Harvest at the Bindery — a Portland veggie gem

Harvest, in Portland, Ore., is not the type fo restaurant I would normally eat at. It’s a vegetarian place, everything on the menu is plant-based. Other veggie restaurants I’ve gone to have disappointed me with their reliance on nut-based sauces of meat substitutes. I don’t eat nuts and don’t like their taste.

But eating at Harvest  with my daughter and her boyfriend on my recent trip to Portland opened my eyes to what a veggie restaurant can do with a great menu and creative chef. 

Scanning the menu online before going, as I do whenever I eat out, I saw several mushroom dishes I thought I would try. Harvest is not afraid to feature a variety of mushrooms types, going beyond the usual Portobello so common in most places these days.

And their chef is confident enough to present them relatively simply — and deliciously as it turned out.

I started with morels and asparagus, on what’s in the Plates portion of Harvest’s menu. The menu can be confusing, featuring starters, plates and entrees. Ask your server to explain.

We had the most enthusiastic server ever. She made the meal fun and was perfectly fine dealing with my nut aversion and my request for low-salt dishes as well.

The morels were beyond exquisite. We all agreed on them, just outstanding.

I also had a mushroom barbecue with trumpet mushrooms. I enjoyed that too, but honestly the morels spoiled me for other mushrooms that night.

Harvest (its full name is Harvest at the Bindery) is definitely worth a stop if you;re in Portland.

John