Antonio's Italian Chophouse is the best new restaurant in Morgantown. Hands down.

The newest contender in Italian cuisine has taken up shop in the Seneca Center on Beechurst Avenue, in the location previously occupied by the beloved Glasshouse Grille. Glasshouse closed some time ago, and the space had been sitting empty for years.

Antonio's opened in June and has since been serving up steaks, seafood and Italian specialties a fine dining atmosphere.

Tony Ottaviani chose this location in 2011 to expand his family business, Ristorante Ottaviani, which is located in Cumberland, Maryland. Many of the recipes he serves in his restaurants are family ones from Italy.

The first obstacle in Morgantown is usually finding how to get there. Luckily, there is plenty of free parking at the Seneca Center, so it's not a concern. The building is lovely, and as you walk down the stairs to reach the restaurant, it's like you're walking into little Italy. At the bottom of the stairs, there are some tables for outdoor dining and dim lighting. Perfect for date night.

The inside is elegant and formal with thick white table linens and servers dressed in black shirts and ties. Maybe it was the environment, but Tony and I were feeling a glass of wine. I went with the Moscato, and he ordered a Riesling. Mine tasted like apple juice with a kick, so of course I was happy.

The menu had me torn between a few things, but after consulting Sher Yip, photographer extraordinaire and fellow foodie, my options narrowed a bit. They have pasta options like meatballs, alfredo, and bolognese (homemade meat sauce). Also some more sophisticated pasta dishes like Civitella (pasta in a mushroom and truffle cream sauce), Cacciatora (pork with carrots and onions in a red sauce), Del Nonna (olive oil, garlic, sundried tomatoes), and Sausage and Peppers. Turn your attention toward the right side of the menu, and there's seafood and a slew of meat dishes, including chicken parmesan, chicken marsala, filet, and lamb chops.

I ultimately decided on the Abruzzo Chicken, which is like the classic chicken paremesan but done in a more modern way. It's breaded chicken breast over spinach and mushrooms sauteed in a balsamic vinegar, topped with gorgonzola cheese and baked. Served with a side of pasta. $19.25

I was surprised to find out it didn't come with a salad - isn't that standard with many Italian dishes?

But then I saw the platter that arrived.

Two giant hand-breaded chicken breasts were slathered with a creamy gorgonzola sauce that had the perfect amount of bite and creaminess. Lightly browned on top, the cheese was perfectly baked and stringy and melty deliciousness. Between that creamy cheese and the crisp breading of the chicken, plus the hot white tender meat inside made for a flavor explosion.

Underneath added another level with the balsamic spinach and mushrooms. That tang was incredible with the creaminess. And the pasta on the side with some light cheese, olive oil, butter. Just fabulous. Incredible, delicious meal out of a simple concept. Divine.

They had a list of specials, from which Tony chose from. He decided on a shrimp pasta with spicy tomato sauce, and he was a fan.

For dessert, I ordered the cannolis. The waiter warned me that they're not super sweet and are instead more authentic to Italy. No problem. I actually really enjoyed these. The filling was thicker, chunkier - you could tell it was ricotta cheese. But it was still slightly sweet, not overpoweringly sweet, though. I liked it. It was thick and more filling. Not as processed.

I ended up spending a pretty penny on dinner, but it was worth it to me. I would definitely go back, and it would be an especially good place for family visiting or a significant other.


Antonio's is open Monday through Saturday from noon to 2:30 p.m. for lunch and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. for dinner.

Grade: A

The much-awaited Lebanese Bistro has finally opened after more than a year of rumors and buzz. Located in the former Careyes Grille (and a number of other restaurants in the past couple years), the Lebanese Bistro shouldn't have had a hard time surpassing the quality of its predecessors, but unfortunately, I think it, too, fell flat.

With all the time this place has taken to open, I was expecting a lot maybe. I would walk by it nearly every day since it's right near work. And when I saw the grand opening on Facebook, I convinced my coworkers we had to go immediately.

Candace, haven't you learned to not go on opening day? Or opening week? It's never as good.

No, I'm an idiot.

So we go in. They have a lunch buffet. Sign me up - get to try a little of everything. It is nice inside - some exposed beams and an open area. We were seated back in a corner area, and we made our way to the front for the buffet. I should note they did have a small lunch menu to choose from, but since they seemed to be touting the buffet, most of us ordered that.



