Harvest Restaurant St Louis, MO

Harvest, a St Louis institution, features seasonal, market fresh food. My first visit to Harvest was in 2000 and over 10 years later I couldn’t resist taking a walk down memory lane. Thankfully, Harvest was as good as I remembered.

When we arrived and I saw an empty dining room, I was surprised. Historically, you would have needed a reservation to dine at Harvest. I have since confirmed with several sources that it’s still true, however, game four of the Cardinals playoff run left Harvest relatively empty on this Wednesday night.

The restaurant was appropriately decorated for autumn and the dining room was welcoming and comfortable. We were quickly greeted by the bartender and offered a table near the fireplace. Our server was very knowledgeable and provided great suggestions about the menu. She was prompt and came by often to ensure we had everything we needed.

We started with the Pan Seared Foie Gras with molasses plum chutney, brioche toast and plum wood smoke. It was rich and delicious. I had a Caesar salad with fresh shaved Wisconsin parmesan and garlic croutons. It was a great Caesar salad (just like I remembered.) For dinner, I had the pan roasted Alaskan Wild Salmon with roasted cauliflower risotto, Swiss chard and rosemary pancetta brown butter. I love wild salmon. I will order it any chance I get. The salmon was flaky and cooked well – I requested medium well temperature. It was perfect for my taste. My friend also ordered the salmon as well, and got it cooked medium rare, and it was incredibly rare – too rare. The cauliflower risotto was wonderful; and the rosemary brown butter sauce complimented the dish perfectly.

Harvest is known for its bread pudding and it just so happened that I saw on twitter that they were offering bread pudding for $4 on any night the Cardinals were playing in the playoffs. Of course, we ordered the bread pudding and it lived up to its reputation. The warm brioche bread pudding with currant bourbon sauce was not too sweet, moist and delightful for dessert. We also tried the flourless chocolate cake with coconut ice cream. The cake was good, but not exceptional. However, I loved the contrast of the cake with the coconut ice cream. The desserts were beautifully presented.

Ten years later, Harvest is as good as I remembered. This was a great trip down memory lane and one worth making again. I highly recommend Harvest.

Pan Seared Foie Gras

Salmon

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Bread Pudding