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Harvest Vine

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sararevell
sararevell
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5 out of 5
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Harvest Vine: A little slice of Spanish heaven

  • June 16, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by sararevell from London, United Kingdom
Harvest Vine: A little slice of Spanish heaven

Harvest Vine is a small restaurant set in Madison Valley. It’s worth every bite for the short drive out of the city center because there’s nowhere else quite like it in Seattle. Open for almost ten years, Harvest Vine’s menu focuses on Basque cuisine. Reservations are recommended as it fills up every night of the week and whilst the food here comes highly recommended by me, vegan or vegetarian options are slightly limited as the real delights here are animal-derived. That said, on my third visit to Harvest Vine, we were with a vegetarian couple and they did OK.

We were seated downstairs, which is possibly preferable to the area upstairs which often seems a bit cramped, except at the bar where you get to see the chefs in action in the kitchen. Downstairs it’s a little less frenetic and you can sit back and enjoy your food at a more leisurely pace. However Harvest Vine is planning a remodel in June/July 2007 so by the time you visit, things could be different!

To start, we ordered a plate of mixed, marinated olives, some asparagus, and a delicious beet salad, drizzled with garlic, sherry vinegar, and lagrima olive oil. We also tried a cheese plate, with a selection of goat, sheep, and cow cheese. Having just returned from a trip to Galicia, we ordered a bottle of Laxas, a crisp white wine from the Rias Baixas region. It was a perfect compliment to the cheeses and to the tender clams we ordered next, along with a plate of chorizo. The meat and seafood at Harvest Vine is flawless and is just as good as, if not better than tapas dishes I’ve had in Spain. Also, the cellar-like atmosphere at the back of the restaurant gives the room more of a Spanish tavern flavor. There’s a small bar at the base of the stairs and almost every other wall is stacked to the ceiling with wine bottles, which explains how their vast collection numbers over 300 Spanish and Basque wines.

For dessert, we indulged ourselves and ordered a flan and the tarta de chocolate. The desserts are exquisite and it should be compulsory for every customer to try at least one dessert on their menu. It’s not surprising that the food here is celebrated not just in Seattle, but also in wider circles. Chef Joseba Jiménez de Jiménez has had a long and illustrious career, including a stint working for the Spanish government. His wife, Carolin, is a pastry chef, which explains the divine desserts. For customers of Harvest Vine, it’s certainly been a very happy and fruitful marriage.

Apart from the fantastic food, I love Harvest Vine because it’s fun. Tapas dining gives you the option of ordering various dishes and sharing them with your fellow diners and whilst the food is definitely on the more expensive side, for a special occasion it’s worth every penny.

www.harvestvine.com

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