A well-polished Fork

Trailer Park’d crew settles into a permanent home, but the food and service remain sensational

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The trailer is parked for the winter, but fans of thearea’s finest transient food cart have a new dining destination on thewest edge of Lansing: Fork in the Road Local Artisan Diner.  

Last summer I wrote a glowing profile of Trailer Park’d,the aforementioned food cart: The food was high quality, cooked welland prepared with both passion and intelligence.  

The ownership’s new brick and mortarrestaurant, at the point where Saginaw Street and Oakland Avenueconverge, continues the excellence. See for yourself.  Takea date, your parents, someone from out of town, a stranger — it doesn’tmatter. Just go. And when you do, you’ll probably understand thegushing.  

Fork in the Road was three days old on our visit lastweekend and, while many restaurants find the initial stages of aventure rocky at best, the place felt like it had been running smoothlyfor months. We were told that there had been a few hiccups in the firstcouple days, but it didn’t show.  

The décor, like the atmosphere in general, is intimate,inviting, friendly and chill. Earth tones abound — greens, browns andblues — punctuated by some vibrant colors from what must be homemadefabric window coverings. There’s an interesting mix of Midwesternsensibility and a just a touch of cosmopolitan culture in both thedesign and menu.  

The kitchen is visible through an order window, but thetypical clashing and clanging doesn’t seem to bleed out like it does inother eateries — no shouting cooks, no harried waitresses.  

Servers take time to converse and explain the ethos ofFork in the Road, its focus on organic and local food sourcing. Thewoman who took our order, in fact, works for a local farm that suppliedthe freshly picked arugula on the grilled cheese we ordered.  

So let’s start there, with the grilledcheese ($8). Forget all you know about white bread and square-shapedcheese product. At Fork in the Road, they begin with cheddar andchèvre. The cheddar, with its sharp, distinct bite, takes the lead, andthe chèvre’s creaminess melts in, its own subtle zing reinforcing thebrash cheddar.  

Thick-cut bacon was a bit much for my companion(blasphemy in some circles) but it added a rustic texture and flavorthat only enhanced the show for me. Mildly bitter arugula kept pushingin the same direction as the rest of the ingredients and added a touchof green freshness. A pesto sauce was hidden underneath it all, addinga note of flavor between two thick slices of artisanal-style bread,buttered and grilled just right.

The Ballin’ Ass tacos ($4, or two for $7.50) are hard topass up on name alone. I was interested in my brutally honestLatin-American companion’s take on a dish I’d tasted during my previousvisit to the trailer.  She was impressed — so was I, again.  

The ground chorizo has just a hint of heat to it, notenough to overpower, but enough to savor the queso fresco and limewedges lined atop the meat. The seasoning is well thought out, too —not saturated with cumin (the traditional default), but with a balancedmix of chiles and spices. Mild mole verde imparts a touch of sweetness,adding another layer to a dish that nicely mixes savory, spicy andacidic elements.

While corn tortillas are my usual preference, these tacoswere brought together beautifully with a double wrap of gently friedflour tortillas that could have passed for flatbread. The outsides ofthe tortillas were crisped and golden brown, but cooked so quickly theyretained a tender chewiness. It’s that kind of attention to detail, toeach ingredient, to each step in the process, to each part of a dish,that defines Fork in the Road as a restaurant. 

Even a side of tots ($5) is put together in style. Littlenuggets of potato are crispy outside, soft inside and sprinkled withAsiago cheese and rosemary. The creamy dip they come with though, iswhat really hits the spot — it’s light, fluffy as if whipped, creamywith a hint of cheese, a sauce that could (should, my companioninsisted) be paired with fettuccine for a delicate, delicious pastadish. And that was just a dip.

For dessert, the fried pie sounded like something I’dfind at a county fair. It’s exactly what it says it is: a deep-friedpocket of dough encasing crisp, tart chunks of apple. Two small scoopsof caramel-flavored gelato accompanied the pie, creamy and dense withchunks of chocolate and a fun extra dimension from sea salt.

Fork in the Road is the kind of place I’d take someonefrom out of town to eat, to show them the best of what we have. It’s agift to this area’s dining scene, an early holiday present that willhopefully keep on giving for many years to come. I plan on celebratingoften.

Fork in the Road

Local Artisan Diner

2010 W. Saginaw St., Lansing

11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday

(517) 580-3556

forkintheroaddiner.com

take-out; online menu available’ most entrees between $8-$13 


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