I had the pleasure of getting a sneak peek of what Heritage Tavern & Kitchen has to offer before they opened on Monday. Since it was a preview party benefitting Special Olympics, I was able to sample different items on the menu and check out the space.
“Heritage Tavern & Kitchen gives me a Boston vibe. I love that I feel like I could just walk right in wearing jeans and a baseball cap, sit at the bar, and enjoy a drink while watching a game,” says Lisa Williss, the Director of Special Olympics. I got the same vibe.
The owner, Mike Miller, describes the feel of the place as trying to portray the love of his country and culinary heritage. “I’ve done a lot of traveling, and when I was thinking of the menu, I was inspired by the dishes that were the most memorable during my travels.”
The menu is split into five regions — Midwest, Northeast, South, Southwest, and West Coast.
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First up was the basket of sweet and savory cornbread ($3.50.) You can either buy the basket that comes with two slices of super sweet, fluffy cornbread and four savory cornbread muffins served with honey butter, or get it complimentary with any entrée.
The sweet cornbread is a filling starter. It’s served hot and goes perfectly with a little bit of butter. It has a nice, crunchy crust. The sweetness of the cornbread is made with secret ingredients. I tried to find out what they were and failed ☺.
When I tried the savory cornbread my immediate reaction was, “Wow, that’s different.” It has cheddar cheese and green chilies inside. I mainly tasted the green chilies. It’s not spicy though. The taste was subtle. Compared to the sweet cornbread, this one is less grainy. I preferred the sweet cornbread.
Now, the main course. I went with the JalaPeach Chicken Sandwich ($9). From the Southwest portion of the menu, It’s a fresh 6-ounce chicken breast dry seasoned and chargrilled, then topped with warm, sweet jalapeno peach barbecue sauce. The sandwich is served on a toasted brioche bun with house chips.
The JalaPeach Chicken Sandwich is good. The chicken is nicely grilled and it’s spicy. I felt the zing of the “jalapeach” immediately. The sweet jalapeno peach BBQ sauce is more like a layered glaze or puree. The bun is nicely toasted and the fresh lettuce, tomatoes, onions and pickles on the side serve as a nice refresher from all the spicy sweetness action.
The house chips are fantastic. They’re sliced thin, are fried golden and are crispy. They’re also crunchy and salty. It looks like the chips are seasoned with pepper. I kept going back to the chips throughout the meal. I credit the amazing taste to the fact that they’re made from scratch and with real potatoes. You can even see the skin.
I got to pick one side and went with the white onion slaw. It’s light, sweet, crunchy, and you can taste the olive oil. It was very similar in texture and taste to a seaweed salad. It appears to be seasoned with coriander and I almost considered it a palate cleanser. I enjoyed it.
Finally, dessert. You’ll be able to get four desserts at Heritage Tavern and Kitchen: bananas foster ($6), chocolate chip cookies ($4), strawberry shortcake ($5), and apple pie with cheddar cheese ($5). I got to try the strawberry shortcake.
The strawberry shortcake is homemade shortbread loaf that’s sliced thick and topped with fresh strawberries and homemade crème Anglaise. It’s served with vanilla bean ice cream. The shortcake is soft and moist with an orange zest to it. I loved the strawberries and appreciated how fresh the entire dessert tasted overall. My recommendation is to put some shortcake, strawberries and ice cream all together on the spoon and go for it!
