Heartland Wine Bar

I had wanted to check out Heartland in St. Paul even before moving back to Minnesota. I've heard about Chef Lenny Russo's cooking from his days at W.A. Frost, Loring Cafe and Cue at the Gutherie; he possesses a very fine Minne-culinary curriculum vitae. I was also particularly interested in that, at Heartland, he sources most, if not all, of his ingredients from small family farmers and artisanal producers mainly from the Midwest.

The Twin Cities have transformed into an exciting place for sustainable food during my decade-long absence. Local organic farmers, artisanal cheese and meat producers as well as bakeries have become brand names and are featured on restaurants' menus all over town. Grocery stores are placing labels on local produce in their fruit and vegetable sections. The receipt from The Wedge Co-op actually indicates the percentage of local foods you purchased in a neat little diagram.

I have much to catch up. So Heartland, here I come.

The Cuisine Club was just the perfect opportunity to try a number of dishes I wouldn't have been able to taste coming by myself. Our long nine-top split into groups of four and five to cover just about everything on the menu. I was in the group with three very beautiful and equally hungry women. Here is what we had:

- Regional artisan cheese sampler with whole grain crackers, Ames Farm single source honey and rutabaga-currant chutney (Carr Valley Cheese Company “Marisa” cave-aged Wisconsin sheep milk cheese, Milton Creamery “Prairie Rose Swiss” hand-salted, cellar-aged Iowa Amish cow milk cheese, and Roth Käse “GranQueso Manchego” shelf-aged Wisconsin cow milk cheese)
- Roasted beet salad with pickled button mushrooms, microgreens and black walnut dressing
- Freshwater fish croquettes with kohlrabi slaw and caviar aioli
- Golden potato gnocchi with Brussels sprouts, roasted leeks, carrot coulis and Wisconsin Parmesan cheese
- Midwestern cassoulet of Duroc pork, smoked wild boar, garlic lamb sausage, pork shoulder confit and Nebraska great northern white beans

I thought the cheeses were all very good, but wished for a bit more variety. (Blue? Stinky?) The croquettes were small flavor-packed fish quenelles. I thoroughly savored one with its accompanying creamy/garlicky slaw. The gnocchi was tender, not gluey, with its buttery goodness accentuated by the sweet Brussels sprouts. The cassoulet - an ode to Minnesota's proud hotdish - was hearty yet not overwhelming. I was able to taste all the different meats and particularly enjoyed the lamb sausage. The white beans soaked up the jus and turned into a meaty spread when I mashed them onto my bread. As for the beet salad, the acidity of the pickled mushrooms and the slight bitterness of the microgreens complemented the sweet beets to make this my favorite dish of the night.

For wine we had a bottle of 2007 Barbera called “Quattro Fratelli” by Boroli. It had more acidity than I expected when it was just opened, but gained wonderful balance of fruit and tannin as the evening progressed.

I was impressed by the quality of ingredients in every dish. All the vegetables were so full of flavor - owing, of course, to the cooking that brought it out. I got a good sense from the house-made lamb sausage for their meat preparation level and would love to try more meat dishes. I have a feeling that a visit to the main dining room on my husband's day off from cooking
is in the near future.

Last but not least by any means, I thought our server did a wonderful job! She gave us just enough chatter and provided us with informed advice on food and wine.

Inaugural eating meeting: Om Restaurant

Tonight we had our inaugural eating meeting! It went great, despite a flurry of last-minute cancellations (hope the Twins win and that colds are overcome). We decided a couple things going forward:

-- We'll plan to split the cost of food evenly, but keep track of our own alcohol at these meals
-- We'll meet roughly once a month; Sunday nights are good
-- Someone will organize each month, and be in charge of sending out evites, making reservations, etc.
-- The organizer will also pick the restaurant, but will not be held at all responsible if it turns out to be a dud -- we want to encourage us all to try new places!
-- Feel free to invite more friends. It seems like we have plenty of room at the table :)

We liked Om's food, especially the naan, but might dock points for temperature--the challenge of heating a basement dining area has yet to be overcome.

We ordered four entrees and some sides to split. They were
Vegetable pot pie
Salmon with coconut curry
Scallops on a bed of spinach (spicy!)
Avocado-stuffed chicken breast
Peanut-stuffed eggplant
Naan with paneer and mint
Naan with potato and green chili
Chickpea pancakes

My favorite was probably the vegetable curry or the salmon, but the chicken was a crowd-pleaser, too. The naan was excellent -- crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. Would be a delicious late-night snack with one of their cocktails.

Next up: Heartland on November 15!