Chicago (American) - Heartland Cafe

Heartland Cafe
7000 N Glenwood Ave, Chicago, IL; Phone 773 465-8005
Date of Review: July, 2009
http://www.heartlandcafe.com/hc_index.htm

Heartland Café is a Rogers Park institution with a great screened in patio, laid back atmosphere and a heavily organic and local menu. Heartland Café is a casual grab a menu and seat yourself place with a great outdoor seating area and a huge screened in patio reminiscent of something you might see on Venice Beach. They also have a large inside with a decent size bar and many beers on tap and even more bottles available.

It was a beautiful, sunny 70 degree day when I visited Heartland Café. We grabbed a seat outside situated on a quiet, residential street and glanced at the menu. Oddly enough, the ambience and environment almost made me feel like I was on vacation in Florida or California.

The menu is heavy on local and organic produce and surprisingly, buffalo. In fact, I think buffalo pretty much substitutes for beef throughout the entire menu. They have many breakfast, lunch and dinner options with quite a variety of dishes ranging from burritos to buffalo and veggie burgers to noodle dishes to a few different variations on chili.

We started with the free range chicken wings. They were refreshingly grilled instead of fried with a mild tomato based barbecue sauce that I believe was home made. An order of 6 is more like an order of 12 because they give you the whole chicken wing. These are some of the best chicken wings I’ve had due to their freshness and the grilled flavor.

For entrees, we had the Himalayan noodles and the buffalo chili. The Himalayan noodles arrived in a large bowl with a portion too large for one person to finish themselves unless they were very hungry. The flavor was a bit mild for my taste as I would have expected a bit more spiciness to the dish. That said, the vegetable were fresh and tender and the dish was served with a huge piece of very good homemade cornbread. Interestingly enough, the noodles in the dish were macaroni. I have no problem with macaroni but I would have expected ramen or soba or some other kind of noodle in a dish like this. The buffalo chili came in a large bowl that was loaded with chunks of tender buffalo meat, red and black beans and large slices of red pepper. The dish was on the mild side and very tasty. It was topped with Monterey jack cheese and avocado and brown rice (extras that I chose to add to the dish) and is served with cornbread or corn tortillas (my selection). The chili was healthy, filling and satisfying.

The prices at Heartland Café are about average with most dishes in the 8-12$ range. We had 2 cups of coffee, 1 appetizer and 2 entrees for a total price of $47 (that includes tax and tip). While the value isn’t outstanding, the prices are about what you would expect for a popular restaurant in a nice location with a largely local menu.

The Heartland Café considers themselves to be the Heart of Rogers Park and from the looks of it, I would agree with that statement. The Heartland Café is actually a conglomeration of multiple businesses that began with the Heartland Café in 1976 with a vision o serve good wholesome food for the mind and the body. Over the years the “café” has grown and become a community of sorts which hosts progressive (e.g. liberal) political events, a radio show, a theatre, journal, general store, athletic organization, beach stand and buffalo bar. They have also expanded their business base by keeping the No Exit café open and opening another bar nearby called the Red Line tap.