Harvest

The food was great, worth the price for good, locally sourced ingredients, and the timing of our multiple courses was excellent…
I had been told by friends that the food here was excellent so I suggested we give it a try with another foodie-​friend to make our own opinion. We went all-​out with five courses and were largely impressed:
1. The brussels sprout appetizer was good, but had a whole lot of flavors going on. We ordered ours with optional bacon and, while good, we wondered if adding the bacon overwhelmed the other flavors. The flavorful buttery sauce was great for dipping the bread we ordered (though I feel $ 6 for the basket of bread was a bit much).
2. Smoked Trout Arugula Salad was outstanding! Again a lot of flavors happening in this salad with pickled onions and shaved fennel and a citrus zest dressing… this was a very satisfying salad and we ate every bit of it.
3. Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup — the first sip made me say «oooh». Creamy, mushroomy deliciousness.
4. Brisket Entrée — This entrée was a generous portion and I thought the brisket was done quite well. The mashed potatoes and gravy were flavorful and satisfying, with plenty left over for the next day’s lunch… which I am enjoying while I write this :). The presentation was pretty basic, which really only matters if you care about your food looking gorgeous…
5. Cardamom and Cayenne Crème Brulee and Dark Chocolate Mousse — The cardamom crème brûlée was fantastically delicious and a unique meld of flavors. The cayenne added just a touch of heat to the palette. The dark chocolate mousse was equally fantastic and a must try if you are a chocolate lover. It was so good it was almost a bit overwhelming!
The owner was our server and was very gracious and professional. We were impressed at how well he timed each course. We did not feel at all rushed and never had more than one course in front of us at a time. Likewise, the courses came close enough together that we never wondered where our food was, while having enough time to completely enjoy the preceeding course.
The prices seemed fair for the quality of locally sourced ingredients.
The ambiance is nice enough that it feels good to dress up for a nice meal out, but I would feel perfectly comfortable going in casual clothing too.
I would recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a good, high-​quality, local meal.

I took my best friend to Harvest last night and had such a delicious time! The food was wonderful — wild foraged mushroom soup, locally smoked fish salad, Brussels sprouts, perfectly cooked brisket and homemade ravioli with local lamb. The pricing seemed more than fair considering that much of the menu is locally sourced. The pricing is on par with other Arcata restaurants and those restaurants cannot boast about which local farms they feature on their menu. They served Hatcher barbera, one of my favorites, for $ 10/​glass — a completely fair and expected price. We were served by the owner who actually knows how to time courses so we never felt rushed. Harvest is a great addition to Arcata’s food scene — I can’t wait to go back!

Nice people own this place. I hope things improve. Pricey restaurant with single item main courses running $ 20-​$ 30. I think the bread was $ 9 a plate. The menu is salty and heavy for the most part. Wine list is good but is also expensive. Some questionable decisions made by staff, like running out of romaine and opting for drowning baby lettuce in Caesar dressing and calling it a Caesar. I’d love a high level restaurant in Arcata but you have to be really good to justify these prices. A tip of 18 percent is automatically added to the check.

When I heard that Jason and Allison were opening a full restaurant, I couldn’t wait to try it!
So far I’ve been there twice, and both times it exceeded my expectations. I went with a group of friends for their January first «Recovery Brunch» and fell in love with their breakfast menu. They have a lot of hearty breakfast options, pitchers of mimosas, and delicious coffee for very affordable prices.
I went for dinner and tried their brisket, and oh my goodness! It was everything you could hope and dream for in a meal. They really know their wines, and of course, the meal wouldn’t be complete without Natalia’s Cheesecake.

I want to be kind yet give an accurate impression. The verdict first: Uninspired. Let me explain. Nothing on the menu is remotely risky, nothing there you cannot imagine whipping up yourself with your cousin, Andy who’s «made it before», on the phone. This new venture replaces another that occupied the same place for a few years, the quality of which slowly wained with the public attendance doing the same. Harvest is riding out the wave of still being new yet bringing nothing of the sort to the table. I had the mushroom soup, which was exquisite! What a great start but then came the antre. The couscous with something or other that I could not finish, my friends had the caesar, she said was okay, another had a similar salad, and my other friend had the ravioli with lamb on top with tomato sauce… on top. Uninspired, unremarkable safe play, that brings no excitement and will not bring me back until I hear otherwise. Though I do wish them the best and hope they find their own key to originality and spark. Maybe hiring a Chef who’s a Chef would help.
Brisket is dry, so if you like your slow cooked meat dry, get that.
Two stars, one to be nice, the other to be nice too, you just opened. The mushroom soup was exquisite!

