Harry's Too

A generous menu with all the frills

by Margaret LeRoux

India Cafe Harry's Too 153 Turnpike Road Route 9 Westborough (508) 898-2200 Hours Lunch Sun.-Tues. 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Wed.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Major credit cards Full bar Handicap accessible

If you've ever craved a burger or plate of fried clams or even an omelet with home fries after midnight, you probably know about Harry's on Route 9 in Westborough. Among people who regularly gather for sustenance after a night on the town, Harry's is an institution -- a no-frills kind of place that serves no-frills fare with quantity eaters in mind.

A few years ago, Harry's spawned an upscale second-generation restaurant, Harry's Too. It's bigger, boasts an ambitious wine list, and is definitely pricier than its down-home little brother. When four of us visited on a recent weeknight, the contrast between the friendly atmosphere one expects at the original Harry's and the chilly non-welcome we got at Harry's Too was striking. The hostess barely gave us a glance, much less a smile when she led us to the table. Perhaps it was the spike-heeled mules she was wearing. I'd be cranky too if I spent the night navigating a restaurant in a pair of them. Then there was the waitress who warned me off a promising sounding dish, but I'll get to that later.

We didn't have much company at Harry's Too that night, but on Thursdays the place hosts live jazz, and our waitress told us that draws quite a crowd. She was prompt in bringing our drink orders, a couple of beers -- Bass on draft ($3.50) and Sierra Nevada ale ($3.50); two of us shared a sauvignon blanc from Chile, Calitera ($17).

Appetizers include some interesting interpretations of food from several countries. Spicy chicken samosas ($6.95) didn't sound very Indian from the description: "strips of chicken wrapped in Chinese wrappers (I'm assuming egg roll skins) with julienne vegetables served with peanut teriyaki sauce." There's also Mexican pizza ($4.50) that sounds like nachos on a flour tortilla, Maryland-style crabcakes ($6.95), and (for $5.50) mussels marinara -- interpreted as red sauce in Italian restaurants, here described as "with garlic, white wine, fresh tomatoes and herbs." We decided to pay tribute to the original Harry's with an order of fried belly clams ($7.95). They were as good as we'd remembered: fat, juicy, and crispy without being greasy.

The extensive menu highlights "prime cuts" -- several variations on sirloin steak including Madagascar ($13.95), a rich combination of brandy, caramelized onions, portobello mushrooms, cream and Dijon mustard; grilled ($14.95) and a petit filet mignon ($13.95). Also on the list were veal marsala ($12.95), pork loin ($11.95), Missouri style ribs ($12.95), and a barbecue combo of chicken, ribs, and andouille sausage ($13.95).

Chicken and pasta dishes include several treatments of boneless breast: a la Sierra ($10.95), sautéed with spinach and tomatoes; Parmesan ($9.95); Savannah ($9.95), grilled with barbecue sauce, onions and smoked Gouda cheese; marsala ($10.95); and jambalaya ($11.95), served with shrimp, black beans and andouille sausage over rice.

Pasta choices include rigatoni à la vodka ($8.95), with mushrooms, ham, and onion in a pink vodka sauce, and linguine primavera ($8.95). Shrimp scampi ($12.95) is served with angel hair pasta.

There's a special lobster menu that ranges in price from $17.95 for a single, pound-and-a-quarter lobster with potato, vegetable, and melted butter to $24.95 for twin lobsters. Lazy style, out of the shell in a casserole over jasmine rice, is $21.95.

Other seafood choices run the gamut from simple grilled swordfish ($13.95), baked haddock ($12.95), and grilled yellow-fin tuna ($12.95), to more saucier versions such as gingered shrimp ($12.95), sautéed with ginger and herbs and served over couscous, scallops casserole ($13.95), honey-barbecued salmon ($11.95), and salmon galette ($12.95). This was a dish that intrigued me. It was described as fresh Norwegian salmon filets encrusted with thinly shredded golden brown potatoes, served with lemon caper butter and fresh vegetables. But when I requested it, our waitress pursed her lips and shook her head.

"It's very oily," she said.

My first impulse was to argue that fresh Norwegian salmon isn't a fish I would describe as oily, but years of restaurant dining have taught me to take the advice of waitresses when they steer you away from food. She promised that the swordfish was fresh, not frozen, and I switched my order. The swordfish was, indeed fresh and simply prepared -- a very satisfying choice, served with still-crunchy sautéed zucchini slices and a large baked potato.

My fellow diners had mixed results from their selections. One ordered grilled sirloin steak with honey-barbecued shrimp ($15.95), but the meat she received was more than well done instead of medium rare as requested. When the error was pointed out, our waitress returned it to the kitchen. As we guessed, the steak that came back was quite rare rather than medium, but a lot more flavorful that the first one. The couple of shrimp were forgettable.

Veal marsala, we agreed, was the hit of the evening. The sauce was rich, without being overpowering, and loaded with sliced mushrooms.

The fan of spicy food met his match in the jambalaya. The flavor of chicken and pork ribs was lost in a sauce that tasted suspiciously like the red chili sauce served in some Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese restaurants. After barely making a dent in the mound of rice, he gave up.

A frozen dessert truffle of raspberry ice cream coated in white chocolate ($3.99) that we shared, cooled him off. The bill was $109.19 including tax but not tip.

Harry's Too blurbs: Westborough, steak, American, seafood

Harry's Too, Route 9, Westborough, (508) 898-2200 ($9-$25)

Harry's Too is an upscale, pricier version of the famous, late-night Harry's. Steak, seafood, a few pasta selections, but the Harry's style fried clams are the real winners here.