The Harrison (long)

[weinhen]

In last Sunday's Times City section there was a piece on New Yorkers who choose to stay in the city on weekends, eschewing the invitational pleadings of their friends and family who have newly acquired houses in the Catskills, Hamptons, etc. It's an interesting piece and reflective of an attitude that I've been nursing for a while. In this spirit, and to be able to minister to our ill cat, we decided to have a vacation at home this summer and be tourists in our city - movies, museums, Bronx zoo, and restaurants.

On relatively short notice (two weeks ago), I made three reservations for this week. Surprisingly, there were no real difficulties in reserving (except Babbo - 10:30 the earliest) prime time midweek slots for two. Last night was the Harrison, tonight Jean Georges, Thursday Blue Smoke.

So, the Harrison was doing good business when we arrived at 7:45, only a few empty tables. We were seated early for our 8:00 reservations. It is a simple, fairly elegant spot, with a rustic feel from the planked walls and ceiling. Service is sweet and efficient, but the tables are close enough together to have that annoying experience of the waiters butt too close as they take orders at adjoining tables (one of my pet restaurant peeves.)

Appetizers: 1. Yellow Fin Tuna, with marinated cucumber in a gazpacho broth, was fresh, nicely seasoned and well-presented. It had some unusual ingredients including what appeared to be a tapenade of some type but not as strongly flavored as that would ordinarily be. Not the sort of dish you'll remember for years but pleasant enough.

2. Fried clams are apparently their signature appetizer. You're presented with a bowl containing a very generous portion of clam strips (no bellies) crisply fried and not greasy. Swimming among the clams are fried thinly sliced lemon and fried parsley which made for a nice flavor, but not textural, contrast. It came with a lemon-coriander aioli that should have been gutsier to stand up to the heft of the clams.

Wine for the appetizers were two glasses of Il Mimo rose, from the Nebbiolo grape. It's their house rose and a good all-purpose wine.

Main Course: 1. Skillet calf's liver, has been raved about in the published reviews of The Harrison. Ordinarily, I'm not a liver guy unless it's foie gras or ankimo, but I made an exception here. What you get is a horseshoe shaped piece of liver, not overwhelmingly large, fitted over a wedge of bacon/onion/potato torta, and sauteed chard, all in a tangy sherry sauce. This was quite a good dish, with all the earthy flavors working together. The liver was surprisingly good, medium rare as ordered, yet with a nicely charred and peppered exterior. So if liver isn't a complete non-starter for you, I'd definitely recommend The Harrison's treatment of it.

2. Pan crisped chicken was a pan roasted affair, served with a mustard sauce over asparagus home fries. The chicken was well prepared, crisp outside and moist within. Unlike many mustard based sauces, this one managed to remain sharp and was a good complement to the meat. The asparagus home fries seemed a good idea but were either a miscalculation or poorly executed last night. The potatoes were soft/soggy and underseasoned. According to my wife, the asparagus tips in the dish were good but required rummaging among the potatoes to find them.

We also ordered the much touted fries as a side for the table. Again good but not great. They were supposed to be highly seasoned and addictive. While there was some subtle Old Bay taste, it wasn't a "wow" nor were they crisply fried enough to remain so on a humid New York evening.

The wine for the entrees was a '99 Fallerno del Massico, Villa Mathilde, a bottle which I love and is available around the city. Primarily Aglianico, the wine worked well with both dishes.

Desserts: Forget it - we were too full.

In all, the experience was good but not great. Prices are reasonable -after tax and tip, we came in at $145 for all of the above.

Tonight, it's Jean Georges and I'm eagerly expectant. So until tomorrow....

Andrew

[Fat Guy]

Great report, thanks!

[Liza]

Thanks for the report! I'm still curious about the asparagus home fries - were they like potato home fries with asparagus, or something radically different?

[weinhen]

The asparagus home fries were a bit of a hybrid, Sacajawea Dollar size potato "coins" fried with pencil thin asparagus tips, and onions (as in traditional home fries.)

Hope that description helps.

Andrew

[jaybee]

Thanks for that, Andrew. Ill cat? Our beloved Noonie, a mixed coon cat with the temperament of a golden retriever is 16 and has come down with diabetes. My wife, the elected caretaker (by default) gives her two shots a day of insulin and food suppliments. We now either take her with us to the country on weekends, or have a veterinary para come to our apartment to give her the shots if we have to leave her. Life has suddenly gotten more complicated, but if that's all there is, I'll take it gladly.

I too feel like a tourist when w stay in the city on weekends. Your reports are eagerly anticipated.

[rozrapp]

Just like weinhen and jaybee, my husband and I love to "vacation" in NYC, particularly during summertime week-ends. Whenever our daughter vacates our apt. there, we leave the old homestead in NJ, take up residence and once again become "New Yawkers." (I was born and brought up on the LES, then lived in Queens, and my husband hails from Brooklyn.) Then it's B'way shows, ballet, museums and, of course, eating out, eating out, and eating out! (So many restaurants, so little time!) That's what we did for the 4-day July 4th holiday. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and had a whole bunch of very wonderful meals.

[Suzanne F]

For those who like to "vacation" in the city: the TKTS booth downtown is now in the Pier 17 building at the South Street Seaport. Indoors, air-conditioned, ahhh. Mon - Sat 11am to 6pm, Sun 11am to 3:30pm. When I was by there early this afternoon they had such shows as Proof and Private Lives for tonight -- many many listings, actually.

(I may post this on the Off-the-Wall board as well.)

[Suzanne F]

To get back to The Harrison: we finally ate there last night, and I most gladly WOULD go back.

