Twisted Turnip offers home-style cooking
The Twisted Turnip restaurant on Calhoun Station Parkway started as a dream many years ago, and while it has evolved over the years, the idea of fresh, homestyle cooking with a twist has stayed the same, says owner and operator Billy Kistler.
“I’ve always wanted my own place, and I had conversation after conversation with people about it, including my partners, Jim and Renee Bowman,” Kistler said. “We all live in Madison, and I live closer to Gluckstadt. We wanted to be on the beginning on the growth here and I believe we were one of the first to buy on this side of the parkway.”
Kistler learned to cook in his grandmother’s and aunt’s kitchens and knew at an early age that he loved cooking. His family kitchen led him to culinary school at Johnson & Wales in Charleston, South Carolina.
Johnson & Wales opened the doors to many kitchens for Kistler throughout the Southeast, and he has stuck to his Southern roots when it comes to his personal style of cooking, even at social gatherings.
He aims for Twisted Turnip to be a restaurant that family, friends and guests can be proud of for generations to come.
Twisted Turnip, located at 166 Calhoun Station Parkway across from Sullivan’s Marketplace, opened in March.
Kistler said Twisted Turnip is based off a fast-casual dining environment like Newk’s and Primos where you order at the counter and have the food brought to you, but there are some distinct differences.
“The differences here are that we have a full bar, huge patio area, and you have the choice of ordering at the counter or ordering straight from your phone at the table,” Kistler said. “I like to call it a hybrid service. It has elements of a quick and full-service restaurant.”
Twisted Turnip offers Southern food such as a beef and cheddar sandwich, chicken fried steak, boiled peanut hummus, pork belly tacos, white chicken chili, and much more.
“As our staff grows in the kitchen and gets better at what we’re doing, so will the food,” Kistler said. “The food may change. I have thousands of recipes from my great-grandmother, grandmother, and my mother. I like to take those old recipes and make them more relevant to today’s culinary world.”
Twisted Turnip is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.. The bar is open for the same hours but stays open until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
For more information about Twisted Turnip, visit their website at www.eattwistedturnip.com, or call (769) 567-2832.