Everyone thinks of Morton’s The Steakhouse as a place to eat steaks; after tasting the new menu items unveiled at last night’s media dinner, all I can think about is their macaroni and cheese.
I’m not a mac ‘n’ cheese gal—I’d usually rather have the calories in a few dozen glasses of red wine (I kid! Kind of.), but this dish is worth every extra pound you’ll gain.
Executive Chef Michael Owens gave us a run-down of the ingredients: four cheeses (Swiss, sharp cheddar, cream cheese, and parmesan) with a hint of grilled onions, lots of heavy cream, clarified butter, and—the nicest surprise of all—a crushed red pepper chili paste. It gave the smooth dish a spicy kick at the end; definitely a winner. The Million Dollar Burger
was supposed to be the star of the show, but mine was a bit undercooked (I ordered it medium but it was rare after just a few nibbles around the edges). It’s easy to understand why it was undercooked, though—the patty was enormous. If you want to try their huge burger, it’s $19.78 (for the year Morton’s opened) and only available on Sundays. Portions of the proceeds go to Make A Wish in honor of the restaurant chain’s 30 year anniversary. If you do order the burger (mine’s pictured at left), do yourself a favor and get the macaroni and cheese. Then shoot me an e-mail; I’d love to hear what you thought of the dish.
Other items new to the menu include a chilled prime ocean platter (Maine lobster, huge shrimp cocktail, lump crab meat, raw oysters, and Alaskan king crab legs—quite a doozy), a baked five-onion soup (too sweet, in my opinion), and a so-so carrot cake.
Now for a treat at the end of a long post: A little birdie told me that Morton’s may be moving to Uptown.
