Harry's Seafood Bar And Grille
05/04/2006 - By Shelley Preston The Ledger
MUST TRY: Ahi Tuna Salad, Pecan Crusted Catfish and Oyster Po' Boy.
New Orleans' Bourbon Street in all of its riotous, smelly splendor and debauched pride can't be replicated anywhere on Earth, but that doesn't stop anyone from trying to capture its irreverent spirit.
New Orleans' Bourbon Street in all of its riotous, smelly splendor and debauched pride can't be replicated anywhere on Earth, but that doesn't stop anyone from trying to capture its irreverent spirit.
If not a river, Harry's Seafood Bar and Grille offers at least a drop of what makes New Orleans famous: Creole food, such as jambalaya and red beans and rice, and a place to meet friends out for libation and good conversation.
Part of the restaurant's charm is its lodging in a vintage building across from Munn Park in Lakeland's bubbling downtown. Harry's is a part of a small chain but feels like a home-grown operation. Wood floors, a brass-accented bar and tasteful booths strewn throughout with an acceptable amount of Mardi Gras kitsch give Harry's a little soul.
A recent lunch started with a warm loaf of bread served with garlic butter and tender, fried crawfish tails with Remoulade sauce for dunking called Cajun Popcorn ($7).
The Oyster Po' Boy ($8) is the epitome of Louisiana comfort food. Harry's homage is a slab of French bread crammed with juicy fried nuggets of oysters and served dressed with lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. Jambalaya served over white rice needed a little more smokey flavor to taste, but contained plenty of chicken, shrimp and sausage ($8.50).
Among the menu's seafood specialties, which include Bourbon street Salmon ($8.50) and Crab Cake Cardinale ($8.50), the Pecan-Crusted Catfish nicely melded two iconic Southern staples into a tasty entree. The extra crawfish sauce on top was totally unnecessary.
Most of Harry's dishes are rich and decadent, but there are nice salads and wraps to round out the offerings. My favorite was the Ahi Tuna Salad, a bed of mixed greens with thin strips of lightly seared tuna with black sesame dressing ($10). Wraps include grilled chicken ($7) and one with marinated seafood spiked with balsamic vinegar($8).
Never eat anything bigger than your head, the saying goes, but you may have to make an exception for dessert. A helping of chocolate bread pudding with two enormous scoops of vanilla ice cream was still left relatively intact even after being descended upon by three hungry reporters ($6).
Besides serving as a popular restaurant, Harry's is an active watering hole and pipes in a few zydeco and brassy jazz numbers through the speakers to get you in the spirit. Specialty cocktails include the Rajun Cajun ($6), and of course that Bourbon Street staple, the Hurricane ($5.49).
Unlike the laissez faire attitude of the real New Orleans, Harry's maintains some of its corporate decorum as to not offend Lakeland's more conservative clients. I watched a tattooed bartender whip on black sleeves, such as basketball players use, over his arms as he arrived on his shift.
Harry's is a catch-all for the downtown Lakeland set, but if you are coming from other parts of the county you can expect a good meal and enjoy the downtown buzz.
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Shelley Preston can be reached at (863) 802-7515 or shelley.preston@theledger.com.
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