It’s fitting to have my first travel edition restaurant review in the city of Windsor, a city I visit at least a couple of times every year. Windsor may not have a grand selection of restaurants such as here in Toronto but over the past few years I’ve certainly witnessed a fair share of new restaurant openings worthy of operating in any metropolitan city around the world. If you ever wondered where highway 401 ends, Windsor is it. It’s just under a 4 hour drive east of Toronto and is situated right across from Detroit, Michigan.
I’ve been to The Twisted Apron a few times before, but never for their dinner service. Every time I’ve been to Twisted Apron it was for breakfast and I’ve always enjoyed it very much. Located down Wyandotte Street East, this is the area in Windsor where it seems the foodie revolution is flourishing and new trendy restaurants are opening up one by one.
Twisted Apron lives by its motto “Home Cooking with a Twist.” They are your neighbourhood kitchen table inside a small quaint restaurant that serves up comfort food reminiscent of your mom’s home cooking. Often times from previous experience this restaurant can be pretty packed. They also don’t accept reservations but when we arrived at around 6:30PM we were lucky to get seated right away on a weekend.
First up were the Eggplant Sliders as our appetizer. I’m not a big eggplant fan myself but the name of the dish caught my attention as it’s not something you commonly see on a menu. Between the onion buns is fried eggplant, basil pesto, mozzarella, and tomato sauce. To be honest I could not taste the eggplant in this dish after it was fried (which could be a good or bad thing depending if you like eggplant), but even so I thought the actual “meat” of the slider tasted very good. My one gripe with this dish were the buns. Personally I prefer the buns toasted and the buns here were not (or at least not enough). The warmth of the fried eggplant combined with the cold onion buns left my taste buds confused with the sensation of a hot middle and a cold exterior. However this was just a small hiccup for me as overall the sliders were still very good.
Fried Eggplant, Basil Pesto, Mozzarella, Tomato Sauce, Onion Buns - Cost $9.00
Then comes my favourite dish of the night. The Pork Schnitzel acted as my main. A “schnitzel” refers to any boneless meat that has been thinned, coated with flour, eggs, bread crumbs, and then fried. It’s a very popular dish in Germany. Fried Ontario breaded pork was the meat part of this schnitzel and I found that the dish was constructed in a very interesting way. Smoked cheddar mashed potatoes and asparagus is layered in between the three pork schnitzels and an apple chutney tops it all off. It’s a classic spin on meat and potatoes. The pork was not dry at all even after it was fried and the mashed potatoes was creamy and delicious with a hint of a cheddar flavour infused into it. I was very pleased that they were generous enough to give three fairly large pieces of pork schnitzel for the price of this dish. I was only expecting one!
Fried Ontario Breaded Pork, Smoked Cheddar Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus, Apple Chutney - Cost $17
I was debating if I should order dessert, but the fat kid inside me always seems to win so a Rhubarb Meringue Pie was in front of my face not long after the pork schnitzel was happily consumed. This was my first time having rhubarb as well in any form so I was curious to see what it would taste like. Rhubarb is a species of plant and in the culinary world the leaf stalk of the rhubarb is what is used in many recipes as it has a tarty flavour to it. When the waitress brought out the pie, she immediately apologized for butchering it as she admitted that it was difficult cutting it. She did not lie. As you can see in the picture below the slice of pie does look rather sloppy and unappetizing. As I kept eating this rhubarb meringue pie all I could think of was that it tasted very much like an apple pie. The flavour and texture of the rhubarb had a striking resemblance to it and because of that I was yearning for a scoop of ice cream to go along with it. There was another dessert option of a Salted Caramel Pudding offered here. Next time I would probably have to go with that.
Rhubarb, Meringue - Cost $5.50
I’ve been searching for a restaurant in Toronto that is like Twisted Apron for many years now after my first experience eating here. It is not an easy task to find a place that not only serves an impeccable well thought out breakfast menu but for lunch and dinner as well. Although not everything I had for dinner was a home run, most of my grievances were very minimal and other positive factors such as the service, decor, and ambiance of the place quickly puts out the flames I may have had in regards to any dissatisfaction. This is definitely a go to place when I’m in Windsor and if you ever wind up here in the southernmost city of Canada, I would recommend you give this place a try.
1833 Wyandotte Street East, Windsor, ON, N8Y 1E5
(519) 256 2655
Hours:
Monday to Saturday: 9am to 9pm; Sunday: 9am to 3pm
The Everyday Foodie Report Card
Atmosphere: 10/10
Service: 8.5/10
Food: 8/10
Presentation: 7/10
Value: 9/10
Overall: 85% Everyday Foodie Satisfaction