Setting Steaks in White Plains
A haven for steakhouse lovers has opened in the county seat with sizzling results
White plains is intent on going big-time. The boldface names keep alighting: Fortunoff, Whole Foods Market, Legal Sea Foods and now, Morton’s, The Steakhouse. Is the county seat ready for a $42 porterhouse and $33 crab cakes? I fasted for most of the day, pulled
on loose-waisted linen and got set to find out.
Being a city girl, I’m still not used to entering restaurants through a shopping mall corridor, but if it works for Time-Warner, I guess it’s time to adapt. We navigate the fluorescent maze off the new Fortunoff The Source garage, still raw with the scent of disinfectant and new carpet, turn a corner, and the mahogany-glazed doors and carriage lamps of Morton’s beckon like the gates of Oz. Inside, it bustles like Oz: a lively bar, open kitchen and nearly filled dining room.
We’re seated in a leather booth. The bread is warm and onion-crusted, Sinatra is crooning romance, and a very nice wine list is in our hands. Our waiter hauls over a cart bearing Texas-size hunks of USDA aged prime and painstakingly explains the merits of each. We’re ready. So in Texan parlance, bring it on.
My husband is in a take-no-prisoners mode and makes short work of a cayenne-spiked lobster bisque, lush with sherry and cream. The rest of us cautionary types nibble greens, though there’s a dizzying array of appetizers to choose from, mostly crab, shrimp and scallops in gussied-up guises. The fine Caesar salad has the right garlic-lemon kick, though my friend Aileen derides its drab, dry croutons as “out of a box.” An Everest of chopped salad has an ingredients list worthy of the Whole Foods next door and a well-balanced, if overdressed, Dijon vinaigrette.
We’ve done our vegetarian penance and survey the gleaming heft of our steak knives. I grasp my dagger with the fervor of Aragorn facing Mordor’s legions (yes, I have pre-teen sons), when our beef arrives, thick and gorgeously charred. I’ve ordered my 16-ounce ribeye from the “Slightly Smaller Steaks” list, and it’s slightly extraordinary: perfectly rare, deeply flavorful and expertly salted. The au poivre heat of the excellent
The shrimp in Aileen’s colossal shrimp Alexander are colossal in size, miniscule in taste. The two side dishes weren’t much help: a soupy, nutmeg-rampant creamed spinach and an oily, bland hash brown disc pleading for salt.
Redemption awaits in our pre-ordered soufflé and warm Godiva chocolate cake, but alas, our waiter forgot to put in the order, and we make do with a vibrant house-made Key lime pie and creamy heft of cheesecake. His profuse apologies are nice, the molten Godiva cake he manages to filch from a private party, nicer.
Will Morton’s work in Westchester? There’s no doubt that Morton’s recipe for success is tried-and-true. Big portions? Always. Big flavor? Usually. Big name? Definitely. Big price? Unfortunately—but this is Westchester County. What do you expect?
MORTON’S, THE STEAKHOUSE
9 Maple Ave., White Plains
(914) 683-6101
HOURS:
Lunch, Mon. to Fri. 11:30 am-2:30 pm
Dinner, Mon. to Sat. 5-11 pm, Sunday 5-10 pm
PRICES:
Appetizers: $9-$16
Entrees: $22-$84 (porterhouse for two)
Sides: $4-$9
Desserts: $8-$14
