So M and I decided to meet for dinner at the new Morton's in the old Grotto space on McKinney. Neither one of us felt much like dealing with the St. Patrick's Day chaos, so we figured dinner at a steakhouse on McKinney Avenue was the perfect choice. Ok, I know what each and every one of you are thinking, "Um, isn't Idle Rich and several other bars on McKinney?" Yes, we realized the error in our logic as we both got stuck in McKinney traffic. But it was all cool. People have to get to the chaos somehow.
I got to the restaurant a bit before M so I sat at the bar and ordered a drink. Morton's has a great happy hour menu. Lots of food choices for $5 or $6. Iceberg Wedge Bites, Mini Cheeseburgers, Petite Filet Mignon Sandwiches. And they have nice drink specials as well. I ordered a Manhattan, which seems to have become my drink of choice now that I'm wine-free until Easter, and checked out the bar scene. Meh. But it was St. Patty's Day so perhaps the usual scene was too busy drinking green beer down the street. Or stuck in traffic.
M got there and we were seated. The interior is nothing special. It's in the steakhouse style - dark, woods, wine bottles as decoration. Yawn. We checked out the wine list. Compared to Perry's, which is very, very, very proud of their list, Morton's had some nice bottles at fairly reasonable prices. Oh, wine, how I miss thee.
A giant loaf of onion bread was placed on our table with some butter. What is this, we wondered. We cut into it and were pleasantly surprised. We had expected the loaf to be fairly hollow in the middle but instead we found soft, plentiful, onion bread deliciousness. We had to call uncle or we would have completely ruined our appetite.
Our waiter arrives with a cart full of stuff. Sigh. I hate the steakhouse cart. Seeing a cut of meat on a platter wrapped in cellophane is not appetizing. And the poor LIVE lobster with its claws rubber banded together that was displayed on a platter? So very sad. And why exactly does the presentation need to include a hunk of raw broccoli and an entire potato? I know what those things are. Most toddlers do too. Thanks, but just show me the menu.
We finally received our menus and then our server presented us with a card of a great prefix "deal." You can get a starter, entree and dessert for a "great bargain" our server tells us. And as soon as he leaves us, M does the math. That great deal, gets you . . . $1-3 off the menu price!!!!!! Wow! What a deal! Not.
M and I both ordered a New York strip and then decided to share creamed spinach and button mushrooms. The steaks were, meh. Nothing special, and nothing we both couldn't do at home. I think they use soy sauce to tenderize and flavor the steaks, because you could definitely taste that (btw, Morton's does offer a soy-free and gluten free menu for those so inclined). The creamed spinach was tasteless. One bite each, and we were done. A little garlic or even a little salt would have helped immensely. The mushrooms were delicious though. I'd order those again.
So my first take on Morton's? Well, I don't think I'm coming back for dinner any time soon. Given the number of great steakhouses in this town, I'm not sure why I would want to eat dinner at Morton's when the steak was forgettable and the most tasty things I ate were the bread and the mushrooms. I'll definitely check out the happy hour scene again though, once I'm back on the vino, that is.
Cheers!
http://www.mortons.com/index.php
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