Heartland Cafe - Chicago
Rogers Park hippie institution has been serving "Good Wholesome Food for the Mind and Body!" for three decades.
Rogers Park hippie institution has been serving "Good Wholesome Food for the Mind and Body!" for three decades.
I was fortunate to have a chance to visit this Chicago institution before it closed. Tomorrow (12/31/2018) is its last day after 42 years as a headquarters for good people and progressive politics.
This place was almost full for breakfast on the weekend, and I can ONLY imagine that it is because it is overhyped (vegan) and trendy! Wood was on the verge of being terrible and cooking time was extremely long. I ordered pancakes (they only have wheat and buckwheat) - wheat and my wife ordered buckwheat. It took 40! minutes to cook! and then they bring me 2 blackened, thin and hard "pancakes". They charged me 75 cents for a spoon of sour cream to make them at least a little moist. It might be healthy, but it tasted like a cardboard. In the end even my dog, who loves pancakes, did not want immediately to eat it! The prices are extremely high also. I understand that this is trendy and is in run-down neighborhood, so there are no other places to eat, but try to avoid it if you can. I am sure it is not healthy to eat tasteless food!
Heartland Cafe was my favorite restaurant for years. I moved away and for the last 4 years make it a point to come back there for food and atmosphere. This is why I was pleasantly disappointed tonight. Pleasantly because now I dont have to worry about coming here again. I ordered a Reuben. I took one bite and it smelled and tasted like barn animal. I never get super grossed out and call things "nasty" but that was it. I kindly let our server know. His response was to take it back but then to take it back out to us to ask me what part of it smelled bad since he couldn't smell it. I said it was the bread or something in the sandwich He proceeded to be very cold towards us the rest of the night between begrudgingly asking me if I wanted anything else to me saying desert then him never coming back to get my order. He did a 180 over a nasty meal. Literally wouldn't talk to us, with only a "thank you have a good night" at the end of the night. It was chilly to begin with tonight but he made it end making me shiver.
I came across this place on a walk one night and my friend and I decided to go in for some food. It was great! We loved it and want to go back soon. Great space and awesome food.
No photo of plated meal; it was too tempting to postpone for a photo. Regular menu, Vegan menu, Gluten-free menu; that's impressively socially advanced. Two very important words: "House Pickle". If you don't at least ask to try this, you're losing out on a fantastic thing.