Lorin Zinter, co-owner of the new Heyday restaurant in Minneapolis, gets social media. Long before the place opened, the @heydaympls Twitter account launched and got my attention by following me before I knew it existed. I seem to recall chef Jim Christiansen did the same thing to me while he was at Union. When I tweeted we were there Friday night for dinner, not only did @lorinzinter reply, he found us in real life and stopped over at our table to say hi. Perfect.

Lots of great pedigree at Heyday from La Belle Vie, Sea Change and Union. Diane Yang was also a part of the team before Gavin Kaysen stole her away for his new Merchant. I’d love to know if the spectacular shaved Gruyère was her creation – that was one of the best, most unique desserts we’ve experienced in a long time.

The building is located at 2700 Lyndale – practically across the street from Sameh Wadi’s World Street Kitchen. We loved the space: half bar and half dining room, with tall ceilings and wood beams to keep noise in check. We also liked the marble table tops, church pew benches, fun artwork and creative light fixtures. We arrived a bit early for our reservation and the friendly hostess was eager to accommodate us without having to wait at the bar. It was also really nice to have space between the tables (hello, Butcher and the Boar).

We skipped the wine menu on this visit and went right to the cocktails. The Bitter Lord was calling my name (bourbon, grenadine and lemon) and didn’t disappoint. I ordered a second one and Colleen ended up with one also (after starting with the house made sangria). They serve water from old wine bottles and bread and butter is available upon request (definitely request it – the sourdough was hot and the little whole wheat muffins were great).

Our server was very knowledgable about the menu and recommended ordering 2-3 items per person to share. We started with:

Apple and Camembert | 9
radish, hazelnut, pork vinaigrette

Chicken Liver Tart | 10
toasted shallot, green tomato jam, pickled vegetables

I ate most of the apple dish, which was just beautiful. I’m not sure how they slice those apples so thin, but the combination of flavors was great. Colleen loved the chicken liver tart, calling it both “an orgasm on a plate” and “one of the five best dishes I’ve had this year.” It seemed almost too pretty to eat.

For our main course, we selected:

Grilled Mackerel | 15
celery broth, guanciale, brioche

Rabbit Royale | 16
grilled leg, ham, carrots

Each dish was good, but both of us liked the fish more. I’m not sure if I’ve had rabbit before, but it tasted a little different than I was expecting. I saw another plate of it in the kitchen when we were leaving that looked quite a bit different, so maybe we just had an off cut. The dessert I mentioned earlier, though, was probably my favorite thing all night. It was like a tasty Cousin Itt – the toast, honey and walnuts were all hidden inside the huge pile of finely grated cheese. Completely not the presentation I expected when I ordered Itt.

I originally wanted to call Heyday the love child of Piccolo and The Bachelor Farmer, but Colleen said Heyday is Heyday. Either way, it’s a great addition to the Twin Cities dining scene. The night was a bargain too – only $90 before tax and tip.

Highly Recommended