Capital Experience

Sitting at lunch recently, a friend asks me the popular food critic question: What’s new Downtown? “A steakhouse just opened on Wisconsin Avenue,” I begin, before he cuts me off, dismissing “yet another” place to get big portions of red meat.
Like my friend, I’m of the opinion there can be too much of a good thing. Mo’s, Butch’s (times two), Milwaukee ChopHouse, Yanni’s, Carnevor, Sabor Brazilian Steakhouse – it’s getting crowded Downtown, even as these meating places try to position themselves, be it as the ’40s-style supper club or hip hideaway for the young and moneyed.
The latest addition,The Capital Grille,whose corner of Wisconsin andFourth Street location is just a block from Milwaukee ChopHouse at the Hilton hotel, needs to have a niche, and it does. The national chain with 25 locations features steaks dry-aged on site. Dry-aged, you ask? As opposed to wet-aged? That’s a fact. The theory is that dry aging – the meat is literally hung to dry for a few weeks – puts wet-aging (in vacuum-sealed bags) to shame. As moisture leaves the muscle, in comes your flavor. The beef’s natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle and you’ve got your buttery texture.
Stone lions guard Capital Grille’s entrance, just feet from the Midwest Airlines Center and Grand Avenue mall. It’s the kind of establishment where the number of ambulating servers causes vertigo. In the main dining room, framed paintings of history-making locals (like Golda Meir) bring in the homegrown element to a theme look that is undeniably steakhouse: heavy use of dark wood, mounted animal heads, wine bottles used for display on sideboards. With seven steakhouses in the city, it’s getting hard to be original.
And yet once they’ve got you inside the swiveling brass-edged doors, you might forget there are others Downtown. The main servers are versed in anything printed on the menu. They offer black linen napkins when they notice you’re wearing dark pants (light-colored napkins leave lint). Wines are copious. You’ll pass the temperature-controlled wine kiosk – stocked with 350 choices from Italy, France and California – on your way to the main dining room.
The Grille’s servers, dressed in tan suit coats and black bow ties, look like they’ll explode with excitement when you ask them if dry-aging really produces the Sistine Chapel of steaks. The restaurant hypes its dry-aged selections – among others, a couple of sirloins ($33, $36), 24-ounce Porterhouse ($38) and a steak au poivre with Courvoisier cream ($34, $37). I reached some kind of epiphany with the flavorful and moist steaks. Those choices aside, the Grille has a pretty conventional modern-steakhouse menu, including lobster and crab cakes ($16), French onion soup ($7), spinach salad with warm bacon dressing ($8), Strauss veal chop ($33), broiled lobster (market price), shrimp scampi over linguine ($27) and crème brûlée ($7).
I wouldn’t buy Ginsu knives from the Pope, but a sales pitch here is hard to resist, beginning with the warm-ups. The calamari is dipped in breadcrumbs and pan-fried to crispness. Served with spicy hot cherry peppers, the rings are tender but firm, without any sliminess ($12). And a salad called “The Wedge” is just what could save the lowly iceberg from the bottom heap of the greens chain. The quarter-head of iceberg lettuce smothered in blue cheese dressing and served with Nueske’s bacon and fresh tomato is simple and unpretentious – the kind of salad you could eat and eat ($7). The same goes for the prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella – chewy, wafer-thin cured ham and logs of warm, gooey mozzarella ($14). The Parmesan toasts are a crunchy, delectably pungent way to scoop up the cherry tomatoes tossed in balsamic vinegar.
You’ll pay some bucks for a steak ($33-$38, no sides included), but the meat is irreproachable, especially the dry-aged sirloin coated in Kona ground coffee and the Delmonico, a 22-ounce bone-in rib steak with marvelous marbling (both $37). Dueling steaks, these two are. While the sirloin has both the Hawaiian coffee rub (producing a fine blackened crust) and a pool of melted caramelized shallot butter, the Delmonico has a light porcini mushroom crust and balsamic vinegar bath. It’s tough – they’re both good steaks, but the Delmonico is a juicier, more tender cut.
I used to wonder why people go to steakhouses for anything other than steak. But places like Eddie Martini’s – where you could be equally pleased with halibut or rack of lamb – changed that. Capital Grille’s Strauss veal chop is a perfect example – even cooked on the well-done side, it let out juicy sighs and seemed tailor-made for the melted blue cheese butter running over the top ($33). The sesame-seared ahi tuna dwarfed the plate it was on, but it was too sinewy ($31, served with gingered rice). But I liked the three dipping “broths” with the fish – wasabi, ginger and soy.
Sides are typical steakhouse names: baked, au gratin and mashed potatoes; creamed spinach; fresh asparagus. In portions designed for sharing, a few stand out. The baked is a full-pound spud served with sour cream, chives and bacon ($6), and the roasted mushrooms are a rich feast of fungus: Portobello, ­cremini, oyster ($9).
For the crevice of space left in your stomach, it’s not an option but a necessity to order the coconut cream pie for dessert ($7). A macaroon cookie-like crust, then the smooth custard filling, then clouds of whipped cream and finally shaved coconut and a few drizzles of brandy. The bomb. I don’t how long it took me to come out of the coma afterward, but it was worth it.
This looks to be the last in the wave of Downtown steakhouses – for a little while, anyway. I guess a lot of beef will do that. The Capital Grille has a good product, but is that enough?
The Capital Grille (Reuss -Federal Plaza), 310 W. Wisconsin Ave., 223-0600.
Hours: L Mon-Fri 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. D Sun-Thurs 5-10 p.m.; Fri-Sat 5-11 p.m.
Prices: appetizers $12-$44; soups and salads $6-$9; entrées $20-$38; desserts $6-$7. Service: professional, knowledgeable, attentive.
Dress: better casual to dressy.
Nonsmoking section: yes.
Handicap access: Ask for assistance.
Credit cards: M V A D DS.
Reservations: recommended.
Validated parking in building.