Capital Grille-Take 3
A return to perennial group favorite Capital Grille to kick off the New Year. On our previous trips high marks were in store across the board, would this trend hold true?
The crowd was light as most of Chicago was recovering from the holidays and attempting to keep their new years resolutions to eat less for at least the first week of the year. The fine gentlemen of steak night will have none of such nonsense and stuffed their faces the first Thursday of every month as always.
A large group of 9 were in for dinner including special guest TC “Sausage Fingers” Canterra. TC has a bit of a cult following among the group for his starring turn as “the guy passed out in the hall”, forever immortalized on the coasters in Brad’s apartment.
8 of 9 people arrived by 7:45 and enjoyed some pre dinner drinks and banter. At 8:00 we were seated minus Glick. One thing you can count on at steak night is that Glick will be late, period. Late period, he is like a pregnant chick.
Apps included oysters, calamari and lobster/crab cakes. The calamari is easily the best in the city. The lobster bisque had huge chunks of lobster and was delicious .
I went with the porterhouse medium rare and it was cooked to perfection and oozing with flavor. Unfortunately I know some were disappointed with their steaks. The lobster mac and cheese, au gratin potatoes and creamed corn were all top notch. All in all a great meal.
Dinner conversation focused on the upcoming BCS Championship game, the NFL playoffs, a steak night Vegas trip, reviving poker night, potentially adding new members and Glick’s tiresome act of arriving after 8:00 each month.
It was decided we would place all the playoff teams in a hat (or in this case an emptied out sugar packet holder) and each pull a team, whoever’s team wins the Super Bowl gets a free dinner in March.
Brad Ray was to good to use the steak knife the restaurant provided, he brought his own. Holinger won at credit card roulette again, despite the ridiculous protests from Glick, which fell upon deaf ears. It was Crenshaw’s birthday and he received a free glass of champagne, a nice touch.
Almost the full crew hit Hubbard Inn for after dinner drinks. The crew slowly called it an evening until only Holinger, Crenshaw and myself were remaining. It was at this time that Crenshaw led a spirited discussion on the merits of Facebook to get pussy. On to next month.
Rick “The Drunk Idiot” Ray
Filed under: General
Sorry I missed it fellas, had some beach and baby time to do Florida-style. Hope you guys enjoyed the cold walk to Hubbard Inn.
Couple of notes, I guess the service wasn’t quite up to par since it wasn’t even mentioned. Also, TC’s last name is Canterna, not Canterra, as I know a TC Canterra and he holds no candle whatsoever to this TC we all now know from steak night.
I’m shocked that Glick was late again. Grounds for a suspension in my opinion. There have to be rules on being punctual.
Holinger got a good pick in the NFL draft too, here’s to another free dinner for you in March fella!
Despite the January date on the calender, it felt like April. 50 degrees and balmy made for glorious conditions. I have been to Capital Grille before, however, having missed the previous two Steak Night visits, this was my first trip with the fine gentlemen of Steak and Cigars. There has been much fodder and hype surrounding CG, so the bar was high. It takes some guts to go to a place for a third time and unfortunately, this did not live up to expectations. We had a great circular table and the food was very good indeed, however, lack luster service and a dead atmosphere missed the mark.
I had the sliced filet with wild mushroom and candied onions, it was tremendous.
Don and Scott were missed, but an energized group of 9 made for a strong start to 2012. Side bets by Rick (Bama) and Brad (LSU) as well as Chris (Lions) – 10.5 and Glick (Saints) gave some good additional debate.
Rick, I like your vigor and passion for this place, but after three visits, it is time to shut it down. There are a few places to go for the first time and several that need a second look.
I am always excited for a meal at the Capital Grille. This would mark our third venture. The one and only TC Canterna was in town to join. I enjoy seeing TC in person – a nice change of pace from resting my beer on his passed out face every night.
I showed up just before 7 and met Crenshaw at the bar. We enjoyed some Glenlivet 18 and recapped the holidays. The group slowly trickled in and come 8pm we were ready to be seated, minus Glick. That has come to be the norm for him. Regularly showing up late for dinner is simply rude. Glick’s actions however proved good fodder regarding his presence going forward.
