About
New Americana Cuisine
How can we explain what New Americana Cuisine is all about? Perhaps the best way is to let Chef Lee Richardson describe it in his own words.
According to Wikipedia’s entry on the subject, the term “Americana” refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States.
According to www.dictionary.com, it’s things relating to America, especially its history, culture and geography.
The idea of New Americana Cuisine is new itself. It describes not so much something that fully exists, but more so something that is emerging, but fully reflective upon its past, or up-to-the-moment evolution. The relative youth of our country and diversity of its peoples slows the process and makes it somewhat ambiguous.
In the beginning, we took the contemporary regional American descriptive off the shelf to demonstrate our departure from the restaurant’s continental past. We were focused on the use of local and seasonal ingredients, and our techniques are very much cutting edge, if not enlightened. We noted, though, that we still struggled to communicate our style and vision through the contemporary regional American label. There is more to it than that.
American, as a descriptive for a cuisine, is ambiguous due largely to the relative youth of our nation, the diversity of its immigrants and make-up of its peoples, the variations in climate and geography and the significant land mass it encompasses. American food can be very difficult to describe beyond a handful of iconic fast food items such as hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza and apple pie. When the French, Italian, Chinese, Indian and Mexican restaurants are removed from the landscape, what remains? Anything? Certainly, but even what remains is more easily defined regionally: Tex-Mex, Southwest, Cajun, Creole, Low Country, Southern. It’s tough to come up with a comprehensive list. All of these are, for the most part, made up of a prescribed repertoire of dishes and ingredients that have come to define the cultures of these regional cuisines, and the foods are mostly prepared today as they were in the past.
Southern food, hospitality and culture have certianly become American icons. Biscuits, cornbread, collard greens and field peas that were once prepared so soulfully and personally that they inspired phrases like “so good it’ll make you get up and slap your mama!” have begun to lose that quality in a modern day fast culture where efficiency rules and pleasure is without nobility. We are talking not about the cornbread and Southern biscuits of today, but the stuff from which that nostalgia was derived — a return to pre-tradition.
We are now seeing chefs across the country creating new and original dishes with local and seasonally-available ingredients, thus contemporary regional American.
American indicates a reference to history, geographical region and culture. New Americana implies the creation or emergence of something new that is tied to a history, geographical region and culture.
New Americana Cuisine is a style of cooking involving the creation of dishes with local and seasonal ingredients. It also maintains a connection to the tradition and history of the geographical region and foundation of cultural influences of the people from which it derived. In our case it is entirely hand-crafted, as all things once were.
New Americana Cuisine is, therefore, a celebration of our cultural past and an exploration of our cultural evolution.
About Ashley’s
The apotheosis of Lee Richardson’s New Americana Cuisine concept, Ashley’s is fast becoming one of the most appreciated restaurants in the region. The ever-changing menu always features the best of Arkansas, from our farm-fresh vegetables to organic local meats and house-made preserves. Ashley’s is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner Monday through Friday, breakfast and dinner on Saturday, and breakfast and brunch on Sunday. Our breakfast menu is à la carte, while our lunch, dinner and brunch menus feature prix fixe meals. Ashley’s also offers an Express Lunch, a one-dish masterpiece that provides the hurried lunch crowd with a quintessential sampling of our fare at a great price. Click here to explore Ashley’s varied menus.
About Capital Bar & Grill
The Capital Bar & Grill, affectionately known to locals as CBG’s, is a relaxed, warm environment. CBG’s fare is comfort food with a twist, and the menu features unique bar nibbles like fried black-eye peas, hand-made pimento cheese spread and crackers and spiced pecans. Long the place to “see and be seen” for socialites, politicians and business people, CBG’s is often packed at lunch with guests enjoying either our blue plate special or soup-and-sandwich combos. And like Ashley’s, CBG’s menu changes with the season and each item is hand-prepared. Happy hour at CBG’s is also a draw, and our evening hours are enhanced Wednesday through Saturday by the mellow sounds of the Ted Ludwig Trio. CBG’s is open every day at 11:00 for lunch and dinner. Explore what we have to offer by clicking here.
About Private Dining
Our Private Dining experience is just as special as that of our restaurants. We don’t serve the typical convention/meeting space fare at the Capital. Instead, we work with you to create a seasonal menu based on your preferences and needs. Then we hand-craft your menu with the same care and the same fresh, local ingredients we use in our restaurants. We even have an individual kitchen for each event area. Whether you’re planning a small meeting for just a few, or a grand evening for hundreds, our Private Dining staff provides care, comfort and exquisite service. If our Private Dining experience meets your needs, click here for more information.