Heirloom - Saint Paul

Have not seen anything on the new restaurant Heirloom posted here, so thought I would put in my 2 cents.

I tried Heirloom in Saint Paul (on Marshall, near the intersection with Cretin) with a friend last night. Overall, I was pretty impressed for a restaurant open for such a short time. Their menu is organized into three unnamed sections, but there did not seem to be a huge distinction between the sections other than that the third section seemed the most "entree-like". Based on what sounded best to us, we tried 5 dishes + bread from the first 2 sections.

Parsnip custard - served warm, which I was not expecting, but worked well. It was savory, creamy and very tasty.

Ocean trout pastrami - cured trout with horseradish cream. The trout and horseradish were delicious, but were even better with the crunch from the rye crackers and/or the acid from the a few pickled shallots served as accompaniments. The proportions of the dish seemed a little off, though as only a few bites got all the components. It was still good without them, but it could go from a very good dish to an awesome dish with a bit of reproportioning.

Ricotta gnocchi with n'duja sausage topped with a soft egg - good balance of flavors from the creamy egg yolk and salty sausage. I just wish the gnocchi would have been a tiny bit more tender - they were not tough, but not as light as the best ricotta gnocchi I have had.

Interesting vegetables - as it says. About 12 different types of vegetables each prepared in their own way. Something I would never make at home, and highlighted the flavors of each vegetable very well.

Rye pasta with mushrooms, sage and squash - rich and creamy and savory. It seemed like just the right thing to be eating on a cold night.

We sat at the bar and service was good - I'm sure it will become a bit smoother as they have been open longer, but a good start. There was a mixup with the ordering of the vegetables, but I was glad we waited for them and they gave us a bit of complementary wine to sip while we waited.