Capital Grille & The NFL Playoffs
Gentlemen before we get to the recap of the evening we have a couple pieces of business to attend. As discussed and widely decided as long past due, the official Bill Conway Bachelor Pad Art Update GoFundMe page has been setup and is ready to accept even the most humble of donations. https://www.gofundme.com/BillsBareWalls He has caviar tastes on a Rose budget but anything can help.
Secondly, the NFL playoffs have already seen our beloved Bears fizzle out with yet another shank off the goal post, insert a Reeshard Ray metaphor here, however the playoffs do go on. The luck of the draw is below:
Ravens – Don
Hans – Colts
John – Pats
Rick – Chargers
Mason – Chiefs
Jon – Texans
Brad – Seahawks
Jevon – Rams
Scotty – Cowboys
Conway – Eagles
Bears and Saints OUT
And now onto the evening at the Capital Grille, which despite being a chain is one of my favorite spots in town. After my 2 month sa-baby-tical away from Steak Night I was eagerly looking forward to getting back to it. I selected it originally at the request of our CTO Roddy who was supposed to be gracing us with his presence but was later detained elsewhere. Nonetheless, looking forward to Capital Grille for some more calamari and pursuit of sisters. The bar scene is less than desirable truth be told. Its a long and narrow elevated platform that no matter how hard you try you will inevitably elbow some elderly patron in the head and knock a drink out of Brad Rays hand. Given it was the first Thursday of the new year, we had it essentially to ourselves but it still feels like you cant really get comfortable here.
Our table on the other hand had quite the opposite problem. It was a top notch location in the middle of the room and was immediately recognized to have considerable girth. Usually when you put 9 gentlemen with our particular gift of gab at the same table it is hard to have a conversation with anyone except those on your sides but in this case it was not an issue at all. I fired in the doubled up app orders of Cast Iron Garlic Shrimp, Tuna Tartare, and Calamari with Hot Cherry Peppers. Honestly, this is my favorite calamari in the city hands down. Its the right combination of spice and breading on the calamari that prepared perfectly. The other two apps sounded good on paper but didn’t deliver. A couple bottles of decently priced Adelsheim and we were underway. A few went with a bowl of soup in addition to my initial order and I am still reeling in agony from the burns caused by the molten lobster bisque. It defies all chemistry how they can get something that hot without it boiling over at the table, also pretty heavy handed on the sherry.
The kona crusted dry aged with shallot butter caught my attention and was also noticed by Cizzle. In retrospect I know I shouldn’t order because of what comes on or with the steak but rather order the steak. I ordered it medium rare, it came out medium but I think they switched mine with Cizzle… The sides were all pretty middle of the road with nothing standing out to me as well. If it weren’t for the impressive girth of our table and for all of those sitting around it, I would have said it was a disappointing dinner. Capital Grille usually excels at quality and in this case really didn’t deliver. Reeshard walked for free for about the hundredth time with his victory in the pick ’em pool. It was decided by the group if you miss one week you are essentially done, which I propose we get a one week drop that can be used at the end of the year to level scores. Nonetheless, this shall be debated by the rules committee. After paying for Reeshard we headed over to Snickers to see what the riff raff of River North were up to and then called it a night.
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Capital Grille will always hold a special place for me as the spot I lost my steak night virginity what’s starting to become a few years ago. I think it’s right to be skeptical of the chain restaurants, but they do a great job of making this feel like an original.
Accommodating nine of us at a circular table was a wonderful thing, both in terms of the steak night attendance figure, and the fine functionality of such a large piece of furniture. I found the pinot noir to be especially tasty, and the apps more appealing than usual, especially the tuna. The bisque was molten, and the steak fine, to quite fine.
Congrats to Rick Ray on another win of the NFL pool. I would second Mr. Fedderke’s suggestion of allowing a 0 score in a week to be dropped, pending that functionality in the app. My life is not loaded with stress thankfully, but trying to remember each week that the NFL plays football on Thursday added more cortisol to my system that it needed to.
After dinner was my first visit to Snickers, and my second came six days later. A fine addition to City’s list of bad decision options.
8/10
MLP
New year, old me. And I don’t give a damn. Steak night is a night for gluttonous consumption of food and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let some new fangled “diet” get in the way of good food, and good times.
It seems as though Capital Grille is a consistent pick to ring in the New Year with the group. And unlike some of the other “Old Guard” of steak joints, it never disappoints. We had a solid group of 9 this month with Senator Conway being the only absentee. Tricky Rick Ray and I were the first to arrive, with the restaurant seeming much more crowded and lively than in years past at the start of the year. Everyone arrived and caught up after a relatively debaucherous two weeks of vacation and not knowing what day it was.
We were seated at our normal table. We love a good round table where you can look everyone in the eye, and the conversation just seems to flow. Conversation was lively, with Mason pointing out that he loved the forearms on the table, with good forward leaning, spirited conversation by everyone and he was right on.
Hans took care of the ordering, and most of the eating as well having pretty much bogarted the always amazing fried calamari. Luckily, we know his tactics and ordered two of everything.
Steakhouses these days seem to be cooking steaks less and less. Medium rare means rare. Medium means medium rare. You get the idea. So knowing this, I ordered mine medium rare+, and low and behold it came out a perfect medium rare. Red is the new pink I guess. But it was delightful. It was perfect temperature and seasoning. You can’t ask for too much more.
Sides were standard with potatoes and greens. Sometimes it’s hard to do better than just some good old-fashioned mashy p’s and I thought these were great.
