Like their banana cream, salted caramel and PB&J cocktails, Twisted Sisters Pub & Grill isn’t run of the mill. True, they mix up drinks and serve food hot off the flames, but the Lakeport restaurant is much more than your neighborhood bar and grill. So it’s only fitting that their events would be a little off the wall as well.
Take last Wednesday. The restaurant hosted Dining in the Dark, an experience you may have seen on television or at the movie theater. In the backroom of the rustic-chic locale, dinner guests sat themselves at a dozen tables. At first it may have looked like nothing more than an ordinary group of diners ordering drinks and creating the usual din of restaurant white noise. But then there were the blindfolds. People started playing with them, taking photos before the event officially began. The lights went out a few minutes later. The room was blanketed in absolute darkness.
Servers navigated their way with flashlights, to lay about ten dishes before each guest. Those in attendance were not told what they were about to eat. Instead, they were encouraged to work that out for themselves, and leave their guesses at the end. Whoever guessed the most dishes correctly received a gift certificate to Twisted Sisters.
The menu wasn’t strange or unusual. The restaurant wasn’t trying to force people into eating odd things they otherwise never would. It was more about guests using taste, smell and even touch to figure out that had been placed in front of them. Twisted Sister’s co-owner Carrie Caron explained that they picked foods with similar textures to prompt people into really utilizing their other senses to suss it out.
For some, it was a bigger challenge than anticipated. “You think you know what you’re eating, and then they put you in the dark and you really second guess yourself,” said Norma Stewart. “I couldn’t tell the difference between a slice of squash and a strawberry.”
But even if the dishes weren’t completely out there, some guests still discovered something new at Dining in the Dark. Victoria Garrison, for instance, realized a love for strawberry-topped salad. A bit wary when it comes to stepping out of her food comfort zone, it was something she never would have tried on her own.
“My husband, he’ll eat anything, he’ll try anything,” Garrison said. “For me it was a huge thing to put on blinders and trust somebody else. But they did a fabulous job.”
Stewart, too, is a self professed picky eater. She even considered calling Twisted Sisters beforehand to tell them she didn’t eat pork or meat on the bone. But in the end, Dining in the Dark was all about trying something new. “I decided to be brave. I felt like it was one of those opportunities to do something out of the ordinary,” she said. “It definitely made me feel brave because it was such a unique experience.”
Last week’s event was Garrison’s first time Dining in the Dark. Though she went in with very few expectations, she walked away enthusiastic and ready for round two. Even if she did have a hard time getting the food on her fork, she added.
“It really emphasizes how much looking at food impacts what you eat,” said Garrison.
Twisted Sisters owners Caron and Carma Jordan were also new to this experience. They’d read about restaurants doing it in other places and decided to introduce the concept here. “We wanted to do something different that the community hasn’t seen and thought would be a fun event for people to try out,” Caron said.
That’s something of a theme for Twisted Sisters — they want to break the mold. They want to give the community new events and activities. Their regularly scheduled events include Mancave Mondays for the guys, Tipsy Tuesdays for the girls and live music on Wednesdays for everyone. The restaurant had a huge positive response to Dining in the Dark, as well as a wine and paint night they held not long before that. Their special Valentine’s Day dinner is already full.
“I think that the community is hungry for things out there to do that are fun and different,” said Caron.
Dining in the Dark was proof of that. Both Garrison and Stewart attended the event because they’d never seen anything like it around the lake. “Living in Lake County everything is very ordinary and it’s hard to try different things without leaving the county,” Stewart said. “I thought it would be a fun, different experience to do and give me something to talk about and broaden my horizons.”
Even before Dining in the Dark, Garrison had been to Twisted Sister Pub & Grill numerous times. Each visit only solidifies the idea that the restaurant is an asset to the local entertainment scene. “They’re fresh air here in Lake County,” she said.
Keep an eye out for the next Dining in the Dark event, or sip and paint night, and be sure to make reservations early — if the past is any indication, they’ll be filling up fast.
“We’ve got a lot up our sleeve,” Caron added.