We split one app and one dessert, and shared two mains. The app was jamon serrano with grilled quince and manchego -- served as a layered dish with a couple of triangles of tomato-rubbed toasted bread. Seemed quite Spanish. The ham was superb -- much sweeter than proscuitto. The bread and cheese were also excellent. Quince was a nice idea that didn't quite work: the light grilling didn't develop the flavor much.

We were surprised by a gift from the chef after our apps: small portions of salt-crusted black cod atop a ring of avocado slices filled with brunoise vegetables, in a pool of tomato water. (On our way in, I saw the chef -- Joey Campanaro -- and asked how and where his brother was; Lou was a sous chef at Zeppole when I worked there, and I learned a lot from him, and liked him. So I guess that qualified us as PPX. ) It was a wonderful appetizer: the salty crust on buttery big-flaked fish, and strongly tomato-flavored jus -- and very beautiful with shades of red and green and the golden crust. I'm not sure it would work as a main -- don't know what could accompany it, and much more salt crust might be too much. But it made a lovely app.

Mains: grilled artic char, and braised lamb shank (well, it was cold and rainy and snowy out). The char came with braised napa cabbage (tomato concasse garnish) and a lacy little potato pancake; sauce was somewhat creamy, but had more flavors as well. Excellent piece of fish, with crisp skin but not too much grill flavor. The huge lamb shank was served with slightly lumpy mashed potatoes, garlicky sauteed greens (escarole, I think), and "onion rings" which turned out to be not the fried kind but crisply sauteed naked rings of onion. A very reduced -- almost too much, since lamb jus especially congeals as it cools -- meaty sauce. Half bottle of a Sancerre Rouge went well with both dishes: not to heavy for the fish, and acidic enough to balance the rich meat.

Dessert: frozen blood orange souffle on "love cake" with passion fruit mousse and a sauce flavored with lemon thyme. A very impressive-looking dish: in a soup plate, from the bottom up: sauce, thyme leaves and orange supremes; a diamond of cake; an extremely crisp cylinder of some sort on non-sweet pastry, filled with the mousse; a disc of the frozen souffle, on edge -- all speared through with a candy straw. Vertical food is not completely dead. I have no idea what "love cake" is other than nutty and rich. Great flavor and texture contrasts in this dessert. And not really as much to eat as it sounds. I could have eaten it all by myself.

Tables on either side of us ordered the signature fried clams (HUGE portion) and liver -- and exclaimed over how good they were.

Now I'm definitely looking forward to going back, and to trying Jimmy Bradley's new Mermaid Inn in the East Village.

[ajay]

the TKTS booth downtown is now in the Pier 17 building at the South Street Seaport.  Indoors, air-conditioned, ahhh.  Mon - Sat 11am to 6pm, Sun 11am to 3:30pm.

Missed this before...does anyone now if the downtown TKTS booth continues the practice of the one in the WTC of selling some tickets a day in advance?? As I recall you could at least buy sunday matinee tickets on saturday--a huge convenience air conditioning aside. But a friend argued that all tickets were available a day ahead of time...been so busy that i haven't had a chance to make it to the tkts booth though I do want to see Sam Mendez's (sp?) Twelfth Night if I can squeeze it in.

[Suzanne F]

Since I posted that it moved again, to the Front Street side of the Prudential building (that huge granite thing). You can get information on the location, hours, and such at the TDF website. It says you MUST buy matinee tickets a day ahead at the South Street Seaport location.

[ajay]

Thanks Suzanne F.

[Pan]

Thanks for the reports. Sounds expensive. Is it very expensive?

[Suzanne F]

Pan -- our dinner: 1 app, 2 mains, 1 dessert, 2 sherries, 1/2 bottle of wine, 1 coffee and 1 cappuccino -- totaled $107 before tax.

As I recall, mains were generally in the low-to-mid $20s; apps hovered on both sides around $10. Portions were quite sufficient (except the sherry, which seemed to be a one ounce pour at $7 ).

[anusha1]

About the "love cake" -- I know and love a Sri Lankan dessert called "love cake" that has semolina and cashew nuts in a cake batter -- very sweet and dense. Would that describe the version at The Harrison? (If so, I'll go and get some, since the last time I had "love cake" is when I brought one back from Sri Lanka about a year and a half ago).

[Suzanne F]

Could be. There were definitely nuts in the cake which, btw, was a fairly thin layer, about 1cm in height.

[oakapple]

FYI, The Harrison is under reconstruction. All of the tables have been removed, and some some serious work is going on inside. It does not appear that the restaurant has permanently closed, only that they're taking a pause to remodel. The Harrison isn't that old (it opened in late '01 or early '02), so I'm surprised this would be necessary.

As mentioned on another thread, nearby Landmarc also seems to be closed for remodeling. I guess the restaurants are taking advantage of the calendar to spruce up during a traditionally slow month for dining out.

[Suzanne F]

Didn't a sibling to The Harrison open within the last few months, very close by? Pace, I think it's called.

[oakapple]

Didn't a sibling to The Harrison open within the last few months, very close by?  Pace, I think it's called.

←

Yes, Pace is just a few blocks away, and owned by the same folks, but otherwise there's not much similarity.

[oakapple]

The Harrison is the subject of today's Diner's Journal. It's a rave review, without even a whiff of complaint:

The Harrison's food can be relished without much thought. It can also reward closer scrutiny. That's a neat trick, something diners don't find on any old street corner, something that should keep them coming back to this one.

The Friday column never mentions a rating, but William Grimes awarded two stars to The Harrison, and it's clear that Frank Bruni finds things still in good working order. (There is a new chef, Brian Bistrong; as mentioned upthread, the restaurant has been remodeled.) Unusually for a Diner's Journal column, Bruni mentioned that his comments were based on multiple visits.