Any time dessert excludes carrot cake it was a good order. I can’t even remember what we had. I don’t remember it being bad, or memorable for that matter,
The night took us to Snickers, which is a highly underrated late night dive. We had some drinks, and some laughs and then went on our way. I ended up leaving my jacket there and didn’t realize until I got home. I called them to see if they had it and sure enough they did, and put it away for me. I thought it was strange when they told me they open at 9AM so I could come by whenever the next day to retrieve it. I thought to myself, 9AM? Who the hell is there at 9AM on a weekday? Well, I can’t answer that question, but I can tell you who is there at noon. And it’s a really solid crowd. In fact there were way more than 1AM on a Thursday night. And these were some real drinkers. Old sailors, possible strippers, and for sure a few convicts. Snickers is a great place all around and this was a great night all around.
8.5/10 in every possible way.
Always good to return to an old time fave, the home of the first rendition of the drunk idiot escapade and small hands. Great to see Papa Fedderke out. More amazing was we got to see Jevon and Scotty who have grown so much since the last time we saw them.
Rick was in full Alabama mode with his houndstooth hat and crimson blazer. Unfortunately this was not to be his year. There’s always next year.
Steak was great – thoroughly enjoyed the ribeye I split w BRay. Dessert I don’t remember – so couldn’t have been a good carrot cake.
Afterwards was Snickers which apparently has the best gyros in the city.
Great group Great Night.
8.5
I have been reflecting on the spelling of Grill vs. Grille – very nuanced element of the english language. But I digress.
Thrilled to be back in the mix after a long hiatus. I have missed this group. It was a redoubtable evening filled with merriment and joy. While the rest of Chicago slept off the post holiday slumber, the fine gents of steak night embarked on kicking off 2019 in style.
Capital Grille is always consistent, however, if the calamari are always the most memorable trait for me, I question how much I think about the steak. All of that said, this evening was much more about the fellowship than the food. 9 deep, a full circular table, banter of the bears, the tide, politics and starting the year fresh all left me inspired for a more consistent return to Steak Night.
I have always enjoyed Capital Grille and was excited to put any food related resolutions on hold for a while longer and continue the holiday gluttony.
Crenshaw and I cozied up to the bar at around 7 and kicked off the night as the others trickled in. The bar was not particularly crowded which is good because it’s a fairly small area.
We had a great round table in the middle of the restaurant. It’s amazing how much better a round table is for conversation for a large group. Food was awesome. The calamari with peppers is some of the best in the city. I got a cup of the New England clam chowder (in your best Ace Ventura voice: is that the red or the white), which was tasty. My porterhouse was perfect, one of the best steaks I have had in recent memory. The scalloped potatoes were delicious also. My food was tremendous all around.
The round table lent itself to great dinner conversation, at least for us. I suspect everyone else in the restaurant hated the table of loud guys but screw them. One of the best parts of the dinner time banter was people telling their favorite steak night memories. There are so many memorable and hilarious stories and it was great to relive them again.
After a while things start to become tradition and you look forward to them at certain times of year. Every April is the Masters, in March you have March Maddness, in February is the Super Bowl and in January Rick Ray eats free for winning the football pool. That’s 4 in a row boys, I’m ready for the drive for 5, bring it on.
Steak Night is always a fun night but with 9 of 10 guys in attendance, great conversation, a round table and phenomenal food this was one a top notch steak night. After dinner drinks were at Snickers which is an interesting place and I feel like I need to stop by there early morning or afternoon at some point.
Great start to 2019.
(I bet you dick-bags thoughts I was going to miss the post….BAHAHA)
January Steak Night is always a fun one as most of the group is in town and people aren’t fully back into the work routine. Capital Grille is one of the best. Super consistent and reasonably priced compared to the ‘New Age’ steak houses that are abound. We all met for drinks at the bar and made our way to the table in the middle of the floor – no doubt ruining everyone else’s dinner with our vivacious discussion.
I stayed off the Oban and joined Mason for some Martini’s for pre-dinner drinks – perhaps my new steak night thing. Onto the apps, Capital Grille has some of the best calamari with the Cherry Peppers – always a hit and always excellent. Tuna tar-tar was just Ok. The steak however, was fan-fucking-tastic. Glick and I maintained our split, but went for the bone in Waygu Strip instead of the ribeye (Note: Glick was incorrect in his post – as we split the Waygu). This was one of the best steaks I have had in a while – 9.5 for the steak. We drew NFL teams – I got Seahawks, which I wasn’t too thrilled with and they of course bombed out right away.
The group headed to a solid Dive for some post dinner drinks – and we had more than a few. I was tattered the following day. Onto another successful year of Chicago’s finest!
Overall – 9
Nice to get back into the swing of steak in what up to that point was a very mild winter. We are going to pay for that soon…also, speaking of paying, special thanks to Cizzle to see to it that I didn’t have to pay for you lightweights at the bar next time around. Props.
Must say the night was pretty much a thing of magic. Perfect table in the middle of the dining room where basically everyone in the restaurant could hear us, attentive service, and the Kona coffee crusted ribeye selection. I would come to the CG alone just for that rub as I think it is one of the best steak acoutrements in our rounds of steak dominance. Once again, in great CG style mine came out a good med rare and full of flavor.
The boys took good advantage of the fine 9 at the table with lively conversation and a good game of favorite steak night lore. Happy to report that Brad Ray took that cake – er handbag, with that one.
Desserts weren’t that memroable but then again I have been trying to avoid sugar like the plague so I probably wouldn’t have partaken anyway.
Off to the night the boys went for a trip to some dump where the girls were likely throwing themselves (as usual) all over the group.