Twisted Fork UPDATE - Reno, NV

THIS is my favorite local lunch spot. Always was, always will be when a visit to the grandparents is in order.

No meal and no Reno visit is complete without a Tiger Shrimp Tamal: soft, sweet corn all around, topped tender shrimp covered in garlic cream crack.  

The Kale and Beets Salad: the only time I don't hate kale. It's baby kale so it's only a little bit waxy, and the salad itself is full of good stuff besides. Sweet beets in vivid color, oranges for acid, cranberry and candied walnuts for texture, goat cheese to add a little extra, and a smooth vinaigrette to pull it all together. 

Can't just eat a salad? Pick Pastor Pork Tacos. You get steaming-warm corn tortillas to wrap around these flavorful pieces of pork. Chopped on the smaller side for more sauce-clinging surface area and a marinade that soaks all the way through, the flavor cuts real deep. Dig deeper and you'll see the bits of pineapple too. They add the sweet n' juicy.

There is something special about Twisted Fork. They have a creativity, a quality, a polish and attention to detail that keeps you coming back. I love you, Twisted Fork, you are forever on my Reno radar!

Twisted Fork UPDATE - Reno

VACATION. The only thing I LIVE for. On vacation, I don't just survive, I THRIVE. I am only truly ALIVE when I am exploring a new world, never was the morning sky so blue, the sunset so bright in a crimson horizon... Said no millennial... EVER. 

Dramatic much? Enough with the BS. I hate being included in the tail end of that generation, ugh. But my travel bug is real; I just don't call it wanderlust. 

Whatever you call it, it is my time... My time off, that is, and it's time for an active siesta to Reno for a visit with a couple of my favorite grandparents. 

There is something sweet about experiencing their favorite Reno, something poetic about putting our feet in their shoes to walk their path through their beloved city. 

It's only our third visit, but we already have our favorites. Twisted Fork is a default lunch by now, though this visit we're eating light. 

The Tiger Shrimp Salad is a special, too special not to try. The shrimp is well-seasoned, southwestern style with black beans, corn kernels, and a softer gorgonzola. 

The Ceviche De Atun, an appetizer the size of a modest meal, is a heap of remarkably fresh tuna - swift shipping for an inland empire. The ponzu is more soy than sour, the avocado does well on top. 

We're hardly hitting the ground running this time around - this visit is more restful than run-around. It's the beauty of visiting a place more than once, and we savor it as our momentum builds. 

Twisted Fork UPDATE - Reno

I want the salad. All the salad. Said me. For the first time ever.

There is a single reason I never want the salad: Restaurants make sad, sucky salads. Lots of lettuce, no flavor, just filler. Fattening up the health-conscious with cleverly concealed croutons and a dressing downpour, salads have been padding the profit margin since the beginning of time. 

And Twisted Fork is no except... Never mind. This Root Vegetable Salad is divine. Juicy beets burst with sweet satisfaction. They are a red-yellow sun with a perfect orbit of fresh mixed greens and an asteroid belt of rocky cashews and sweet goat cheese. The drizzle of honey balsamic adds an uplift, a non-overpowering highlight to a dish that can already stand alone.

The Pear and Apple Salad is not the most original, but it is still a stand-out in its own right. The pears are honey-roasted for an unexpected touch of intensity, a soft contrast to the crisp raw apples. Blue cheese is a logical pairing, as are the candied walnuts and light tangy dressing.

We're already full. Those salads are on the lighter side, but those plates have some heft. But we're not heavy enough, and every salad requires negation. For every salad, there is a Cowboy Ribeye. A steak with meticulous marbling; dirty,  peppery dark from the romesco, gooey  from a running fried egg.

The side of Mac n' Cheese is something else. Decadence has never been more real, as a thick truffle cream drips of an elbow, coating every taste bud on every inch of your tongue as the truffle envelops every sense.

No room for dessert. None. That'll wait until next time. We don't end up in Reno very often, but there will always be a next time for Twisted Fork. 

Twisted Fork - Reno

You've heard of pregnancy brain? I don't have pregnancy brain. But I do have wedding brain. Same difference.

Wedding brain: A condition where one becomes obsessed with planning one's wedding and is found by others to be extremely boring and often annoying. To exist in a state of delusion where one believes that everyone else must love to hear about every agonizing detail for a future date they must struggle through to show support for their friend(s) taking the plunge.

So I am boring. And I am learning that planning a wedding is hard. But the difficulty starts long before the wedding, and sometimes even before the engagement. I started as an only child with my parents as the only constant figures in my life. The rest of my family tree lies firmly rooted across the Pacific, and that was all I knew.

Justin comes with a lot more family. A lot of people love him, and I feel like it'll take a lifetime to know them all and appreciate each person for who they are and who they will be. So far, that journey has taken us to Malibu, Vista, and Thousand Oaks, and this time, it lands our plane in Reno.

I am wary and I am nervous, but I keep an open mind. After all, when you see a fork in the road...you should take it. So it's only appropriate that we go directly from Reno-Tahoe airport to the Twisted Fork for lunch.

The menu is a good mix, and the company is too. There's a traditional path, appreciated by all, a Short Rib Grilled Cheese of melty cheddar, hunks and chunks of soft shreds of short rib, and a hint of horseradish buried in cream. Think really good sandwich... And take it up a little notch.

The sandwich is a joyful journey down the beaten path, but if you're looking for the road less traveled, the Tiger Shrimp Tamal is the way to go. The finest-ground, sweet corn is stuffed with tender jumbo shrimp, and it stews in a garlic cream that I can only describe as liquid crack.

I didn't know what to expect as I sat down with my new family for the first time, but I knew, immediately, that this trip to Reno was one of my better decisions. The conversation flowed faster than the diet coke, and the only thing warmer than my tamal was the couple sitting across from us. I also didn't know what to expect from the food as I sat down in Twisted Fork for the first time, but I knew, immediately, that this lunch was one of Their better decisions.