When Tim Huinker built an outdoor kitchen in his back yard, he was thinking pizza – but had no idea he’d also be cooking up a new career.
“I built an all masonry oven from a kit,” says Tim, a landscape designer and builder. “Brick and mortar, wood fired.” Early in its second season, Tim’s new oven had a big job to handle – a party of two hundred, for his daughter Ashley’s high school graduation. Ashley wanted pizza, and Tim obliged, turning out eighty-five pies.
Soon, Tim’s back yard was the go-to place for pizza parties, and he got used to hearing his guests say how great it would be if they had an oven like his. Tim’s response was to see to it that they didn’t need one. He found a company that sold a wood-fired pizza oven trailer, and created Rolling Hearth Bistro. Towing his oven throughout the area, he brought his artisan pies to private parties, wedding receptions, corporate events, and wherever people got together and craved good pizza.
The Rolling Hearth hadn’t been rolling for long when Tim and his wife Kris started hearing the next big question: “Where’s your restaurant?” The answer, of course, was to start one.
Tim and Kris opened The Hearth in Eden Prairie in mid-October of this year. The stars of their menu are Tim’s pizzas, made with his own sauces – “I came in with the sauce,” Tim proudly remarks – and served in 10- and 14-inch sizes.
Settling into his brick-and-mortar location required a few adjustments, particularly with the available heat source. “We still make brick oven pizzas,” Tim explains, but the restaurant uses gas, not wood. “There’s a learning curve to switching over,” says Tim. “The technique is a little different – the dough, for instance, needs a little more time to proof.” Along with his sauces, a key ingredient is the traditional Italian pizza flour, Tipo (type) 00.
One constant to strive for, whether pizza ovens are fired with wood or gas (and there are East Coasters who swear by coal) is a light, puffy crust, airy and never dense or “bready.” Ideally, pizza crust should be speckled with the charred spots that reveal a quick bake over intense heat. Tim mastered that effect with his mobile oven, and he’s brought it with him to The Hearth.
Toppings? The Hearth menu starts with simple Neapolitan standards like the Margherita, made with fresh basil and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and ramps up to specialties such as the Carnivore (sausage, pepperoni, and bacon), the Ball Hog (sliced beef, veal, and sausage meatballs), the Dixie Clucker (white sauce, grilled chicken, crunchy onions, and feta), and the Garbaggio (we’ll have to check our Italian dictionary to see if that’s a real word, but you get the idea).
The Hearth is more than a pizza restaurant. “I handle the pizza side, but we were fortunate to be able to hire the chef who worked at the restaurant that was at this location before we moved in,” says Tim. There’s a full menu of starters (we like the sound of the Sourdough Cheese Bomb, a loaf stuffed with garlic butter and melted mozzarella), hand-helds ranging from a classic sausage and pepper to Philly cheesesteak to a Chicago-inspired thin-sliced beef sandwich topped with a helping of giardiniera (that, we know, is an Italian word, and it’s delicious).
Burgers, pastas, and soups are all house-made. “We even make our own pickles,” Tim adds.
The Hearth’s bar offerings include, along with a select list of wines and beers, an array of craft cocktails that changes with the seasons. “We’ve got a maple bourbon Old Fashioned,” says Tim. “Through October, we offered a drink called Witches’ Brew, made with violet-colored Indigo gin and blue Curaçao. Next up will be specials for Christmas, and cold weather.” When summer rolls around, The Hearth is the place for an Aperol Spritz. And there are all the standards – game day specials always include Bloody Marys and Mimosas.
And the Rolling Hearth still rolls. “We cater private parties, and you’ll find us at public events – fairs and festivals,” says Tim. “The mobile unit promotes the restaurant, and vice versa.” This time of year, though, we’d head straight to the place where the mozzarella stays melted. What could be cozier than a Hearth? TheHearth.us