It has been almost a year since the Capital Hotel announced it had, after a long and exhaustive search, hired Joel Antunes, who came with a titanic international reputation, as its executive chef. He replaced Lee Richardson, who had left the hotel’s kitchens that summer.
At the time, Antunes said he was evaluating the kitchen setup and exploring local supply options, and expected to have new menus in place and everything going his way within perhaps three months or so.
Those three months, and a couple more triplets of three months, have come and gone, and the hotel’s long-awaited big announcement revealing Antunes’ new regime hasn’t happened yet.
However, Antunes’ new menus for dinner and lunch are in place at the hotel’s flagship restaurant, Ashley’s at the Capital. (Reportedly he’s still tinkering with breakfast.)
We knew the dinner dining experience would, almost by definition, be different from what it was under Richardson’s aegis, but would it be as good?
The really good news is that everything on our table that wasn’t perfect was practically perfect. Every scrap of Antunes’ French-accented food, from appetizer to dessert, we devoured with delight.
The prices are high (in keeping with it being a hotel restaurant and with the level of the cuisine), but mostly within reasonable bounds. And, bucking that trend where the menu identifies each and every component in painstaking detail, just about every dish here came out with at least one pleasant surprise ingredient.
Our only issue with the kitchen, and it’s a small one (pun intended), is that the dishes, while beautifully presented, are not over-full. Portion sizes are universally on the conservative side, particularly when you look at size vs. price.
Take, for example, our superb Broiled Sea Bass with Bok Choy and Tomato Relish ($29). The sea bass, in a soy-ginger glaze (with a little extra to pour on if we needed it, which we didn’t), practically melted in our mouths, and the dab of tomato relish on top nicely augmented the flavor. We couldn’t have enjoyed it more if we’d tried.
But the size of the piece of fish was a dietitian’s dream: a protein portion exactly the size of an open palm or a deck of playing cards. And it came accompanied by a single piece (one) of steamed-and herbed bok choy (a kind of Chinese cabbage).
Ashley’s formal, elegant dining room is done up in much the same style as it must have looked when the hotel opened in the 1880s; it probably changed a little during the hotel’s major renovation a couple of years ago, but it can’t have changed much. There are still solid, white-clothed tables with formal yellow-white-striped, well upholstered chairs and heavy, long-serving silverware in the midst of mirrored walls with potted-plant, cranberry-colored glass-vase and wall-sconce accents and pilasters with ornately carved “capitals.”
The dining room has remained formal, but the service is distinctly less so. Gone are the stately, soft-spoken waiters who’d been working there for what seemed like a hundred years, who were at your table when you needed them and faded into the woodwork when you didn’t. They’ve been replaced by a lively, friendly staff of young people. They’ve been trained to some degree in formal table service but don’t take things nearly as seriously.
While it’s nice that the reins have been loosened (we’ve heard old-regime horror stories of diners being told softly that they were using the wrong utensil), it may be too much: If we’re paying as much as we paid for a dinner for two, we don’t necessarily want to get that chummy with our server.
Appetizer prices are equivalent to what you’d pay for an entree at most middle-cuisine establishments, but the ones we tried were certainly worth it. In no particular order:
Blue Shrimp Ceviche with Coriander and Citrus Dressing ($12). We tasted lime, a little orange and possibly some grapefruit, which complimented the plentiful pieces of firm shrimp.
We detected no overt avocado in our Yellowfin Tuna Tartare with Avocado ($14), but it may have been well whipped into the aioli or mayonnaise or whatever it was that coated the tasty cubed tuna, sort of halfway between minced and pureed. That was a little off-putting at first bite but it grew on us.
If you have philosophical objections or PETA sympathies, please do not picket Ashley’s because it serves Seared Foie Gras with Grapes and Gastrique Jus ($16); there’s a place for it in the culinary landscape as well as in our gastric juices. The two moderate-size pieces of liver were mouth-meltingly tender and the jus was the perfect flavor complement; the grapes added a dimension of texture and taste to the dish, although we could have done without the garnish of microgreens, which kind of got in the way.
