Harry Caray’s - Sneaky Fine Dining

Posted by admin on March 31st, 2007 at 06:43pm

I’ll skip the urge to say something super weak right here like holy cow. Instead, I’ll go more along the lines of what the dick? Who knew?

This outdoor facade of this straight American bar I pass each day on the way home from work hiding white tablecloths and expensive steaks behind its 2 story neon baseball bat. What a sneaky nice restaurant.

Ok, truth be told, my mom actually tried to convince me that the food here was the real deal. Of course I’m still not grown up enough to listen to a word that comes out of that broad’s mouth so I went on convinced that the best thing Harry Caray’s could put on a plate was some fries to soak up the drink. Apparently my mom does know what she is talking about and this place fancies itself as a legit restaurant.

Even more odd, the food fully backs up this notion. Everything from our crab cake appetizer that could make even an Orioles fan drool through to the tiramisu was delicous.

I was joined by my favorite person able to pull off a skirt and we decided to split two entrees after the oh so good crab cake. We opted for the Grilled Rare Yellowfin Tuna and the Penne with Pesto. The tuna was fantastic. While I am not normally a huge fan of seared tuna that is essentially still raw, this fish was incredibly tender and the sauce was so good I would not have wanted it any other way. My only beef with the dish was the lack of included sides. I feel like a dollop of mashed potatoes or a little asparagus would have gone a long way to improving the dish even more.

The Penne with Pesto was also very good. At first I was impressed by the freshness of the pesto. The green hue of the dish was so intense and the fresh pesto supplied it with flavor to match. The portion was enormous which I can always respect. I had two small gripes about the dish. 1. The oil in the dish really dripped to the bottom, causing the start of the dish to be relatively dry (which I liked) but the finish was too oily for my taste. 2. ( and the far more minute gripe) The asparagus in the dish was small cuts of the base of the stems. I would have preferred to see more of the leafy ends.

We concluded with an order of tiramisu which was pretty standard fare, yet very good. Though its been a while, Maggiano’s tiramisu comes to mind as a close comparison.

Though the meal wasn’t perfect, overall it was very good. The staff was incredibly attentive and friendly. The atmosphere was lively for a lazy Sunday evening with more than a couple birthdays being celebrated and families with children in the room.

Overally, it was a very good dinner and I think a fan of steak would probably enjoy Harry Caray’s even more than I. If I ventured back, I would probably order a fish and then one of the very reasonably priced and nicely sized side dishes.

Under $$$ - Casual Dining+ $$$$ - Fine Dining