As many have shared and is known, Heirloom is a little bit off the beaten path and certainly not what you would expect, given the quality of the food and service.
The building looks a little old and worn down, and the inside has some resemblance to a barn. Everything on their menu is local and "farm to table," and if it can't be sourced in NOrth Carolina, they won't include it on their menu. Even the spirits and alcohol (aside from wine) is local to NC. Gotta love and respect that!
I was actually hoping to try their well known 6 course menu, but they were offering their 4 course Valentine's Day menu, so we tried that. The service was very good throughout our dinner. Your water will constantly be refilled, they pour the wine for you, and food is timely. For Valentine's Day, they offered 4 courses for $55.00. I started with the Poached Egg for my first course, which included toast porridge, lamb sausage, charred jalapenos and some greens. This was good, except a little too spicy for me with the charred jalapenos. I think next time I'll ask for those on the side!
For the second course, I went with the NC Lump Crab Cake. These were delicious atop the beautifully colored sumac red rice. The crab cakes were tender and flavorful, and held together well. For my third course, I chose the crostini with goat cheese, apples, endive and a port wine reduction. This was perfectly light after the second course, but a great combination of flavors with the creamy goat cheese. My husband tried the blue cheese dish, served with popcorn and caramelized onion relish, which was a creative way to display the blue cheese, but the flavors meshed really well.
Lastly, for my 4th course, I chose the Cheerwine Pound Cake, served with chocolate buttercream,and pepper and beet cookie crumble. I love ordering "out of the box" idea dishes, and I was pleasantly surprised with this dish. The pound cake was light and airy, but the beet cookie crumble added a pleasant sweet crunch on top. I'm a sucker for buttercream, so I loved the chocolate buttercream as well. We also enjoyed the lemon smashed cheesecake, served with roasted blueberries, graham cracker and lemon curd. It was perfectly light and creamy.
I would definitely return to Heirloom to try their signature 6 courses sometime in the future!