Super Bowl Update

At the request of my sister and her husband whose birthdays are a week apart, we took them to Capital Grille to celebrate. My sister had heard about the lobster mac and cheese and wanted to try it.

We had a very enthusiastic waiter who was extremely happy to see us all, and had quite a giddy manner about him. At least it seemed like he liked his job, which was good, but by the end of the evening, it was a tad grating on the nerves.

I think because it was a birthday, they brought us an amuse-bouche (I have never had one before at Capital Grille). It was half a shrimp with some marinated tomatoes. Honestly, I wasn’t overly impressed with it. Really just basic shrimp flavor. At least it wasn’t overcooked, but there was nothing really exciting about it. But there was also nothing “waking up the taste buds” about it either. We did enjoy the bread basket, particularly the onion bread. It was nice and soft with some soft cooked onions on the crust that were tasty.

Anyway, we decided to share a starter of the lobster and crab cakes which were not bad. I think everyone else liked them a bit more than I did, but then again, I rarely meet a crabcake type dish I really like. As they go, they weren’t bad. There were some nice hunks of lobster in there, although the crab was that typically stringy type you often see in crab cakes. The tarter-ish type sauce and salsa of corn and peppers were nice.

Hubby and I had already decided we would just split a simple steak and then get a salad and lots of sides. We split the spinach salad which was the traditional steakhouse spinach salad with mushrooms, red onions, boiled egg and bacon with a warm bacon vinaigrette. In my opinion, once it was split, it was the appropriate size for a salad. My sister and her hubby had the clam chowder and just thought it was ok. (I didn’t try it though)

Hubby and I split the filet. It was 10 ounces, and there is no petite option listed on the menu so I was really glad about that. No way would I be able to eat 10 ounces of meat by myself. The meat itself was good; probably not the best steakhouse steak in this town (my guess is this is choice meat and not prime, but it’s just a guess), but it was cooked properly. However, the thing that annoyed all of us at the table was the “au jus/demi glace.” This is a constant annoyance with me and hubby because I don’t like a sweet flavor on my steak. But interestingly, before either of us said anything, my brother in law had asked the manager who stopped by what it was because it was so sweet. She told him it was just “au jus” and nothing more. Now to me, that means, the juice of the actual meat, maybe reduced, but not with other things added in. According to wikipedia, that is what it means in general, but apparently in the U.S., it often means a reduction with various spices, etc as well as brown sugar mixed in. Regardless, I don’t think any of us cared for it. Luckily my plate was large enough that I could scoot my steak out of the “au jus,” but my brother in law was not as lucky because his steak was bigger. I need to make a mental note, every time I go to a steakhouse, ask if there is a sauce on the plate and get it without.

Anyhow, we also had the lobster mac and cheese which was as usual, very good. There are nice recognizable pieces of lobster in it (usually claw meat) and the pasta is sort of horn shaped. It is really tasty. Last time I was there, they had truffle mac and cheese which was also very good. I waiver between which I think is better actually, although the truffle mac is not usually on the menu.

Probably the best thing on the table were the truffle frites (yes yes, I really like truffles). They are a little thicker than I usually like with fries, but they are really crisp, with just enough salt, truffle oil and grated parmesan to make them taste decadent. My favorite thing was a bite of steak with a bite of a frite. Yummy.

We also ordered the creamed spinach (hubby’s perennial favorite at a steakhouse). It was good. Probably in the middle of all the places we have been. Not the best, not the worst. Tasty though and I nice green-ish addition (I say that because with all that cream, you can’t really think it is all that healthy right?)

As part of the birthday celebration, they brought us a duo of desserts and some sparkling wine. That was a nice touch. The desserts included a round cheesecake with a crème brulée type crunchy top. I rather enjoyed that take on cheesecake. I like cheesecake ok, but usually I find it kind of boring. The crunchy top added a texture that made it more interesting. There was also a piece of their flourless espresso chocolate cake. I don’t know. These cakes have been on menus so long, I find them kind of lacking any excitement and preferred the cheesecake. Others at the table enjoyed the chocolate cake though.

All in all, while everything at Capital Grille is good, I have never had a meal there that I found to be outstanding. I have several friends who really like this place and I would certainly go again, I just don’t know that it would ever be on the top of my list for an evening out.

The Capital Grille
40 West Washington Street
317/423-8790
http://www.thecapitalgrille.com/

Yesterday in Washington, DC, told the tale of two different kinds of protests.

 

I am performing in an awesome Cabaret this Friday and next at La Mama ETC! I heartily invite everyone to come out. The cabaret is part of the Mind The Art Anthology series that is going up for the next two weekends.

