Restaurant: Capital Seafood
Location: 755 W Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 282-3318
Date: September 28, 2014
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Great Banquet
The Cantonese banquet is a long standing tradition, and many of the big San Gabriel Valley Cantonese places do both a dimsum brunch and ornate banquet services.
Capital Seafood is no exception, hailing from the glory days of cheesy 80sMonterey Park build outs. Look at the faux Louis XVI decor!
Tonight our little private banquet was located just adjacent to a huge wedding in the main room. Play the above video for a sample of the 100 decibel festivities.
Our “room” was actually just a corner of the big space that had been screened off… literally with Chinese folding screens.
From my cellar: 2009 Domaine Bruno Clair Bourgogne Rosé Marsannay. 89 points. The 2009 Marsannay Rose is a serious wine. It shows plenty of intensity and generosity, I only wish the aromatics were a little more focused.
Boiled peanuts.
Candied Walnuts.
From my cellar: 1996 Maison Roche de Bellene Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes. 92 points.
Suckling pig. Special ordered, with pickled cucumber and jellyfish. The pork was some of the best roast pork I’ve had. It was incredibly succulent with crispy skin.
The right hand sauce is a slightly sweet sauce, similar to that used with Peking duck.
2007 Domaine Marc Morey & Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes. Burghound 92. Very mild reduction combines with notes of lemon, straw and orange peel that introduce intense, delicious and well-delineated middle weight flavors where the citrus influence really comes up on the very dry and energetic finish. I quite like this but it is more suited to those who enjoy nervous whites with ample acid support.
Shrimp and tofu. The little white puffs are fried soft tofu. The shrimp are whole giant prawns fried with salt and peppery. They were quite delicious, cooked to a tender level where the shells caramelized and were soft and edible.
1999 Prager Chardonnay Smaragd. 88 points. Botrytized chardonnay from the Wachau. Weird. I love Bodenstein’s wines, but this is strange.
Fried giant clam. Two parks of the geoduck giant clam: body and neck. Basically fried clam strips Chinese style, but plenty tasty.
2005 Moraga Vineyards. 93 points. Sensational sauvignon blanc in the stye of a great Smith – Haut Lafite.
We saw them serving this crazy dish at the wedding and just had to try it.
Lobster salad! (with dry ice)
The fresh lobster meat is mixed with melon, mayo, and flying fish eggs. The overall concoction was pleasant enough but oddly sweet, and the cloying sauce hid the delicate meat.
XO sauce. This fermented, slightly spicy, sauce is rather famous — and expensive.
2003 Emrich-Schönleber Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Spätlese. IWC 90. Aromas and flavors of blueberry, blackberry and honey combine here with woodsmoke, black tea, nut oil and subtly stony nuances. The wine is rich and full, with its slight sense of heat enhancing the effect of distilled fruit concentration and smoky pungency. The finishing effect is long and noticeably sweet.
Fried bullfrog. Chunks of bullfrog are deep fried with garlic. Super tasty, although there were a lot of bones to pick out.
2012 Robert Mondavi Winery Pinot Noir Clone 777. 93 points. Clean and sparse. Sharp but not bitter. Nice oak finish.
Steamed egg. I thought this was tofu, but it’s apparently just egg.
The custard-light-fluffy thing was really quite awesome, with a nice richness and a bit of umami from the soy.
2005 Brewer-Clifton Pinot Noir Melville Vineyard. IWC 91. Light red. Spicy strawberry and blood orange aromas are further enlivened by white pepper and a light kiss of fresh rose. Then broader and deeper in the mouth, offering ripe cherry and raspberry preserve flavors, with the orange quality repeating. Nicely balances richness and energy and finishes with impressive clarity and grip. This has serious presence and concentration, but leans more to elegance than to sheer power. Greg Brewer, who believes that “the human aspect is the most important and influential part of the concept of terroir,” told me that the goal of Brewer-Clifton is to “minimize that aspect by staying as neutral as possible: same corks, same yeasts, same wood and so on. By keeping execution homogeneous we emphasize individuality, especially vineyard character.”
Braised duck. The meat was good, but the heavy brown gravy didn’t taste very Chinese and wasn’t my thing.
2004 Roger Sabon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Prestige. IWC 93. Deep ruby. Lush raspberry and cherry preserves on the nose, with hints of candied plum, espresso, flowers and dark chocolate. An impressively rich Chateauneuf, with powerful dark fruit flavors perked up by refreshing mineral lift on the back and nicely supported by supple tannins. Rich and chewy on the finish, with lingering notes of smoke, meat and cherry liqueur. Serious stuff, and in need of cellaring.
Caramelized fish. This fried Chilean Sea Bass with mushrooms, ginger, and garlic was pretty amazing. There was a ton of flavor.
2001 Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Centenaire. IWC 96. Dark red. Incredible nose melds plum, spicecake, woodsmoke, mocha, earth, minerals and dried herbs; this covers all the major Chateauneuf du Pape food groups. Like liquid silk in the mouth, but with powerful underlying spine. A saline, superconcentrated wine that coats every millimeter of the palate with explosively rich, insinuating flavor yet does not come across as extreme or over the top. In fact, this is almost understated today, with a wonderfully long, elegant finish. A wine to chew on as much as to drink.
French style beef. A sort of peppered filet mignon. Very yummy and went well with the heavier red wines.
1999 M. Chapoutier Côte-Rôtie La Mordorée. Parker 95. Chapoutier’s La Mordoree cuvee is produced from 75-80-year old Syrah vines planted in both the Cote Blonde and Cote Brune, aged in 100% new oak casks, and bottled with neither fining nor filtration. The 1999 Cote Rotie La Mordoree is the finest he has produced since the 1991 (two bottles drunk over the last six months confirm this fabulous wine’s potential as it is just now beginning to emerge from a cloak of tannin). The 1999 has closed down since its pre-bottling tasting. The color is an inky purple, and the wine is dense and powerful, with notes of smoky blackberries, creosote, and espresso. Concentrated flavors reveal high levels of tannin (surprising in view of last year’s report), and a rich, long, 45-second finish. This impressive 1999 will take longer to reach its plateau of drinkability than I thought last year.
Scallop and egg fried rice.
2003 Cayuse Syrah en Cerise. Parker 90. The dark fruit-scented 2003 Syrah En Cerise Vineyard is medium-bodied, displays outstanding depth of fruit, and possesses appealing mouthfeel. Spicy blackberries make up its expressive, pure, deep, and long flavor profile. It should be enjoyed over the next 4-5 years.
Salty fish fried rice. A little different. Salty, but good.
Pea tendrils. In case your “system” is feeling clogged.
2007 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Auslese. IWC 92. Pale golden yellow. Ripe peach, guava and chamomile on the nose, complicated by a hint of brown spice botrytis. Luscious citrus fruits with cool minerality refresh the palate. In spite of the wine’s weight, a spicy elegance dominates the finish.
Mango pudding and coconut jelly. The mango pudding was insanely good. It had a light jiggly quality and a flavorful intensity. The mellow sweetness of the other jelly was also very pleasant.
Overall, Capital did a great job and this was one of those fun and interesting banquet meals filled with different flavors. Not every dish was perfect (duck, I’m looking at you), but it was still a great meal and the pig was outstanding.
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or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!
