Photo by Chris Butler/cbutler@idahostatesman.com / Guitarist Ben Burdick and bassist Bill Liles entertain a Friday-night crowd at the new Twig's Cellar in Downtown Boise.
A glass of wine, an appetizer, a little live jazz and I’m thinking life in springtime Boise is pretty good.
A windowless basement may not sound like the perfect place for such sunny contentments, but this cubbyhole on the lower level of the Garro Building on Bannock Street (between 8th and 9th) has delivered before. The MilkyWay’s much-loved first incarnation was housed here. Then Andrae’s settled in to become one of Boise’s most refined dining spots.
Now Twig’s Cellar inhabits this same subterranean warren of rooms. And, again, it works.
Like the soft jazz that’s nearly always floating from speakers or playing live, a kind of urban suavity drifts through the place. For those who remember Andrae’s, the walls are still warm, buttery brown; the curtains and booths, muted red; the main room and den-like side room still glowing in pools of lamplight. There are changes, like a cozy new bar, but Twig’s remains a testament to how good design and thoughtful planning can transform what otherwise could have been a subterranean afterthought.
The food, too, rises above grade: The numerous appetizers, the salads, the pizzas, the desserts aspire to more than mere bar food. When paired with Twig’s intriguing list of wines by the glass, they frequently succeed.
The aforementioned pairing of gorgonzola-stuffed dates wrapped in prosciutto ($8) with a good Columbia Valley gewurztraminer ($8) was my first salty, sweet taste of Twig’s. I went back for the braised satay appetizer ($12), a trio of lamb, chicken and pork skewers. Again, a pleasure, especially when those Asian flavors mingled with a Willamette Valley Vineyards riesling ($6). The artichoke and spinach dip ($7) was also good, the fresh spinach still toothsome, even as a puree. It and the scattered chunks of artichoke were a nice foil for the accompanying parsley-flecked baguette slices and a Spice Route sauvignon blanc ($6.25).
Before opening her namesake wine bar in December, first-time restaurateur Twig Munro says she tested out recipes all summer in her own kitchen. With help from her son Rob Fiero – who is the bar’s sommelier – and her kitchen manager, Munro pored over magazines and books, trying to find dishes that would fit her wine list, be healthy and fun to eat.
The four pizzas on Twig’s menu meet those goals. They’re small, handmade, thin-crusted and elegant. My favorite, the Weiss ($9) – a white-sauce pizza with caramelized onions, sweetly roasted garlic and a drizzle of truffle oil – was rich, earthy. The BBQ chicken pizza ($10), a style of pizza often coated in candy-sweet flavors, was instead subtle and smoky.
Photo by Chris Butler/cbutler@idahostatesman.com / Bassist Bill Liles, and guitarist Ben Burdick (not pictured) entertain a Friday-night crowd at the new Twig's Cellar in Downtown Boise.
Twig’s Cellar does not try to match the culinary ambitions of former residents MilkyWay or Andrae’s. Twig’s is much more about ambiance than fine dining and excels at dishes that don’t dominate but quietly complement good wine and conversation.
Less successful are those dishes that ask ingredients to speak for themselves. On another visit, the crab filling the crab cakes ($12) lacked flavor, as did the beef in the American Kobe medallion ($14) (though the chipotle aioli and the blueberry catsup that accompanied those dishes, respectively, were very good). A Caprese salad ($8) – at its best a seasonal showcase for perfectly ripe tomatoes, meltingly fresh mozzarella and whole basil leaves – arrived in a stunning starburst pattern. But with mozzarella of the drier, aged variety and tomatoes – well, in early May any restaurant should seriously reconsider its rationale for fresh tomatoes.
Still, I’ve found many more moments of contentment than consternation at Twig’s Cellar – and that’s a respectable record for a first-time restaurateur with a fledgling business. On my last visit, all it took to slip back to the sunny side was a thick, deliciously moist slice of house-made chocolate cake ($6) and a generous pour of Graham’s 20-year-old Tawny port ($11).
Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/05/28/1208678/twigs-cellar-pleases-the-senses.html#ixzz0pVTC13cS
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Guy Hand is a writer, public radio producer and photographer specializing in food and agriculture. |
