Hutch & Harris
The newest restaurant on the downtown dining scene is Hutch & Harris, at 424 W. 4th Street across from Cat’s Corner, in a spot that has seen a bit of a revolving door of eateries over the years. I’m happy to report that this one has some very nice and different-from-the-usual vegetarian offerings.
On my first visit, I had the Moosewood Middle Eastern Salad—tabouli salad over a cannellini-bean cake with a yogurt-tahini dressing—which I found yummy, particularly the dressing. I would have liked a second bean cake to make it a bit heartier, though. Julie had the dish on a later visit, and felt that the tabouli salad on her plate was bland and perhaps missing the lemon juice that usually gives it a nice kick. It tasted fine when I had it, so maybe the second time was a kitchen oops.
On my second visit, I had a Bayaldi sandwich—roasted eggplant, portobello mushroom and zucchini with red bell pepper coulis, chevre and olive-pinenut tapenade, served in a toasted pita (minus the tapenade because I simply can’t stand olives). This was fabulous, albeit a bit messy to eat. The vegetable filling reminded me a bit of the Eggplant Salad I like to make.
Sandwiches are served with french-fry wedges with “secret ‘Fru Fru’ spices.” They’re tasty, but I wish there was a choice of sides—say, pasta salad or fresh fruit—for when I want something a bit healthier than french fries.
There are other vegetarian options on the menu—plum tomato-gorbonzola soup, bayaldi ravioli, a gnocchi parmesan appetizer (which sounded like it might work for an entree if you’re not a big eater) and a dinner white-bean cakes appetizer.
Alas, Hutch & Harris seems to have fallen victim to that bugaboo of so many downtown lunch spots: slow service. Service was fairly quick on our first visit, but unfortunately quite slow on our second. I hope it can usually be closer to the former than the latter. Hey, restaurateurs, a lot of us working stiffs get only an hour for lunch!
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