Capital Hotel (Photo credit: Capital Hotel)
Dining at One Eleven at the Capital Hotel will be an exclusively morning affair for the time being. The restaurant’s schedule shuffle comes in the wake of executive chef Joel Antunes’ reported departure from the Capital Hotel and as renovations start on the restaurant.
As a result, the restaurant has reduced its mealtimes to only breakfast and Sunday brunch. It will serve patrons Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
An Arkansas Democrat-Gazette report by Eric E. Harrison states that Antunes left his executive chef position in January and that a new executive chef has been hired. However, an announcement has not been named.
Arkansas Money & Politics reached out the Capital Hotel marketing department. A hotel spokesperson could not confirm or deny that Antunes had retired from the hotel.
One Eleven is also reportedly undergoing a renovation in the wake of Antunes’ departure. The renovation, according to the hotel spokesperson, is part of a “reinvention” for the restaurant.
The Capital Bar and Grill’s hours do not appear to be affected by the transition. Its hours are Monday-Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Friday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12 a.m.
The French native trained and worked at multiple Michelin-starred restaurants during his early career. These include Ledoyen and Duquesnoy in Paris, and Hôtel Négresco in Nice; and with Paul Bocuse in Lyons and Troisgros in Roanne, as well as Hotel Picardy’s Le Touquet. He opened his first restaurant, Les Saveurs, in London in 1991, earning a Michelin star. He also won the James Beard Best Chef of the Southeast Award for his Joël Restaurant in Atlanta in 2005.
He also headed up the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel in New York and later moved to London to oversee Brasserie Joël and Kitchen Joël Antunes.
Antunes was lured to Little Rock, where he took the helm of the Capital Hotel’s restaurants. During his tenure, the Capital Hotel revamped the former Ashley’s restaurant into a more contemporary, modern restaurant – One Eleven at the Capital.
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