Harvest Vine

After several years of seeing plays, musicals and comedians at the Paramount Theater in downtown Seattle, Mr. Mustang and I have tried every restaurant within a 2 mile radius. We have a few favorites that we like to frequent in the downtown area however we felt it was time to expand our reach to the outer neighborhoods of the city that brought us to The Harvest Vine. 

Located in between the small neighborhoods of Stevens and Miller Park, The Harvest Vine is a spanish restaurant serving tapas classics from the Basque region. We arrived shortly after 5:30pm where we entered the cramped space of The Harvest Vine where the owner of the restaurant greeted us and whisked us away down a set of stairs. Harvest Vine is a two story restaurant where the ground floor is a bar area furnished with tall wooden tables and the lower level is the main dining room that makes guests feel like they are eating inside a cozy wine cellar. When it comes to decor, Harvest Vine gets an A+ for vibe. The lower level has a beautiful exposed stone interior and oil paintings in the Basque technique hanging everywhere. 

Minutes after we were seated, our waitress greeted us with the amouche bouche of the evening, butternut squash puree with a dash of heavy cream. I thought this was just ok - nothing special since butternut squash is a subtle favor but still was a nice way to start the evening. Looking over the wine selection, I was impressed seeing a lengthy list of bottles that cater to every budget ranging from $25 - $200+ per bottle. Mr. Mustang and I are in the lower end of the bottle budget for dinner and opted for the $28 bottle of Rioja. 

Because Harvest Vine is a tapas restaurant, the waitress recommends 3-5 plates per person however both of us had relatively large lunches so we weren’t too terribly hungry. For starters, we decided to get the marinated olives, a baguette with three different kinds of olive oil for dipping and two types of cheese. The olives arrived first and consisted of three different spanish varieties all coated in a lovely oil bath. Before Mr. Mustang and I met, he loathed all olives besides black however after years of me ordering olives for the table he finally became a convert. Surprisingly he ate more than me and enjoyed sucking around the pit as if the olive was a jolly rancher. 

Second plate that arrived was a baguette with three kinds of olive oil however we couldn’t tell which one was which after a couple glasses of wine. The one thing nice about this plate was the baguette was apparently bottomless with another loaf discretely being placed on our table after the last one was getting low - the olive oil although was not. 

The third plate was the Ossau Iraty & Cana de Cabra cheese accompanied by a small bowl of candied spaghetti squash and spiced nuts. I personally liked the Ossau more and Mr. Mustang really enjoyed the Cabra to the point he was scraping every last bit from the rind with his teeth. Once the cheese plate arrived, our table was getting a bit full so we took our time picking at each plate until there was room for a fourth. 

Fourth plate we decided to get a bit of protein on the table with cured tuna topped with mujjol caviar. I loved the presentation of this dish where the oil from the tuna glistened in the light with the caviar looking like tiny black pearls. I was a little surprised by the taste as it was reminiscent of pancetta ham and similar texture as well. There wasn’t much tuna on the plate but it was certainly plenty for two people as we were beginning to get full. 

At this point in the meal, we started to fall in love with Harvest Vine as the past four plates were absolutely fantastic - granted, 3 out of the 4 plates didn’t involve cooking or preparing anything but we were still happy. In comes the 5th plate, Oxtail cooked inside a phyllo dough shell sitting on a bed of creamed mash potatoes and oh boy was this a disappointment. Maybe it was because we weren’t too hungry at this point or we needed to leave soon to make the show at the Paramount but in the end, we were not impressed. The dough casing was hard and tough to break into and when we finally got to taste some of the oxtail inside, we found there was very little to no seasoning. The oxtail looked more like shredded short rib and tasted bland with a bed of mashed potatoes that was nothing to write home about either - very little flavor, no butter and no salt. The oxtail was one of the more pricer items on the menu but after a few bites we felt let down. That being said, the presentation was still wonderful and the oxtail was beautifully plated with a unique creativity on how to prepare the dish but still, taste matters. 

The final plate was a dessert and I was debating between two items on their menu, the chocolate torte or the olive oil cake. Mr. Mustang wanted the torte, the waitress recommended the olive oil cake so after realizing which person I’m taking back home later tonight I decided to order the olive oil cake - nah, just kidding I ordered the torte. We were a little rushed for time so we paid the check at the same time as the chocolate torte arrived at our table and immediately dove in. Because the torte was flourless, the slice was extremely dense and rich. It was like eating a soften piece of fudge than anything but with a flaky brownie-like layer on top. There was a side of roasted grapes and dates that I didn’t touch but Mr. Mustang certainly dug into while I got a lion’s share of the torte. 

Overall, The Harvest Vine is a lovely restaurant with a creative team behind every dish. The space is beautiful by using the existing exposed stone and cozy interior that fits well with the theme of the food. Some dishes are utterly fantastic where others are utterly bland but the charm of a tapas menu is the room to evolve and improve after every few months. 

Will we be back? Yes, I do hope we visit here again in the future as there were several items on the menu we didn’t have time or room for. If anything, the biggest reason to come back is their extensive wine list of cheaply priced bottles that is always a rarity in the increasingly expensive city of Seattle.