Ashley's At the Capital

About this place

Flourishes include a wine list of dazzling scope with an attached three-page water list that may strike some diners hereabouts as a bit much. The 10 still and sparkling waters hail from six countries, including a $10 bottle from Japan said to have been filtered through volcanic rock at the base of Mount Fuji. The adroitly chosen 700-plus wine selections begin at $21 a bottle and peak at $1,350 for Chateau Haut-Brion from the Bordeaux vintage of 1970.
Whether the Little Rock area is fully ready for such ambitious endeavors - built around threecourse, fixed-price lunches and dinners at $25 and $45 respectively - is a question that remains to be answered. Nor is it certain that Ashley's achievements will match its aspirations on a sustained basis, although initial impressions are quite promising.
Food quality, the heart and soul of any restaurant, is off to an impressively strong start under the aegis of Executive Chef Lee Richardson and a platoon of six sous-chefs working with the spare-no-expense kitchen facilities that were part of Warren Stephens' two-year Capital Hotel renovation.

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