I had been to Short Story Brewing previously, but it was prior to the addition of Street Food Kitchen.

So I went back to try this new restaurant headed up by none other than local chef Donnie Orr. This local restaurant celebrates "food concepts from around the world, locally sourced Appalachian ingredients, and a passion for the pursuit of perfection."

First, a glass of "Hunt and Peck," which was an American brown ale. "Malty but not overly sweet with hints of chocolate."

I got the Barbacoa beef brisket with black beans, sweet corn, queso fresco, red chili aioli on flour tortilla. Droool!

Rivesville is becoming one cool little town.

Lodged between Morgantown and Fairmont off the beaten track, this town has a record shop, a tasty restaurant and now - West Virginia's newest brewery.

Short Story Brewing was founded by a brother, sister, and the sister's husband: Aaron, Abby and Mike. The trio wanted to create great beer in their community, and the brewery has a literature theme which pleases me. 

It's a nice little scenic drive to get here, there's tons of parking and the building - it's just beautiful. It's sleek, a little hipster and cozy all at once.

Their beers currently (as per Brilliant Stream):

We got a flight so we could sample them all, and I loved Working Title so much that I ended up taking a growler home with me. Aaron was also kind enough to show us the beautiful brewing system. 

If you haven't been here, make plans to immediately. The place is gorgeous, the beer is absolutely delicious, and there's a really cool vibe here where I can see them being a strong force in the revitalization of this community.

Stop by, have a drink (or two), snack on some popcorn and enjoy the card catalog flights :)

Somewhere in Marion County, we took a wrong turn going home. But, it was OK, because it landed us right in front of an ice cream shop.

Dairy Sensations had a bit of a crowd, lots of outdoor seating and the most important thing - ice cream cones that looked like they needed a home.

Dairy Sensation has some food, like pepperoni rolls, hot dogs and chicken strips. But, then they have hurricanes, sundaes, milkshakes and cones.

We ordered up at the outdoor counter - but there was some seating inside, as well as lots of seating outside - and waited.

Something called "crunchies" were on the menu, so I asked what those were. The folks weren't quite sure how to explain it, so they handed me a spoonful to try. There are bits of sprinkles and little crunchy balls that are peanut butter flavored. I thought hell with it, let's get a chocolate/vanilla swirled ice cream cone and let's get the crunchies.

And, it was good! There's gotta be a better mechanism for getting the crunchies to stay because they just created a giant mess. They were good - maybe fewer though - but the ice cream was tasty.

And, I especially loved that Brittany's milkshake came in this old-school cup design.


Afterward, we took a trip - while eating ice cream - to check out the castle on Tyrone Road. Cool.

Grade: B

Rivesville is a small town that is making a name for itself. For one, it has the nearest record store to me. Also, a brewery is in the works here. So, pretty happenin' stuff happenin'.

Cafe Diem appeared on my radar due to this listicle circulating about unsuspecting restaurants with good food.

Located at 2408 Paw Paw Creek Road, the restaurant was close to my GPS. It was a touch off, and when I went to turn around, it just happened to be in Cafe Diem's parking lot. So, that worked perfectly.

We walked in and took a seat before looking over the menu. The inside is simple, but bright, and there are candles and some other knick-knacks for sale. Otherwise, fairly simple with a little country twist.

The restaurant's coal miner burger - which features muenster cheese, buttery cabbage and garlic mayo on an everything bun - is well-known. But there are a number of interesting items on the menu.

Beyond burgers, there is mac & cheese, sandwiches, pasta and the thing that stood out to me was the pulled pork loaded potato bowl. They are baked potatoes with the center hollowed out, topped with cheese, pulled pork, sour cream and chives.

For sides, I got potato salad and onion rings.

The potato bowls were really good! It felt filling - without actually being too awful bad for you - and the bbq sauce was delicious. All of it together was great, and I don't know that I've really seen this on a menu before. I ate every last bit.

The potato salad and onion rings were both fine. The real star was by far the potato bowl.

But, dessert was also great. Fun fact: Dessert is free on your first visit! I didn't know that, but I had my heart set on the salted caramel brownie with ice cream since we walked inside.

The brownie was good - a bit mooshy and had some cinnamon flavor - but hell, put ice cream on anything and I'll be happy.

And, our service was fantastic. I was incredibly indecisive this day, and our waitress was very kind. Such a nice little experience with some good food!

Grade: A