{image1} It feels weird to sit in the old Oriental Drugs space eating food, looking out at the corner of Farwell and North, without seeing those familiar Oriental faces. But once you get over that twinge of nostalgia, Twisted Fork is a comfortable eatery with a range of options that will please most diners and most pocketbooks.
Lots of hard surfaces make Twisted Fork a little loud, and you might have to run the gauntlet, dodging tray-bearing servers, on your way to the bathrooms, but it's hard to find any other shortcomings here.
Twisted Fork opened on Friday and had a three-day trial run earlier last week which also served as a fundraiser, collecting more than $15,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters.
The dining room and bar are wide open, bathed in earthy colors and wooden surfaces and filled with comfy stuffed chairs and booths. It's not swanky or especially distinctive, but it has the mellow, welcoming feel of an upscale Q-Doba, which makes sense since Twisted Fork co-owner, the Roaring Fork Restaurant Group (Eric Wagner and Mike Pranke) also owns area Qs.
But the food at Twisted Fork is anything but fast food of any stripe (although on opening night our meals arrived faaaast!). There are a dozen sandwiches in the $6.95-$8.95 price range; everything from burgers to chicken pesto panini and a reuben.
Friday fish fry dishes up cod or perch with apple sauce and fries and on Wednesdays and Saturdays, try slow-cooked prime rib. But lest you think this is just bar food, there's also New York Strip Steak (we tried this and loved it covered with caramelized onions, bleu cheese and mushrooms, $17.95), assorted pastas, salmon ($13.95), tuna ($14.95), trout ($13.45), veggie stew ($6.95) and more.
Some of the best gems are to be found among the 11 appetizers. We loved the fried calamari ($7.95) with its tangy tomato sauce and slightly spicy breading and especially the Country Bread Mushrooms ($5.95) with a mix of sauteed mushrooms atop toasted Tuscan bread covered in a delectable herbed goat cheese. Of course, a range of salads is also on tap.
{image2}The dessert menu is similarly laced with gems, from a satisfying tiramisu ($4.95) to a frutti del bosco pie ($3.95) filled with assorted berries.
Twisted Fork will also cater to the bar crowd with a late-night menu available until midnight every day except Friday and Saturday, when it's open until 1 a.m. There's brunch and they'll add breakfast, opening at 7 a.m. beginning Mon., Sept. 15.
Executive Chef David Magnasco has done a great job blending English pub fare with Italian, French and Pacific Rim influences. With its warm flavor, hearty food, reasonable prices, great servers (to judge by ours), great location and a bar with a view out toward Hooligan's, Twisted Fork feels right for the corner. Definitely more right than a liquor and convenience store, eh?
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
