From Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine, June/July 2007:
"Finish the day with dinner in Gainesville, home to the University of Florida, dozens of family friendly motels and the year old MT'S Chop House. Whatever slab of meat you order, request mac and cheese on the side. It's made with smoked gouda, brie, white cheddar, cream cheese, and a drizzle of truffle oil, and it's a tasty metaphor for the day: The kids will enjoy it, but only the grown-ups can truly appreciate it."
(p. 159, from article America's Best Road Trips: Florida's Natural Springs by Clint Williams)
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It is likely you will enjoy the entrees at MT's Chop House, but it is the accoutrements that really shine.
It's tough to beat a great steak, a prime, double-cut pork chop or fresh halibut flown in from Alaska, but MT's does beat it every night. The signature appetizers and side dishes are so good that even a special entree can pale next to them.
Take the Crab Bisque for example. It is so rich, so buttery, so filled with crab meat and so over the top with heavy cream that you can practically feel your arteries hardening with every bite. But, if you're anything like me, you won't be able to stop yourself, even at $9 for a cup and $14 for a bowl.
It may sound expensive, but it is not overpriced. It is so rich that even a cup can prove adequate for two. Five or six spoonfuls are a perfect amount.
Then there is Mark's Baby Blue salad. This is what all salads really ought to be. It's the kind of salad you would make at home - if you spent all day tracking down the fixings.
You will find an exquisite combination of ingredients - crisp romaine, baby lettuce, spring greens, Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced red bell peppers, dried cranberries, sliced Granny Smith apples, hearts of palm, toasted almonds and more. All this is served with an understated, off-white, blue-cheese dressing that sets it off perfectly. Again, it's not cheap at $9, but the restaurant will not complain if you ask that it be split for two.
Mussels and Clams Portugese features Cedar Key clams, Prince Edward Island mussels and Andouille Sausage sauteed with tomatoes, basil, garlic and a bit of white wine and butter. The fresh seafood gets a wonderful hint of heat from the Cajun sausage ($9).
A Shrimp and Jumbo Crab Cocktail features giant Gulf shrimp and lumps of crab meat with avocado, mango salsa and cocktail sauce. It may sound expensive at $13, but I doubt you will feel gouged.
With a name like MT's Chop House, you might figure that the entrees would lean toward meat. You would be right, and you would be hard pressed to go wrong ordering a chop, in particular, the Double-Cut Pork Rib Chop with Mandarin Chipotle Glaze ($19), or any of the eight steaks ($18-$62), including a monster two-pound Porterhouse.
But there is more here than just meat. The fresh fish is generally very fresh and very well prepared. There are tuna, salmon, grouper, shrimp, crab and diver scallops ($21-$28). On one of my visits, fresh Alaskan halibut and king crab were available, flown in the previous day.
And the side dishes, billed as "Comfort Sides" are great - Roasted Garlic New Potatoes, Sauteed Spinach, Fire Roasted Beefsteak Tomatoes with Blue Cheese and several more.
The wine list is not large but not bad either. It features a decent selection of whites and mid-level Cabernets, but it is short on Zinfandel and barely adequate on Pinot Noir. Service is refreshingly good. Servers operate within a team concept, and the owner himself is likely to be the one to take your order.
If any or all of this sounds a bit deja vu, your memory is not failing. "MT" stands for Mark Terheggen, and he is not a newcomer to the local restaurant scene.
Terheggen was behind Mark's at the Landing on Lake Santa Fe, Mark's Downtown in the Sun Center, and Mark's U.S. Prime in Union Street Station.
The location on SW 34th Street was originally occupied by an awful Greek restaurant called Arkadia. Terheggen has transformed it nicely, and it offers a particularly nice outdoor dining area that is well away from the street.
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