Harvest Grille
by Frank Quattrone
Bet you can’t guess what Eggplant Caponata, Thai BBQ Shrimp, Spicy Tofu Stir Fry, Coq au Vin, and Brazilian BBQ Chicken have in common. Hmm . . . I thought so. These dishes are all available on the first menu of Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar. Opened to considerable fanfare the week before Valentine’s Day, Newtown’s newest dining sensation is about as American as a Grass-Fed Bison Burger. The fourth Harvest outlet in suburban Philadelphia and the eighth in CEO Dave Magrogan’s burgeoning restaurant group (with two more on the way), this upscale casual eatery has quickly become one of Newtown’s most dynamic watering holes. In fact, the restaurant took first place in January’s Lambertville-New Hope Winter Festival Chili Cook-off — two weeks before its official grand opening!
With seating for 250 guests, Harvest has plenty of space for Happy Hour friends, catered affairs, and hungry patrons traveling solo or in parties of a dozen or more. During our first visit to the Newtown location, Eve and I were fortunate enough to hook up with Magrogan himself, who had dropped by to chat with General Manager Gordon Dinerman and his stellar staff and to feel the buzz his latest venture was generating.
Asked why his restaurant group has become so successful so quickly, he said, “It’s probably because we offer modern American food serviced properly. It’s locally sourced. Our menus, which change seasonally, denote any items over five hundred calories. And we have plenty of gluten-free preparations available upon request.”
Magrogan, a sincere health-food advocate, also works closely with his chefs, as he did with the Newtown restaurant’s executive chef, Tim Amoroso, to create the instantly popular Kung Pao Cauliflower “Wings,” served with pickled carrot and jalapeños, sriracha, toasted sesame, and scallions, kissed by a ginger soy glaze.
“Our restaurants,” Magrogan continued, “have enhanced relationships with Lancaster farmers, as well as others close by. There’s never more than a twenty-four-hour turnaround for any produce we need. We keep our menu as approachable as possible while remaining aspirational.”
Our first dinner at Newtown’s Harvest was a case in point. For starters, Eve had the Warm Butternut Squash Dip, enriched with Asiago, caramelized onions, sage, crispy kale, and pumpkin seeds, and served with pumpernickel crostini, while I reveled in the excellent Pear & Bleu Flatbread, topped with pears and aged bleu cheese brushed with a sweet fig glaze, and microgreens that popped with a freshness and flavor I’d never before experienced with these modest shoots.
Our salads were no less satisfying. Eve’s Super Grain Salad, laden with quinoa, farro, freekeh (an ancient green durum wheat supergrain), kale, Moroccan carrots, pomegranate seeds, pumpernickel breadcrumbs, almonds, feta, and ginger yogurt in a carrot hummus vinaigrette, was a spectacular meal in itself. And my Winter Salad of baby arugula, poached pears, goat cheese, dried cranberries, and pistachio in a blood-orange vinaigrette was refreshing, flavorful, and grand.
And for the first time in our experience covering the restaurant beat, we finished every bite of our superb seafood entrées, without feeling the least bit stuffed. Eve enjoyed the Pan Seared Pennsylvania Rainbow Trout, served with potato purée and melted leeks over a fennel-apple salad with chive pesto and pancetta crisps. As delicious as that was, my Seared Sea Scallops, served with Asiago-pancetta risotto and crispy Brussels sprouts brushed with Meyer lemon oil, was (to me) even better!
We enhanced our meal with a white wine flight suggested by Gordon Dinerman, the genial general manager who served in the same capacity at Stephen Starr’s acclaimed Buddakan and Barclay Prime (where he also served as sommelier) and who once owned and operated South Philadelphia’s Birra. His three recommendations—an elegant sauvignon blanc from New Zealand, an aromatic falanghina from Italy, and a smoky, complex chardonnay from California’s Russian River Valley—were simply superb, reminding us that “Wine Bar” is a significant component of the total dining experience at Harvest.
The house-made desserts, all three hundred calories or less, are served in adorable brandy-style glasses. Eve chose the Salted Chocolate Caramel, while I enjoyed the Peanut Butter Cup with mini chocolate chips with a fine double espresso, both light enough to please our palates and tease us into returning to try one of the dozen other available sweet treats.
Magrogan has done well to entrust his kitchen to Tim Amoroso, who maintains close personal relationships with many of Harvest’s farmers. Amoroso grew up in a Sicilian household, where his great-grandmother’s deft touch with Italian food inspired his lifelong love of cooking. He refined his technique at Philadelphia’s Restaurant School, plied the kitchens at several Starr restaurants (including Barclay Prime, Buddakan, and Continental), and now brings his own passion for fine cuisine to Newtown’s Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar.
It’s affordable. It’s family-friendly. Its service is enthusiastic and well-informed. And its menu is as decidedly healthful as it is flavorful. There are countless reasons for the buzz.
Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar is located at 2865 South Eagle Road, Newtown, PA 18940; 215-944-8469; www.harvestseasonalgrill.com. Open Monday – Friday, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. Non-GMO menu. Extensive wine and liquor list. Available for catering, business lunches, private parties. Reservations suggested for large parties.