Twisted Lemon

Every once in a while, if you are lucky, you hit upon the perfect spot. Twisted Lemon is sincerely one of the top five restaurants I’ve had the pleasure of eating in, anywhere. To be clear, I travel a lot for work and have eaten in fine restaurants in cities like LA, Tokyo, London New York, Bangkok, Vancouver, San Francisco, Austin, Montréal… I love food. I’m not easily impressed. All I can say is chef Dan is a man to watch. His passion, irreverent style, bold choices, eclectic ingredients, and sophisticated flavor profiles burst from every plate like a work of art. Then comes the bill and it makes me angry because every other restaurant ever has robbed me compared to the dollar for dollar value of Twisted Lemon’s shockingly reasonable prices. Then there’s the staff, who serve with the attention, charm and pride of people who sincerely «get» what this restaurant is striving to be… The very best. I’ve eaten here on multiple occasions and the quality of food, and overall dining experience has been truly inspired. Dan is a delight to watch, a total buzz saw in the kitchen, and a tremendously friendly guy who has chatted with my group EVERY TIME we visited his spot. He so obviously loves his job, loves his patrons, and has the kind of «walk the walk» work ethic that demands admiration for what he’s built in the quiet little town of Cayuga. Stop reading this and go eat there. Thank me later.

Visiting some friends in the area I ate here with a large group for organized around a birthday. I have to admit I never expected to have such a fantastically prepared meal in Cayuga. The food is first class, this is the type of quality you get in 5 star restaurants in major cities, this restaurant has a chef that ‘gets it’ and it shows. The bar is well stocked with local Ontario microbrews, which were great, and the wine list is well conceived. The sommelier really knows his stuff (the fact they have one is impressive enough). If you’re in the area and can get a table, def. check it out.

I have eaten at Twisted Lemon twice and both times the meals were fantastic and customer service very friendly. It’s an intimate space. Book the table that looks into the kitchen and watch the team hard at work. They feature local ingredients in their dishes, and also stock Burning Kln wine from next-​door Norfolk County.