Manny's Steak House

If you’re a Manny’s partisan, little you love has changed, except the room. I don’t quite like the bar area as much, but perhaps that’s because the old bar was placed alongside one of the most dispiriting dining rooms in town. The new Manny’s dining room is contemporary, done mostly in shades of black and white, with a bit more to look at, including a gorgeous cowhide that runs the length of one wall. The bar still has red booths and a clubby vibe, but the floor-to-ceiling windows sap a bit of the snug feeling while adding energy.

I’ve enjoyed lunch at Manny’s. It’s sedate, the pacing is geared to the hour, and the service is not as stiff as it is at Morton’s. Go with the tasty chili, a BLT with Nueske’s bacon, or the “two-napkin” egg salad (order that with bacon too, I say). A piece of farmed Norwegian salmon was nicely turned out, as was the scallop Benedict (no eggs). Lobster salad sliders were overmixed and contained too many ingredients. The top sirloin bar steak is fine, but I would have preferred a classic compound butter to a slab of blue cheese and an ice-cold piece of sharp cabernet butter.

At dinner, Manny’s is still big sass, big portions. Of the newer additions to the menu, lobster cakes were greasy and separating while the mac ’n’ cheese is killer. I didn’t taste the foie gras-stuffed burger—I haven’t had one yet that didn’t scream “expensive gimmick.”

One night, the pre-meal meat presentation revealed cuts that were seriously undermarbled while a shrimp cocktail was gray, watery, and rubbery. Manny’s high-end product has not kept up with that at the legion of steak houses that are using higher quality naturally raised or Wagyu steaks. That said, the dry-aged (choice) meat was seriously flavorful, appropriately chewy, and much of the fare was as addictive as always.

If I had one wish for Manny’s, it would be to spend less time focused on portion size as its trademark and instead make quality its signature. The new Manny’s offers better ambience and the same big-city service, but on the high-end side of its menu, it is standing still while many of the country’s best steak houses are not.   —Adam Platt

W—The Foshay, 9th at Marquette, Mpls., 612-339-9900