Harry’s

There’s something very friend-like about referring to “Harry’s Fine Foods” as just “Harry’s” which is likely what the owners were going for. It’s that feeling of grabbing your coat off the rack by the front door and calling to your mom “Hey mom, I’m going up the street to Harry’s for dinner, be back later.” Harry is your best friend who is funny and dresses a little differently and has good music taste and gets you, when frankly, everyone else in middle school sucks. And you and he sit in the backyard late into the night wearing jean jackets and drinking coke from glass bottles, or on occasion, his mom’s Chardonnay, and laugh so hard and talk about Paris, where you haven’t been yet. It’s cozy at Harry’s and you feel like yourself don’t want to leave.

Harry got it really right. So right. In case I’m doing that thing where I’m telling a story that only one person in the room can relate to, and everyone is waiting for it to be over so they can participate again, let me back up and say who and what Harry’s is to us. In a factual sense, Harry’s Fine Foods is a neighborhood restaurant and bar in Capitol Hill. It’s surrounded by little brick apartment buildings and houses and when you walk or drive there you feel like you’re going to a friend’s house.

Now I don’t want this post to turn into one of those travel instagramers who talk about their enjoyment of a restaurant and describes a balsamic reduction, so I’ll do my best to toot Harry’s horn without being boring. Anna and I went to Harry’s the day we signed the lease on our tiny design office space in Lower Queen Anne. It wasn’t our first time there but we choose it as our celebratory destination because we wanted to be inspired. Because that’s what Harry’s is, inspiring. We brought journals and drank cocktails out of mismatched vintage glasses and we brainstormed what we wanted our own space to be. We wanted to be in an environment where the creators had reflected their own personalities and dreams through the space they made.

We hope you can relate when we say this, but this is what Harry’s is not. You know those restaurants or bars that have designed their space straight from a common Pinterest picture, maybe took notes from a WeWork. Those restaurants might be pretty at face value, but they’re flat. And when we say flat we mean they don’t have soul. The design was obvious, and it feels like every other ‘nice’ or ‘cute’ restaurant. This isn’t meant to be a bash of the common restaurants, it’s meant to be a praise for Harry’s. Harry’s Fine Foods paid attention to every detail that their guests experience. The ambiance isn’t just about interior design. It’s the lighting, textures, music, menus, aprons. The food, obviously. It’s the clear heart that went into each chair and piece and detail that impacts their customers. This is our ode to Harry’s and a clear example of a place that makes us feel the environment and design in our bones.

Hats off to you, Harry’s Fine Foods.

Love, Kelsey and Anna