I like having minions. Today’s post is from Minion Cris! It’s about Mimi’s and Porky Chops. Enjoy!
Beginning today, Mimi’s Cafe is serving a new entree that embodies their theme of French-inspired American cuisine — the Honey Lavender Grilled Pork Chop.
Mimi’s asked its guests to develop a new delicious entree, and with many finalists, the winner was Michael Watz of Evanston, Illinois with his original recipe for Honey Lavender Grilled Pork Chop. Guest judge and author of “COWGIRL CHEF: Texas Cooking with a French Accent” and CowgirlChef.com, Ellise Pierce, found that the dish, “…brings the lavender of the French countryside to America’s beloved grilled thick-cut pork chop.” On behalf of Mimi’s, I was given the opportunity to check out this new entree…
[Honey Lavender Grilled Pork Chop / $14.99]
Lightly glazed with honey, herbs, and lavender, the pork chop is served with a mixed green salad with balsamic vinegar. With lavender as a seasoning I was a bit iffy about how it would taste. However, the pork chop actually had a non-overbearing, subtle hint of lavender. It also wasn’t too sweet and was very moist. I enjoyed the salad, but found the greens to be a little wilted–Maybe it was from the warm fingerling potatoes?
[Fire Grilled Shrimp Brochette / $14.99]
My guest who came with me had ordered the Fire Grilled Shrimp Brochette. Having been described as shrimps with a salt and pepper rub, with baked cheesy gratin potatoes and a house salad, the shrimps that were served tasted just like bland grilled shrimp. A little squeeze lemon would have helped. The greens in the salad weren’t crisp, they seemed old, and overall, the salad was weak. On a happier note, the cheesy gratin potatoes were firm and delicious!
For our appetizer, we ordered the Meyer Lemon Mussels & Frites. The white wine lemon-broth was a bit more on the coagulative and salty side. The squirts of lemon definitely worked in their favor and made it a bit more yummy.
[Meyer Lemon Mussels & Frites / $11.99]
I didn’t taste much or any garlic in the crositinis, but they did make good dunkers for the lemon “broth” :D. The frites…I found the frites (double fried Russet potatoes, seasoned with sea salt and herbs) to pretty much be amazing. They were fresh, lightly seasoned, and very crispy.
[Strawberry Shortcake / $5.99]
The Strawberry Shortcake didn’t get much love from us. It just seemed like a cake that was sandwiched in between crepes and strawberry creme. The crepes seemed to feel like a cake shell–it was dense and on the heavier side. In the end, we peeled off the layers of crepes and ate the cake underneath.
The bread and …carrot cake (I forgot the actual name of it) while we waited.
With the new favorites, looks like Fall is here!
Overall, the dishes were decent and I wouldn’t mind coming back for some dishes… THE FRITES. But I’m probably good without the crepe cake. A special thank you to Kayla and RJ for taking care of us!
Mimi’s Cafe
10788 Westview Pkwy
San Diego, CA 92126
(858) 566-6667
Disclaimer: Minion Cris’s meal was complimentary and she received a gift card in exchange for this review about Mimi’s Cafe. All opinions are the writer’s own.
I was just at Mimi’s over the weekend! I am a fan of their french onion soup as well as carrot muffin. The carrot muffin is the same recipe as the carrot bread they give you I believe. They have a new seasonal muffin – pumpkin streudal – sooooo good! The new pork chop looks quite good too.
I was looking into their french onion soup! I knew they had muffins, but wasn’t sure if they were part of a secret menu or something. The pumpkin streudal muffin does sound good. I’ll have to dig deeper for muffins when I go again…and maybe try their french onion soup. Personally, the amount of pork chop was a bit much for me, but I’d say give it a try!