On Friday, Sandy and I treated ourselves to a fancy-lady Restaurant Week lunch at The Capital Grille. A Darden brand restaurant is not usually my first pick for a meal out, since I tend to opt for local, independent places first. But you do have to admit, that The Capital Grille is delicious (yes, they even have skilfully made off-menu vegetarian options), and the Restaurant Week menu was simply too good to pass up:
Field Greens, Seasonal Vegetables with Shallot Champagne Vinaigrette
Clam Chowder
Entree Course
Dry Aged Sirloin with Chimichurri and Charred Corn Arugula Salad
The Grille’s Signature Cheeseburger with Parmesan Truffle Fries
Seared Citrus Glazed Salmon
Caesar Salad with Roasted Chicken Breast and a Parmesan Tuile
Dessert Course
Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake
Handcrafted Ice Cream
Chef’s Seasonal Fruit Sorbet
For my starter I selected the salad. It was a typical salad mix– lettuce, tomatoes, maybe some cucumber. It was not creative but it was fresh and generously portioned. In short- I liked it a lot, but didn’t bother to take a picture.
My entree is where I walked away with the “I Win at Lunch” award. I ordered the Dry Aged Sirloin with Chimichurri and Charred Corn Arugula salad (yes, 2 salads in one meal. I like salad). The waitress served my plate, and a few moments later I waved her over quizzically….
She assumed I was reporting a missing salad. I actually had forgotten about the salad (she brought it afterward and it, too, was very good). I was waving her over because I thought she might have given me someone else’s steak. It was big. Much too big for an $18 lunch. She assured me it was the right steak and I dug in. Later she revealed that she hit the wrong button and while it was “my” steak, it was the bone-in sirloin rather than the smaller size on the Restaurant Week menu. The Capital Grille, of course charged me only the Restaurant Week price despite me being served this gigantic steak. And yes, it was delicious. I suppose I could have been reasonable and only eaten part of it or taken home a doggy bag, but steak is not nearly as good as leftovers, and I simply could not let such a good steak go unconsumed at its peak. So yes. I ate the whole thing. And it was marvelous. I Win At Lunch.
Sandy ordered the cheeseburger with truffle fries. It was also very large and looked juicy and tasty. She seemed to like it quite a lot. I failed to take a picture because I was too busy obsessing over my own meal.
I did not save any room for dessert, but that did not stop me. I was determined to eat it anyway. An included dessert must not go unconsumed. I selected the flourless chocolate espresso cake.
Oh what can I say that is not already communicated by this beautiful photograph? It was perfect, simply perfect. It was small, but for this kind of rich, intense dessert, small is exactly perfect.
You would think that all of this decadent food would leave me in a food coma for the remainder of the afternoon. I have no idea how this happened (I didn’t even have a cup of afternoon coffee) but I was crazy productive on Friday afternoon and completed multiple writing projects. I guess I need to make giant slabs of steak a more regular lunch option.
