Even the best of cooks like to dine out sometimes. It seems they enjoy dining out more than most, taking careful notice of how dishes are prepared and presented. Today my daughter and I visited Cafe Twist in the Bristol Mall after hearing quite a lot of buzz about it lately.
Check those status updates
If you want to determine the up and coming restaurants in your area, the easiest way is to check people's status updates on social media. If you see one place showing up regularly, you can figure that either the food, the entertainment, or the general atmosphere is great. I had covered the music lineup at Cafe Twist for a previous column which you can read here, but I had never enjoyed a visit to the restaurant.
The Menu
The menu at Cafe Twist is only two pages, but they have a wide variety of updated favorites. You can see the menu on the Cafe Twist Facebook page. Among the things that had intrigued me when writing the previous article was the Lettuce Wedge Salad, listed as a "Main Entree Salad," priced at $5.50. My daughter ordered the Black Bean Veggie Burger, priced at $7.50. Both were delivered very quickly to our table.
My daughter's burger was frankly very, very good, veggie or not. After tasting a bite, I immediately wished I had ordered one, too. The spice used in the burger was divine. It came with mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and tortilla chips with salsa.
I had considered the Blackened Cajun Burger, but settled on that Lettuce Wedge Salad that I had somehow never managed to order at any restaurant before. It was a massive wedge of lettuce that made my daughter's eyebrows go up in surprise. The lettuce was very fresh and green, but there was not enough of the topping for the lettuce involved!
So, I can honestly say that it was very good in parts, and the rest was just very good lettuce. The blue cheese dressing, crumbled blue cheese, bacon, and purple onion were very good, but frankly very hard to find. I did ask for more dressing, which they were happy to bring and very nice about it.
Just nice enough
Cafe Twist has a unique atmosphere at lunch. When you enter the open entrance from the mall, you don't see a lot of servers or workers of any kind. It is almost like you are slipping into a quiet, relaxing hideaway. All that is missing is some running water fountains. The lighting is very misty, and it is quiet. There is no loud, blaring radio to annoy you, and no chatty servers to annoy you either. I don't think I ever heard a dish clink.
There were two servers working the sparse lunch crowd, and they were pleasant, but not intrusive. There was no small talk, which frankly I don't want. I came to eat and chat with my daughter, and I didn't come to chat with the servers. They were constantly on foot, quickly and quietly moving about bringing elegant carafes of ice water and food and checking with customers in a pleasant, but hushed kind of tone. The entire place had a hushed tone, and I really, really liked it.
Being familiar with the music lineups they usually have, I am sure that the atmosphere is a little different on weekend nights. However, when you want to "do lunch," this is the type of quiet, soft, intimate place you want.
Not another mall restaurant
Most Bristol residents have been vaguely aware of the various restaurants that have occupied this spot in the Bristol Mall. I have never eaten at any of the previous establishments, which have just not impressed me as anything but a mall restaurant. Cafe Twist is more than just a restaurant; it is a pleasant place to go, whether for a quiet, relaxing lunch or to be part of the local music scene on weekend nights.
I need more bacon, onions, and crumbled blue cheese next time, but ... I am definitely a fan.
Be sure and visit Barbiecrafts.com, the home of your Knoxville Cooking Examiner on the web.There you will find links to various other online activities and a personal blog of the often-humorous life as a work-at-home woman on a mountain. You can also follow @barbiecrafts on Twitter or find Barbie Crafts (Writer) on Facebook. Do you have Google+? Barbie Crafts is on there, too!
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