Harvest Restaurant: High Expectations, Low Yield

I had heard a lot about Harvest since it opened last year, both good and bad. Their Executive Chef, Ramiro Scavo, had a reputation for innovative cuisine that incorporated local, seasonal food, and had in fact won the Tucson Iron Chef award for 2009, but the buzz was that the prices were high and the portions small.

I wanted to check out the restaurant myself to find out the facts, but I was put off by the 45 minute drive to Oro Valley from where I live in midtown Tucson. This week, however, my husband suggested that it would be worth the trek to celebrate our anniversary.

After what was indeed a long drive, with added road construction delays, we barely made our reservation time. The staff greeted us warmly and had our table ready. Our server was aware that it was our anniversary and advised us that desert would be on the house. Great start!

Drink orders were taken immediately, Campari & soda ($8.00) for my husband and a glass of Matchbook chardonnay ($8.00) for me. We were disappointed by the limited number of wines available by the glass on their extensive wine list, especially since that list had won a Wine Spectator's Award. Only six whites are offered and eleven reds, ranging in price from $7.00 to $11.00 each. More attention seemed to have been paid to the cocktail list, which features drinks made with house made fruit infusions like apple, prickly pear and fig.

Our very attentive server returned quickly with our drinks, water (offered with a choice of lemon or lime slice) a basket of crusty French bread and the house apple cinnamon butter.

Looking over the menu, I was a little surprised that on the first day of spring, they were still serving off the winter menu. I probably shouldn't have been too surprised though, since when I went on line earlier in the day to check the menu, they still had the autumn menu posted on their website. Small detail, since the winter menu was remarkably similar to the autumn.

Appetizers feature house made gnocchi, empanadas or tenderloin tartare made with local Double Check Ranch beef, a trio of tarts, warm brie, and steamed clams and mussels. Prices range from $9.00 to $12.00.

Seasonal soups and salads featuring local produce were priced at $8.00 and $9.00. I was impressed to see white anchovies offered for an additional $2.00 with the Caesar salad. Once you have had white anchovies, all others pale in comparison.

Main course options featured braised Kobe beef, lamb kabobs, braised pork ribs, seared Ahi tuna, boat scallops, and two of the restaurants signature pasta dishes, herb ricotta ravioli and lobster mac and cheese, with prices ranging from $15.00 to $26.00.

My husband settled on a starter of parsnip soup ($8.00) and the herb ricotta raviolis with butternut puree and wilted spinach ($15.00) for a main coarse. I opted out of a starter in favor of the delicious crusty bread and butter and chose the boat scallops with balsamic-citrus gastrique, mascarpone grits and greens ($22.00) for my main.

My husband was very pleased with his parsnip soup, which was served with a decorative flourish of herb infused oil on top. Despite a full house, as soon as he was finished with his starter, our main courses appeared and looked beautiful...but small. Both were served in what looked like oversized cereal bowls. Mine consisted of three average sized scallops served on top of a ladle full of grits and topped with fresh greens. My husband 's bowl contained five average size ravioli, and dollop each of puree and spinach. Except for the ravioli being unevenly cooked, the food was delicious especially the mascarpone grits studded with bacon bits.

Overall, despite the very good service and quality of the food, I found my experience at Harvest to be somewhat empty. The menu did indeed feature local offering, but it was not that adventuresome. The décor, while full of warm earth tones was rather nondescript and the main feature seemed to be the bar area with two huge TV's. Perhaps if the patio off of the main dining room had not been covered because of the blustery day, a view of the mountains would have been available, but as it was, my eye kept going back to the TV's and the bar.

And indeed, the bar seems to be the main focus here with a very nice, well priced bar menu, and the aforementioned yummy sounding specialty drinks at great happy hour prices. What a pity that by the time I got off work and made the drive out, happy hour (3-6pm daily) would be over.

Harvest is located at 10355 North La Canada Drive | Tucson, Arizona 85737 | (520) 731-1100. Hours: Sun-Thur 11:30am - 9:00pm, Fri-Sat 11:30am - 10:00pm. http://harvest.marketrg.com/