RESTAURANT REVIEW: Capital Bar & Grill capitalizes on the basics

A few months ago, chef Marc Guizol, who had been executive chef Joel Antunes' No. 2 guy in the kitchen at the Capital Hotel's high-end One Eleven at the Capital, took over as No. 1 at the hotel's flagging other flagship eatery, the Capital Bar & Grill.

Guizol replaced former chef de cuisine Arturo Solis less than a year after Solis' major menu overhaul. It would be unkind to say it flopped, but while innovative and, in some cases, an improvement, it reportedly ticked off a number of regular customers while not drawing in many new ones.

Concurrent with Guizol's ascendancy, a large-scale equipment installation has improved the flow in a kitchen that is basically the size of a postage stamp while doubling its grill and oven capabilities (they had been producing an astonishing number of burgers every day on a single grill).

[PHOTOS: Selections from the Capital Bar & Grill]

Guizol is retaining the menu's core, while keeping a couple of Solis' additions (including the popular fried biscuits). He'll make seasonal changes and add, for the first time, specials based on local produce, to which he is giving more priority. He's attempting to please regulars and hotel visitors by combining "Southern ingredients and French technique."

Meanwhile, the kitchen and floor staffs appear to be happier, which benefits diners. Service was almost universally excellent for recent lunch and dinner visits, and even staff members who weren't waiting on us directly said "hi" and flashed charming smiles.

The move brings CB&G a little closer to former Capital executive chef Lee Richardson's original concept, which he defined as Southern comfort food with a high-end twist, and which former sous chef Travis McConnell executed in exemplary fashion.

But it's not there yet. It's pleasant but not particularly exciting, something you used to be able to say about CB&G.

The kitchen succeeds primarily in the staples -- the burger, a trademark item since it opened; the steak; the fried biscuits Solis introduced, that have been dependable even in the restaurant's soggiest days, and there have been some soggy patches. A few things that the kitchen should do well didn't fulfill our expectations.

It's certainly still a nice place to dine, a bit less formal than its upscale sibling across the lobby, but formal enough to help you "adjustify" the hotel-high prices.

The interior is luxurious without being ostentatious -- dark wood on the walls and the big old bar, high ceiling, seating at black-stone-topped tables and comfortably upholstered chairs. (But if you're short, we recommend asking for a table by the windows or the west wall -- we got a definite feeling of having to reach up to the table top.) Tasteful classic rock, jazz and blues come from the sound system.

You can again enter from the street through the antique revolving door, or through the hotel lobby. The "Mr. Witt" Stephens table by the kitchen door is still perpetually reserved, with a backgammon set at the ready, even though the staff does not expect the late Mr. Stephens to keep his standing reservation.

Among the "Snacks and Starters," head directly for those fried biscuits ($9), crisp outside and fluffy inside, served with a black pepper cheese fondue (a dip-able version of the restaurant's signature pimento cheese).

The Pickled Egg Salad ($8) is more intriguing than delicious -- a tangy, vinegary, slightly sloppy concoction, with more of it in the glass pot than it first appeared, exceeding the number of grilled sourdough slices on which to spread it. It comes with a sizable portion of cornichons.

We enjoyed our soup of the day, a pleasantly herbed Manhattan clam chowder with more clams in the square cup-bowl than potatoes, but not really enough of either. We'd be hard put to say the portion size was worth $6 (bowl, $9).

The best menu bet by far is The Burger ($15 lunch, $16 dinner), absolutely one of the area's best. The 7-ounce, ground-in-house, all-natural beef patty comes on a tall, house-made brioche bun. Diners can choose one of five cheeses (American, cheddar, Swiss, pimento or bleu) and three toppings (sauteed mushrooms, bacon or caramelized onion). We wimped out and went with slightly boring but still delicious Swiss and mushrooms. The bun actually enhanced, and not just contained, the burger, but there was just a little bit too much of it. The side of parmesan fries were nicely crunchy-crisp, dusted with grated cheese and herbs.

We would also go back for the rib-eye ($29), a plain-looking but excellent piece of beef, near-perfectly cooked medium-rare, just the way we asked for it. If the preparation included salt, pepper or spices, the kitchen only used just enough to enhance the flavor of the steak without distracting from it. We dipped a couple of bites into the accompanying cognac sauce, which complemented it nicely, but we mostly took pleasure in eating it without enhancement. It comes with a generous order of house fries.

We chose the chicken fried steak ($19) because it's the most Southern-sounding thing on the menu, and, as Intrepid Companion explained, "Sometimes a girl just wants some gravy." The chicken-fry batter was fine, but the cream gravy was insipid (the only flavor came from black pepper, and not much of that), and the steak was so tough that Intrepid Companion had a hard time hacking through it with the steak knife that came with the rib-eye (we didn't get one, but should have, with this plate). The thick, firm-outside, soft-inside seasoned potatoes were bigger, but less interesting, than the house or parmesan fries. It also came with a mixed-greens salad.

We also went with "Southern-sounding" for dessert: banana pudding ($7), which CB&G makes and serves parfait-style in a canning jar. It's pleasant, not too sweet, and the vanilla wafers are house-made, though we suspect that if we hadn't known that, we wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

The lunch menu now includes a $9.95 weekday blue-plate special -- Monday, red beans and rice with andouille sausage; Tuesday, a thick slab of meatloaf with mushroom gravy served with house-baked white bread and and green salad; Wednesday, fried chicken with potato salad and green beans; Thursday, pulled-pork barbecue sandwich with coleslaw and house chips; and Friday, fried catfish tacos with red cabbage slaw, lime and chipotle crema.

There's also a daily $9.95 Chow Down Lunch, choice of half sandwich (Cuban, pimento grilled cheese, roast beef au jus) with soup or mixed-greens salad with sorghum vinaigrette.

Weekend on 08/04/2016