What I ate:
- Roasted seckel pear-golden beet soup with garlic creme fraiche, red beet coulis and toasted black walnuts
- Grilled Hidden Stream Farm pork chop with wild rice-preserved cranberry compote, roasted sweet potatoes and high bush cranberry catsup
- Cumin-spiced marbled pumpkin-tart cherry pound cake with Grand Marnier sabayon, red currant coulis, dark chocolate sauce and pumpkin butter
- Wine: Malbec, Maipe (2007; Mendoza, Argentina)
I've gotten over the embarrassment of having to wikipedia/google a third of the words on menus at restaurants like Heartland and like to think of it as a learning experience, so to help those equally as unlearned I've offered some definitions at the bottom of this post.
The review:
Ambiance: Simply elegant. Wood and a high counter view of the kitchen dominate the room. If there is artwork on the walls, I missed it both nights. The dining room is on the smaller side, but on a Wednesday at 7pm there was only 4-5 other tables occupied.
Amuse bouche: The taste lingers, but the ingredients description does not. It was a white fish served with what tasted like apple cider vinegar reduction? The fish was simple, but its flavors built. First, the taste of the lake itself washed over my mouth followed by the buttery taste of the fish melting on my tongue. Finally, slightly salty, subtly cured(?) The reduction was intensely tart and played well with the fish.
1st course (soup): I loved the soup! It was a luxurious dark goldenrod color with the red of beet coulis and fresh white of the creme fraiche and made my mouth water. Each bite was velvety and perfectly balanced between the sweet and savory. To me, the black walnuts were unnecessary and overwhelmed the subtle, yet rich flavors of the beet, pear, and garlic.
Entree: Overall, the dish was good. The porkchop was succulent and huge. Well-seasoned, it was by far my favorite thing on the plate. I avoided the highbush cranberry catsup after tasting it because it seemed to compete rather than enhance. The wild rice/cranberry compote was a little undercooked for me and the flavor strong, but a little one-dimensional. The sweet potatoes were good, but didn't live up to the expectations created by the pork and soup. The serving was huge, and I ended up taking home most of the wild rice and potatoes.
Dessert: It's not fair to review this because it was my dining companion's and we were too full to even taste it in its presented form. The dish has a lot of components that didn't do well as leftovers. I will say that I consider myself to be ecclectic in my tastes, and pretty willing to try unconventional combinations; however, this dessert was a bit beyond me. The cumin seemed out of place. The texture of the dessert (as a leftover) was more bar-like than poundcake. I give them credit for thinking outside of the box, but this didn't work for me.
RECOMMENDATION:
In the middle of a cold winter in Minnesota, Chef Russo was able to make a memorable meal based on local foods. I'll go again. I'd recommend checking the menu the day you're considering going to maximize your likelihood of getting something that will wow you. I'm also thinking that because they rely on local foods that late spring, summer, and fall may be the best times to enjoy the contemporary midwestern mastery of Chef Russo. Find out more, www.heartlandrestaurant.com.
As promised, some definitions:
creme fraiche: a less sour, more creamy version of sour cream
coulis: thick sauce made from pureed/strained vegetables or fruits
highbush cranberry: not a cranberry, but the fruit from a shrub that has similar taste (slightly more smoky)
sabayon: foamy mixture of egg yolks and liquid (water, wine, or champagne) created over simmering water; may be served sweet or savory and warm or cold.
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