Good food and wine at Twisted Vine!

Tonight I had the honor and the privilege to attend the soft opening of Twisted Vine Bistro and Wine Bar. One of my dear friends Mia Saling is the Executive Chef at Twisted Vine, and I could not wait to try the menu.

Since it is a wine bar, the first order of business was to select a glass of wine. I was going to go with a glass of processco to start, then I was advised to try a glass of Frista, it is a sparkling wine from Chile that is infused with strawberries.

I really enjoyed this wine it was light fruity, and I could really taste the strawberries. It was a perfect way to kick off the meal. We started with the small plates. We ordered the yellow tail tostadas and the Molten  Brie Crisps.

The Yellow tail tostadas had a nice crunch, which I love because I am a texture junky. In contrast the guacamole and the cream sauce gave the tostadas a nice creamy balance, that paired beautifully with the perfectly cooked yellowtail.
The Molten Brie Crisp has a light crispy outer shell, that hides a melty gooey brie. On top there are port wine cherries and candied pistaschios which add a touch of sweetness to cheese. That sweetness actually helps cut the richness of the cheese.
Up next I had the tomato fennel soup. This soup is rich and creamy so silky smooth, I could not believe there is no heavy cream in this soup. That's right somehow Mia was able to create this amazingly rich and satisfying soup without the help of heavy cream. So if you want something that taste sinful but isn't get this soup!

We didn't stop at the soup, oh no! There were too many other tempting options on the menu we had to keep going! That's exactly what we did, we ordered the Sopressata, Prociutto and Fresh Mozzarella Flat bread.

This is a great flatbread for meat lovers. When this arrived at my table I was really drawn in by the beautiful colors of this flatbread. Don't let all that arugula fool you, there is some serious meat under there. I really enjoyed the freshness of the pesto against the prociutto. This is a yummy snack to share with some friends over a bottle wine or to split for dinner.

Twisted Vine isn't just savory, they have a nice sweet side too. For dessert we ordered the Chocolate cake with vanilla bean gelato. This cake is a chocolate lovers dream. I loved the vanilla bean gelato which was nice and cool against the warm chocolate cake. It was the perfect end to the meal.

It was such a lovely night, I am so very proud of Mia, she has put her heart and soul into this menu and the flavor of the food reflects her passion for cooking.

Congratulations Chef Mia! You ROCKED it!

**Life lesson: Seeing Mia living her dream and seeing the results of all her hard work and dedication was truly an inspiration for me. Watching her reminded me, to keep doing what I love and to never give up on my dreams! Thank you Mia for showing me that any thing is possible with hard work and love for what you do!