The Twist Columbia at 9300 Two Notch Road will serve its last seafood plates on July 10.
“It was one of those things where I’ve done everything in the food industry,” said owner and chef Lazarius Ken Walker. “I feel like it was time for growth and I couldn’t do that with a restaurant.”
The Columbia restaurant has a large social media following from its fame on the Food Network show Guy’s Grocery Games in 2019 and other awards. The same year, Walker won a Guinness World Record Title for the most expensive crab cake.
The Platinum Crab Cake at The Twist will set you back $312 because it’s made of black truffles, platinum leaves, platinum dust, king crab meat, lump crab meat, butter and herbs, according to Guinness.
On its Facebook page, the restaurant announced on June 28 that it would close for good. Since then, Walker said he’s received an outpouring of support and is stocking up on food for The Twist’s final days of business.
In the post, the restaurant acknowledged not only surviving the pandemic, but selling out of food each weekend. Walker said he decided to close the restaurant to focus on his other business ventures— working in real estate and tech.
He was featured on an episode of House Hunters Wednesday helping a single mother find a home in Columbia. Walker also launched a digital business card app called MetroTap recently.
Walker was able to start The Twist in 2017 with award money from winning the Thomas’ Breakfast Battle. This cook-off made him the first Black chef to win a National Food Truck competition.
Most items at The Twist don’t cost hundreds of dollars. For example, the Tsunami plate, which includes a snow crab cluster, two Carolina crab cakes, ten shrimp, a cob of corn, a roll, beef sausage slices and a crushed bed of potatoes, is $35.
For two more weekends, you can visit The Twist on Fridays and Saturdays from 1 to 7 p.m.