Saturday, February 19, 2011

Heartland Restaurant & Farm Direct Market

Reservations for One (RFO) and I had dinner at Heartland Restaurant and Farm Direct Market last night.  It was a great dinner and evening.  The chef, Lenny Russo, has done great things with his new space and direction he has taken with the restaurant and adjoining market.  We arrived a few minutes early which gave us the opportunity to walk around the space.  The restaurant is in an old building with lots of brick and an open atrium up through the middle of the building.  We were seated in the dining room, but the bar is very inviting and would be a great place to go back for a drink or dinner in the bar.  The kitchen is visible to one side of the establishment and there are a few tables right by the kitchen.  I would assume this is where they would do a chef's table.

We were seated promptly and greeted by a server who was well-knowledgeable and very helpful.  I started out with a glass of Malbec while RFO enjoyed a cup of hot tea - Evening in Missoula herbal blend.  We then perused the menu which was full of many options for us.  Heartland features two prix-fixe menus each night.  One is vegetarian and one is not.  The value for the three course meal is too good to pass up with the regular priced plates.  Though the regular plates sounded delicious! 

We both chose the "Flora" (vegetarian) prix-fixe menu.  We had a choice of bread to start with - I chose the wheat roll with green peppercorns.  The green peppercorns gave just a hint of spice occasionally.  The bread was very chewy and dense.  We were served an amuse bouche that was a small puff pastry with a creamy, yummy goodness inside topped with a beet green. 

The appetizer was a wonderful caramelized onion galette, goat cheese mousse, upland cress with a pear vinaigrette.  The crust of the tart was flaky and paired well with the onions.  I think we both would have been happy to have another serving of the galette.

The second course was a mushroom themed ravioli entree.  The dish arrived with three large but thin raviolis filled with hedgehog mushrooms in a hazelnut cream.  The three raviolis were then in a mushroom broth served with fried chantrelle mushrooms.  Historically I am not a mushroom person, but I've determined that it's all in the preparation.  Mushrooms on pizza...I can pass on those.  Mushrooms fixed by Lenny Russo...sign me up!  The only downside was the relatively small portion of ravioli we received.  Though after eating our next course we both were satiated.

The dessert was a presentation of various forms of chocolate.  There was what appeared to be a scoop of vanilla ice cream, but instead it was white chocolate.  There was also a chocolate truffle torte along with other chocolate tastings.  Excellent!

After dinner we went into the market that Heartland runs to see what they had over there.  It was filled with a number of local products, soups/sauces made on the premises, and a full counter of cheeses and meats to purchase for home.  They also have a deli style menu for eating on the premises.  The prices were a bit steep but given the local flavor of the items, the cost did not surprise me too much.

Definitely worth a visit to Heartland!

Happy Eating!

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