New chef keeps grill's personality

Sunday, March 26, 2006

In September, the new Twisted Grille made Gourmet Magazine's prestigious list of "places we're talking about - and making reservations for - this month."

By the end of that month, executive chef Dustin Vanasse had left, taking with him his experience cooking at Rossi's SteakHouse and Tryg's in Minneapolis, and at Commander's Palace in Las Vegas.

Changes are inevitable after such a departure - and quality typically suffers, at least initially. But six months later, we're glad to report that both restaurant and menu have kept their "Twisted" personality: an appealing mix of eclectic urban-international and updated Midwest Main Street.

First built as a bank, a fact remembered in the dark wood around the ground-floor bar and tables, The Twisted Grille sets walls of key-lime green against a bright pressed-copper ceiling to create electric energy in an impressively vertical room.

Overhead hang whimsical sculptures of twisted metal and a color-splashed mezzanine with a tiny open kitchen and a seating area so narrow that servers must squeeze past its little tables for two.

With exposed rafters and open attic, the second floor is the restaurant's most relaxed and comfortable space. There's a cozy piano bar at one end, a small performance stage at the other and two rows of lustrous wood-topped tables in between.

If you're hungering for the international, you have several options. Tender marinated calamari were deep-fried in a light panko crust sparked by smoked seasoned salt and lemon zest, $7.75. A vanilla-chili dipping sauce - really a good spicy red-pepper mayonnaise - lent a second layer of zing.

Whatever you order, get the grilled caesar, $6.75, perhaps to share. Lightly charred whole Romaine hearts, soft flakes of Parmigiano-Reggiano, firm white Spanish anchovies, house-made herbed croutons and a creamy caesar dressing elevated by tangerine bits and tangerine-infused olive oil - these superb elements made a profoundly satisfying salad.

A massive Asian beef short rib, $21.50, served on its bones, both pleased and disappointed us. Expertly braised, it defined tenderness and beefy savor. Unfortunately, its fruity sweet Thai plum sauce lacked the balanced complexity of the best Thai dishes. Worse, the meat wanted trimming, and the dark sauce masked the pillows of fat.

The forest floor risotto makes an outstanding entree or appetizer: two kinds of mushrooms, aged Parmigiano cheese, Italian arborio rice, fresh-minced herbs and a drizzle of white truffle oil create a comforting mélange of simplicity, richness and elegance, $11.75.

If your hunger is more Midwestern, don't miss the white cheese curds, $5.25. As a friend said: "They're fabulous."

A medium-rare hamburger with bleu cheese and caramelized onions was close to perfect: 8 ounces of nicely seasoned, hand-pattied ground chuck well-seared on the outside and moist pink within, $9.

A walleye filet, pan-fried to a delicate seasoned crunch, was a miracle of moist flesh and mild lake-fish flavor, $16.50.

And the one pan chicken! The seared crisp-salty skin exploded with black pepper heat, the meat surprised us with succulence and a fine chickeny taste. The classic pan gravy was light and luscious, $13.75.

Commendably, all desserts are homemade. In the excellent Mama's Tres Leches ("Three Milks") torte, $6.50, a dense white cake steeps in a rich bath of evaporated and sweetened condensed milks and thickened cream while a perky brew of brandy and sugared blackberries or other fruit seeps down from the top.

The "mama" in question is mother to The Twisted Grille's talented new executive chef Luis Cassillo, a native of the Yucatan, graduate of Le Cordon Bleu and veteran Minneapolis-area chef. He and manager Brian Asmus are now happily developing new dishes for spring.

Main Course, the Leader-Telegram's restaurant review column, runs the fourth Sunday of the month. Diners' Notebook, a sampling of favorite restaurant offerings, runs the second Tuesday of the month.