Harvest Moon offers a variety of scrumptious choices
By Daniel Klimek
[email protected]
Staff Writer
The Joy of Not Cooking
With its bright murals, eclectic decorations and upbeat music, Harvest Moon Caf� feels like a little piece of Midtown on Broad Street. Offering a variety of tastes for a number of palates, Harvest Moon is a good place to join the lunch crowd.
For example, take a few of the sandwich options.
For vegetarians (or just those with a love of gooey, melted cheese), the Grecian grilled cheese sandwich�grilled onions, cheddar cheese and green and black olives on buttery herb bread�offers a rich and hearty meal with a kick.
Another delicious option is the apple, bacon and cheddar sandwich. Similar in basis to the standard grilled cheese, this sandwich includes granny smith apples and applewood-smoked bacon on your choice of grilled bread. (FYI: The honeywheat bread thrills.) This tangy, salty sandwich is amazing.
For those with more carnivorous tastes there is the roast beef sandwich. It's much more interesting than the name suggests: rare roast beef, caramelized Vidalia onions and creamy boursin cheese are combined on a hoagie roll for a creamy, chewy, tasty combo.
There is also the option to build a sandwich with a variety of deli meats and cheeses, all on different kinds of bread (all made from scratch), including sourdough, honey wheat and nine grain.
Harvest Moon offers a variety of dinner options�but not all choices are even close in quality.
Excellent appetizers start the meal. The crostini appetizer is a heaping plate of olive tapenade, fresh Vermont goat cheese and olive-oil with crusty, warm bread. This hors d'oeuvre is enough for four people, but good enough for just one or two.
Another not-to-miss appetizer is the fried sweet potato chips. Crispy, thinly sliced sweet potato chips are served with a deliciously contrasting blue cheese dip.
For dinner itself, the specials often truly fit the name. Particularly memorable is the pecan-crusted chicken with veggies. There are also a number of burgers and personal pizzas, all made to order. (The menu includes suggested combinations.)
However, the doneness of the pizza or burger is often questionable�sometimes undercooked (in the case of the often-doughy pizza) and sometimes overcooked (in the case of the always well-done burger).
In fact, many of the dinner offerings often come across as if the kitchen is a little too lax in its preparation standards.
Harvest Moon is so good for lunch that I often wish they'd just stick with the lunch menu (and perhaps kitchen staff) for dinner�with the addition of the appetizers, perhaps.
Oh, for both lunch and dinner, though, I can't forget to mention the scrumptious desserts Harvest Moon offers. From the crusty-outside, gooey-inside pecan and chocolate tarts to the creamy, perfect Italian cream cake to the chewy, soft German chocolate cake, every bite of every dessert from Harvest Moon will enrich one's day.
Harvest Moon is located at 234 Broad Street in Rome. Reservations for large groups many be made by calling (706) 292-0099.
.
|
