Harold’s Restaurant – Ft Myers

My wife and I went to Harold’s to celebrate our 49th wedding anniversary. I picked it because they had foie gras on the menu and I love foie gras. I offered it in my restaurants occasionally but had to stop because I was eating more of it than the customers! My wife ended up ordering the Veal Chop, so we were kind of throwing the animal rights thing out of the window. If you don’t know what I mean, you’ll have to look it up. And speaking of veal, while we were stopped at the light at Palm Beach and Riverhall Parkway I mentioned to my wife that you don’t see veal on restaurant menus that much anymore. My car heard me say that and began telling me why that is. Then my car asked me “would you like to see a list of restaurants in the area that offer veal on their menu.” My car has never talked to me before because we don’t have a paid package from Toyota to do that, so I don’t know why it started talking to me. It hasn’t since, but anyway, it gave me a list and right on top of that list was Harold’s! I hit the start directions button and off we went.

It was a quick drive even though it was pretty far away. I made almost every light and there was hardly any traffic. Made me think about making this a regular kind of place if everything went right. So we get there and the place looks fantastic. Just what I was expecting. We started out with a glass of rose champagne (they were out of the brut). The pic on the right is of the glassware setup on the bar. A pretty elegant place. White linen on the tables, lots of servers, food runners, multiple hostesses, bartenders and even the owner coming out to touch tables. I told him my car story about the veal and he had a good laugh.

So lets dive in. For appetizers I had the Foie Gras and then a cup of their Mushroom Soup which was highly recommended. My wife got an Arugula Salad with nut encrusted goat’s cheese on top. The soup was delicious. My wife liked the salad. And I loved the foie gras. I got a glass of sauterne wine to go with it and it was delicious. Next up are the entrees.

I got the Wild King Salmon from the Columbia River. When talking with the owner I told him I used to buy that from a company called Foods in Season and he said that’s where he gets it from too! So I was predisposed to liking it, and I did. My wife enjoyed her veal chop too. My only problem was with the plating. I thought things looked a little simplistic. A little drizzle of sauce on the plate or a smear would have made things a whole lot more interesting. My broccoli rabe was rock hard, could not eat the stems. My wife’s plate had a little bit of gnocchi on it and a crucible of gravy. The crucible is cute, but I’d rather have it plated somehow. When I got my soup the food runner poured it from one cup into the cup I ate it out of. I first had that done back in the 80s at a place called The Cottage which was owned by TV chef Carolyn Buster. I guess good techniques never die! We didn’t finish either of our entrees because we wanted to split a dessert.

For dessert we got the Pistachio Creme Brulee. That was the strangest creme brulee I ever had. The texture of the custard was almost like it had flour in it. Maybe it was pistachio flour?! Sorry but I didn’t get a pic before we started eating it, but this way you can kind of see the texture. Its not a smooth custardy kind of texture. We did not finish that.

So overall, I was very pleased with Harold’s. Here’s a link to their website. They have a deal running during August and September for a three course dinner for two for $90. And wines are 50% off. That’s a good deal. Our dinner that night cost just over $200 plus the tip. So sign me up for the $90 dinner right away! At the end of our $200 meal we were given one chocolate mint “to share”, as our server said when she put it down on the table. When she left the table, we looked at each other and I said “how much do you have to spend to each get a mint? OMG that was hilarious. One mint to split between us. But we’ll be back for one of those $90 deals. Let me know if you’ve eaten here and what your experience was like. Thanks everybody!