The front bar had cool offerings like hummus, tabouleh, baba ghannouge and more. They had a couple soups, including a lentil soup and a single bar full of items: green beans, chicken with onions and green peppers, kefta, falafel and fries - the fries kind of threw me. But what do I know.

This is the first time - I think - that I've had Lebanese food. So from those of you who actually know what you're talking about, please enlighten me. But I wasn't impressed. Most of the things I tried were extremely dry. That could be because it was buffet quality, where they make large batches and don't always measure out seasonings precisely. It could've been a rough day because it was when they were brand new. It could be this cuisine of food.



The hummus is probably my most favorite that I've had anywhere. Falafel was hard and dry. Chicken was okay. Kefta also dry.

Desserts - they have honey cake, two kinds of rice pudding, baklava, etc. The best one I had was the baklava, for sure. It was tasty - NOT dry. Rich, moist, flaky. I also liked the light rice pudding. The dark, not so much.

I'm very meh on this place overall. Yes, I know, I'm good with the words. But it's hard to get inspired to write about food that just wasn't... inspiring.

Grade: C

The Dancing Fig is a new restaurant on High Street, which replaced Lira Restaurant, which had replaced a Wesbanco Bank. I liked Lira, but not enough to combat parking and the downtown partying scene for the restaurant. So my visits were limited.

From The Dancing Fig's bio on their website, it looks as though the executive chef at the Vintage Room, Janet Ferraro, opened up Lira with two others. The others sold the company to focus on other endeavors, and Janet and another executive chef of the Vintage Room, Michael Bowyer, purchased it.

The two had gone on a culinary tour of Italy. "They were struck by the abundance of fresh figs that Italy offered and marveled at how they seemed to compliment everything and were equally delicious by themselves. When they accepted the offer to buy the restaurant they wanted a name that would reflect the changes that they wanted to make. They knew they wanted to offer Italian cuisine with fresh pastas, and to them, Italy, meant figs. They also wanted to emphasize local music and arts, hence The Dancing Fig was born."

While I didn't do this, it seems as though if you park in the Spruce St. parking garage and bring the ticket to dinner, they'll credit the cost of parking off your bill, so says their site. That's worth trying.

The entrance is a bit awkward. There's a small room where a hostess would typically stand, but instead, they tell you to proceed through to the main dining area. It's a little awkward because it plops you right out into the main area, which is an open space. We were seated along the back wall.

The interior is lovely with some fine attention to detail. And like at Lira, you can dine within the vault, but there's either a fee to pay or a certain bill amount, I can't remember which.


They have specials scrawled on chalkboards on the walls, and the menu is exhaustive. Lots of small plates and pastas. I had a tough time deciding because there are so many good options. There are single and family styles and additional options for other dishes. There's a lot going on here.

For an appetizer, we split a single order of pierogies - rustic style. This means they essentially were just topped with sauerkraut. I was hesitant about this option, but the other two ways the pierogies can be prepared looked boring. I was surprised to find that instead of a powerful punch, this dish was sort of quiet on the palate. There wasn't that strong sauerkraut taste. It was kind of boring, actually. The pierogies were crisp on the outside, which was good. It was fine, just nothing super impressive. Needs some more spices and flavor to amp it up.

With the pasta dishes comes a side house salad, so my next course was this lovely plate of greens, tomato, cucumber, shaved red onion and chipped asiago in a balsamic-basil vinaigrette. The vinaigrette is something I'd like to bottle up and take home (if this is store-bought, please let me know so I can purchase). But it was lovely. So tasty that I devoured this whole salad easily. Not to mention the cucumber had a perfect crunch and tomato had a good balance between sweet and acidic. It was just lovely. For being such a simple salad, it impressed me. Beautiful blend of flavor and quality ingredients do it for me.

Okay main dish was the "Pasta Salvio," which had jumbo tiger shrimp, sauteed with garlic and roasted red peppers, in a bleu cheese vodka sauce served over fresh made pasta. This dish was pretty good. I was expecting it to be a bit creamier with a kick, but it was more peppery/tomato-ey. It was still tasty - lots of flavor and attention to the combination of ingredients. I would totally order it again, but not under the assumption that I had going into it originally. Instead, it's a great dish if you're looking for those more hearty pepper flavors. Less creamy - thought I think that would take this dish to the next level. Pretty good, nonetheless.

