Twist Bakery and Cafe: Dinner and Dessert

I know I've talked about Twist before, but it's so good that it warrants several blog posts. Today, my friend Steve is coming over, and we're going to eat lots of food, which is sort of our thing. Last night, my husband and I stopped at Twist to get dinner and treats.

It's located in Millis, MA, just a stone's throw from Boston. It looks rather unassuming, wedged in between a Hallmark and a Chinese place in a plaza, but this is not a place that you want to pass up. We stop in as often as we can, and when we go, we get everything. Literally.

I wish I had taken pictures of our sandwiches, but quite frankly, I refuse to be THAT guy who holds up the meal because he/she wants to take photos of the food and post them on Instagram. Especially in a restaurant setting. Also, I was hungry and was not interested in taking precious seconds to take pictures of the food. But I got the hot roast beef sandwich with Swiss cheese (I am lactose intolerant and need to stick to lactose-free cheeses), and Brian got the Cuban sandwich. The hot roast beef is magic on two slices of bread.. hot and melty with sweet peppers and onions. The bread itself is so good -- they bake it all on premises. I also love their vinaigrette on their salad, tangy and sweet but you can still taste the olive oil.

We also got fries on the side. Hot and crispy, they're baked instead of fried. I overheard the server explaining to someone else that they blanch the fries, then leave them in the fridge to let the starch develop. Then, every time someone orders them, they're tossed in olive oil with salt and rosemary and put into an oven at 500 degrees. They were fantastic! And at only $2, a total steal.

For dessert, we had mini cinnamon buns ($1 each). I've been craving cinnamon buns ever since our trip to IKEA (how they manage to permeate the entire store with that smell is remarkable), and the frozen Udi's ones that I got last week just don't cut it. They're super dry and don't even have white icing. But the ones from Twist are moist and chewy, exactly what you want in a cinnamon bun.

My favorite thing about Twist is that it's an entirely gluten-free environment, and they are also very conscious of other food allergies. Anything with dairy or egg is clearly marked, and they are a peanut and tree nut free zone. They even mark items with coconut and soy, and offer coconut and soy milk with their coffee.

Here are the magnificent desserts that we picked up:

clockwise from top left: Chocolate chip whoopie pie, lemon bar, chocolate chip scone, oatmeal glazed cookie, lemon pound cake, and lemon truffle in the center. The lemon truffle was not dairy free, but the others were.

My only complaint about Twist is the hours. They're true bakery hours, so they tend to close around 5 pm. This summer, they opened late on Fridays and Saturdays (until 8) and are planning to revert back to their regular hours. This breaks my heart and makes me sad. I love that Brian and I can go out for dinner and have a date like real people. Rumor has it that they will continue to stay open late on one weekend night, so fingers crossed.