Harvard & Highland

We ordered drinks at Harvard & Highland early on a chill night out pre-dinner.

The staff was super-friendly and the decor made me happy - as in it looked like they built their own stools kind of happy - we were early and it was fairly empty still.

Unfortunately being early meant the bartender was solo and a bit overwhelmed with the specialty drink orders that seemed to take about sixteen steps each. The bartender and some of the other staff were good personalities to stop and chat a bit and it was entertaining to watch so the wait wasn't actually bad - plus I love my friends - but the sixteen steps weren't quite worth it for the drinks. They just didn't hit the mark. I was excited for smoked + Brazilian sugarcane + pineapple and I got a lot of smokiness and a somewhat odd combo. I tasted one of the other drinks and had the same sort of "odd and not quite good" reaction, but I gather the third whiskey was killer.

I am a big, big fan of H&H! I don't recognize half of the ingredients on their cocktail menu, but anything I've ordered has been fantastic.  I love the vibe here as well...dark, but very modern and minimalist even though the drinks are totally old-fashioned, craft cocktail kind of concoctions.

I like this place enough to go way out of my way to stop here even though there is a similar place in my neighborhood, so 5 stars it is!

Good drinks, and the bartender recommended me two books on the subject that made good reading.  :-)  They're doing craft cocktails well; if you want a sazerac or a ramos gin fizz, this is a good place to try.  If you're looking for a long island iced tea?  Wrong bar.  Very much the wrong bar.

Bizarre (and pleasant!) bar food.