Urban decadence with a conscience

Harvest Restaurant, in NuLu, has delicious food that won’t send you straight to hell.

That’s because Harvest gets all its ingredients from local or regional farms. As such, you can chow down on some Michelin star worthy grub while keeping your environmental impact at a minimum.

The chef shows off what our nearby growers are doing. Though Harvest is not a vegetarian restaurant, it features plenty of vegetarian options.

We started out with an horderves of baba ganoush, served with pickled vegetables and small pita breads. This dish could probably be served without the yoghurt for vegans. The pickled carrots were new to me, but they were delicious.

I moved on to the falafel plate, a rockin’ vegan dish, with sprouts and a variety of wee garnishes. What’s striking here is the number of different flavors you can get on one plate. The falafel was NOT dry as cement, an accomplishment.

While I vigorously defended my virtue, the crime partner moved on to something featuring pork bellies. I’ve blocked it from my memory. (He’s a crime partner. You didn’t think he was a saint, did you?)

But that raises an interesting point about Harvest. It’s the kind of place where everyone will get the meal they need–all while cherishing the planet. Transportation of food being a lead cause of climate change.

And if you don’t care about all that, Harvest is still an oasis of decadence where you can get a cherry mead, named after George Washington.

And, just in case you’re worried that the folks at Harvest have no sense of humor, rest easy. On the nearby blackboard, we saw a cocktail titled “the key to my heart” with no fewer than six ingredients. My kind of valentine.