President's Day Delights: The Harrison

Since I was traveling all weekend for work, and missed dining out in this fabulous city all weekend long, I had to make up for it on Monday. I had a received a 30% coupon from Blackboard Eats for lunch at The Harrison. At first I didn't think much of it because I know it's kind of swank town, but figured I'd look at the menu anyway. And good thing I did, because it was mouth watering. I quickly reached out to a fellow foodie friend to see if he was available to grub with me. After sending the tentative menu of what we would share, he was in!

When I say we opened this place up, I'm not kidding. We arrived with the delivery man and were the first in the restaurant. I was okay with that, that meant we were going to be taken care of without any other distractions! We were seated at a table right by the door like windows, which I assume are open during the summer time. It was a nice spot due to the natural light and if you wanted to people watch as well! After getting settled, we glanced at the menus. I made sure everything I suggested was acceptable for Elvir and his palate. Within the next few minutes, we placed our order and patiently waited.

While waiting for our appetizers, we were brought a piece of bread and some olive oil. I told myself I wasn't going to eat it but man was I hungry! Luckily I got a smaller piece and it was very holey, if that makes sense, so I told myself to enjoy! The olive oil was sharp and with a dash of salt, it kicked off the meal. The first dishes to arrive to the table was the Swiss Chard Tart and the Sunflower Seed Salad. I started with the salad, which was a beautiful garden of sprouts, seeds, golden beets, Parmesan. While there was no true dressing to this salad, the crisp greens, sweetness of the golden beets, salt from the cheese and seeds brought all the flavors together. The tart was a just pretty to look at. The tart was filled with gruyere, caramelized onions topped with Swiss Chard with pickled stems on the side. The tart was buttery and melted in your mouth. The gruyere added a savoriness without overpowering the chard or the caramelized onions. I already liked where this meal was headed!

When I think of The Harrison, I don't think fish tacos or falafel. But whenever I saw these two items on their lunch menu, I knew I needed them in my life. I've been on the hunt to find a fish taco better than the ones I get in RI, and haven't been able to do so just yet. I thought these might stand up and while they were comparable, they just aren't as good. Their fish taco is grilled tilapia, avocado, cilantro slaw and a green sauce. The fish was perfected nicely and even charred in some places which Elvir really enjoyed. The accents of the smooth avocado with the bite of cilantro gave this fish a flavor boost. And how can you beat a warm tortilla?!

The Harrison's Falafel sandwich, is a sammie on crack. This is something I would want at 3AM on my way home from a long night out in the city. Are you ready for this? Falafel with egg & onion scramble, sriracha aioli, breakfast roll. Yes you read that correctly. Again, I was going to pass on the bread here, but it was so fluffy and the top was covered in the siracha aioli so I couldn't pass that up. The brioche breakfast roll was filled with the two nice sized falafel patties, which I couldn't get a good tune in on the flavor (certainly doesn't compare to Tiam or even Pitopia). The egg to this sammie was just an added bonus. When reading it, you may think the flavor combos sound off but they were right on, I didn't want this part of my meal to end. The dish was also served with homemade chips, lightly salted and warm. 

 I think the real selling point for Elvir was the ice cream sandwich on the dessert menu. According to their menu online, they had a brownie ice cream sammie. Sounded amazing. But hey, menu's change and that was one item that got changed! It was still an ice cream sammie but it was a banana bread verison. The banana bread itself was a little more firm that you would typically have it to act as the cookie. Still bursting with flavor and although a little chilled, it was fabulous. While we couldn't decide if the ice cream was just vanilla bean or something more than that, it didn't take away from the banana flavor. There were two pieces of glazed banana on top along with some chocolate fudge for dipping. This was like having breakfast for dessert.

Now I've always been a go big or go home type of girl. So I just made the simple suggestion of two desserts. Elvir asked if I even had room ... he obviously must not know about my hollow leg or my love for sweet treats! So with that being said, a second dessert was in order. It was between a slice of 'birthday' cake or the sticky toffee pudding. When we found out the b-day cake was just a piece of chocolate cake we went with the pudding.

Now this wasn't your average pudding. The pudding itself was more like a sponge cake, complimented by crema ice cream, mole poblano, pepitas. Sounds a little crazy I know, but the bite of everything together worked perfectly. The sweetness from the pudding to the spiciness of the mole sauce .. and the pumpkin seeds were sugared instead of salted! I was happy we went with two desserts because this was award winning.

I loved the decor here. It almost reminded me of a fancy beach house with the white wooden walls. Very clean cut and modern. Also a very nice space and well designed. I loved the big windows that allowed for the natural light and I'm sure they open up during the warmer months, which I always love. The service was also very good and attentive. Now I gotta bring in my deal here. This would have been a $73 lunch but with the BBE coupon, it was $53 and change. I thought that was a pretty good deal espeically for the amount and quality of the food. Was happy to have dined here for lunch as the dinner menu didn't really peak my interest.

The Harrison
355 Greenwich St
New York, NY 10013

(212) 274-9310

Menu