If you are launching a “power” dining room in Stamford, it helps to have a prime location in the shadow of the city”™s corporate powerhouses; and it can”™t hurt to have a chef who is a veteran serving prime rib in New York City.
What”™s more, why not bring on as your proprietor a manager who spent nine years at your prime competitor down the street?
Ten years after Morton”™s of Chicago opened in Stamford ”“ nearly to the day ”“ The Capital Grille makes its debut on the city”™s new “restaurant row” on Tresser Boulevard, giving the city”™s power brokers a second, nationally known steakhouse for entertaining clients and colleagues.
The Capital GrilleӪs general partner in Stamford is Greg Perna, a bull of a man who worked nine years himself at MortonӪs. The restaurant is annually the pick of Connecticut Magazine readers as the best steakhouse in Fairfield County on the strength of its dry-aged, prime steaks, extensive wine menu and mahogany d̩cor.
Perna must figure out a way to herd the corporate droves into his Capital Grille corral, and at least in the early going has the advantage of luring the curious.
“There is definitely a big buzz around town,” Perna said. “Everyone”™s excited.”
It is not just The Capital Grille that is generating buzz ”“ upscale chain restaurants appear to have worked up an appetite for Stamford. The Capital Grille”™s new neighbors include Mitchell”™s Fish Market, the Hawaiian and Polynesian fusion chain Kona Grill; and P.F. Chang”™s, a Chinese-themed bistro.
“Stamford initially had difficulty getting chain restaurants in here,” said Jack Condlin, president of the Stamford Chamber of Commerce. “That was primarily because Stamford didn”™t fit the model of what they were looking for.”
Those criteria included sites on roads trafficked day and night, preferably at a street corner or “end unit” along a strip; and plenty of parking.
Noticing the city”™s influx of deep-pocketed corporate tenants like UBS AG, Morton”™s put a stake in the ground in Stamford on Feb. 24, 1998. UBS managers have remained loyal customers to this day, according to Raul Adorno, Morton”™s regional manager today who was the Stamford restaurant”™s first food and beverage controller. The company has worked to build its Stamford connections by hosting an annual benefit for the March of Dimes, which last year raised $700,000 and featured New York Mets manager Willie Randolph.
While Morton”™s hits leadoff among Fairfield County steakhouses in Connecticut Magazine”™s survey, the Trumbull-based publication”™s readers view it as a cut below favorite Ruth”™s Chris Steak House in Newington; and runner-up Carmen Anthony Steakhouse in New Haven and Waterbury.
The Union League Café, a French restaurant in New Haven, was named the top overall restaurant in the state last month by Connecticut Magazine. Thomas Henkelmann, located at the Homestead Inn in Greenwich, was judged best overall in Fairfield County (Thomas Henkelmann was tabbed best in Connecticut in the most recent rankings issued by New York City-based Zagat Survey L.L.C.).
When it comes to power dining, however, Westport is the magnet for the corporate elite. Mario”™s Place was lauded as the best place in the state to do a “business” lunch by Connecticut Magazine readers, and the Westport restaurant was the state runner up for the quality of its prime rib. Six more Westport restaurants were lauded as tops in Fairfield County in various categories.
Charles Monagan, editor of Connecticut Magazine, said that while the magazine recognizes Mario”™s status as a power-lunch hotspot, things really heat up when the dinner crowd arrives on commuter trains from New York City.
“It”™s a place where you can have a good meal, not be pestered or bothered by the wait staff, get some work done, and have a conversation,” Monagan said. “If need be you can get in and out quickly, or you can stay and linger.”
Morton”™s continues striving to please on both fronts ”“ it is renovating the Stamford restaurant this year, adding its Bar 12-21 lounge it is rolling out nationwide featuring oysters on the half shell and “miniature” prime-beef cheeseburgers (weighing in at a half-pound). Adorno sees Bar 12-21 attracting corporate employees for a “power hour” before hitting the roads or rails for the commute home.
Only time will tell whether Perna”™s own recipe for The Capital Grille will win it the accolades earned by Mario”™s, Morton”™s or Thomas Henkelmann. Perna got his start in the industry as a 12-year-old busboy. He and nearly 20 trainers from the chain last week were grilling the restaurant”™s staff on the fundamentals of high-end dining, from busboys to front desk hosts. Just two weeks earlier, the same trainers had completed the opening of a new Capital Grille in Seattle.
The Capital Grille”™s continued expansion comes against the backdrop of a slowing economy that many experts predict will slow consumer spending on luxuries such as dining out.
That did not deter The Capital Grille”™s new corporate parent Darden Restaurants Inc. from buying the chain last October from Atlanta-based RARE Hospitality International Inc., along with nearly 300 LongHorn Steakhouses in the deal.
The original founder of the Red Lobster chain, Orlando, Fla.-based Darden now bills itself as the largest “casual dining” company in the world, with its brands also including The Olive Garden.
Darden reported that same-store sales at The Capital Grille”™s existing restaurants were up 0.7 percent in October and November versus a year earlier.
It costs $5 million on average to open a new Capital Grille restaurant, Rare Hospitality disclosed last year; the chain produced $204 million in sales in 2006, or between $8 million and $9 million per store.
