Sunday 12th of July 2009 02:55:53 PM

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Heartland cafe feels like counterculture central at first, but everyone is made to feel welcome here. The crowd was from all walks of life and the atmosphere was relaxing. On a saturday night a jazz band was playing in the main room. There was an indoor and outdoor patio, where you could watch the elevated red line train roll by.

The bar area had several tap towers, 14 total. The beer list is available online, and fairly current. Selection here is no great shakes, but you can find a good standby like Alpha King or Honkers ($2.50 pint special!). It would have been nice to see a few more local beers like Metro, 2 Brothers, Half Acre (besides their lager), though they did have 4 of Goose Island's standard taps.

Overall i’d say the food and atmosphere is the real reason to go. The buffalo steak sandwich I had was great. Parking is hard, but one tip, there are some defunct meter spots east of Sheridan at Loyola Park. Or better yet take public transit ^___^

Saturday 29th of March 2008 05:50:42 PM

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The Heartland Cafe is a destination which thankfully also has conscientiously-selected beer offerings. The venue is a hub of liberal | progressive political activity. If your political preferences are toward the other side of the scale, yet you still wind up here, you might score the venue with a bunch of '1.0's. It opened here in 1976 when property in North Rogers Park was 'dirt cheap'. As the area has prospered, so has it.
The beers here skew toward independent breweries, both from the U.S.A., and overseas. It also commits to beers with organic ingredients. I would be remiss to not inform you that the prices here are lower than average. This is another venue which would be a good first or second date place.
This is a venue which hosts a number of on-line communities' ‘in the flesh’ get-togethers.
Food is served. It is not exclusively vegetarian or vegan. But if you want to go that route, it is tasty.
Transit: Ummm. Could the north side main line “L” structure on the east be more obvious? The Red Line's Morse station has an unmanned wicket at Lunt St. which is accessible if you have a transit card, or Chicago Card. Otherwise; you'll have to walk another block south to Morse for access. The #155 Devon bus loops around here on Morse until 1:00 am. The #151 on Sheridan Rd. (2½ blocks east) runs southbound until 1:20 am.