Dinner at Harvest – in Harvard Square, Cambridge
I had recieved a gift card for this restaurant a while back, and finally got around to using it last Friday. After work, my brother and I took the Red Line T to Harvard Square. From the T stop, its only about a 2 or 3 min walk to the restaurant, which is in the ground floor of what looks to be a small commercial center. I was definitely looking forward to the dinner, as I had heard good things about Harvest. It is an established institution (founded in 1975) and many famous chefs from this region have gone through the kitchens of Harvest, including L’Espalier’s Frank McClelland and Veritas’s Scott Bryan. For the most part, the reviews seemed to agree the food was well done (simple and fresh, as is claimed) but slightly overpriced. The gift card I had was for $50 (and was also valid for Grill 23 or Excelsior, but my brother and I knew either of those 2 would work out to significantly more than $50, so we chose Harvest).
The first thing one notices when approaching the restaurant is the sign. Its a very ugly, cheap neon sign, that looks barely fit for most of the Chinese all-you-can-eat buffets I see around Worcester. Naturally, I was quite surprised and was having second thoughts as to whether I made the right choice. However, as we made the turn into the doorway and through to the restaurant, it was immediately apparent that Harvest is in-fact an upscale restaurant. The decor fits the name and concept very well, its a very “harvesty” color scheme. I had read about the open kitchen, and was happy to see that kitchen is pretty much as open as can be. If one wanted to, one could stand a bit to the side and see the entire life-cycles of orders, from the waiter bringing it in, to the final plating and it being carried to the table. I am always a fan of an open kitchen, as it requires that it be very clean, being in the plain view of all the restaurant’s patrons. And this is especially true of a restaurant like Harvest, where one is paying above-average prices for the freshness and quality of, for the most part, regular ingredients.
We had a reservation for 6:30 and were seated immediately. We chose to sit outside, even though it was slightly cold, because there are very effective outdoor space heaters in the patio. Anyway, I knew it would probably be one of the last times for at-least a few months that we could dine al-fresco.
We received our wine and dinner menus. There was a tasting menu, as well as an A la carte, but we were informed that any of the items on the tasting menu could also be ordered A la carte. I had taken a look at the menus previously, as I usually do before dining out, so I was able to decide fairly quickly. We both selected A la carte items. I chose the Halibut with chunks of lobster, walnuts, and sauteed bok choy ($32). My brother went with the Pork loin with eggplant ($27). Here are the descriptions from the menu:
| Pan Seared East Coast Halibut | 32 |
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Baby Bok Choy, Lobster, Chartreuse Macerated Grapes, Walnuts, Red Kuri Squash Sauce |
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| Roasted Pork Loin | 27 |
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Cumin Scented Chubby Carrots, Cipollini Onions, Eggplant, Fregola, Picholine Olives, Ham Broth |
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We each ordered a glass of wine also, I chose a French Chardonnay [Chardonnay, Pascual-Renaud, Macon-Villages, Macon, Burgundy, France...to be more specific] ($8) and my brother chose a red ($9), I forget what type.
The food was very well done… Not mind-blowingly amazing, or surprisingly good. In many ways, the entrees were exactly as I expected them to be, relatively simple, fresh, and tasty. The only thing that did surprised me was the entrees very much felt like a part of a tasting menu, although they are priced and described to stand alone. The meat and fish itself were of good entree size portions, I guess what was lacking was the usual starch that restaurants throw in. It was perfectly fine with me that this was excluded, but I can understand why many people might feel strongly that Harvest is overpriced, because apart from the ingredients being relative every-day (as fresh as they might be), the entree portion by itself would certainly not be a filling meal for anyone. Anyway, since I avoid starches in the evening it worked out great for me.
We ate and drank our wine at a relaxed pace. Once we were done, our plates were whisked away, and without any inquiry, two dessert menus were placed on the table. We looked over the list, and rather than go with anything sweet, decided on the American Artisan Cheese Quartet ($14) which featured 4 cheeses from the local area. Here is the description from the menu:
| American Artisan Cheese Quartet | 14 |
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Featuring Bayley Hazen Blue, Greensboro, VT Mt. Snow Brie, Weston, VT Fresh Chevré, Alburgh, VT |
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The cheese plate arrived, accompanied with: thinly sliced apples, four perfectly toasted slices of brioche, salted and roasted almonds, 3 small apricots in syrup, and two piece of some fig or date, tart-like thing.
Now this wasn’t anything close to the monstrous cheese course my brother and I were able to enjoy at L’Espalier (where we were served the same quantity as the table of 5 sitting next to us), but rather a well portioned plate. This was still, however, a cheese plate, which as I remarked to my brother, always feels like pure gluttony. By then we both had a good buzz from the wine too, so all this contributed to a memorable, filling, and tasty end to our meal. As for what I thought of the various cheeses…I liked them all, they were delightfully creamy. None of the individual cheeses stood out so much that I have anything to say about any of them in particular, however they all served to further reinforce my belief that cheese is a good thing, and we must be grateful when we have the opportunity to enjoy it.
As we were getting through the last of the plate, we had to take longer and longer pauses before going for another piece. In one of these brief respites, a waiter was about to take away our plate with still a little bit left, but of course we stopped him, immediately. But even before we were done, the bill arrived at our table. Overall the service was average, there were certainly areas in which it could have, and should have, been better.
The bill came out to $94 without tip. This included two entrees (which averaged out to about the average entree price), two glasses of wine, and a cheese plate.
I have included photos: of the two entrees, and of my brother and I before devouring the cheese plate.