The show is called, What If? - Broadway. Revised, Retuned, and Remixed. It takes the "What If?" concept I like to think was popularized in DC and Marvel Comics "What if the radioactive spider never bit Peter Parker? What if Bruce Wayne's Parents had lived? What if the Dark Phoenix took control of the universe??) and applies it to Broadway show tunes in the most amazing ways. "What if The Sound of Music was belted out by a 1920s jazz vocalist? What if The Impossible Dream dripped with sultry Latin flavor? What if the Ballad of Sweeney Todd was the start of a rock musical?" You get the idea. I'm having a great time in rehearsal with it and I would love to see you guys come out and support. Deets below:

Mind the Art Entertainment Presents:What If? - Broadway. Revised, Retuned, and RemixedMusical Director: Christian De GréFeaturing Performances By: Amanda Marasch, Chuk Obasi, Ariana Paganetti, Owen Panettieri, Joe Reese, Alyssa Robbins, Kris Roberts, Sean Schwebke, Manny Simone, Adam Shorsten, Jason Sofge, Will Taylor, Kristin Wetherington and Ashley C. Williams

Tickets: $15, $10 for students and seniors

Purchase at http://www.mindtheartentertainment.com/ or http://www.lamama.org/

Reminder: Mind The Art has other shows that weekend at La Mama, but you want to see the one with ME which is only on the two FRIDAYS. Also note the 10PM start time. The other shows are great too. BFF is in the Saturday shows, so I suggest at the very least you see one show this first week on Friday and one show the next week on Saturday. There are three shows though! So maybe TWO shows one weekend. But mostly I'm concerned about my shows on the FRIDAYS. That's what you're responible for. :) Hope to see you there!

Paris in 2010, baby!

That's right. I've been weighing candidates for this year's foreign travel location, and after a process more extensive than anything going into an IOC Olympic bid selection, I've happily settled on Paris. The trip will take place in June and I'm very excited about it. Much like last year's trip to Rome, Paris is a foreign city I've always wanted to visit, I'm going alone and I don't know the language. Also, like last time, I'll blog about my visit for y'all. "But Owen." you say, "you never finished blogging about your Rome trip!" Well, thank you for point that out, bloggy public. My response is simply, stay cool my babies! I wrote it out. I haven't uploaded the last bits because my journey around Via Borghese was very site specific and I had packed my bike map of the area in my "Romentos" folder and that folder got backed away in my filing boxes. So i didn't know all the names of some of places I visited, when I was recapping. I have to go back and put in the right names and then I can upload the rest of the story. It will happen. I'm just lazy. But it will happen before I go to Paris for sure.

If you've been to Paris or are perhaps in Paris right now, and would like to suggest places I should go over the four days I'm in La Ville-Lumière, I am all ears. I am going to be in Paris during the French Open and it's my goal to see a match at Roland Garros. Even if it's just a ground's pass, I would love to be at the facility for the men's final (hopefully with Rafa winning the title!) and I feel like I have to make it happen. It's a little worrisome to me that I'll be so close to EuroDisney. With no one on hand to talk some reason into me, might I spend one of my days in Disneyland Paris?? I'm not ashamed to say that I've checked the map and sadly/thankfully Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is NOT an attraction in that park's version of Fantasyland. That' probably would've sealed my fate if it were there. I love that ride!!

I'll be staying in Montmartre, right next to the Moulin Rouge! I think it's gonna be a great time. I can't wait!

Jeez, who told these lower-seeded teams to believe in themselves? Don't they know what bracket busters they're being? Damn... let's take a look at the damage.


So all in all, I incorrectly predicted nine first round winners and correctly predicted 23. Not TOO bad. All my Elite 8 and Final Four Teams remain in play (however, Nova looked really vulnerable in it's first round game, and as I'm writing this, it's not looking good for them against 10th seed St. Mary's. Not good at all.)

The biggest upsets for me were (3) Georgetown losing to (14) Ohio in the Midwest, and (6) Notre Dame losing to (11) Old Dominion in the South. I had picked them to go to the Round of 16. Boo-urns. I see how people get so obsessed with their brackets during March Madness. With my beloved UConn not invited to The Dance, I wasn't sure who I'd really root for, but by picking a winner in each game, you become invested in games between teams you could very well know nothing about! Everything matters!

Right now on the NYTimes bracket, I have 120 out of 208 possible points. I don't know how they decide points, but it leaves me ranked 18,422nd of all players. Here's hoping I do better with my predictions in Round 2. Although Nova... sigh... I think I backed the wrong horse on that one.

4 donkeys
1 rooster
2 ducks
39 horses
25 deer
46 chickens
1 snake
47 fish
7 birds
2 llamas
1 mouse*
4 rabbits
4 skunks
300,000 bees
1 cockatiel**
2 squirrels
4** bluebirds
3 ferrets
2 goats
1 cow

201*** dogs
219 cats.

* a church mouse, I believe. . .

** not sure why the cockatiel and bluebirds weren't counted as birds, but it's not up to me to question the judges

 *** there was one wished-for dog which the judges ruled could only be used to break a tie.