Harvest Seasonal Kitchen

Rick Wells, a restaurateur based in McKinney, has been serving seasonal items at his steakhouse, Rick's Chophouse, for a number of years.  These menu items are in addition to his regular menu and usually features items from regional producers.  Mr. Wells recently decided to take this a step farther and opened Harvest Seasonal Kitchen last month.  The menu is filled with local, regional, and organic menu items and Andrea Shackelford was hired as executive chef for the restaurant.  Since Rick's Chophouse is one of my favorite restaurants in Collin County, I was very excited to try Harvest.

Decor and Bread Basket

I was unable to get a reservation for the first week that the restaurant opened in September, but my wife and I were finally able to dine at Harvest last week.  One of the first things that I noticed was that the restaurant was much larger than I had anticipated.  The restaurant is decorated with a rural theme, but not in a corny way that is such a cliche in many restaurants.  My wife absolutely loved the decor and assured me that it was "super cute."

Crispy Ribs

After our server described several of the appetizers and the nightly special, we decided to start with the Crispy Ribs.  The ribs were basted with their house version of Texas barbecue sauce and served with apple and pear slaw.  They arrived just a few minutes after we ordered them and the ribs were crispy on the outside, but very tender and easily pulled off the bone.  Both of us thought the sauce was extremely flavorful and felt that the apple and pear slaw was a perfect compliment to this dish.  We were also served a basket with a variety of tasty bread.

Chicken Fried Buffalo

I ordered the Chicken Fried Buffalo for my entrée. This dish was topped with sage gravy and was served with mashed sweet potatoes and squash gratin. The chicken fried buffalo was phenomenal and rivaled any chicken fried steak I have had in the last few years. The batter was fantastic and the sage gravy could not have been better. One of the restaurant's managers, Brent Tyler, explained to us that the batter on this particular item had hops, barley, and other byproducts from Franconia Brewery mixed in with flour. Both sides were great as well, but I liked the squash gratin the best. It was made from butternut squash and had a very sweet flavor.

Butternut Squash Gratin

My wife ordered the nightly special, which was Pan Roasted Black Drum.  It was served with sautéed sweet potato greens, purple kohlrabi, sweet potato puree, celery, and watermelon radish.  She was very pleased with the fish and I also enjoyed the couple of bites that she gave me. The sweet potato puree was the favorite of the sides that were included.

Pan Roasted Black Drum

Since everything that we had tried so far had been delicious, we decided that we could not leave without trying dessert.  My wife ordered the Apple Brown Betty with salt caramel ice cream and I ordered the Chocolate Whoopie Cake.  Of the two desserts, we both preferred the Chocolate Whoopie Cake, which had a tasty marshmallow center. 

Whoopie Cake

Apple Brown Betty

Harvest Seasonal Kitchen did not disappoint. The food was simply amazing and it was priced right too. For the quality of food, we felt the dishes we ordered were a good value. The service was remarkable during this visit as well and the wait staff is very informed about the menu and preparation of dishes.  If this restaurant can continue to consistently turn out dishes of this quality, it could easily be a top five restaurant in DFW. The dining experience we had at Harvest was one of the best overall dining experiences I have had in the DFW area in the past five years.

Harvest Seasonal Kitchen
http://harvesttx.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=5