Onto the meal, let’s start with the apps. The fried calamari at Capital Grille remains the best in the city. We also enjoyed some malpec oysters (big hit) and delicious crab cakes. I went with a cup of the lobster bisque. Hands down the most lobster meat ever served in a bisque – excellent. After the app order I was feeling good – Capital Grille living up to past performance.
I suffered some indecision this time around at CG with my steak cut. Do I get the Kona crusted strip or do I get a Delmonico in some form? Coming with a strong recommendation from the waiter, I went with porcini rubbed Delmonico. Still impressed by the “rare plus” call at Michael Jordan’s, I asked our waiter if they could deliver that temperature. Assured medium rare would meet my needs (they tend to go under so they always have the opportunity to bring the temperature up, I was told) I went with it. Who would know the kitchen better than the wait staff?
When the Steak arrived, it was medium through and through. Moreover I didn’t much care for the porcini rub. I will take responsibility for the order, but there are no excuses on the temperature. Not as overdone as Hollinger’s steak, but a pretty large hickey for the establishment and staff on this evening. The most enjoyable part of eating this steak was getting to use my new personal steak knife. Met with conflicting reviews, and admittedly a bit over the top, it cut my overdone steak like warm butter. Like the apps, the sides were excellent. Lobster mac and creamed spinach get high marks as expected. Creamed corn was also amazing.
I drew Baltimore in the super bowl pool. A decent pick to run with. That was promptly followed by my card being drawn first and Holingwa continuing his unprecedented run of free steak dinners. After tonight, when LSU beats Bama, I will enjoy my free dinner next month courtesy if Reeshard.
Onto Vegas…..
There are two things that shall never happen again at Steak Night: First, I shall never again decide against ordering the lobster bisque and secondly I shall never hear anyone quote Sarah Bruce again. Luckily for Kid Ray he went and totally redeemed himself from the Bruce quote with a near flawless execution of the Zack attack. High marks to Jevon for finishing off the Lego diddy from our childhood.
The calamari never ceases to amaze and washing it down from another creature of the sea was a great start. I found the malpeques to be as delicious as always but felt badly Scotty Markets was not present to share in the glory. Around the time appetizers were wrapping up Glick decided to join us. Or maybe it was when we were finishing up steaks. Perhaps it was just before desserts arrived? We will never know since he is unlikely to read or post on this website, but free drinks from Mr Glick next month will be enjoyable.
I decided to go with the filet oscar, medium rare. This was hands down one of the best filets I have had on steak night and to top it off with a heaping pile of crab made it a dinner not to be forgotten. The sides made a quick pass around the table and I was fortunate to procure some of the scraps left behind by the ravenous dogs. Creamed spinach, creamed corn, and lobster mac all deserved a second portion if you asked me.
The football playoff pool began in a sugar cup elegantly dumped on the table and my team was eliminated before the bowl was properly rearranged. The Bengals can suck my balls. On to next month.
True to the above assessments of our evening at the Capital Grille, the evening started off well, with all expectations being met (including Glick’s tardiness).
Yes, the appetizers, lobster bisque, sides and wine selection were wonderful. Unfortunately, due to our high expectations, the Grille had far to fall, and, from my perspective, fall it did. The service was especially disappointing – querying twice for olive oil, it arrived 10 minutes later; found it so difficult to get our waiter’s attention at one point, I had to get up and fetch him – in spite of what appeared to be a light evening for them. And then there was the special steak that I was extremely excited for. It was unforgettable: I ordered medium but what appeared on my plate was a grey hunk of chewy, well done meat. The waiter was happy to bring me a replacement (once I got up to go get him) but it was indeed too little too late.
Not sure what has happened to the Capital Grille we twice visited previously…
For the first Steak Night of the year, Old Man Ray decided to go with a consistent favorite choice of the group, The Capital Grill. The only consistency this time was it’s relation to our nations capital and it’s sub par performance.
Kid Ray and myself were the first to arrive; the single guy who can go anywhere at any time and the married with kids guy who will use every possible minute of his night out. Cheers to that. The rest of the group trickled in, but maybe not quite as quickly had there been someone there to pick up the bar tab this time around. To be continued on that one…..Oh yeah and Glick showed up right after we were seated. Shocker. But at least it provided some good ribbing material for the evening and beyond.
