Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar

Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar
200 S 40th St, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (215) 662-1100
http://harvestseasonalgrill.com/menu/appetizers/

Well, certainly an appropriate name for a  restaurant dedicated to bringing local farm fresh products to the table. The emphasis at this restaurant is twofold: 1) make most (if not all) the dishes under 500 calories, and 2) bring the green concept to a whole new level.  The bar glass table tops are recycled glass, the ink on the menus is green, they emphasize that they use green cleaning products as well as recycled paper products, per their website.

I started the meal off with the Butternut Squash Soup Toasted Pumpkin Seeds, Local Organic Honey.  Great start to the meal.  I love a good butternut squash soup. Was a perfect start to the meal. Rich and creamy and had a lovely sweetness to it with hints of pumpkin.

I followed this up with a house salad that had a nice mixture of fruit, but there was not enough dressing on this huge plate of greens.  After half the salad, I felt like I was just eating tasteless leafy greens.  While great for my digestive tract to add bulk fiber to my diet, it had little taste in my mouth and as such, was not the best of choices for a salad dish. The house dressing was not particularly impressive either and tasted like any old house dressing, nothing unique here.

Pork Ribeye Shaved Fennel & Apples, Quinoa Couscous Risotto, Cherry Demi Glace. Not bad.  Certainly a redeeming dish of the meal next to the Butternut Squash soup.  It was almost as if the butternut squash soup started so high that the following courses had nowhere to go. Need to build to a main course like this--not cascade down a hill like what happened tonight.

Harvest Moon Chicken Cider Rosemary Glazed, Grilled Apples, Brussel Sprouts, Fingerling Potatoes. This was not so good.  Chicken seemed dry but an acceptable dish none the less.  I wouldn't recommend it, but I wouldn't push it away in disgust either.  It's another one of those dishes that you just eat it because it's in front of you.

Of Note:

Interior of the restaurant.

Outdoor dining area featuring beautiful floral displays and fire pits.