Third Twisted Fresh opens in Northland

Alan Rust was tired of the “same old, same old” sandwich shops.

So when a small Shawnee restaurant space — just two miles from his house — became available in 2010, Rust snapped it up. He then opened up a sandwich shop that he hoped he could set apart from the rest.

Twisted Fresh would serve made-from-scratch, made-to-order wraps, sandwiches, tacos and burritos using fresh ingredients.

It was so successful that other shopping centers approached him about opening additional locations, and as he built up capital he expanded. First with an Overland Park location in 2012 and then in January he opened a location in Northland’s The Village at Burlington Creek.

The new Northland location is in the former Quiznos space at 6131 N.W. 63rd Terrace.

Twisted Fresh features “twists” which are hot or cold wraps that come on two flavors of tortilla: traditional or whole wheat. Hot wraps include chicken gyro, barbecue chicken, and spicy Thai chicken. Cool wraps include the Chicken, Cashew & Avocado, the Turkey Pesto and the Thai Veggie. Sandwiches include the 4 Alarm burger or chicken with Buffalo hot sauce and jalapeno pepper. Rust said he also can make a vegetarian version of any sandwich offering.

Rust, who had previously worked in management for national restaurant chains like Granite City Food & Brewery and Gordon Biersch, also lets each store come up with their own creative daily specials like the Kung Pao Wrap (Cajun grilled chicken, cashews, Thai slaw, pico de gallo, pepperjack and cheddar cheeses, sriracha sauce and sriracha honey aioli), the Blue Cheese Burger (1/2 pound fresh beef patty topped with blue cheese crumbles on a toasted brioche bun) and the Power Bar (grilled chicken, steamed broccoli, quinoa, pepper jack cheese, sliced tomato, cashews and ranch dressing pressed panini style so it is crispy on the outside and hot in the middle).

Rust’s favorite? The Cajun Mahi Mahi Taco with grilled mahimahi, spicy Thai slaw, cheese, pico de gallo and sriracha honey aioli.

Sides include potato salad, hard-boiled eggs, quinoa salad, apples, and edamame corn salad. It also offers brownies and cookies, box lunches and party platters, as well as delivery in a 3-mile radius of the operations for a $5 fee.

The Shawnee location is in the Monticello Village Shopping Center at 22030 W. 66th St. and the Overland Park location is in the College Village Shopping Center at 11737 College Blvd.

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 6:37 PM with the headline "Third Twisted Fresh opens in Northland."