Capitol Lounge, fixture of the Capitol Hill bar scene, launched a revamped, Teddy Folkman-created menu over the weekend. Folkman, who can be seen on TV competing to be The Next Food Network Star, accepted the Executive Chef role at the Lounge after helping owner Joe Englert in launching H Street Country Club’s Mexican-themed menu. Their goal is to “raise the bar,” providing gourmet bar food to the staffers and Hill denizens that frequent Pennsylvania Avenue.
The menu covers some expected burgers, salads, and sandwiches over a modestly sized menu with limited flair, but there are several twists out of the norm for pub fare. Tabasco Fried Oysters are indeed picked for quality, as the menu suggests. A $10 order includes six large, plump morsels. The oysters are greaseless, though their breading lacks the kick suggested by the dish’s name. Goat Cheese Poppers ($8), on the other hand, are merely three round, mild goat cheese bombs. The pepper is not a vessel, but minced and meekly specked within. A popper is normally a cheese-stuffed, breaded, fried jalapeno. Sometimes it’s wrapped in bacon. You want some ooze from a popper, but the goat cheese in these won’t be melting anytime soon. And two small chunks of bacon inexplicably sit on the plate with the “poppers,” more of an awkward afterthought than a dish component. You don’t come to a bar for Crispy Tuna Rolls ($8), but they weren’t available anyway during a recent visit. Chips with salsa or cheese dip are inexplicably priced at $10.
Folkman’s reputation has been made largely by his mussels and frites, and he adeptly recreates his popular bacon and blue cheese version brought over from Granville Moore’s. It’s the dish that beat Bobby Flay in a “throwdown” and is for the most part a bargain at $12. However, the house-made fries were over-seasoned with a salt and herb mix. A less salty fry would work better for dipping in the lemony white wine broth remaining in the mussel bowl. A grilled chicken sandwich looks so succulent on another diner’s table that we ask for our own. The chicken is grilled and seasoned adeptly and served on a crusty, square onion roll. A sprinkling of barbeque potato chips and chipotle-mayo covered jalapeño slices add a slight kick as sandwich toppers.
