Summer's bounty meets joy of cooking

At Heartland, Lenny Russo makes the most of = Midwestern-grown=20 ingredients, with delightful results.

By Rick = Nelson, Star Tribune

Last update: August 15, 2007 =96 11:10 PM

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HEARTLAND

3D"4

Location: 1806 St. Clair Av., St. Paul, 651-699-3536, http://www.heartlandrestaura= nt.com/.

Hours: Dining room open 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through = Sunday; wine=20 bar opens at 5:30 p.m. daily.

Atmosphere: Unpretentious Midwestern warmth.

Service: Gracious, attentive and knowledgeable.

Sound level: Intimacy that encourages and facilitates = conversation, a=20 Twin Cities rarity.

Recommended dishes: Menu changes daily.

Wine list: Intelligent and varied, but a little sparse in the=20 under-$30 category. An exceptional ale-stout-cider selection.

Price range: Appetizers $6 to $10, entrees $22 to $36 (wine = bar=20 entrees $12 to $19), desserts $8. Two three-course fixed-priced menus = are $30=20 (vegetarian) and $40 (meat and fish).

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This is how I imagine a typical day at = Heartland.=20 Every hour or so, a farmer shows up at the restaurant's back door, = unannounced,=20 pulls out a few boxes of glorious, freshly harvested something-or-others = and=20 makes a sale to chef/co-owner Lenny Russo. The newfound treasure is = treated as a=20 challenge by the cooking staff, who compete to find delicious ways to=20 incorporate it into that night's menu.=20

I ran my theory past Russo last week, and he laughed. "To be = perfectly=20 honest," he said, "that's not that far off."=20

Sure, the process also involves planning and budgeting, phone calls = and=20 e-mails, blah, blah, blah, but one of the most intriguing and admirable=20 qualities of this five-year-old St. Paul restaurant -- beyond its = zealous=20 commitment to Midwestern ingredients -- is that improvisational nature. = Which=20 leads me to wonder, which came first: a fluid menu based upon = availability, or a=20 supply chain forged to suit Russo's culinary attention-deficit disorder?

"I can't cook the same food every day; it would bore me out of my = skull,"=20 Russo told me. "I mean, why be in a creative profession only to end up = cooking=20 the same thing over and over, day after day?"

Why, indeed? The kitchen doesn't start with a blank slate every = morning; some=20 dishes can hang on for a week or two, depending upon inventory. Still, = frequent=20 diners -- and if you're not one, you really should be -- benefit from = this=20 yoga-like flexibility. Particularly now, when the peak of the summer = harvest=20 season becomes a joy ride, and Russo handily proves that flyover country = farmers=20 and producers (seriously, this is an olive oil-free zone) can solely = support a=20 restaurant of serious ambitions.

One night a few weeks back, it felt as if Russo's local-local-local = mindset=20 was being exemplified in a single fantastic salad. It tossed orach -- = spinach's=20 eye-catching cousin that's green on one side, eggplant-purple on the = other --=20 with fat slices of sweet roasted onion, a salty sheep's milk blue = cheese,=20 crunchy toasted pumpkin seeds and a splash of basil-cherry vinaigrette; = each=20 forkful held a vibrant feast for all senses and a playful celebration of = summer.=20

Leave salmon, shrimp, beef and other been-there, done-that basics to = other=20 restaurants. Russo casts a far wider net while plunging into the local = larder's=20 splendid abundance. Whether it's a deeply flavorful pan-roasted rabbit, = served=20 in a black walnut-enhanced glaze and topped with a sweet grilled peach, = or a=20 surprisingly tender elk chop with beautifully browned fennel, or=20 horseradish-enhanced smoked goat chops, or mouth-wateringly delicious = frog legs=20 with walnut oil-poached tomatoes, the results are almost guaranteed to = surprise=20 and delight.

Familiar with a twist

That glossy treatment isn't lost on more familiar foods. A succulent = pork=20 chop, singing with that perfect barnyard-ey flavor and finished with a = snappy=20 mustard aoili, was clean-your-plate perfection. Pan-fried trout, with a = crispy=20 skin that revealed a firm, moist flesh, was paired with a cool = cucumber-red=20 onion relish.=20

A zesty carrot pur=E9e became an elegant robe for a juicy chicken = breast, and a=20 black currant sauce added another welcome dimension to an already = intensely=20 flavored lamb roast. One highly memorable appetizer was the kitchen's = own=20 salt-cured Lake Superior smelt, sharing a plate with marvelous pickled = beets and=20 a rich remoulade kissed with a garlic scape pang.

Russo and his gifted cooking staff -- Robert Moore, Stephanie Kochlin = and=20 Matt Morgan -- have a particularly admirable talent for putting = delicious new=20 perspectives on taken-for-granted ingredients. Celery, for example, = forever lost=20 its afterthought status in my mind after becoming a foundation for a = brilliant=20 vichyssoise.=20

The kitchen, which never forgets its vegetarian demographic, is also = blessed=20 with a painter's eye for color and composition, a gift that goes far = beyond the=20 head start gained by working with all those pristine ingredients. Russo = &=20 Co. shrewdly keep their manipulations to a minimum; nothing in their = work feels=20 overly handled or mannered or precious. No shortcuts, either. Russo = cures his=20 own lamb and pork bacons, produces his own memorably delicious duck = prosciutto,=20 even makes his own mozzarella. The list goes on and on.

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Summer's bounty meets joy of cooking

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