Tonight we wanted something new.  Not the same burrito run to El Nutri, or a quick bowl at the B&B.  Melanie rolled the random dice on Yelp and we pointed the car at Harlow on SE Hawthorne.

Walking in, I was surprised with the bright, slightly sterile atmosphere.  The heavy influence of wood and twang of vintage in the space’s design plays well with the open, bright layout.  They have a nice section of vegan odds and ends, and some branded clothing on one side of the restaurant.

Melanie ordered from the specials – two tacos with tempeh, yams, avo, pico de gallo, and jalapeño cashew creme.  It arrived with a side of rice and a side of black beans.  She also ordered a tea.

I ordered from the menu, and went with the BBQ Tempeh Plate – figuring in a new spot, you really can’t mess up Tempeh.

Melanie’s food arrived and the presentation was awesome.  The whole plate was a combination of tacos, beans, rice and fixins.  Sadly, my plate left a lot to be desired.

I had six slices of tempeh, some pickled cukes, a pile o’ polenta, some weird fried together slab of onions, and a pile o’greens.  The tempeh was pretty good, but not too far from something I could pan fry at home.  There was also not much “BBQ-ness” to the plate.

The tempeh was the best part of my dinner.  The polenta was deece, but everything else was borderline not good.  The onion things (those “used-to-be-primal-strips” looking things on my plate) and pickled cukes stayed behind for the compost (full disclosure: I hate pickles).

Once we finished our dinner, we headed out for the long drive home.

While we may give Harlow another chance, I will not get the BBQ plate again.