RESTAURANTS Main courses hit high note at Capriccio Grill
BY JACK SCHNEDLER ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Capriccio Mixed Grill (5-ounce lamb chop, 6-ounce filet mignon, 5-ounce linguica sausage) and Grilled New Zealand Turner Prawns are top-flight main course offerings at Capriccio Grill Italian Steakhouse in the Peabody Little Rock hotel.
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LITTLE ROCK — Restaurant meals can develop a rhythm, and this one began with a discordant overture.
That off-key note was the sub-par quality of the aperitifs wife Marcia and I ordered as we began to browse the wide-ranging menu at Capriccio Grill Italian Steakhouse in the Peabody Little Rock.
It took 10 minutes for the drinks to arrive, with an apology for the delay. Sadly, they weren’t worth the wait. Marcia’s weak Old-Fashioned suffered from a short pour of the Jack Daniels she’d requested. My Kir was cloyingly sweet, due to an excess of the black-currant liqueur that distinguishes this French aperitif.
Happily, the rest of our dinner rose to a crescendo of noteworthy main courses that pretty much put the deficient drinks out of mind - until the check came. It listed a stiff $7.75 tab for the lame Old-Fashioned and a whopping $10 for the Kir - evidently a Kir Royale made with champagne, not the basic Kir with white wine I’d ordered. (So why hadn’t I sent it back? Maybe the champagne seduced me. More likely the overdose of the sweet liqueur masked the bubbly.)
I could have complained about those prices before paying. I also could have griped about the presumptuous 4 percent “facilities surcharge” that the Peabody slaps onto its bills. But we’d been turned mellow by the excellence of Marcia’s Grilled New Zealand Turner Prawns ($38) and my Capriccio Mixed Grill ($34).
High marks also went to my first course of Sauteed Little Neck Clams ($13.75), while Marcia’s appetizer of Fried Ravioli ($8.95) wound up being our only so-so dinner dish. The bottle of delightful Martin Codax Albarino white wine from Spain’s Galicia region ($35) no doubt bolstered our feel-good mood.
Perusing the menu reminded us that Executive Chef Andre Poirot and his crew face the challenge of being a full-service hotel restaurant open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner to guests with a vast scope of tastes and appetites.
For big spenders, the headline act among dinner offerings is prime beef from Ruprecht’s of Chicago: 24-ounce bone-in Rib Eye Steak ($39.50), 16-ounce New York Strip ($36.50), and Filet Mignon in 12-ounce ($38.50)and 8-ounce ($33.25) cuts. The Veal Loin Steak is $40.50, Lamb Chops are $36, and the doublecut Pork Chop is $27.50.
Among options lighter on the stomach and the credit card are a couple of nightly fish specials and five Italian dishes including Chicken Parmigiana ($21.75) and Veal Piccata ($23.95). There are six pasta dishes, among them Fettuccini Alfredo ($18.25) and Wild Mushroom Ravioli ($23.95). The three pizza choices are priced under $14. An ample dinner could be made by pairing, say, Insalata Caprese ($8.95) or Minestrone ($4/$5.50) with a hearty appetizer such as Crab Cakes ($18.95).
As we were reminded by the waitress, Capriccio’s main courses come strictly a la carte. Sizing up the 10 side dishes, we chuckled at the notion of paying $6.25 for Creamed Sweet Corn. Then we splurged on the Sauteed Spinach ($8) and Sauteed Wild Mushrooms ($8). Served in shallow soup bowls that hogged table space, spinach and mushrooms were flavorful - although Marcia remarked that the chef might be chuckling about the high profit margin.
My Capriccio Mixed Grill proved to be a nicely balanced flavor combination of a 6-ounce prime filet mignon, a 5-ounce lamb chop and 5 ounces of linguica pork sausage of Portuguese extraction. The variety of tastes and textures made for a distinctly more interesting experience than would have been the case with 16 ounces of a single meat.
Even better were Marcia’s Grilled New Zealand Turner Prawns. The half-dozen perfectly cooked jumbo crustaceans got an energizing boost they hardly needed from a lovely citrus garlic beurre blanc sauce.
Tidbits of linguica sausage added a robust garnish to my first-course Sauteed Little Neck Clams, also dressed up with garlic, fennel, tomatoes and spring onions. The menu touted the Peroni beer butter broth, but the waitress told us it was actually made with Sam Adams and not the Italian brew. In either case, the beer accent was imperceptible.
Lowering the grade of the Fried Ravioli was a lack of crispness, although our standard may have been set too high by memories of the world-class version at Kemoll’s restaurant in St. Louis. Still, a soggy fried ravioli is a soggy fried ravioli - no matter how good the interior ingredients.
One quirk of Capriccio’s service is that guests are asked for their last name at the reception desk, even if they haven’t made a reservation. I asked why and was told, “It’s for our guest book.” Imagine that publicationas a best-seller!
Service was cheerful and willing, but perhaps not as polished as the menu prices would warrant. For example, my firstcourse plate got cleared while Marcia was still eating - a palpable rush job, though not a major offense.
On the other hand, the waitress did give a forthright answer when I asked about customer feedback on the intriguing Tuscan Braised Beef Short Ribs. “It’s about 50/50,” she said. “People who know their braised meat like them, the others aren’t so fond of them.”
A highlight of lunch three days later was the Pasta & Salad Bar combination ($14.50) ordered by Marcia. Besides an array of greens and other salad makings, the serve-yourself spread included minestrone and the soup of the day.
The waiter brought a little scorecard for ordering the pasta. It offered choices among three pastas, five sauces and 11 ingredients. Marcia’s linguine with tomato basil cream sauce and several vegetables was a generous serving. She wished she’d added Italian sausage or asked for redpepper flakes for a flavor boost.
With my small Caesar Salad ($6.50), I requested anchovies - and got the handsomest display of these salty little fish filets that have ever crossed my path. Nine of them were arranged in a pinwheel pattern atop the fresh romaine lettuce and croutons. It was anchovy nirvana.
Hardly necessary after that was my Steak Sandwich ($16.25), a formidable slab of flat-iron beef that had been marinated in herbs before grilling. Tucked into a long bun, it was accented with charred red onions, melted brie, Roma tomatoes and lettuce. The sandwich was tasty enough that I overate almost all of it.
And the bar acquitted itself this time around. After I ordered a Bloody Mary ($6.75), a delay ensued before our waiter returned. A couple of minutes later the hostess showed up to apologize and assure me that the dining-room manager himself was mixing the drink.
It proved to be a formidable Bloody Mary, infused with ample vodka and briskly seasoned. Every drop was savored, while Marcia sipped her $2.25 iced tea.
Capriccio Grill
Italian Steakhouse Address: Peabody Little Rock hotel, 3 Statehouse Plaza, Little Rock Hours: Daily 6-11 a.m. for breakfast, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. for lunch, 5-10 p.m.
for dinner.
Cuisine: Steaks, Italian Credit cards: AE, MC, V, D, DC Alcohol: Full bar Wheelchair accessible: Yes Reservations: Yes (501) 399-8000 www.peabodylittlerock.com
This article was published Friday, May 2, 2008.
Weekend, Pages 61 on 05/02/2008
