Twisted Tail
509 South Second Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
I
had asked for a gift certificate to the Twisted Tail for Christmas this past
year, once I had become more familiar with the area down the road from where my
girlfriend had moved. We decided to head up there one evening to check it out.
They always seem to have some form of live music going on, which I always love
about places, so we were pretty excited to head over there.
When
we got there, we were seated right next to the guy that was performing. It was
a pretty cool feeling to be so close to him as we were enjoying our meal and
his music. The bar menu is pretty fantastic, with lots of drinks and lots of
moonshine! It definitely gave me a feeling reminiscent of being back in the
South. My girlfriend ordered up the drink special that they were offering for
the night a one bourbon, one scotch and one beer special for 10 bucks. I also
ordered up a 10 dollar option, a cocktail flight containing an apple pie cocktail,
a basil lemonade and one other moonshine based cocktail. Everything was
delicious and the moonshine really brought me back to my years spent at Elon in North Carolina.
We
decided to order two items from the charcoal grill section, the Berkshire pork
belly and the beef hearts, as well as the crawfish mac and cheese and the fried
chicken in a bag. The grilled items came out together and were an amazing start
to the meal. I had never had beef hearts before, and was surpised as to how
tender they were. The heart is such a strong muscle, I assumed it would be a
little tough, but it was not at all. It was very flavorful, not gamey at all
and had a very nice char to it. The pork belly was pretty amazing as well. It
was charred perfectly, and the fresh
herbs really brought out the natural flavor of the pork. The small bit of lime
juice it was dressed with seemed weird to me at first, but I couldn’t stop
myself from eating more and more of it. It was addicting as can be.
The
crawfish mac and cheese came out with the chicken which was perfect. I love
when they make mac and cheese with larger noodles, and these in particular were
large spirals. They mac and cheese was topped with breadcrumbs, a touch of
genius in my opinion as it adds a textural difference. My only complaint would
be that the crawfish weren’t overly abundant in the dish. I wish that there
were more of them. The fried chicken was some of the best I have had in a
while. Even my girlfriend, whom you all know has major chicken issues, raved about
it. It was playfully plated in a brown paper bag, reminiscent of the way fried
chicken is prepared in the South in shakable brown bags. It had wonderfully
crispy, seasoned skin and the bird itself was very tender and moist. The
rosemary honey glaze was the perfect accompaniment for the chicken and I can
never resist some good okra and sweet potato fries, so they really nailed it
for me.
Not
to be outdone, we had to order up some dessert, and as soon as I heard that
they had ricotta beignets on the menu, our decision was made. They were crazy
soft inside, and were coated perfectly in a whirl of cinnamon sugar. The toffee
sauce that they were served with was highly addictive. Ever since first having
toffee at Dandelion, I have been obsessed, and Twisted Tail didn’t do anything
to make feel any differently. The creamy beignets dipped in that succulently
sweet and warm toffee sauce was pure bliss.
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