The apps were really anchored by the calimari, probably the best in the city. The crab cakes were barely luke warm when they got to me. Nothing to see here, keep moving. The creamed corn was outstanding and the pea sized portion I was able to obtain of the creamed spinach was pretty good, I think. French onion soup – beef broth, cheese, bread. Always a stomach ache inducing winner in my book. You could cut the cheese with Kid Rays “knife of the 1% club.” I want to call it gay, but there’s just something classy about the whole thing.
But on to the meat. As usual, I went with the Bone in Ribeye, “Delmonico Cut,” and was gracious enough to provide a little fun filled history of the Delmonico. It would have been nice if our waiter indicated anything about the Kona Rub Strip, but I let it slide since most of us knew about it already. Definitely unimpressed by the wait staff. You have a big table and potentially a big tip. Act like you care. Anyway, the first few bites were charred, fatty, deliciousness. The more I got into the steak, the more the flavor disappeared. Really just unimpressed and disappointed by this one. But hey, at least they got the temperature right, which is more than we can say for Holingwa’s.
Desert ended with my go to crème brûlée…..never met one I didn’t like.
I ended up with the long shot Texans in the super bowl pool. Hopefully TJ Yates is the next Tom Brady. Capital Grill seemed more like Carson Palmer….overhyped.
When word got out that we would be dining at the king of Chicago steakhouses, the Capital Grille, I was overjoyed. The Ray’s have said nothing but great things about this place, and prior commentary across the board was an overwhelming, best in the city. Steak Night 2012 was sure to start off with a bang. What followed for some turned out to be nothing more than a fizzle, while for others the meal was an explosion of flavor, and as always an armory’s worth of ammunition of excellent debate and banter.
The happy hour drinks were enjoyed by al(l)…most everybody. It’s nice to see the prompt early arrivers, Daddy Gimms and Crenshaw. I had arrived a little late, at 7:01, but it’s become quite the norm to see the two of them warm up the barstools for the rest and it’s always nice to start the night with these fine gentlemen. It’s too bad the full group is not the norm. It is the way every steak night should be started.
As for the dinner portion of the evening, some were served a plate full of bad service and improperly cooked steaks. Luckily for myself, I was not served any of this. The porterhouse that I ordered was nothing but the tastiest steak I have eaten in this fine city to date. There’s nothing better than two steaks for the price of one, on one side the filet, and on the other, the strip. It was my first detour from the normal ribeye order, but I was more than happy that I made the switch. Although I was happy with the plate in front of me, it’s terrible to hear that a fine establishment that relies so much on churning out steak after steak missed the mark for a few folks. You would think they have this process down pat. I’m typically a fan of servers who leave you alone, and let you enjoy your meal in peace, but when there is a discontent amongst various members of the group, this needs to be corrected. Never, should a guest be forced to chase down a server in order to get his order right.
The apps that started the night need no mention other than the calamari. I was pleased to see the servers almost shovel out a plateful of calamari and dump it on my plate. As previously mentioned it is the finest in the city, and there’s no question about it. The sides of the night such as the lobster mac and the creamed spinach were standard fare. No complaints here, but my attention was entirely focused on the porterhouse in front of me. The sides were appropriately just a nice compliment.
Some side bets came up as the mythical national championship game was on the schedule on Monday. As it turned out, I’m not sure which was worse, Holinger’s original steak temperature, or the offense that I’m told was on display from LSU. Luckily I profited from the shutout, by putting my money on Alabama and it’s actual offensive weaponry, as Mr. Glick will be paying for approximately a cost of a steak, without tax and tip. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had bet more.
Of course I’m late to the posting…but still early for expectations. Good time at dinner. Steak was ok, sides did the trick. Company was excellent. Patience is a virtue. I appreciate everyone’s patience.
As for the formal protest I give you these facts:
1. The draw was down to the final two cards
2. The waiter shuffled the cards and had one card in his hand he brought forward
3. Someone said something to the extent of “If glick wins you won’t get a tip”
4. The waiter grabbed the second card from behind his back and looked at both
5. the waiter then put the cards behind his back a second time without shuffling them
6. He pulled out holinger’s card
7. I’m not sure the WWF is as fixed as this draw was
Love you, love your show.