Harvest House Tavern opens in Malverne

"Farm-to-table" is usually more of a marketing slogan than a true descriptor — when you think about it, pretty much all the food on your table comes from a farm.

But a new restaurant in Malverne, Harvest House Tavern, is really walking the walk, creating a menu based on the seasonal offerings of Crossroads Farm at Grossman’s, whose 5 acres are so close, the farmer has been known to make deliveries on his tractor.

Since it opened in December, chef Ronaldo Morales has been doing his best with winter vegetables, making a mezze platter with broccolini and romesco cauliflower (along with hummus and spicy feta); dressing sheep-ricotta-stuffed cappelletti with butternut squash and pumpkin seeds; serving roast chicken with carrot puree, fingerling potatoes and black radish.

Morales’s celeriac "cacio e pepe" may be the single best "fake" pasta dish I’ve ever had. The ribbons of celery root don’t taste like wheat pasta, but they have a toothsome chew that no zucchini could dare to achieve. The flavor marries beautifully with the cheese and black pepper as well as the entirely superfluous (but delicious) black truffle.

Harvest House is the brainchild of Chris Meyer, a partner at Frank’s Steaks in Rockville Centre who grew up in the area. A sucker for farm-fresh produce, Meyer had long been in the habit of bringing vegetables to Frank’s from his weekend home in Schoharie, in New York’s Hudson Valley. "But that kind of thing isn’t really practical with a big restaurant," he said. His burgeoning ideas for a small eatery that focused on local produce became a plan when he found the space on Hempstead Avenue, Malverne’s main drag.

"We wanted to fill a unique niche," he explained, "not be another dime-a-dozen restaurant."

Meyer, who is still full-time at Frank’s, teamed up with veteran restaurant managers Ross Gollub and Stephen LaSpina. They hired Morales, who grew up in his family’s restaurant, La Cantina Bay (originally in Locust Valley, now in Bayville) before studying at New York City’s Institute of Culinary Education and cooking in kitchens from Prime in Huntington to Aureole and Jean-Georges in Manhattan.

Other highlights from his winter menu include a Harvest salad with cured egg yolks and peppercorn-nasturtium vinaigrette; beef tartare with beef-fat aioli, fermented carrots and pickled pearl onions; duck "duo" with seared breast, confit leg, citrus-fennel salad, cashew cream and duck meringue; New York strip steak with mole, white-bean puree, cilantro-seasoned rice chips and pickled peppers and pork chop stuffed with prosciutto and mozzarella on whipped potatoes with crispy mushrooms. Don't get too attached, though — soon the menu will be changing for spring. 

Most starters are $18 to $23, most entrées are $31 to $46. Once spring produce gets underway, the restaurant hopes to get up to 70% of its produce from Crossroads.

Partner Gollub spearheaded the bar program, which features a tight, well-priced wine list with a dozen glasses; brews such as Von Trapp Vienna Lager, Zero Gravity Madonna Double IPA, Brooklyn Cider House Half Sour and Aqua ViTea NA Kombucha. Among the signature cocktails are the Smokey Garden (Rosaluna mezcal, agave, lime, red bell pepper), the Malverne Mule (vodka, ginger liqueur, cranberry, pomegranate, ginger beer) and the Winter Old Fashioned (bourbon or rye, cherry liqueur, maple-pecan bitters).

Harvest House Tavern, 352 Hempstead Ave., Malverne, 516-400-9000, harvesthousetavern.com. Open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 4 to 9 p.m., Friday 4 to 10 p.m., Saturday 2 to 10 p.m., Sunday 2 to 9 p.m., closed Tuesday.