Morton's Bistro Northwest

(update: Morton's is now closed)                                 by Vegan's Nightmare

It's a different kind of entrance, for sure. Mrs. VN and I stepped into the short hallway just off of Edgewater Street in West Salem -- to the right, an office space, and to the left, the restrooms. A small but bright white sign at the end of the short hallway points toward the "Restaurant Entrance" out the door and down the stairs of the backside of the building, where a brick-accented doorway greets patrons like Grandma's daylight basement. It's somewhat odd for a restaurant, but warm and friendly. After being greeted and seated, we were surprised to find that they don't provide you a paper wine list. I then discovered that the "wine list" is just inside the front door to the left, with prices on the backs of the bottles. Don't overlook the local microbrews in the upper right-hand corner -- after reviewing the wines, I switched gears and chose the Pale Horse Hopyard Dog IPA that I decided to plan my meal around. We started our meal with the crab cake appetizer. It was served with a pepper relish, a small bowl of cocktail sauce, and a dollop of what I think was mayonnaise-based dip. The cakes were light, delicious, and had meaningful chunks of crab. Shortly after that came a bowl of clam chowder which was excellent, though I normally think of chowder as something much creamier than this. This clam chowder was more of a stock-based soup with cream in it rather than vice versa, but it had lots of fresh clams and that's what sways my vote every time. I flip-flopped between the Penne Diablo and the Cattail Creek Lamb Shank before finally selecting the Penne Diablo -- hot.
The waitress warned me twice that 'hot' was "definitely hot," which was just what I was in the mood for. And she was right. There were spicy chunks of sausage, HUGE pieces of crab and peppers, resting happily in a fired-up tomato sauce. Along the rim of the bowl was a zig-zag of red, which disappointingly turned out to be nothing more than Sriracha hot sauce. Good, but I was kind of expecting something more original. Mrs. VN ordered the Angus New York steak, served with potatoes, and a mix of mushrooms, onions, and carrots. The steak was tender, and more importantly, cooked just the way she ordered it. As she describes her meal, "If you just want a big, juicy, delicious slab of meat, the New York is what to order." You see why I love her? Overall, our meal was quite satisfying and filling. The price tag was reasonable at $76 (drinks, appetizer, 2 entrees, soup). The service was friendly, courteous and attentive, and not overbearing. I think we'll be back.

More pictures: http://vegansnightmare.posterous.com/dinner-at-mortons-nw-bistro-west-salem

Vicarious Diner: http://eatsalem.com/2009/03/vicarious-diner-at-mortons-bistro.html