We Went to Harvest... and it was Slow
Sep. 8th, 2006 10:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drwexAlso, way too noisy. I couldn't tell if it was the overabundance of free-drinking business types getting loud or just a lousy acoustic design. But the place was way louder than it should've been with that number of people.
So, having ended up at Harvest by accident (don't ask), we decided to stay for dinner. I wasn't feeling particularly good and, frankly, le menu wasn't that appealing. Their "tasting menu" had the usual two-app/two-entree/two-dessert format that seems to be de rigeur these days. They did have suggested wines for each course, though, with half-glass and full-glass options. Harvest takes its wines seriously, and I got to overhear the sommelier discoursing with several of the other patrons (see above about noisy) in a way that convinced me he knew his stuff. And he certainly knew how to open and pour. The tasting menu changes weekly so perhaps next time it'll be better.
I write so much about the ambiance because we had LOTs of time to take it in. The staff were polite enough, but somewhat... relaxed in taking orders. We each had an entree and split a side. That took the kitchen roughly 35 minutes to produce. (In fairness to the waitstaff I'd have to say that I noticed a lot of empty tables, not just ours - the kitchen might've been short-handed or had problems earlier in the evening with prep. It does make the waiter look bad when he reassures us that our entrees will be "right out" and they don't appear for another ten minutes.)
Eventually we got our food. I had a miso-glazed salmon done in a black bean sauce with oyster mushrooms. The dish listed "Chinese long bean" but they looked a whole heck of a lot like the "green beans" that came with Pygment's lamb steak. I understand that you make do with what you've got, but the pretension annoyed me. The salmon was slightly underdone - perfect on the edges, but the thick middle wasn't quite done yet. Likewise, Pygment's lamb was slightly underdone.
The salmon flavor was good, though a bit sweeter than I like in a black bean sauce. The rosemary lamb had a good blend of flavors and was probably the superior dish of the two.
As an experiment I had ordered a side of their "Chili-Spiced French Fries." The spice was, as expected, pretty mild but served well to cut the sweet of the salmon. I didn't think it went as well with the herb-y lamb flavors, but Pygment said it was OK by her.
Desserts didn't look tempting enough to overcome our feeling full and my still feeling somewhat run-down.
If this is typical and not just an off night then Harvest definitely deserves to be dethroned as one of the icons of Harvard Square fine dining.
So, having ended up at Harvest by accident (don't ask), we decided to stay for dinner. I wasn't feeling particularly good and, frankly, le menu wasn't that appealing. Their "tasting menu" had the usual two-app/two-entree/two-dessert format that seems to be de rigeur these days. They did have suggested wines for each course, though, with half-glass and full-glass options. Harvest takes its wines seriously, and I got to overhear the sommelier discoursing with several of the other patrons (see above about noisy) in a way that convinced me he knew his stuff. And he certainly knew how to open and pour. The tasting menu changes weekly so perhaps next time it'll be better.
I write so much about the ambiance because we had LOTs of time to take it in. The staff were polite enough, but somewhat... relaxed in taking orders. We each had an entree and split a side. That took the kitchen roughly 35 minutes to produce. (In fairness to the waitstaff I'd have to say that I noticed a lot of empty tables, not just ours - the kitchen might've been short-handed or had problems earlier in the evening with prep. It does make the waiter look bad when he reassures us that our entrees will be "right out" and they don't appear for another ten minutes.)
Eventually we got our food. I had a miso-glazed salmon done in a black bean sauce with oyster mushrooms. The dish listed "Chinese long bean" but they looked a whole heck of a lot like the "green beans" that came with Pygment's lamb steak. I understand that you make do with what you've got, but the pretension annoyed me. The salmon was slightly underdone - perfect on the edges, but the thick middle wasn't quite done yet. Likewise, Pygment's lamb was slightly underdone.
The salmon flavor was good, though a bit sweeter than I like in a black bean sauce. The rosemary lamb had a good blend of flavors and was probably the superior dish of the two.
As an experiment I had ordered a side of their "Chili-Spiced French Fries." The spice was, as expected, pretty mild but served well to cut the sweet of the salmon. I didn't think it went as well with the herb-y lamb flavors, but Pygment said it was OK by her.
Desserts didn't look tempting enough to overcome our feeling full and my still feeling somewhat run-down.
If this is typical and not just an off night then Harvest definitely deserves to be dethroned as one of the icons of Harvard Square fine dining.
