Hey Norton! Get up here! Wait, isn't that from the Honey Mooners. Remember? Jackie Gleason? Before the days of color TV? Hey, I don't remember it either! Anyhoo, if ya want a classic SF Steak house whatdya say? Hey Morton! Sure there's others like Ruth's Chris, House of Prime Rib (love House, but its only Prime Rib), and Bobos which embarrassingly we haven't been to yet, and 5A5 Steak Lounge which we're going to tonight (look for us in our VdV jumpsuits).
But back to Morton's. Several of us went here for an after work event din din a few days ago. Our friends Dave & Karen and a 5th wheel who will remain nameless. Just kidding, Jo! Anyhoo, we were at The Palace Hotel, throwing out names of places to dine, and when someone threw out Morton's our friend Dave's eyes lit up like a fat kid in a candy store. So off we went like a pack o' carnivores determined to issue some punishment to the bovine.
Morton's has a good steak house vibe. Rich colors, deep mahogany wood, crisp linens, big seats (for the fat ass you'll have after eating all this stuff), pretty old school design but all kept in very good condition. For a change we ate upstairs. Damn they have a hurkin' menu too. A dozen appys including Oysters On The Half Shell, Lump Crab Cakes, Lobster Bisque...Wait, is this a steak house or Long John Silvers!?. Movin' on, several salads, about 100 'side dishes' like Macaroni & Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, Creamed Spinach, all the usual suspects and then some. Then the entreés,: Filet Mignon, Porterhouse, New York Strip, Bone-in (hee hee, love that!) Rib Eye, Prime Ri..WAIT! No Prime Rib! Say what? I think Dave almost started to weep. It was kind of funny actually. Note: Prime Rib is available Fridays and Saturdays only. Mark it! You heard it here first. Of course they have chicken and seafood entreés as well, but if you're not here for cow, WTF are you doing here?!
The service is great. And it needed to be with this party. Dave was spiraling into a serious funk due to the smack down he got on his hankering for Prime Rib. He went kinda rain man actually. So he needed some coddling. And then Jo needed actual 'consulting'. Yes, our server had to go in deep with this woman. Some serious back and forth going on about WTF knows. But she was responsible for ordering the scrumptious mac & cheese dish.
So what'd we get? The Filet Mignon, bien sur. Rare, bitches! But before that, the sides. The Macaroni & Cheese ($10), this stuff rocks it! Nice soft elbow mac, and what I believe was a blend of a couple cheddars and gruyere cheese with some parmesan thrown in. Then baked to a nice crust up top. Some of the best I've had. Next, the Creamed Spinach ($9.50), what's a big hunk 'o beef without some cream to go with it?! And all neatly disguised as a vegetable. Lip smackin' good. 'Nuff said. Then, the Beefsteak Tomato Salad ($? can't remember!) huge ripe tomatoes with wicked sharp red onions and a blue cheese drizzle. Healthy!
Christ I think I just had angina just writing about it. And we haven't even gotten into the entreés yet! Here we go: So, back to the Filet Mignon ($32), this is a nice juicy seared piece of burnin' bovine! And Morton knows r-a-r-e. I mean, we've just come from Argentina, the land of steaks and this steak stood up with the best. Very tender with the perfect grill on the outside, lightly salted. And that's it. Let that Filet stand on its own! We likee! Then, since we were with additional guests, we did a little sampling. The Bone-in Rib Eye. We would have ordered it, say it with me, rare but this was ordered medium. Waaahhh! Anyhoo, even medium this bad boy had some serious flavor to it, very well marbled with an excellent texture. Yum.
Desserts? We took 'em in liquid form, kittens. As usual. Morton has a pretty good wine list, I think better by the bottle than by the glass, And none of could agree so we all flew solo and had glasses. And lots of them. Do you care what? Of course not.
Bottom line: Morton's does a rock-solid job on steak and sides, a good wine list in a traditional steak house setting. Nothing too crazy or anything going on here, just damn good meat and excellent service. Bam!
VdV Rating: 4
Hours:
Mon-Thu 5:30p-11p
Fri-Sat 5p-11p
Sun 5p-10p
400 Post Street (@ Powell, Union Square)
San Francisco, CA
(415) 986-5830
Comments