At Twisted Ranch in The Grove, a ranch dressing–themed menu gets paired with boozy slushies

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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

Five-ranch flight with fries

When Twisted Ranch, a ranch dressing–themed restaurant and bar, opened its doors in Soulard in July 2015, no one could have predicted the extraordinary response. The brainchild of owners Jim Hayden and Chad Allen, Twisted Ranch was the first of its kind in the nation, incorporating ranch dressing into every dish. St. Louis diners quickly offered opinions of the concept, and their passionate responses revealed the surprising levels of adoration and disgust that people hold for America’s best-selling salad dressing.

Then came the video. In 2017, BuzzFeed posted a splashy 60-second piece featuring the restaurant, declaring it the “ranchiest place on earth.” Currently, the video has more than 37 million views and 370,000-plus comments. Twisted Ranch became a viral sensation. Even more national recognition would follow, not only from Eater and Grub Street but also Southern Living and Rachael Ray Every Day magazine.

Twisted Ranch would also attract the attention of The Kraft Heinz Company. The new partners began selling five varieties of Twisted Ranch dressings nationwide in more than 10,000 grocery stores, as well as Walmart and Amazon. (Look for the Jalapeño Popper flavor to appear on store shelves in early 2020.) The Black Peppered Parmesan flavor caught the attention of People magazine, which named it Best Ranch in its Best Supermarket Products of the Year awards last year.

With seating for only 45, the original Soulard restaurant quickly outgrew its original location and, in early 2018, moved into a space just a block away. With capacity for almost three times as many diners, Twisted Ranch continued to serve not only local ranch enthusiasts but also die-hard ranch-heads who visited from all over the country.

Last summer, Twisted Ranch announced that it would be adding a second location, serving the popular ranched-up food favorites inside The Grove outpost of Tropical Liqueurs, popular for its booze-filled slushies.

The menu offered at the new takeaway–style counter is largely identical to the one at the Soulard location, though customers instead receive texts when their orders are ready. Most items are served with additional sides of some of the more than 30 different ranch flavors, all of which are scratch-prepared in house. The creative riot of dressings runs the gamut from buttermilk-basil and roasted garlic to curry yogurt and the Kemowasabi, which pairs the sweetness of honey with the fleeting burn of wasabi.

The appetizers are the best-sellers at the Trops location. It makes perfect sense: Such items as crisp-fried Buffalo chicken wings and piping-hot Tater Tots loaded with cheddar cheese, bacon, and green onions are exactly what many patrons want after drinking candy-colored slushies. Hand-cut fries served with a flight of five sides of ranch is the best way to experiment with the myriad options. Another don’t-miss sharable: the platter of panko-fried dill pickle chips served with, well, you know. 

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Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

The Ranch Prince Burger

For something more substantial, consider one of the burgers, sandwiches, or wraps. The cheeseburger—a sort of patty melt sandwiched inside a tomato- and-bacon grilled cheese and finished with a healthy smear of cheesy bacon ranch—is wonderfully crispy and gooey. An even heftier option is the Ranch Prince, a ranch-seasoned burger topped with sliced Philly cheesesteak–like ribeye (with onions, peppers, mushrooms, and Provolone), plus bacon and a fried egg. Less voluminous (but also recommended) is the fried chicken sandwich, breaded in Cool Ranch Doritos and topped with bacon, lettuce, tomato, and Provel.

At this point, putting ranch on a salad starts to seem almost novel, but the chef salad, loaded with smoked ham, turkey, bacon, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and croutons, will remind you why you fell in love with the dressing in the first place.

The hardest choice is deciding which boozy (or otherwise) slushie will accompany your meal. Most of the choices, such as the Brain Freeze and Tiger Paw (a salute to Trops’ roots in Columbia), are sweet and potent, but consider the less cloying Frozé when it’s available.

Whether you visit the Twisted Ranch location in Tropical Liqueurs as a ranch devotee or you’re perplexed by its cult status, the creative bar-food favorites will have you happily dipping and dunking. And in the new year, the Grove location will roll out brunch service and serve as the testing ground for a dessert program accompanied by (can you guess?) sweetened sauces (such as lemon and caramel) with a ranch back note. 

Crazy, you say? 

We’ll see about that.