City Restaurant Week: Harry's Seafood Grill

EDITOR'S NOTE: Hey Second Helpers, this is our last City Restaurant Week review. To read reviews of all 10 participating eateries, click on the City Restaurant Week label at the bottom of this post.

By GARY SOULSMAN

It's possible to enjoy being born with a tongue.

That's how I felt after leaving Harry's Seafood Grill, after lunch at the riverfront restaurant.

I recommend going there to care for your taste buds, too, especially if they've been smacked around during Restaurant Week.

My mouth had been so man-handled by strange food concoctions it was feeling sheepish when I dragged it into a banquette under Harry's big starfish ceiling. As I waited for my friend to arrive, I noted a condo looming in the distance. And I told myself this was a new day.

The menu gave me reason for hope - two-course specials were part of the stylishly printed menu, not a casual insert. And I saw that Harry's wanted me to sense I was getting a deal - the prices added to more than $15 (what I would pay) when ordered individually.

I liked the psychology of this, just as I liked the muted red wall next to me and the silvery wall fish arranged in an abstract design.

As my friend Jerry settled in, we confessed to our waitress that we couldn't decide what we wanted and we intended to annoy her with questions. She was amenable, though my companion felt that, if she were able to speak about the dishes with greater precision, the ordering could have gone more smoothly.

"Someone with experience who really knows a menu can do that," he said. I thought he had a point. And while I was pleased with the warm crusty bread that arrived to staunch our hunger, he was less delighted.

He would have liked it better had the bread been crisper and less, well, all-American spongy. I smiled, studying the butter, arranged on what looked to be a clear picture frame.For me, nothing was wrong - the butter was fresh! - and I felt even more contented when the appetizers were set down.

Jerry had ordered spicy Bahamian conch chowder and we both allowed as how conch could be rubbery, if overcooked. But tomatoes and spice and carrots and conch combined so as to satisfy us, as the chowder heated the back of the throat. I ordered three small asparagus, wrapped in smoked salmon, and they were cooked perfectly and served with a zesty caper relish. A mound of accompanying arugula came with dressing that was buttermilk thick and buttermilk bland. And so what? It looked great and I wolfed it down.

So we moved our elevated hopes to the next course. Jerry ordered thin grilled slabs of salmon and sourdough bread, all tucked atop even thinner slices of Canadian bacon or prosciutto.

We couldn't decide. "I've never had salmon with salty meat before and I like that a lot," Jerry said. "Salmon can be awfully bland at times."

I dug into fried cod served on butter lettuce and micro greens. The fish that has fed the world fed me. It was nicely crisped and bathed with pickled lemon dressing and lightly heated mayonnaise or aioli, if you prefer.

Could all this happiness really be happening?

Not willing to settle for two well-prepared courses, we moved to dessert and Harry's signature Italian ice cream. A big white bowl of chocolate truffle macadamia gelato was worth every calorie. And isn't that how we count in the mirror?

So I say...it's Restaurant Week at Harry's Seafood Grill: What's there to complain about?