Capital City Smokehouse & Restaurant
2900 Woodroffe Ave., 613-627-3227, capitalcitysmokehouse.com
Open: Monday and Tuesday 11 a.m. to midnight, Wednesday to Sunday 7 a.m. to midnight
Prices: mains $12 to $27
Access: wheelchair access to front door, washroom stalls
If you are like me, the mere mention of the words “smokehouse” and “barbecue” gets your hopes up.
You imagine deeply flavoured, smoky indulgences, preferably in massive portions. You grow indecisive. Will it be pork ribs or beef ribs? Pulled pork or brisket? All of the above?
I’ve not yet visited the famous joints or competitions of barbecue’s Southern U.S. homeland. That’s a trip for the bucket list. But I’ve gone out of my way to try, for example, the beef ribs at Redbones in Boston, as well as the consistently delicious fare at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Syracuse, New York.
All this to say, when a barbecue eatery opens in Ottawa, I’m hoping for barbecue greatness.
I’ve had two recent dinners at Capital City Smokehouse, which opened in July in Barrhaven. What I’ve sampled has been closer to barbecue adequacy.
There was one notable dish that was better than the rest, one distinct dud and much food that fell in the middle, somewhere between satisfactory and satisfying. Generally the food was more simplified and tame than I’d like.
Maybe that’s what this high-volume, family-friendly restaurant thinks is the best fit for the neighbourhood. Maybe it’s all that the admittedly reasonable price points will allow.
The restaurant’s menu is a large two-pager that moves beyond barbecue staples to burgers, entrée-sized salads and even a smoked tofu sandwich.
We were most pleased by the smoky basics. On the four-item, “BBQ Feast” platter ($52), which served four nicely as promised, the moist, flavourful, distinctly smoky on-the-bone chicken was the winner. A full rack of pork ribs was tasty and sweetly glazed, but a touch less tender than hoped for. Brisket and pulled pork were strikingly lean — probably too lean — and both came shredded. Flavour-wise, the brisket beat the more bland pork, although some “burnt ends” — the most charred bits of traditional Kansas City brisket — would have been welcomed.
All of the meats were smoked over wood pellets made of a blend of woods — no chunks of hickory, mesquite or any other hardwood involved in the process here.
There were smaller samplers available, and each feast item could be ordered separately. On my second visit, the pairing of a half-rack of ribs and a quarter chicken ($23) was almost as good as the equivalent meats from the feast.
Ribs and Chicken at Capital City Smokehouse.
On every table is a selection of three sauces, including mustard- and vinegar-based options. They added some sweetness, tang or moisture, bolstering the pulled pork in particular. No sauce was that distinctive or spicy. There is a potent extra-hot sauce available on demand, although it struck me as merely harsh rather than tasty.
Of the sides we’ve tried, the fries and cornbread were best. Baked beans were pleasant enough, mac ‘n’ cheese was alright and buttermilk biscuits were very ordinary.
Venturing beyond barbecue staples usually brought some level of disappointment. Wings ($13) were admirably juicy, and accompanying raw veggies were welcome, but plain old sour cream seemed like a bare minimum. Fried chicken (four pieces for $15) was freshly fried and succulent, if a bit salty and greasy. A fried chicken breast on a waffle ($14) was more dry, and the waffle was mediocre. Ditto the club sandwich ($12) made with smoked chicken. Markedly worse was the beef dip sandwich ($12), due to some dry, lacklustre beef and an off-puttingly bland dipping sauce.
Fried Chicken at Capital City Smokehouse.
Chicken and Waffles at Capital City Smokehouse.
Club Sandwich and biscuit at Capital City Smokehouse.
House-made desserts (pumpkin pie, apple cake, gluten-free chocolate mud cake, each $4.50) were by-the-book and unmemorable.
Apple Cake at Capital City Smokehouse.
The restaurant has been busy and boisterous during my visits, especially on the bar side. Mass-market beers rule here, and local craft brews are absent.
While I’m lukewarm about this place, I could envision wanting some smoked chicken or some ribs or brisket if I were in the vicinity. It may not be artisanal or exceptional, but in a pinch, generic, acceptable barbecue can beat no barbecue at all.
