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Type: Mediterranean, Ecletic
Prices: Lunch: appetizers $6-$11, entrees $9-$17. Dinner: appetizers $5-$12, seafood samplers $15-$60, entrees $13-$29, desserts $7-$8.
Good choices: Spicy squid; fried green tomatoes and peeky-toe crab; goat cheese tartlet; Macomber turnip soup with duck confit; chicken liver terrine; roasted halibut with chanterelles; grilled lamb with curried eggplant-tomato puree; grilled filet mignon with melted marrow; malted chocolate torte.
Sound level: Conversation possible even when busy.
Hours: Lunch: Mon.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.; Sat. 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Dinner: Mon.-Thurs. 5:30-11 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 5 p.m-midnight; Sun. 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m.
Reservations accepted. Smoking in the bar area.
Credit cards: All major credit cards.
Access: Fully accessible.
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HARVEST
44 Brattle Street, Cambridge
(617) 868-2255
Restaurant reviewed 12/02/98 by Alison Arnett
There's nothing as tenacious as Bostonians' loyalty to the city's traditions. One only needs to invoke the name "Fenway" to be instantly reminded of that.
The Harvest is one of those traditions, even though a restaurant that first opened in 1975 is not exactly an antique.
In its first heyday in the '70s and early '80s, it was the place to go, with some of the most brilliant young chefs in the country making swings through its kitchen and some of the most brilliant minds kibbitzing in its dining rooms. In those days when Marimekko was fresh and new, the place was on the cutting edge of design, too.
It declined, and finally closed last year amid cries of dismay. News that the owners of Grill 23 & Bar in Back Bay would reopen it -- minus the day-glo flowers -- was met with the hostile suspicion that only Boston can cast upon usurpers.
The new Harvest should allay those fears. It's not the same restaurant, not a re-creation or a paler imitation. Only the name remains the same. The interior decor, a palette of subdued golds, creams, and browns, is not the only difference. The layout, so familiar that many of its regulars could have negotiated the place blindfolded, has been reconfigured. But the energy, apparent as soon as you walk in, recaptures the excitement of dining at the Harvest in its prime.
The bar used to be the main focal point for most of the restaurant; now it's the kitchen. John Delpha, who had been sous chef at Mistral, makes the most of the exposure, supervising his staff and inspecting plates with aplomb. His enthusiasm spills over in a phone interview as he talks about serving Mediterranean food with an "American flair" and the best local ingredients. Food is universal, and luckily the fact that this philosophy sounds all over the map doesn't mar the eating.
A goat cheese tartlet with cheese from a New England dairy boasts a wonderfully flaky crust, a filling both delicate and tangy, and an entire salad of mesclun greens on top. Macomber turnip soup tastes pleasantly sweet, not cloying, and slivers of duck confit in it add a salty, deeply savory treat.
The terrine of the day on one visit is a chicken liver mousse, humble fare perhaps and an ingredient turned to, Delpha confesses, when another product failed to arrive. But it's delightful, smooth, and rich -- so good that three of us vie for the last bites. We end up neglecting an appetizer of peeky-toe crab with fried green tomatoes, exemplary as that combination is.
Delpha often surprises the palate. Spicy squid "Rhode Island style" with rings of peppers ranging from fiery to fairly mild is ethereal and greaseless. But it's the tickle of sweetness in the batter that's intriguing, a counterpoint to the spice and to the heat of the peppers (a touch of graham flour, Delpha reveals).
One of his most felicitous dishes is oven-roasted halibut with a lemony sauce and chanterelles. The halibut has such an elemental sweetness that it makes one glad to have ordered fish, and the elusive flavor of chervil fronds on top complement the various pieces of the dish. Earlier in the autumn, the accompaniment was a delicious corn pudding; since then pumpkin and chestnut bread pudding has replaced it.
The quality of various meats isn't masked either. Grilled filet mignon infused with a dollop of marrow is excellent, the beef tender, the vegetables retaining their shape and colors in a ragout. Grilled top round of lamb is tasty as well, and a simple lunch dish of pork tenderloin with barely briny vinegar peppers and roasted potatoes manages to be flavorful and moist, no easy feat with today's slimmed-down pork.
Delpha's missteps perhaps mirror his enthusiasm. A wonderfully succulent veal chop is served with marbled mashed potatoes, rich and cheesy. But what may have been intended as a touch of nutmeg screams out of control, and the potatoes are inedible from the spice overload. The wild mushrooms overflowing in a well-made risotto couldn't have been better, but the dish is so salty that it's hard to concentrate on their virtues. Monkfish osso buco is underpinned by delectable mashed potatoes; the fish is fine, too. But there's too much on this dish -- chunky tomatoes, carrots, celery -- stacked as high as the haystack paintings in the back dining room. By the time one gets down to the buttery rich mashed potatoes, it's overkill.
Desserts hew more closely to an American theme. On a first visit, the offerings seem a little clumsy in appearance, but that smooths out admirably by the second time. A banana split with a stuffed roasted banana, a very chocolatey brownie concoction, and ice cream is sweet and rich, but too cloying and in need of a burst of color to brighten the brown and yellow hues. A lemon meringue tart billows with meringue, but the crust is too stiff and the lemon curd too thick. A malted milk chocolate semifreddo is the best dessert, a pretty oval mold surrounded by white and dark chocolate sauces. The malt tempers the chocolate, making it at once heady and sophisticated.
Grill 23, the other restaurant of owners Kenneth Himmel, Tim Lynch, and Brian Sommers, is known for its service. The new Harvest follows in that mold. One has the sense that the managers control the rather sprawling place as though each night was a choreographed performance. When our party asks for assistance with a wine selection one evening, the sommelier appears almost immediately. Coats are graciously taken at the door; one's request for the livelier front room or the quieter back room is honored; the table service is efficient without being too brisk. In a world where traditions often fade or totter into disrepair, the renaissance of the Harvest is heartening -- retrofitted for a new era.
Tips & hits
