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| - I had been wanting to eat at Heritage Tavern since its opening, so was excited when they had a table for 3 open Friday night. We started with salads, the roasted beet salad for my daughter, brussels sprouts for me, and the Caesar for my husband. The roasted beet salad promised aged goat cheese and dark chocolate, but neither were detectable. My brussels sprouts salad was delicious, but puny for the $13 price tag. Faced with $26 for a chicken breast, $22 for a bowl of white chili, $32 for lake trout, or $38 for wagyu beef short loin, we opted for the "snack" menu and ordered the $14 grilled cheese and heirloom tomato soup, the $13 wagyu burger (supposedly stuffed with Gouda and short ribs, although you couldn't tell), and the $11 tempura (bacon wrapped cheese curds, "market" vegetables, and a shrimp or two served on long wooden skewers with three dipping sauces).
The kitchen is in full view and quite beautiful with gleaming copper pans on display at the entrance. Dan Fox himself fusses over every dish as it exits the kitchen, swooping in with bare fingers to rearrange the plate, drizzle oil, or sprinkle a few fresh herbs plucked straight from their black plastic greenhouse container. He looks like a perfectionist who could be difficult to please, but he failed to notice that the burger and its brioche bun were dry (one of my husband's tempura dipping sauces helped with that) or that the tomato soup had a strange vinegary taste. The tempura was, well, tempura and if we expected more for our $11 we shouldn't have ordered from the snack menu.
My excitement at being in the great Heritage Tavern turned to disappointment and it's not likely that we'll be back, even if there are plenty of tables open on a Friday night.
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