Reviews

Il Capriccio's cuisine is the talk of the town! Read what our critics had to say about us.

The Star Ledger
04/11/99
By:  Cody Kendall

1/2
(3 1/2 Stars)

New Jersey Monthly Magazine
February 1995

By: J. M. Lang and Kitty Marciniak-Frazer

1/2
(3 1/2 Stars)

The line of stone fruit-bearing Roman damsels out front and the marble-floored entranceway appointed with Florentine gilt-rimmed tables and mirrors inside are early indications that Il Capriccio is not just selling Italian cuisine -- it's selling an Italian cultural experience.

In the center of the romantic dining room is a display of gargantuan bottles of Italian wine surrounding a ceiling-high urn of flowers. I would think the person who built this posh temple longed for a mention in an Italian interior-decorating magazine rather than acclaim in the culinary world. Happily, though, at Il Capriccio the same attention given to matters of interior design is applied to the realms of service and food, under the direction of chef-owner Tony Grande.

Even the menu which is printed on parchment paper, has an artistic presentation. And the all-male tuxedoed Italian waitstaff that purrs out the evening specials in rolling English seems almost operatic. The servers work well together throughout the meals, removing and refilling empty wine glasses fastidiously and constantly preening your table with decrumbing tools.

The chef's dishes are best paired with Italian vintages, although the restaurant stocks more than 20,000 bottles of other wines both foreign and domestic. The servers are well drilled and anxious to help in selecting a wine that caters to your taste and expense account.

On my last visit, bellissimo beginnings to the meal included pillow-soft oysters blanketed with crabmeat in a surprisingly light champagne sauce stirred with cream -- addictive and decadent. The cold antipasto plate came with sweet and buttery-textured roasted green, red, and yellow peppers; oiled sun-dried tomatoes; and prosciutto. Unfortunately, the wedges of homemade buffalo mozzarella sandwiched between slices of supermarket-type tomatoes were a bit runny, and the strands of marinated eggplant were tough and flavorless. A special for the evening (and definitely one that merits a permanent place on the menu) was a warm salad of small shrimp and delicate rings of calamari; it was served with tiny asparagus stems and marinated artichoke hearts, and topped with lemon and olive oil. A fitting homage to the greatest Roman of them all, the Caesar salad consists of romaine leaves coated with a perfect balance of Parmigiano-Reggiano, mashed anchovy, garlic, and cracked pepper.

Grande gives presentation and flavor equal weight in his main courses. No individual ingredient fights with another for precedence in a dish, but passively melts to form a superior taste. Two delectable boneless chicken breasts were filled with a creamy Fontina and three other cheeses and browned in jackets of prosciutto. The savory wine-and-sage sauce absorbed the smoky flavor of the prosciutto that permeated the moist meat.

Light but surprisingly filling, a tender sole fillet was folded around diced shrimp, pearls of lump crabmeat, and julienned slivers of salmon -- the ensemble rendering a pool of delicate natural juices. Two dishes fit for an emperor are the priceless poached salmon fillet with bottarga and Sevruga caviar, and the moist snapper fillet in a crust of fresh bread and herbs.

Add to Grande's roster of successful entrees a fist-size filet mignon which was cooked to a fork-tender medium and presented with a tangy balsamic-vinegar sauce with capers. The boneless rack of veal served with an intense reduction of truffle and cognac was delicious.

The desserts cater to both those with a sweet tooth and others--like me--who prefer to close the meal with a dessert mezzo-mezzo in sweetness. My favorite was the Ricotta cheesecake, as dense as marzipan with a hint of orange peel. Another dessert I recommend is the profierole (layers of airy genoise cake with vanilla cream, spooned with a chocolate-and espresso-spiked sauce). Profierole is edging out tiramisu as the new hip Italian dessert, and I understand why: Each bite was a puff of intense coffee flavor. Notable and heavenly were the restaurant's tartufo (a chocolate-dipped sphere of vanilla ice cream with a cherry core) and its chocolate torte filled with chocolate whipped cream, served atop a shallow moat of chocolate sauce.

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