A month ago, everything was going along as planned. Twisted RAnCh, the only restaurant in the country to focus heavily on the nuances of Ranch dressing, was holding its first dry-run event (for friends and family) when something unforeseen happened — the chef walked out 20 minutes into service. Even for the wild and wacky restaurant business, this was highly unusual.
Owner Jim Hayden wisely postponed the opening, scheduled for a few days later. Turns out he dodged a bullet, as it’s far better to lose a key employee shortly before opening than shortly thereafter (a more frequent occurrence).
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Hayden hired Joe Dufek, an alum of Frazer’s, to assess and tweak the menu and the restaurant quietly opened last Friday, currently for lunch only. Dinner hours and a dinner menu will commence presently.
Twisted RAnCh is twisted, alright. The concept, the menu—even the spelling of the restaurant’s name—made so by using the first letters of the names of owner Jim Hayden’s three children. SLM broke the news in March and it quickly became one of the most popular stories of the year. News outlets in several other cities picked up on the novelty; even EATER has been keeping tabs.
Hayden and partner Chad Allen were serious about an idea that others dismissed as fleeting and frivolous. Hayden spent better part of two years developing a proprietary Ranch spice mix, basically a mix of basil, dill, parsley garlic, onion, plus “a little bit of secret and a little bit of love.” The carriers are sour cream, mayo, and a touch of mustard. The base mix is used to flavor 20 different riffs on the sauce, from Buffalo to BBQ.
A centrally-located blackboard lists the sauce options, with a dozen varieties available at any one time. On the same board are the restaurant’s Signature Drinks, where a Ranch-infused vodka is the base for the Twisted Mary.
Dufek and company are currently refining the dinner menu, but when it debuts, expect a modest selection of entrees priced in the teens.
The current lunch menu is a mix of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and wraps. Mozzarella sticks are hand-breaded in a Ranch-spiked panko and served with crispy prosciutto and a side of pesto Ranch (right). Loaded Ranch nachos are colorful, and at $8 per, are the perfect sharable starter.
Hayden notes that sandwiches can be made “sweeter, spicier, smokier, etc.” simply by adding a different sauce, “an at-home touch that makes the small menu feel bigger than it is.”
Out of the nine sandwiches and wraps, the early favorite is the Chicken Fajita Ranch Wrap (see menu below), but the item generating the most buzz is the hand-cut French fries: Ranch spice is in the brine, it’s shaken atop the fries after cooking, and there’s a choice of dipping sauce (so far, Roasted Garlic and Southwest have been the most popular). If it all seems to be too much, the early crowds say it’s not. The fries are the most popular item on the menu (the loaded option is shown below).
The decor is a cross between old industrial and new prep kitchen: some tables are of brushed metal, others look like they were rolled straight out of a commercial kitchen. Atop both are galvanized metal caddies, a corral for salt, pepper, and a larger shaker containing powdered Ranch.
Aluminum sheeting clads several walls in the 50-seat space. Repurposed machine shop down lights illuminate the tables and galvanized block letters bid a bold farewell (below).
And to answer the most commonly asked question at Twisted RAnCh: yes, ketchup is available. “Other restaurants charge you an extra .50 or .75 for Ranch dressing,” Allen said, half-jokingly, “and we thought about doing the same for ketchup—that’s only fair, right?—and then we reconsidered.”
twisted RAnCh
1730 S. 8th Street (at Soulard)
Soulard
314-833-3450
Current hours: 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Tue-Sun, dinner hours soon.
Facebook: Twisted RAnCh
Twitter: @TwistedRanchSTL
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