual dining with homemade potato chips, rotisserie chicken and oak-fired pizzas. But Trostel’s Dish, which opened in Clive last October, is a far cry from your standard meat and potatoes.

It’s called tapas (pronounced TOP-ess). Trostel describes it as “build your own dining experience” where you can order several small dishes and graze the restaurant’s worldly menu.

For example, a couple might start with one of Dish’s four cheese flights – different samplings of three cheeses from around the world. Then they might order several of the restaurants signature dishes such as the of Boursin Mushrooms, Mazatlan Shrimp “Cocktail Spoons”, Iowa Lollipop Lamb Chops, Greek Pizza, Tuna Tataki and a Dessert Sampler. The only big dish: Trostel’s famous prime rib.

Equally important to the plentiful menu, Trostel’s Dish has a list of more than 150 wines from around the world ranging in price from $20 a bottle to a $275 bottle of Dom Perignon. Some wines are also available in flights – a set of three two-ounce pours.

“My concept was to offer this menu and an extensive wine list,” Trostel said. “That’s one of the things that make us popular. It is very extensive.”

And it’s the “concept,” according to Trostel, that is the key to opening a successful restaurant. You have to determine your look and your atmosphere and who you’re going to attract, he said. Then you have to engineer your menu and drink selection to meet their desires.

“We appeal to mature adults. It’s an adult atmosphere. We don’t have kids’ meals, crayons or anything like that,” he said. “Especially for an adult restaurant, you have to have what people want.”

Hence the intricate foods, 40-foot bar and infinite wine menu. In concept, Trostel’s Dish is unlike anything else in the Des Moines area. In practice, it’s the city’s latest trend.

It’s like Beverly Hills in the Midwest. It features the latest trend in glassware – the stemless Riedel “O” Series wine glasses. The bar is 40 feet of black and brown granite and the back bar has two shelves of premium spirits bottles running its length featuring multiple selections of vodka, Scotch and cognac, notably. Combined with an extensive martini menu, drink choices are endless. The service of those drinks is also top-notch.

“We look for hip service – young, charming, hard-working and clean cut,” Trostel said. “Because people are ordering many small portions, they are making many trips to the table.”

Judging by the tapas menu, drink selection and service standards, it’s clear that Trostel knows what it takes to hit his target demographic. Deservingly, the Iowa Restaurant Association named him its 2005 Restaurateur of the Year.

“I think that Paul Trostel’s commitment to quality is self-evident if you walk into any of his restaurants,” said Doni DeNucci, president of the association.

Some say Trostel’s prime rib is the best in the business. They could probably say the same about Trostel, himself.