There has been a gaping hole in the Salt Lake night scene. For the longest time we have needed a place to nosh, apres theater, where anyone can walk in off the street and appreciate cuisine as sophisticated as the entertainment they have just experienced. In other words, pudding at La Traviata was not all that satisfying. Eventually, even that became inaccessible, since the restaurant nearest the Capitol Theatre closed well before most performances let out, and just about the only establishments still serving dinner required memberships.

"Someone ought to put a trendy place in where Marie Callender's used to be," many suggested, and finally someone has. Once all its wrinkles are ironed out, I fully expect the Capitol Cafe to become one of Salt Lake's hottest eateries.It already has, to some extent, and not without cause. Great attention has been paid to concocting a unique, creative and exciting menu. Where else do they offer roasted pork loin with cabbage grandmere, parsnip fritters, snow peas and a sundried cherry demi glace, for $15? And where else do they offer wild mushroom and chevre strudel with red pepper coulis and beet vinaigrette as an appetizer, for $8?

I also must ask where else do they offer the latter, prepare it exquisitely the first time you order it, and then when you return for it bring it to you charred to a blackened crisp, insisting that this is the way the chef wants it served?

This actually happened, and I saw it coming. There it sat on the counter, resembling something very unappealingly scatological. Before the waiter could whisk it to our table, one of the very sophisticated owners intercepted it. "No," he cried. "You can't serve this. It's burned!" A conference was then called, involving the owner, the waiter and several others from the kitchen. I don't know what exactly the huddle resolved, but soon the waiter placed the incinerated food before me with a flourish.

I was not amused. "I wasn't aware you were serving this Cajun-style tonight,' I toldthe waiter.

"Of course, the well-done aspect is what the chef intended," the waiter told me condescendingly.

"Well it's not what I intended," I replied. "You might want to return it to the chef."

"Very well," he told me as he removed the offending food.

Within a matter of moments, he was back with another, baked to a beautiful golden brown. "Because you sent it back, I was able to sample the mushroom strudel, and I must say it was delicious," the waiter informed me smugly.

It pained me that this waiter-with-an-attitude had the gall to treat a patron this way, but I take some consolation in the fact that the patron he treated this way was a restaurant critic who will duly inform her readers of it.

It also pained me that such an incident would occur, since the rest of the food, the service and the ambience at the Capitol Cafe are so outstanding and extremely professional. No expense has been spared in redoing the venue, right down to hiring local artist Erik Sieg to artistically lay the copper on the wood-burning oven and to create a number of other fascinating sculptures for the restaurant. Interesting artwork abounds at the Capitol Cafe, some of it alive, in the form of plants and floral arrangements.

Most of the food is just as exquisite and - dare I say it? - amazingly low-priced. A half bowl, which is a generous portion, of their delightfully savory butternut bisque or smoked corn clam chowder is a mere $2. That would be an appropriate price for their potato-leek, which is unexciting at best. For two very remarkable soups, $2 is a steal.

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Among the other wise choices made by the proprietors are the use of Volker Reitzinger's superlative bread; hand-tossing the pizza crust for a superb consistency and serving oven-roasted rack of lamb on ratatouille, baby carrots, basil mashed-pototoes and natural sauce with lavender, for $24.

Where there is room for improvement, the Capitol Cafe seems to be bettering itself daily. Though still not perfect (and what restaurant is?), it's definitely worth adding to your list of frequent dining spots, especially before or after the theater.

Rating: * * * 1/2

The Capitol Cafe, 54 W. 200 South, Salt Lake City, 532-7000. Open Monday through Saturday, serving lunch 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., light fare 2:30-5:30 p.m. and dinner from 5:30-10:30 p.m. Reservations are accepted, and especially recommended for weekends, on nights of events at the Capitol Theatre, and for large parties. Checks and major credit cards are accepted.

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