Capital Grille, Denver

March 22, 2009  •  Menus, Restaurants

We went to the Capital Grille on Larimer Street in Denver last night with some friends to relive a bit of our Italian adventures because the restaurant was featuring a 5 course Tuscan menu meant to pair with a new Banfi Super Tuscan sangiovese wine making its debut. The first course was a creamy porcini mushroom soup with a drizzle of chive oil on top.A nice salad followed – field greens and shaved fennel dressed with a vinaigrette featuring 12 year old Balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with some goat cheese crumbles.After this course they offered a simple lemon basil sorbet as a palate cleanser which I gobbled down so quickly I forgot to photograph, and then we had our choice of a parchment baked salmon with tomatoes, olives, and capers or a filet of beef on a garlic-infused crouton topped with roasted peppers and tomatoes and served with caramelized cippolini onions. They dimmed the lights at this point, so my photo stinks…

…but the ad on the website features a great shot of this dish: As a side dish we were offered one of the best renditions of mac & cheese I’ve had in recent years – campanelle pasta baked with mascarpone cheese and black truffles and topped with crispy seasoned bread crumbs.

We had some glitches in our service last night and the restaurant very kindly served us a bottle of sparkling moscato for dessert as an apology…

…along with a dizzying array of sweets that included this flourless, dense chocolate cake…

…coconut cream pie, a ricotta cheesecake, and creme brulee.

The specially priced menu is available until early April if you want to try it yourself, and the Banfi wine is $69 per bottle, not bad for a super Tuscan in a restaurant, and quite drinkable.