On the Menu - Cappyccino’s

Cappyccino’s 10 Ideas To Improve Life
Say please and thanks
Avoid malls, discounters, and mass merchants
Take Sundays off
Plant seeds
Enjoy sunrises and sunsets
Make 100 year decisions
Mass media only in moderation
Balance high-tech and high-touch
Reward teachers, artists, and architects
Recycle, rejuvenate, renovate

The sign in front (“public art,” owner Cappy Lawton prefers to call it) is your first clue that Cappyccino’s is going to be an exuberant dining-out spot. The neon sign, and its frisky matching billboard on Broadway, point the way to this neighborhood restaurant. Inside, the hot-tomato stucco walls of this slender shotgun space matches wits with a lively menu: Mediterranean/Tex-Mex specialties that are healthy as well as flavorful. Wild mushroom ragu pizzas draped with sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese, Greek tzatziki dip for pita crisps, and Cappyccino’s famous white chili confound expectations.

While the offerings are out of the ordinary, they are not cutting edge—but restaurateur Lawton wants it that way. Cappyccino’s is basically a neighborhood eatery, and pot roast is the biggest seller on Sundays. Deep-fried mushrooms used to be Cappyccino’s best seller, but Lawton removed them from the menu because he didn’t think people should be eating the fat-loaded delicacies anymore.

Lawton doesn’t encourage indiscriminate drinking either, even though Cappyccino’s is also one of the state’s best-stocked bars. No happy hour and a no-smoking policy tend to send determined tipplers elsewhere: Sixty single malt scotches, 25 tequilas, and an inviting variety of single-barrel and small-batch bourbons could lure a person into some serious sampling. “We want people to drink less, but better,” says Lawton. Just in case they can’t resist, the restaurant offers a wide selection of coffees, including a fresh and toasty brew that is locally roasted twice a week. Cappy Lawton is one of Texas’ most energetic restaurateurs, having opened 27 establishments since the mid-seventies. This latest venture should prove to any who might have doubted it that Lawton knows what he’s doing and likes to do it well.