New Restaurant Review: Mayfield OC, a NEW restaurant in the time of Covid

Finally made it to the new Mayfield in San Juan Capistrano. I’ve been hearing about this new hotspot since it opened a few months ago, and was excited for my first visit.

My first impression upon entering, was what a lovely space it is. To be honest, I don’t recall what was here before but the interior is a very pretty, if minimally decorated open space. They have a long bar which I’m sure post-covid will prove quite popular with the after work crowd. If you prefer to dine outdoors like me, just upstairs they have a large open patio with lovely greenery and a nice ambiance. 

I visited on a Saturday night, when the only option is the the supper club menu available. Supper club is basically an a.k.a. for prix-fixe menu. For $50 per person, you get a shared “Rip & Dip” platter, a small plate selection each, a shared medium and large plate, and a shared dessert. It sounds like a lot of sharing but it does end up being a significant amount of food, and we didn't leave the least bit hungry. You can also add on additional dishes at the ala carte price. Àla carte is only available Wednesday and Thursday, and a day ala carte menu is available for breakfast & lunch. 

The Rip & Dip comes out first as your appetizer. It’s basically an assortment of all of their delicious dips with some crunchy buttery bread for you to rip apart and use w the dips. The bread was delicious, and I really enjoyed all of the dips as well. They are all quite tasty if not overly original, as they’re all your typical Mediterranean dips but done well – baba ghanouj, hummus, muhammara, whipped feta and a not-really-a-dip mango Israeli salad. It was a nice way to start and get you in the Mediterranean food mood. 

Fried Eggplant w Date Syrup Drizzle

We had a hard time deciding on two small plates as they all sounded really intriguing. We ultimately decided on the fried eggplant and the carrots. The eggplant knocked it outta the park for us. Roasted to a buttery texture and drizzled with the perfect complement of a date syrup, it was sheer eggplant perfection. 

The carrots were not quite as much of a home run but still tasty. I never cook carrots at home because I love the way Chefs are able to turn such a simple vegetable into a decadent dish. The carrots at Mayfield were a tad bit overcooked and maybe even a smidge under seasoned but were saved by the Sumac yogurt dressing and the nice crunch of the almond dukah. Would I order them again? I don't think so. However, I might be inclined to ask for a side of the yogurt dressing to dip my ripped bread into. 😉

Lamb Meatballs

Our hands-down favorite dish of the evening was the lamb meatballs. We both agreed that you could easily make a meal out of it and leave a happy camper. No disservice to the other dishes, but these meatballs served atop a delicious herb buttered Israeli pearl couscous w lemony snap peas was pure heaven. This is a MUST order folks. 💕

For our large plate, we couldn’t decide between the hanger steak and the fried chicken so we chose to add on an extra dish to our meal. In retrospect, we should’ve just stuck with the za’atar fried chicken and skipped the hangar steak as it was more than enough food. 

Za'atar Fried Chicken 

The zaatar fried chicken is definitely the star dish at Mayfield. Fried perfectly juicy with the perfect Mediterranean spice on the crispy skin, it’s a unique take on fried chicken that definitely a winner. It comes to the table with pickled veggies and two yummy housemade sauces for dipping. They seem to like dipping here, as do I so it worked for me. 

Hangar Steak 

The hanger steak had so much potential.  The menu describes it as cooked w Aleppo butter, black garlic and jus. It looked truly beautiful when it came to the table as the plating was impeccable; however, we had a hard time finding any of the mentioned flavors. It was under seasoned and while it was cooked nicely to a perfect medium rare,  it was just overall lacking in flavor. Not to the point of being inedible, but it did under deliver based on its decadent description.

Cardamom & Rose Panna Cotta

We ended the meal on a high note with a delicious cardamom and rose panna cotta. Almost too pretty to eat, it was as delicious as it was beautiful - a perfectly set panna cotta with subtle rose undertones, topped with a lovely raspberry coulis, pomegranate seeds, and crushed pistachios for crunch. It was a lovely way to end our supper. 

All in all, I was very impressed with Mayfield and would highly recommend a visit. I will for sure be going back soon to try a few of the dishes I wasn't able to sample this time, as well as to get more of those sinful lamb meatballs. Mayfield has only been open for a few months so a few glitches are always expected, but even so overall there were way more hits than misses. 

Be sure to make a reservation as they are proving to be quite popular and you might regret showing up without one. I have to say it's really nice to see a new restaurant open up in the time of Covid, and open up with a creative menu and doing well. 

Mayfield is located at 31761 Camino Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano

 (near the mission and the train tracks) 

https://www.mayfieldoc.com/

Phone: 949/218-5140