7000 North Glenwood

Just recently a Previous Article we declared we don't really do Breakfast / Brunch but after having just run a race in which "everyone was a winner" (our eveil genius friends a Bunch of Articles continue to be geniuses and taught us that!) it's very easy to park nearby and have someone else bring me my breakfast.  For the record, we did change our shirts so we weren't too evil looking and smelling!

We arrived before the Brunch Crowd so it wasn't all that busy (and not all that crazy really, when we left) and we got to sit wherever we wanted - we chose the almost outside section mostly because the all the way outside section was mostly full and if we had have sat inside it would have just been us for most of the time.

Our guy was ok, but we think he may have gotten our check a little bit 'lost' - surprisingly for so early they were out of Turkey Sausage so after he came and got our alternate choices we kind of feel that our check didn't quite get back into the que in the right place.  As with just about every visit to the Heartland, we weren't in any hurry.  We were, however, hungry after just running a marathon5k - it's all relative, right..  Not the end of the world and one could argue a little bit more time to develop room for the pancakes...  As we had a little bit of extra time to chat and people watch (a little bit more people watching that usual due to the Rogers Park Farmers Market kicking off for the season just across the road) and generally let the gaze wander we actually saw a little bit of co-operation amongst the staff of which I normally don't notice any - they poured coffee to any table, not just their own, when they had the pot in their hand.  I acknowledge that their system seems to work, but... Baby steps?

Our meal went a little like this:

• Mango Yogurt Smoothie - could have eaten it with a spoon, probably could have eaten it out of a cone. Just what I neededcraved, somehow.
• Coffee
• Breakfast Sandwich, egg, veggie sausage, cheese, side of grits - just the right amount of food, just the right amount of yum
• Blueberry Pancakes - tasty and healthy (wholewheat) but I don't think the Heartland should provide Pancakes as big as your head - they're just not that kind of place in my opinion and it seems silly to leave almost a whole one on the plate.
  
  • Veggie Sausage

Requirements met!  Back again when the need / situation suits.

Stay JOLLY!
D

7000 North Glenwood

We've been many times, although perhaps only once before for breakfast.  The Heartland Cafe, although not a bar, fits our need for a Local Bar about as best as we can find with in walking distance (and on a crappy weather day, it's probably just outside the limit of how far we're prepared to walk).  It's a bonus that they serve breakfast for the quite rare time we feel the urge to eat out for breakfast!

I don't think it would ever fall in to a destination type restaurant, but it serves it's neighborhood wonderfully.  We go there because we're hungry and cooking is too much trouble and from that point of view we've never been disappointed.  Service is not always speedy, but considering the turn over of staff we've seen over the years mostly (by a vast majority) accurate and knowledgeable, but really, it's not a difficult menu made up of favorites with a strong slant towards vegetarian and / or organic - but it is by no means a Vegetarian Restaurant.

They have a completely outside area and an almost outside area and being on a neighborhood street is pleasant even with the el literally across the street.  A little breezy this time so we stayed completely inside.  They do support the neighborhood and the artwork that rotates throughout the year I'm sure comes from Local Artists.  Catch is, most times I don't get it.  But it's never been unpleasant to have around us. 

I've always thought their method of allocating tables to the Servers wasn't quite right.  It does not promote team work. The Servers very rarely help each other out - what we saw this morning to our detriment.  On occasion it causes the Servers to have a very unbalanced load - again to our detriment this morning.  Breakfast should be quick be default, but with room to linger if the customers are so inclined.  Our Server got caught up with a bunch of tables so we sat for a bit longer than we were happy with before he came over and we were pretty certain that 2 of the other Servers knew we'd been waiting too long.  We weren't in a great rush, but we weren't their for the duration either...  Once our order was in there were no other delays and our Server must have gotten caught up nicely because he came to visit a couple of times.

Our Meal went a little something like this

• Coffee
• Mango Nectar
• Vegetable Panhandler
• Side of Corn Bread
  
• Blueberry Pancakes
• Side of Turkey Sausage
  

We'll be back, many times I'm sure.  The Heartland Cafe fits into a niche we need filled from time to time and seeing most times we go we couldn't care less how long everything takes their Table Allocation System won't annoy us too much.

Stay JOLLY!
D