In the words of Rhonda Fulton of Twisted Sister in Manitowaning, it was “about a boy.”
About four years ago, she was living in Shakespeare, east of Stratford, when she decided to relocate to the shores of Manitoulin Island with her newfound partner.
It was shortly after their arrival on the island that they started a food truck and aptly named it Twisted Sister.
“The name was selected for three reasons,” Fulton said. “For one, my sister and I regularly participated on dragon boat race teams and this is what they called us. Secondly, a lot of the food uses different sauces and flavours to put a twisted spin on things.”
Her partner, Bryan Albrecht, added, “I used to be in a band and love rock and roll so the play on words also made sense.”
Albrecht used to make furniture for a living while Fulton fabricated bearings in a factory. They weren’t ready to completely retire, so a food truck was the next best option.
“Since the age of 12, I always wanted to own a restaurant and serve people and my partner puts up with my dreams and madness in retirement,” Fulton laughed.
The truck is situated on Michael’s Bay Road next to the winter sliding hill in Manitowaning. The building on site is used for serving ice cream each summer while the food truck is reserved for the fried foods and all things twisted. The building is owned by the township, but the couple was granted a lease on it.
There are Twisted Rockets, a crispy-shell hotdog topped with Coney sauce, cheese, green onions and sour cream.
The Twisted Chicken offers customers a breaded chicken breast with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and a pineapple curry or apple aioli sauce.
There is Twisted Guinness beer-battered fish, twisted fries drizzled with all kinds of sauces and condiments and even a twisted bowl and other hot ticket menu items.
The food truck is the perfect business plan for the couple. Now that summer students are back in school and there are fewer tourists on the island, they move to a more limited menu and focus on other priorities.
“Over the fall and winter, we do subs, pizza and pretzels in the building. The return of smash burgers and fries must wait until spring in the truck,” Fulton said.
That being said, they do supply lots of treats to visitors to the sliding hill during the snowy season complete with hot chocolate, apple cider, popcorn and other treats.
Twisted Sister is now open only on weekends 4 to 730 p.m. on Fridays and noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
It’s located on Highway 6 in Manitowaning at the old information centre and the winter sliding hill.
Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat! is made possible by Sudbury.com's Community Leaders Program.