Alden & Harlow, Harvard Square

Alden & Harlow is probably one of my favorite restaurants around Boston. It is located on Brattle street just around the corner from Harvard Square! The first time I visited Alden & Harlow was last year for brunch! It took me a while to discover the restaurant, despite the fact that I frequented Harvard Square, since it is located below street level.

I was a newbie in Boston, but I had read that it is an up and coming restaurant in town (by now it is a well established one), known for its American cuisine and locally sourced ingredients. I was charmed by the restaurant’s borderline industrial design and impressed by the food, so naturally I wanted to visit again (and take pictures as well)! A few months ago I had the opportunity to dine there on Easter Sunday and try more dishes off their menu and cocktails.

One thing you should now about Alden & Harlow is that, since the ingredients are sourced locally, the menu changes every month! This also means, that I don’t remember neither the cocktail nor the dish I got, but will include a description of the latter so that you can get the full picture.

We kicked off dinner with cocktails.  Then we tried the kale salad with creamy pistachio dressing, which was delicious, but rather heavy on the pepper. As I said, I don’t remember the name of my main course, but essentially it was made from rolled minced beef with filling passed through a skewer. My husband had the Creekstone Farms New York strip with grilled carrots, burnt scallion and tonnato. Both dishes where delicious!

Despite the fact that we were full at this point, we couldn’t say now to a couple of desserts and namely to buttermilk & lemon pound cake with torched blackberry compote and almond whip and chocolate terrine with toasted italian meringue, graham and orange marmalade. The desserts were delicious as well. I am partial to the chocolate terrine though!!

Overall I like the interiors, ambience and food in Alden & Harlow. The only thing that I regretted is the fact that it is subterranean and the lights are dimed. There are some tables by the windows (I was seated in such a table and that’s how I got those lovely photos), but come wintertime, the place will be dark at dinner time! I don’t usually have an issue with dimly lit places, but it’s hard for me to take pictures of my food. You know…for the blog (and Instagram)!

Alden & Harlow is open every day for dinner and is also open for brunch during the weekends. It’s advisable to reserve a table (I used OpenTable), as the place fills up pretty quickly.