We didn’t know quite what to expect from Electric Companion’s pick, the Leek Salad with Spiced Pecans and Blue Cheese ($12), which turned out to be cold, lightly dressed pieces of leek shafts sitting upright, forest-like, in a casserole dish, surrounded by the candied pecans and cheese chunks, all with complementary flavors and textures.
Our sea bass was our top entree, but the other three were not far behind.
We voiced a rousing “bravo” for the Seared Scallops with Potato Gnocchi and Sundried Tomatoes ($26). The dish contained three large, perfectly cooked scallops in a red-white-and-blue plate presentation with firm gnocchi (white), sauteed sun-dried tomatoes (red) and some very unusual beans that the kitchen consistently and insistently identified as limas, but which were at least twice the size of any limas we’d ever encountered, and a speckled slate-blue to boot.
(A little research turned up the possible “culprit”: a butterbean, a lima relative, called Jackson’s Wonder that when it’s shelled looks white but when it’s cooked turns blue-gray. Lacking any subsequent instruction, we’ll go with that.)
We were a little perplexed by the arrival of an empty bowl-like coupe soup instead of our Roast Lamb Loin with Red Bell Pepper and Cipollini Onions ($28), which came out seconds later in a metal casserole dish, not as a single slice of meat but as tender chunks, tossed with pieces of pepper, onions and what looked and tasted like artichoke hearts. The balance of flavors and textures here, too, was practically perfect.
Electric Companion’s entree choice, like her appetizer, was unusual and something we wouldn’t ordinarily have considered would be a successful combination: Organic Risotto with Butternut Squash, Spicy Pumpkin Seeds and Truffles ($24), served en casserole. The pumpkin seeds, partially forming a sort of crust, provided a lovely crunch; the squash and (surprise) fresh peas provided a sort of chunky texture; and the truffles and (surprise again) rosemary provided an earthy flavor to the somewhat creamy sauce. (Again with the microgreen garnish!)
The one advantage to small entree portions is that it leaves room for dessert, and we wholeheartedly recommend Chef Antunes’ signature confection, the Chocolate Peanut Butter “Kitt Katt” with Spiced Ice Cream ($10, but built to share). A thin wafer forms the foundation for a chocolate mousse-like brick, with a trench for the peanut-butter filling, topped with a little edible shaved gold leaf to remind you of the wrapper that isn’t there (or perhaps Willy Wonka’s golden ticket). If it had been any richer we’d have given up our day jobs.
The accompanying lightly spiced vanilla ice cream in its own side bowl with a cocoa-nib cookie protruding, is obviously kitchen-made, as evidenced by the slightly gelatinous blobs within, a possible drawback if you prefer your ice cream smoother.
Ashley’s has a varied and excellent selection of red, white, sparkling and dessert wines - wines by the glass are listed in the dinner menu and in the separate list, which also, by the way, lists a selection of bottled waters at hotel-dining-room prices.
We had the same waitress for both dinner visits, and she was pert and perky and helpful but, as we mentioned, we’re not sure the formal service pendulum hasn’t perhaps swung a little too far in the other direction. Support personnel - the folks who filled our water glasses and delivered fresh rolls to our bread plates - were a bit more reserved.
One peculiar service quirk we noted, because it happened on both visits: The hostess didn’t bring menus to the table until all members of the party were seated. That meant that an early-arriving diner had only the wine list to consult and couldn’t get an advantage on dining companions by figuring out what to order ahead of everybody else.
Ashley’s at the Capital
Address: Capital Hotel, 111 W. Markham St., Little Rock Hours: 6:30-10 a.m., 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 5:30-9 p.m.
Monday-Thursday; 6:30-10 a.m., 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 5:30-10 p.m. Friday; 6:30-10 a.m., 5:30-10 p.m. Saturday; 6:30-10 a.m., 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday Cuisine: Eclectic, with a distinct French accent Credit cards: V, MC, D, AE Wheelchair accessible: Yes Carryout: Well, not really (501) 370-7011 tinyurl.com/mu2ece6 Reservations: opentable.com
Weekend, Pages 33 on 11/14/2013