Heartland

Our friends Chris and Ivy are in town for the weekend for a little mini vacation at our house,  they arrived at 8:30 last night after a little flight snafu but we all knew we were still heading right to dinner. Heartland had just moved from a tiny space on St. Clair Ave in St. Paul to a beautiful two level open loft space in downtown St. Paul right across from the Farmers Market. Heartland focuses on unique, local and sustainable foods and has a menu that changes daily.

We got a great private table in a back corner and perused the menu and wine list. With decisions made we were really looking forward to all this great food that was coming. I ordered the Fauna menu which is a price fixed three course dinner for $40. The four of us shared a cheese plate to start and a few small plates of unique flavors.

The cheese plate had three Wisconsin cheese that included a blue, a triple cream and a grass-fed cow gouda with homemade wheat crackers and a fruit chutney. I love cheese and sharing a cheese plate with friends who it enjoy it just as much as I do makes me so happy!

Then it was on to the small plates of Rainbow Trout, sweet pepper eggplant ragout, sweet corn relish and corn broth. The rainbow trout was so flavorful and a big strip of crispy skin didn’t hurt either

A salad of frisee, poached duck eggs, wax beans, parsley vinaigrette and focaccia croutons. The duck egg added a nice creamy component to the salad and you could tell it was very fresh.

Grass fed beef wild rice soup, mushrooms and late summer vegetables. Typically wild rice soup is cream and chicken based but this was such a light soup with nice flavor from the grass fed beef.

Chris ordered the Wild Board braunschweiger, with pickled watermelon rind, chili aioli and flax seed croustades. This was a very unique dish and the pickled watermelon rind was very tart!

Then it was on the larger plates, not huge entrees but just enough to satisfy. I had Poussin, spaghetti squash with a preserved plum sauce. The Poussin had just enough crisp to the skin and was so juicy. Chris and Ivy had never had spaghetti squash before and I think we convinced them they need to be making it at home.

Mike and Chris both ordered the Wild Boar chop with smoked onion mashed potatoes, broccoli and a carrot coulis. Both were expecting the wild boar to be closer in color to red meat but it is the same color as a traditional pork chop but with much better flavor. I also think we all could have eaten a huge bowl of the mashed potatoes!

Ivy had the grass fed beef short ribs, romanette beans, warm potato salad and braising jus. This reminded me of something a Grandma would spend two days making, but with even more flavor and texture.

We couldn’t pass up dessert, my menu came with a smoked chocolate tourinne, currant coulis, chokeberry curd, sherry saybayon and macerated cherries. This was rich and the smoke flavor really came through.

Our second sharing dessert was a peach & chevre tart, spiced honey creme anglaise, red fruit jam and a pumpkin seed chocolate bark. This was a very untraditional dish, not too sweet but a great creamy texture.

Our wine choices for the evening started with a Chateau Ducasse, a 2009 Sauvignon Blanc from Bordeaux that had very grassy flavors and strong notes of citrus and was only $26 a bottle. I thought it was a pretty reasonable price for a unique wine.  We opted for red with dinner and Chris picked out a Vinea Rosso di Montalcino Tuscany 2006 for $38. The red had strong Italian flavors and paired well with all the meat dishes we were having.

If it has been a few y
ears since you checked out Heartland, go again! Chef Russo, a James Beard nominee in 2010, does not disappoint. The creative local menu and unique wine list make it one of the best meals we have had in 2010. Our waiter was funny and you could tell he enjoyed his job, he checked in with us and made sure we were truly enjoying every thing. Even with our very long restaurant list we will be going back to Heartland again soon.