Taste Of Hartford, Day 1—Morton’s Steakhouse

I so greatly enjoy the Taste of Hartford’s Restaurant Week that I always vow to visit a different Capital City restaurant every night. But fatigue sets in, or circumstances intervene, and I never manage the trick. This time, with the additional motivation of our blog, I believe I will succeed where I have previously failed. I have already made reservations for the entire week. So watch for my daily report from the trenches!

According to the Taste of Hartford website, there are 32 restaurants participating in this go-around. They include a number of heavy-hitters (which will be my focus this time), along with a number of lesser-known restaurants that also aroused my curiosity. Each restaurant puts together a three-course meal for the fixed price of $20.09 (based on the year 2009), which, it’s worth noting, is roughly two-thirds the cost of New Haven’s similar event. Scanning the submitted menus, the vast majority of the restaurants put together appealing menus, with only a couple that seemed half-hearted. If only it were a Restaurant Month instead of Week, I’d get to them all!

How did I go about selecting the restaurants that I did? I favored restaurants that had impressed me in the past, and especially restaurants that offered diners significant choice, because three identical courses, however delightful, don’t give me a lot to write about and photograph. With restaurants that offered more choice, I could bring one or two companions along and try out more dishes.

I began with Morton’s Steakhouse because it had not participated in this event before. Its participation this year is either a sign of the restaurant’s generosity or a measure of the economic times, but either way I was grateful to see their involvement. And I have to say that the restaurant did a phenomenal job.

I arrived at Morton’s Steakhouse in an absolute deluge, typical of the weather which has been dogging most of my blogging attempts this summer. Notice that you can just make out the blurry name of the restaurant over the roof of the car in front of us.

Normally, my companion and I are cheapskates, but we had brought no umbrellas, so the $8 valet parking fee seemed like a bargain compared to dining in an air-conditioned room drenched to the skin. Here, you see my companion being hustled to the door under a valet’s enormous umbrella.

Once inside, I wished I had been the one to make the reservation, because the Morton’s Steakhouse staff treats that individual with the solemnity of royalty. Not that the staff isn’t unfailingly solicitous toward every guest. Assistant Manager Anthony Acevedo and Captain Joe Smith (probably not related to John) made their presence felt throughout the evening.

Thanks, no doubt, to the Restaurant Week promotion, a line formed at the maître d’ station and the dining room filled rapidly. I took the following photograph of the attractive bar while it was still empty, but later observed that the bar area had grown much busier, with some guests taking their dinner there.

Here you see bartender Mike Natale working his magic.

We requested the special Restaurant Week menu. Our server showed us the hefty wine list, and then offered to give us the elaborate presentation of meats, fish and vegetables for which Morton’s Steakhouse is known. Normally, we would have enjoyed the whole production, but I passed on it because I wanted to be back home in time for The Bachelorette finale. So here you see the presentation being given by another server to a neighboring table.

During past Restaurant Weeks, there have been a couple of restaurants that have offered somewhat restrained portions, forgetting that this is a unique opportunity to court new customers. But not Morton’s, believe me. You had better skip lunch! Morton’s offered three bountiful courses, the main course rounded out with full sides. Consequently, we got to choose a salad, a main dish and a side dish, before finishing off with the selected dessert.

Here you see our comely and composed server, Diana Herrera, bringing our salads.

Enjoy this close-up of the Morton’s salad, with blue cheese dressing, chopped egg and anchovy fillets,

and this close-up of the Caesar salad

which, combined with a loaf of the famously irresistible onion bread and a slab of good hotel butter, put a serious dent in our appetites.

For the main course, customers get to choose between three entrées. Since there were only two of us, we didn’t get to try the broiled salmon fillet with chef’s beurre blanc sauce. My companion had the chicken Christopher, which was an impressive portion of beautiful, lightly battered chicken in a garlic beurre blanc sauce.

My delicious, single-cut filet mignon was cooked just as I ordered it and served in its own juices with a side pitcher of béarnaise sauce.

For sides, we could have had a jumbo baked potato or steamed fresh broccoli with hollandaise sauce. However, we chose steamed fresh jumbo asparagus with hollandaise sauce

and mashed potatoes,

both cooked to perfection.

Dessert was the first point at which we weren’t offered a choice, but who doesn’t appreciate a good chocolate mousse?

I included the following photograph, because I wanted to give a figurative round of applause to the kitchen where all of this great food was produced.

And here, you see a happy young couple enjoying their special Restaurant Week dinner.

And finally, matching our sunny mood, you see how the weather had changed when we emerged from Morton’s Steakhouse after dinner.

Morton’s Steakhouse, 30 State House Square, Hartford, 860-724-0044