My old roommate, Sarah, and I wanted to go out to lunch today, so I decided to give the previously reviewed Capital City Grill a second chance. It was a mistake. It was much busier than last time, having been featured in the Lincoln Journal Star today. I again got a server who seemed to have never waited tables before. She mumbled through taking our order. My roommate ordered a turkey burger and fries, and I ordered the Chicken Oscar with a side salad. A few minutes later the waitress came back and asked me what side I wanted with my chicken, mash or risotto. I went with the 3-cheese risotto.

A while later (it was busy, so that’s understandable), she came back with our food, but had to auction it off. For those who haven’t worked restaurant industry before, auctioning is the process of asking “who had the chicken? ok here you go. who had the pasta? ok here you go. the steak?” etc. Generally considered a big no no. Especially bad when you have to do it at a table of two.

Sarah said her turkey burger and fries were fine. My chicken though was a different story. I got a five or six ounce chicken breast. Ate it up in four small bites. About a half cup of risotto, which was tasty. Two sprigs of asparagus. No crab at all. It would seem the thing which makes Chicken Oscar Oscar’d, was forgotten. And the dish was bathed in a tarragon sauce which might have been tasty, but it had gelatinized, presumably whilst sitting out waiting for the turkey burger to be cooked. Tarragon jelly is not an appetizing thing. Busy is one thing, but half-assing one’s way through a $13 lunch dish and forgetting a crucial ingredient is terrible.

Notice I made no reference to the salad. That’s because it never came. C’est la vie.

So I won’t be going back. And with the two experiences I’ve had, compared with experiences I’ve heard from a few others, we shall see if Capital City Grill lasts longer than some of the previous tenants that have occupied the location in the past decade.

Next time I’m going to try Toast!, the restaurant that just opened up in the super-yuppie development just across the highway from me.

I had the opportunity to stop at a new restaurant here in Lincoln for lunch the other day, the Capital City Grill. Just opened last week, they’re located in the Haymarket in the old Magnolia’s location. The interior is nice, basically exactly the same as it was when it was Magnolia’s. It was rather chilly inside though. The restaurant was very lonely. At one point I was literally the only person in there, when the bartender stepped outside and the waiter went into the kitchen.

The lunch menu was a little small but had a good variety of options, including some intriguing risotto bowls, and a lunch-sized steak au poivre. I ordered a hamburger with pepper bacon, Havarti, and BBQ sauce, and a side of sea salt and pepper seasoned french fries. It came with a tomato slice and some mixed greens, which I liked rather than a single piece of lettuce. The burger was very good, big and meaty. The only downside was that there was way too much BBQ sauce on the sandwich; on the first bite the sauce plotzed all over my plate and splashed my shirt. Perhaps a thicker sauce or less of it. The fries were so-so, not bad but not particularly impressive.

The one thing they need to work on is their procedures. The waiter stumbled when he first greeted me and forgot what to say. The bartender’s mobile phone rang a couple times while I was in there. And while I was waiting for my food, my waiter was sitting a few tables away eating his lunch, where he apparently thought I couldn’t see. I do hope he washed his hands.

However, I do intend to give it another try sometime. Maybe get a steak or something.

• An appetizer for two
• Soup or salad
• Two entrees
• A dessert for two
• A bottle of wine

All selected from a limited, but excellent, menu. Being as we both had the evening off, Don and I decided to take advantage of this offering. In a totally hetero way of course. And I brought the camera.

We started the evening off with a nice glass of amber Laphroaig 10yr, of which I keep a private supply behind the bar:

Next up, our lovely waitress Amber brought out the appetizer. We decided on the caprese:

Amber then brought out our wine. We selected the Stump Jump, a blend of shiraz and grenache:

I should probably put a jump in here, because I’ve got a bunch more photos to go.

There we go, much better.

Don kind of took it a little far… This was his first time going on a date at a nice restaurant, and it just had to be me. So he got me a rose ($1 at the grocery store) and a box of chocolates ($3 at CVS on clearance).

Next up, Don’s salad and my soup came out. Asparagus bisque, so damn tasty:

And then, surprise of surprises! The manager came and visited with us! How prestigious!

Finally, dinner arrived! I had the chicken roulade:

Tyler was kind enough to take our picture together, despite Don’s protests:

All in all, it was a damn fine date. I recommend other folks go out to JTK because it’s a good restaurant and it’s definitely going to go far. And if you come out be sure to say hi to the bartenders, Don and Josh!

The dining room.

Your typical Pantry patron.

So many deals!

Their weekend specials.

Mmmm. Roast beef, potatoes, gravy, and bread.

Green River soda. It tastes like green.

Be sure to give them a visit. The food is great, my dining companion and I both walked away full for less than twenty bucks. Good times at the Howard’s Pantry.

Whilst at the show, I noticed a poster advertising “Feckin’ Irish Whiskey”. With a name like that, I was too curious to not try it. The bartenders were surprised that somebody was willing to try it. They had to hunt for the bottle, and it was brand new and unopened. Nobody knew what to charge for it, so we got it for $3 a shot (thanks Esteban!) So here’s another tasting review, for Feckin’ Irish Whiskey.

Nose: Very sweet, a bit of vanilla, almost no whiskey scent. A very mellow nose.
Flavor: Still very sweet. It’s a spiced whiskey, so it tasted more like rum than whiskey. The closest I can compare it to would be Captain Morgan, but with a bit of whiskey floated on top. It’s not a very complex flavor if I’m honest, and as I said, not very whiskey like. There’s very little barrel taste, and some vanilla flavor to it.
Finish: The finish was smooth and uncomplex, with almost no burn to speak of. As Steve said, it tasted better than it smelled. A couple of ice cubes dropped in served to mellow it a little.

It wasn’t a bad whiskey, but it wasn’t a very great one either, at least for an unwhiskey-like whiskey. If I were feeling more generous, I might be pushed to give it a 3, but as it is I wasn’t so much impressed as not horrified, so I’ll give it 2.5 out of 5.