Mayfield Restaurant & Market

Culinary judges – and you – should be visiting this San Juan Capistrano Mediterranean-ish spot for dinner

When we think about Orange County restaurants that should be attracting Michelin- and James Beard-level attention, there’s a short list of places that come to mind, and Mayfield Restaurant & Market is one of them. Located in the same San Juan Capistrano neighborhood as Heritage Barbecue, Mayfield offers frequently stunning dinners that ride the line between Mediterranean and California cuisines, as well as stripped-down, less impressive brunch offerings that we could take or leave.

Although Mayfield’s menus change seasonally, one of our meals included:

  • Summer Snap Peas, a semi-modernist plate combining sweet peas with coconut foam, shaved white chocolate, sliced gooseberries, and ground marcona almonds
  • Corn Ribs, a fairly ingenious way to turn a single corn cob into a full vegetarian small plate, dusted with morita chili and sumac, augmented by smears of lime leaf aioli
  • Grilled Octopus, a single but good tentacle dotted with sweet black garlic cream, gorgeous sherry beet puree, and charred caulinini – a cauliflower/broccolini hybrid
  • Striped Bass Crudo with watermelon aguachile, not reinventing the wheel but using quality sliced raw fish with cubed fruit and vegetables to refresh the palate
  • Baba Ganoush with Focaccia, one of five Mediterranean dips – topped with pomegranate seeds and nicely tweaked with what appeared to be smoked paprika
  • Picanha Steak, a medium rare tenderloin genuinely elevated by cauliflower and carrot shawarma puree, opal basil gremolata, and (yet more) charred caulinini
  • Mussels with Peach Harissa – the only miss, heavier on the harissa than peach flavor; around 15 generally tiny mussels and two slices of sourdough bread
  • Honey Mousse with lemon curd, gooseberries, and honey shards, somehow evoking the best textural characteristics of marshmallows and creme brulee without including either
  • Chocolate Budino with orange blossom granita and halva crumble, a thickened mousse-like ganache paired with icy citrus to impressive effect
  • Sticky Toffee Pudding, an ample square of date cake in rich butterscotch sauce, served with an oversized quenelle of McConnell’s vanilla bean ice cream

On a second occasion, we sampled:

  • Beef Tartar with preserved lemon, Spanish smoked paprika aioli, and sweet confit tomatoes, served with miniature taro chips
  • Twice Cooked Garnet Sweet Potato, served atop creamy preserved lemon tahini with yuzu kosho and hibiscus honey
  • Burrata, served with two crositini and a fantastic bar of champagne vinegar/peach jus-laden peach and nectarine slices
  • Baba Ganoush, Watermelon & Feta, and Focaccia– the first topped with pomegranate seeds and nicely tweaked with what appeared to be smoked paprika, the second with almonds, mint, and chili crisp
  • Spiced Popcorn, served before the meal as a snack
  • Heirloom Roasted Carrots, topped with strawberry chermoula and urfa chili oil, dusted with pistachio dukkah
  • Grilled Prawns, separated from their heads and slightly too soft texturally, but improved with a cucumber-mint tzatziki and grilled lime
  • Mohawk Pork Chop, a particularly tender (though fairly fatty) harissa-glazed pork chop topped with pomegranate seeds, covering a hidden bed of chard and farro with carrot and apple puree leaking out from the sides – this would be a perfect all-in-one Thanksgiving dish

We would describe these dinner experiences as thoroughly impressive, including consistently excellent flavors and plating, delivered by very friendly servers. That having been said, on the occasions when we’ve dropped in for lunches, we’ve almost always been underwhelmed by various elements of the experience, ranging from the menu choices to less memorable flavors and plating. This isn’t to say that Mayfield is a restaurant with two personalities, but our recommendation would be to treat it as an ideal place for a nice dinner – date night, family, or otherwise – and at best a fallback option for lunch, ideally appreciated with wine to smooth out the less impressive edges.

Stats

Price: $$-$$$
Service: Table
Open Since: 2020

Addresses

31761 Camino Capistrano
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

949.218.5140

Instagram: @mayfield.oc