James Beard Nominee in Lowertown

I had the privilege of trying Heartland many years when they were in their original location on St. Clair in St. Paul. At the time, I didn't appreciate the diversity of what they had to offer but I am grateful that now I am much more open to culinary possibilities and I am now able to take full advantage of the high quality food and dining experience Heartland has to offer. Chef Lenny Russo has been extremely active in the local as well as international food scene. We are extremely lucky to have such a force here in the Twin Cities. As usual, my dining experience did not disappoint.

I had the pleasure of celebrating my mom's first day of retirement while also dining with my dear friend, Rebecca. I was especially excited to dine here since Heartland consistently offers creative vegetarian dishes on a daily basis.

We began with some tasty cocktails which were smooth without being overly sweet.  Heartland's wine selection is accessible and complimentary to their food.

There are a variety of ways to dine at Heartland. You can choose the three course tasting menu, which includes a meat or vegetarian option. Or, you can order a la carte from their menu. The menu changes daily and all of the ingredients are from the midwest. My mom and I chose the "Flora" option and Rebecca chose from the a la carte menu. 

Our first dish in the Flora option consisted of a Chevre polenta cake, baby tomatoes, green tomato coulis and baby red bok choy.

Rebecca's first course consisted of the Autumn field greens, with cider poached pear, pumpkinseeds and apple cider vinaigrette.

Our main course for the Flora option was Spaghetti squash with heirloom carrots, parsnips, hazelnut cream and baby kale. Overall, I thought the flavors blended well for a fall dish. The kale seemed a bit salty from what I expected but it didn't impact the dish enough that I wasn't able to still enjoy it. Although I don't seek out parsnips or cook with them myself, I enjoyed trying them with a variety of other flavors and would order it again.

Rebecca's entree was the Grass fed Limousin rosy veal chop with braised kale, fingerling potatoes and pepita glace de viande. It was very tender and the flavors complimented each other well.

As always, we needed to try some of the desserts so our Flora option included the Pumpkin-chocolate tartlet with madeleines, pumpkinseed croquant, Chantilly cream and chocolate sauce. It was a perfect fall dessert with all of the flavors you would expect but not overly sweet. The sugar piece was a beautiful touch.

Rebecca ordered the Apple spice cake with caramel ice cream, oat crumble and salted caramel.

I highly recommend Heartland. The adjacent farm direct market is currently closed but will re-open this spring. Chef Russo is renovating it so they can begin to offer and accommodate the many fans who will be in the area beginning this spring for the St. Paul Saints games. He also starting offering a happy hour menu in the bar area and I look forward to going back to try that as it has received positive reviews already.

Heartland Restaurant & Farm Direct Market