The food keeps up with today’s lofty expectations of a microbrewery, as does the broad range of beer.
By: Antoinette Buckley
Spirits are high during Friday evening happy hour at Harvest Moon Brewery in New Brunswick. The atmosphere is alive with a happy buzz of conversation coming from a crowd who left their cares back at the office. This infectious attitude, along with upbeat background music, holds the power to uplift the darkest mood and wrap its arms around the toughest customer.
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Harvest Moon Brewery |
While the patrons give the place its true character, aesthetically, Harvest Moon shows all the signs of a brewpub. The stainless steel vats sparkle behind a glass enclosure at the entrance. In pub fashion, tables, chairs, floors and trim are a rich mix of dark and light woods. A brick wall flaunting faux graffiti accents the theme well, as do black and white photos of beer making. Wood tables are kept appropriately bare (no tablecloths) and have earned their stripes the good old-fashioned way, with distressed marks made by everyday use. Yes, this is the place where beer lives.
Harvest Moon offers eight to 10 different kinds of "hand-crafted" beer at a time and it’s all managed by brewer Matt McCord. The signature sampler ($10), displaying eight beers during our visit, comes in a wooden half-moon server. As you work your way around the crescent you will discover the similarities, differences and those nuances that make this varying array of goldens and browns so much fun to sample.
To aid in the tasting process, the beer menu gives a little synopsis of each brew, highlighting a telling characteristic or two: Belgian Witbier is unfiltered to enhance its fruity characteristics. Elmes Mild Manor exhibits overtones of caramel and chocolate malts (and it’s the recommended beer to accompany a burger). British Nut Brown is characteristically nutty while Schwarzbier, a cross between a stout and a pilsner, displays hints of chocolate and coffee flavors. Full Moon Pale Ale is brewed in an American style. Its golden color and slight bitterness make it the perfect thirst quencher. Hops¯ Double IPA is the boldest brew with an 8.6 percent alcohol content while all the others hover around 5 percent. A clear Moonlight Ale offers a delicate body and hue, making it the lightest of all the beers offered.
Harvest Moon shows its altruistic side by offering the Jimmy D Brew, named after former New Brunswick Deputy Fire Chief James D’Heron, who heroically died in the line of duty on Sept. 3, 2004. When a customer orders a pint of this popular red brew, 50 cents goes to the Arthur C. Luf Children’s Burn Camp in Milford, Conn. With the money raised by this and other fundraisers Harvest Moon is involved in, an impressive number of children who are victims of burns are able to attend a one-week camp in the summer. The mission is to help campers overcome inhibitions imposed by permanent burn injuries and give them "the freedom to be a kid." Hats off to owners Frank Kropf Jr. and Michael Elmes for furthering such a worthwhile cause. Harvest Moon has raised approximately $32,400 since the inception of the program in January 2005.
The classic American hamburger no longer occupies the number one spot on the menus of today’s microbreweries. It’s been upstaged by hummus, pan-seared tuna and avocados that randomly pop up throughout the menu. Such is true of Harvest Moon. While a big fat burger is still the food I want most alongside a pint of beer, I must acquiesce to what’s being done here at Harvest Moon and similar establishments. Executive Chef Michael DeAngelis, affectionately known as "Tank," has created a menu that fits in with the current trend of eclectic fusion, but doesn’t forget to include the comfort foods that have a symbiotic relationship with beer.
As it turns out, the burger doesn’t get rave reviews here, but the wings, thankfully, do. True beer companions, the Brunswick Wings ($8) are everything you want pub food to be, except better. The name is a misnomer since the platter is generously filled with mostly meaty drumsticks and just a few scrawny wings. They carry a heat that feels just right with some cooling blue cheese dressing and are gleefully messy. But it’s the crispy coating that really sets these "wings" apart and sends them into the category of excellence.
The popular crab & avocado dip ($11) also succeeds as a pub appetizer, but perhaps not with the same gusto as the wings. A mound in the center of the plate seems true to its title and is made up mostly of crab and avocado, seasoned with red onion, tomato and a kicked-up seasoning. It’s served with bean sprouts and plenty of multi-colored tortilla chips as well as a few triangles of pita toasts.
Harvest Moon likes to push the envelope a bit by offering dishes like asparagus salad ($10) and Moon Pad Thai ($16) the latter goes well with beer. But Harvest Moon knows how to stay true to the classics as well. A substantial Moon Caesar Salad ($7) is a very good version, especially if you like it dressed with a little bulk.
Stuffed chicken ($20) makes the biggest impression. This could easily move into fine dining. It has all the elements of a dynamic plate, incorporating the flavors of salty, savory and sweet while varying the textures to include juicy, grainy and smooth. A perfectly cooked chicken breast is stuffed with Chef DeAngelis’ homemade crumbled chorizo sausage. It is accompanied by a marvelous chipotle and corn risotto and filled out with snappy green beans and a mango-lime butter sauce. This dish has it all.
The Korean short ribs ($22) do not earn the same applause. If the side of vegetable wild rice was the main feature of the dish, it would have been a winner. With all the succulent short rib preparations being done today, this one paled in comparison. A homemade hoisin barbecue sauce could only do so much for these ribs that were sliced thin and grilled, resulting in meat that was fatty and tough. The best short rib preparations are slow cooked, making the most of the meat’s fatty nature. (Harvest Moon does offer a slow-cooked version on the winter menu.)
Desserts are consistent with the rest of the menu. All satisfy the palate’s criteria for dessert, but intermingled within, there is the occasional jewel that takes it to the next level. Among the desserts we sampled, it was the cheesecake ($6) that stood out. The flavor is spot on and the consistency strikes the perfect middle ground between dense and airy. The accompanying homemade berry sauce makes it irresistible. The bread pudding ($7) flavored with vanilla, peach and pecan could be sweeter, and the name "molten chocolate cake" ($8) is a stretch for the mini chocolate bundt cake drizzled with warm chocolate sauce, served over vanilla ice cream and paired with a berry sauce. This dessert goes down the same path as the short ribs. With so many decadent molten chocolate cakes out there, the restaurant must deliver one that is up to par. The wait staff is pleasant and casual. While Harvest Moon wouldn’t be considered a family place, children are warmly welcomed when they do show up and there is even a kids’ menu to prove it.
The food here, for the most part, keeps up with today’s lofty expectations of a microbrewery, as does the broad range of beer. There is something inherently festive about a place that brews its own beer and Harvest Moon does a good job, capturing that vigor and disseminating it throughout the bar/restaurant.

