Mignon Steakhouse--Rutherford

[steakas]

they have great lamb chops

[ghostrider]

I like the pork chops.

[adegiulio]

Don't forget, we have a little Mignon get together this Saturday. We need more people!! Some have cancelled last minute due to other obligations. Meet new people!! Eat juicy steak!! Drink!!

Reply here or PM me...

[adegiulio]

Ouch!! OK, I guess I will be the first one to post about tonight's very exclusive eGullet offline event at Mignon Steakhouse in Rutherford. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

We had a lot of fun, ate a lot of meat, hung out with some very nice people. Some talk about box and can...dunno what that was all about.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Anyway, more talk tomorrow about the food and such. Now I just need some sleep...

[Curlz]

Yes, let me echo the HAPPY BIRTHDAY sentiments. Anthony, thanks for coordinating the effort! As usual, it's fun to meet eG folks and to see 'old' friends. Too bad we never have enough wine...

I have to say that I was underwhelmed by Mignon, but I don't want to taint the reviews too much from the outset. My quick impression:

Meat GOOOOOD, Service BAAAAAAD.

[tommy]

sounds like i missed someone's birthday.

[ghostrider]

Birthday: err, merry.

Meat: Very good.

Service: Interesting.

Company: Outstanding.

I wound up consuming too much grease, which accompanied the Lyonnaise potatoes, as someone mentioned above, & paid the price with some indigestion after we got home. But they were good.

I couldn't believe that no one brought a camera, I'd thought that that was mandatory at all eGullet occasions. (I don't have a digital camera yet, that's my excuse & I'm sticking to it.)

Really nice to meet y'all!

[adegiulio]

I have to agree with the previous posters. We had a lot of fun, but this place still needs work.

1) Service was terrible. We had to beg for water, an ice bucket, glasses.

2) The meat was good, but there was hardly any sear or color on it. Seemed almost poached to me

3) They need to invest in more tableware. They ran out of glasses, so freshly washed (read:HOT) were dispensed for my cabernet. Salads were plated on hot plates.. Buy more, that way the dishes aren't in constant rotation.

4) The creamed spinach had no cream, but lots of bacon. Tasted good, but not what I expected.

5) Service was terrible.

6) Service sucked....

But, we did have an impromptu birthday, which was cool. As always, its was fun meeting new people and talking about Tommy behind his back.

[Curlz]

Funny, the (few--stolen from reset tables) 'fresh' glasses I got were too hot for MY wine too...

I think Anthony hit most of the points, but here are a few others:

-I'm still laughing when I think of Amy asking our waitress about the oysters...here's how THAT exchange went:

"What kind of oysters are they?"

"I'm not sure...they're served in the shell, like this (cups hand)..."

"Yes, but do you know where they're from? What KIND of oysters they are?"

"No, but I could ask."

We decided they must be either Passaic or Hackensack River oysters, but we're still waiting for her to get back to us on that.

-Then there was the fact that Anthony opened most of the wine for us. Except for the bottle where she broke the cork...

While I thought the meats themselves were very tasty (I had the double-cut lamb chop for my app and the filet mignon for dinner), nothing had any flavor!!! The lamb chops were mustard/pecan crusted. And they were. But the crust and mustard had NO TASTE!! My filet was cooked perfectly (medium/rare), and the frizzled onions were darn tasty and crispy. But every side I tried (and we ordered a lot of them) was flavorless save for one thing--bacon. The horseradish mashed potatoes were weak, the others (we thought they were garlic) couldn't have been more plain, the creamed spinach was discussed already, the string beans were at least al dente, the 'roasted sweet potatoes with molasses, carmelized onion and BACON' were ok, but guess what? They were MASHED!! That was certainly unexpected.

I chose to drink my dessert and in the end, was glad I made that decision, as the folks who had the (ENORMOUS) warm choc cake said it was stale/hard (perhaps microwaved to make warm? that's my guess). Ghost's apple thingy did look good, though, and he said it was tasty.

I guess I think if I'm going to spend $50+pp on a meal, I expect it to be more than just okay.

[ghostrider]

Well, I have to say that my filet had a tastily charred exterior & a subtle sprinkle of herbs. Maybe I got lucky with its placement on the grill. Or maybe the trick is to order everything with no salt.

We didn't order what I now think is their best side, which is the spinach with white wine & garlic. I hadn't tried the "creamed" or the beans before. I'll stick with the garlicky stuff.

I usually don't have dessert & wish I hadn't, I ate too much. The "apple crisp", which was really apple sandwiched between sheets of crispy pastry, wasn't overly sweet, & was made with a healthy dose of cinnamon, which is the way I like it.

I imagine I'll get back there because they're so close, & they stay open later than most places in town, which is sometimes handy. And I do like those pork chops.

[Curlz]

Ahh...maybe that explains it---the guy who asked for no salt on anything got the food with all the flavor!!

I did seriously consider that maybe in order to satisy Ghost's request, they just didn't salt anything, but I quickly dismissed that idea.

[ghostrider]

I'd hoped they didn't hold the salt from everything!

They oughta be able to char the steaks consistently though.

[WestOrangeFrank]

Firstly, we went for the company

Secondly, we went for the steak

I found the steak to be good, really good. The heated plates over cooked the last few bites of my 22 oz porter house, but still very good. Unfortunately the heated plates also heated up everything from salads to deserts. The 22 oz was a special, usually Mignon’s porterhouse comes in 40 oz (for two). I didn't not recognize a good glazed char, I didn't even look under the melted blue cheese goo and onions.

The sides fell short. I knew about the Lyonnaise potatoes, see my post on this board from last summer, but let ghost order them anyway, every side deserves a second chance - and we were SIDE CRAZY on Saturday.

And the service is something you would expect from a poorly run TGI Fridays, but, it was still a bargain for all we ate. And how many steak houses can you find that welcome BYO? If I returned, I'm all about the steak, and the grilled vegetable side, then the bill - nothing more.

Our poor waitress, sweet cheeks, was very confused by our table. Simple menu questions such as “what kind of oysters are served” threw her off (ghost quoted the essence). She may make a very good waitress when she grows up - she’s on her way - collecting a forced 18% from our table - robbery. I'm still waiting for her to get back to me on a few things.

And when she broke the cork of the Muscat -

Curlz - that was a Chateau de Jau Muscat 2002. We were guinea pigs - first time I tried it (not the last).

Thanks for organizing adegiulio, I'll try to get Jen, the birthday girl, recruited to post on her unforgettable 21st and 40th birthdays.

Edited November 17, 2004 by WestOrangeFrank (log)

[Rosie]

We recently had dinner at Mignon. I have never had anything but the porterhouse steak for two here ($45) and find the price and quality of meat to be very good. They list their meat as being USDA aged prime but I don’t know if it is dry or wet aged and how long it is aged. The steaks at Morton’s, the Strip House, and River Palm (to name a few) are better marbled but I like that Mignon is BYO and the price is reasonable. We started off with a tomato and mozzarella salad and was disappointed that the tomato was not as ripe and as tasty as what I buy at the farmer’s market. Also, I prefer my tomatoes to be at room temperature rather than refrigerator cold. The very small side of spinach ($6.95) was good but we would have liked a bigger portion. We shared a delicious warm apple crisp which I can highly recommend. The coffee was awful. Don't bother. Dinner with tax was tip was $88. We had a Turley and brought our own glasses. A lovely evening!