Giving A Different Twist To American
By The Foodies./ foodie@longislandernews.com

Stepping inside Twisted Vine Cocktails and Cuisine was like an escape from the hustle and bustle of Huntington village.

The modern brown and tan décor with vines on the walls gives it a homey feel.
The mastermind behind the newest venue at 24 Clinton Ave. is Chef Michael Heinlein, who took over the spot formerly occupied by XO Wine And Chocolate Bar, which moved down the road.

We were greeted at the door with smiles from the friendly staff. Our server Morgan brought us to a table and told us the chef prepared a special appetizer he had yet to share with his customers.

We were the first to try Heinlein’s Twisted Surf and Turf appetizer creation – a wasabi pea encrusted ahi tuna with smoked kielbasa on top of a sauerkraut potato pancake, topped with a drizzle of their homemade Hawaiian Huli Barbeque sauce ($13). The tuna was fresh and had the perfect crimson red center. The kielbasa is moist, sweet and succulent while the pancake has a crispy outside with a smooth, creamy potato filling. The touch of sauerkraut gives it a slight crunch. The sauce complements the appetizer perfectly, sweet with a subtle kick.

Need a cocktail to spice up your meal? If you have a sweet tooth, we recommend the Dirty Banana ($12). The martini is made with Malibu rum, crème de banana, pineapple juice, melon liquor and grenadine.

For our entrées, we had the grilled filet mignon, which was served with a side of lobster mashed potatoes and green beans ($34). The filet mignon is sautéed with haricot vert and topped with a pinot noir reduction. The entrée was cooked flawlessly and we savored every bite. We substituted the lobster mashed potatoes for regular mashed potatoes, which had a light taste, and the green beans were cooked just right.
We also tried the halibut, served with Yukon gold mashed potatoes, sautéed baby spinach and topped with a pepperoni sauce ($28). The fish had a moist, flaky inside, cooked perfectly.

What’s dinner without dessert? We tried the sweet potato cheesecake, topped off with caramel sauce and cinnamon sugar crumble ($9). Heinlein makes and bakes everything in-house. He even has the sweet potatoes cooking in the back.

If you need your coffee fix, try the coffee sabayon ($8). We savored every bite of the coffee custard, vanilla cake cubes with fresh raspberries, blueberries and strawberries.
This is the first restaurant for Heinlein, a Northport High School graduate who recently moved to Huntington with his wife Maria and son Alexander.

Although Heinlein graduated with an undergraduate degree in communications and a master’s in business, most of his food learning came from reading books, watching television and learning from his grandmother.

“My family has always cooked and my grandmother was a huge influence on me,” he said. “She has eight kids and she took care of every child every day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, she cooked for 10 people. For me, she was a huge inspiration and she raised me since I was 13.”

The self-taught chef worked with many professional chefs and recently worked as an executive chef at Wild Honey On Main in Port Washington.

The owner began his journey to open up Twisted Vine Cocktails and Cuisine last October. Heinlein officially opened his doors for dinner on June 8.

“It just got to a point where you realize that you’re doing so much for other people and maybe sometimes they don’t appreciate what you do so much,” Heinlein said. “I was shopping, I was prepping, I was scheduling, I was ordering, working the line. It got to a point where you say you can do this yourself.”

Although he isn’t serving his full menu yet, there’s a little bit of something to please everyone. All of his dishes were created himself, and he wanted to develop a menu that was unique to Twisted Vine.

“We’re just a little bit different,” the chef said. “Come in and check us out and see that you don’t need to have the same ol’ same ol’ that you can get anywhere in Huntington.”