Lovely friendly wait staff. Some really good comfort foods. Open kitchen loud. Don’t get spanikopita. Expensive.

I heard the owners of Crush opened a new restaurant near my house. I was excited and am stoked to eventually try the dinner… but yesterday I went in for brunch and was blown away.
Me and my dude friend ordered something sweet and something savory to split. As well as a pitcher mimosa which used an entire bottle of prosecco. I watched them pour it. The waffle, served with a variety of berries, dank syrup, AND melted butter, was awesome. The breakfast sandwich, using a fried duck egg, was rich but not greasy.
The prices were in close proximity to other breakfast places and the mimosas were not using cheap champagne or o.j. I’ll pay slightly more for the quality. Me and my friend later in the day that it was the best breakfast we’ve had in a long time.
I’ll be by for dinner hopefully soon.

Great experience. Almost exactly the same menu as Crush, but the food was still amazing! Great dinner place if you want to treat yourself

Pretty excited about a new restaurant in town and decided to trust the waiter’s advice for the appetizer and entrée choice. They have some adventurous combinations (albacore curry soup?!), and some inconsistencies with what it says on the menu and what was delivered, but it was a good experience and any issues were fixed quickly & explained by the owner. Not many options for vegetarians or those who are gluten or dairy free from what I could tell. Excited to come back and try out their wine selection!

Newly opened this week for a soft introduction and testings of the menu, staff and what is to lay ahead, we had a chance to enjoy Harvest before regular service begins.
Harvest is a Jason Valentin expansion of an already great idea needed for our area, an upper end casual dining experience. Chef Natalia Boyce’s current menu is an evolving work in progress, everything we saw come out of the kitchen looked amazing, and with a stellar wine list, tight and concise both reds and whites, with mid to upper end price points. This new restaurant looks to be a hit with the locals. We went for a 2013 Roth Estates Cabernet from the Alexander valley at 46 $ it was so good we ordered two. Valentin said he expects to have over 100 offerings by the glass or bottle in the near future.
An engaging and great open kitchen allows diners a view into what is happening behind the scenes. The restaurant is larger than its sister Crush with about 8 – 10 four tops and four 2 tops, with a small wine bar that seats four. At Jason’s suggestion, we sat at the chef’s table a two top center of all the action in both the restaurant and kitchen.
For appetizers we tried the grilled brussel sprouts with bacon, roasted garlic and onions, it is very tasty and more than enough to share between 2 – 4 people. As well we shared a small cup of the seasonal curried carrot soup with pine nuts and local Cypress Grove goat cheese, full of complex flavors it was simply delicious.
I went for the catch of the day, a seared Ahi tuna with red cabbage over a bed of mixed greens, the tuna was seared beautifully and a consistent warm rare center throughout. My wife decided on the hand made ravioli stuffed with local Ferndale lamb and red wine reduction, it looked great she said it was delicious and my sampling was just that.
We split a slice of the cinnamon maple cheesecake at Jason’s suggestion and it was unbelievably creamy rich and flavorful, a great finish to a great meal.
Harvest is warm and comfortable, with black table clothes and fresh flowers, a heavy wood wall and a high ceiling makes it a little on the brassy side and a bit hard to hear conversations at your table but nothing a little baffling won’t cure. As well, this eatery is attempting a fixed 18% gratuity charge with your meal, to help insure that all staff share in the wages, I personally did not mind this as I tend to tip at that range or higher already for great service, as this evening was — the verdict is still out as to whether or not this practice will catch on or not here.
All in all a great dining experience and well worth a visit.
4.5 Stars — a great addition to the local food scene. We will be back.
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