Despite opening its doors less than a month ago, Poached has exceeded what owner and head chef Paul Capel expected.
The brunch restaurant, located at 5001 Central Ave., Suite B, went from inspiration to opening in just 45 days.
"I ordered everything brand new, like coolers, ovens, everything," Capel said. "I mean, we painted everything; Deborah Dispensa did these murals for us. Essentially two days after (Cindy Kellogg) showed me the building, I got a hold of the landlord and had the lease, signed, dated and check in their hand, and went from there. ... It was a challenging 45 days, but it turned out really, really well."
Capel has been involved in cooking and the restaurant business for most of his life, starting his culinary journey at the age of 8.
"I started cooking for my family and a local diner back home when I was about 8 years old, and just never stopped," he said. "At 15 I was taking college culinary credits at our vocational school in my hometown, Council Bluffs, Iowa. Went to the community college there, was working my way through the casino there, and within six months, I'd learned all 63 stations throughout the whole food service side of it. Pretty much every other day they were putting me in a new station when somebody called in."
Trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Minneapolis, his culinary journey includes stops at Disney, Field Club of Omaha, and the Council Bluffs Country Club as well as at Central Park Fusion here in Hot Springs before opening his own restaurants.
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"I started opening up restaurants left and right with friends -- 'Hey, come write me a menu, come train me a staff, set me up the kitchen, order me equipment,'" he said. "This is the first time I've actually got to do it on my own with a silent partner, but someone that's not gonna like be in here busting my chops and telling me what I can or can't do or what they want done. So it was just nice to finally have that freedom and ability."
Most recently in Fort Smith, Capel and his family moved to the Spa City to spend more time with family, eventually opening the brunch restaurant to be able to cook and spend time with his two children.
"One, it's something that's not oversaturated, especially in this community," he said. "I think it fits very well here.
"Two, the timeline -- I want to be with my family. A couple days a week, yeah, I've gotta leave before they go to school, but for the most part, I can drop them off at 8 o'clock, come straight here, open at 10. We leave close at 2, a couple hours to clean up, be home right when they're getting off the bus and actually have a life, and not that typical chef life that you're never home, never see your kids. I mean, I've done that the last eight years with them and missed a good chunk of it."
Q&A with Paul Capel
The following are excerpts from the interview with Paul Capel, presented in a question-and-answer format:
Q: Favorite food?
A: I'm a big steak guy. I'll take the steak challenge. You put a piece of beef in front of me and it's cooked perfectly, I'm not gonna stop 'til it's gone.
Q: Go-to comfort food?
A: When I have the time, and one thing I don't ever really sell at a restaurant, is my barbecue. I've got a rub that's made out of Fremont, Neb., by International Specialty Spice. We used to do barbecue competitions back when I was in Omaha, and we're the 2002 KCBS champions. It's just that one thing that I like enough that I just don't want to burn myself out on it by cooking it every day and smelling like it.
Q: Favorite restaurant?
A: One of the most memorable dinners -- I think just because we were able to do a special tasting -- was at Spago's in Chicago. The night that we were there it was just a really fantastic meal. It wasn't off the menu. It was just their own Chef's Table that night.
Q: Favorite thing about the Hot Springs area?
A: Just the response of this first week that we had. I mean, we closed an hour early on (Nov. 13). I was basing it off the numbers of a 190-seat restaurant in Fort Smith that I had to a 50-seat restaurant here, and I prepped kind of accordingly to what I thought my numbers would be versus the size difference. I mean, they just blew us out of the water.
Q: Advice for someone getting started in the restaurant business?
A: It's a lifestyle. I mean, it's not just something you jump in and out of, even as an owner. ... If you've got the passion to do it, you can do it, but if it's just something 'I think it's a good idea,' it's not.
Poached owner and head chef Paul Capel discusses the recent opening of the brunch restaurant. - Photo by Lance Porter of The Sentinel-Record
Poached, located at 5001 Central Ave., Suite B, recently opened and serves family-style brunch with a boathouse feel. - Photo by Lance Porter of The Sentinel-Record