Restaurant Review: Heidi's

Have I mentioned before how much we love going to brunch around here? The multitude of choices at reasonable prices, its like the best of both worlds. Our friends Ben and Angie also enjoy brunching so we sometimes meet up for a double date. One Sunday morning this Fall we all met at Heidi's on my "suggestion" as a place to try out (I will have to give props to Mpls - St Paul Magazine for the heads up).

Being smart we decided to go on a Sunday morning in hopes that it wasn't too crowded. Score one of us, it wasn't! After we were seated everyone (except me) ordered bottomless coffee, reminding us of college when people would drive 45 minutes to the nearest Perkin's at 11 pm at night and do the same thing. To put into perspective as to why anyone would drive that far that late for coffee: We went to college in a small town where everything closed at 8 pm. Got it? Thought so.

Back to Heidi's, after receiving our drinks the waiter brought us out Banana Muffins with whipped salted butter on the house! You heard that right: On. The. House. Just because. Score two for us. They were delicious to say the least. The tops were as crisp and sweet as muffin tops get, and the middle was chewy and full of banana flavor. I'm not sure what kind of salt they use in their butter but that butter was AMAZING!

After finishing the muffins we actually went on to order some food. Now everything on the menu sounded fantastic, but one thing really caught my eye: lentil vinaigrette. I've been on a lentil kick for about 6 months now (still going strong) so anytime I see it on a menu I lust after it. My whole taking forever to figure out what I want thing.... Out the window when I see the word lentil. So to answer your question of if I really went out to brunch and ordered a salad? Yes, yes I did. What was in the salad you ask? Well, for starters it was called a Frizzy Blonde Salad and it was unlike any salad that I had ever had. It had heirloom greens and some vegetables with some kind of transparent, crispy leafy greens on top. The vinaigrette was definitely made from black lentils. It was thick and perfectly seasoned. The salad was small but delicious. There is no way in hell I could ever recreate it at home, which might be my favorite thing about the meal. It was a brunch-worthy salad, trust.

Anyone know what that crispy, greenish thing is
made of?

Mark ordered an equally light dish: Shrimp and Grits. Ok, maybe not as light but just as impressive. It came in a shallow bowl with bacon-grits on the bottom, whole shrimp in the middle, and arugula on top. It was extremely rich and he loved the bacon in the grits. To say he was satisfied would be an understatement.

For dessert (of course we got dessert) we ordered the Bavarian Cream Donuts to share. They were puffed donuts filled with cream and rolled in cinnamon sugar. They came with a side of cardamom milk cream for dunking. If you ever go to Heidi's, order these. They are the bomb.com and you won't be disappointed.

After Mark finished licking his and the donut plate clean we bid adieu to our friends and headed for home.

Manners say what?!

When we got into our car Mark said "I really liked Heidi's, it lived up to all expectations."

To which I asked, "Did you have expectations?".

"No, but I had hopes and dreams." was his response.

What does that conversation tell you about how good Heidi's is? Probably not much, but it is and you should try it out.

Here are pictures of what Ben and Angie ordered:

Crab Bisque

Fried Chicken & Honey Biscuits