Brittany ordered the filet duo, which had both a blackened beef and rosemary pork with tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic reduction, prosciutto and salami crisps. Both were tasty - but the pork was phenomenal from the one bite of it that I had.

For dessert, we both went with the pumpkin creme brulee. You have to really be into pumpkin to eat this. And I am. After breaking through brittle sugar coating, it's really a thick, pumpkin filling. It's kind of dense. It's easier to eat, say, a pumpkin pie with this much flavor because it's lighter and fluffy. When you're eating this sort of blob of pumpkin, it can be too much. I think if it were a bit lighter, it would've been perfect.


I wavered between an A and a B here. I wish the appetizer had been more impressive. I loved my salad. I liked my main entree and the dessert. With tiny tweaks - and considering they're fairly new still - I don't think it'd be hard for this to be an A in my book. But for now, I wish the main entree had slightly more depth and the dessert - a little less.

Grade: B

I've followed Kevin Hart on Twitter for some time now. He works for WVU University Relations, which is where I just recently started. But in addition to that, he has started this BBQ food stand and catering business that I had been dying to try.

Hart has been selling pulled pork sandwiches on select Saturdays at a tend in CSC Home & Hardware's parking lot in Sabraton. It's not every Saturday, and it's usually only from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. or until it's sold out. Check out his notes on Facebook for the up-to-date schedule.

The upcoming dates right now are:
Saturday, November 2
Saturday, November 16


Pulled Pork Sandwich = $5.00
Pulled Pork Combo (Sandwich, Chips & Drink) = $6.50
Pulled Pork by the Pound* = $11.00
Lays Potato Chips = $1.00
Coke, Diet Coke or Water = $1.00 
* One Pound feeds approximately 3-4 adults. If you've got ravenous teens or hungry fellas you might want to get extra.

One of the first weekends I was back in town, I was determined to get one of those sandwiches. I just so happened to pick a lucky Saturday and made sure I was out and about early enough to swing by in case he sold out early.

I officially met Kevin in person for the first time as he handed me a piled-high pork sandwich. He was selling slaw for an additional charge, so I opted for that, plus a side of chips and a water.

It all comes in a nice little styrofoam container so you can take it where you please. And two types of sauces are available - East Carolina Vinegar and Kansas City Traditional Sauce. There are small cups with lids so you can get as much or as little as you want to take with you. I got a little of both and set off for the rail trail to sit at one of the tables.

This is the best pulled pork sandwich I think I've ever had in town. And I'm not saying that because we are distant co-workers. I've only met him once. I'm saying that because I want you to go try it and compare.

I don't know if it's because he has more time to put tender love and care into each sandwich, but it is great. It is piled super high with tender pulled pork - smokey, flavorful. You can add whichever sauce you choose - I liked the thicker, sweet traditional sauce, but the vinegar is good too.

I dipped large pieces of the sandwich in the sauces to get the tang and sweet, which was beautiful with the smokey flavor. Just divine.

The slaw could have used some more something. It needs to be a bit creamier, less piecey. Chopped finer. But even then, it doesn't take away from the stellar sandwich.

Grade: A

Chestnut Street in downtown Morgantown has been booming in the past year or so. The first domino down was that Dragonfly closed. Then it was a chain reaction with Rocktop opening on the roof of that building, a hotel was erected next door, and Big Whiskey opened up in the former Dragonfly location. The latter three are all under the same ownership. So they have three businesses right on the same block.

It reminds me of the trifecta of businesses in Bent Willy's, Vintage Room and Red Zone just the next  building up.

This company clearly has some money. I saw releases going out from a PR firm about the openings of the restaurant and hotel, so it doesn't give me that warm, local feeling. More like that of larger corporate types taking over a block downtown, shelling out some dough for a nice-looking place and attracting a certain type of clientele - kind of the opposite of the local, hip, chill vibe I go for.


Regardless, my friend Heather and I wanted to check out this new country bar and BBQ place called Big Whiskey. We tried opening the doors in front of the street. Stood there awkwardly for about five minutes. Nothing was happening. So I called the phone number listed, and it rang up to Rocktop. I told the woman I was trying to get to Big Whiskey, and she told me to go to the door around the corner. So I walked around to the right and saw a broken down-looking door with a bucket and broom in front of it, then I kept walking and saw another door. We went inside.

Ooof.

Okay, so once we got inside, there was literally no one there except for a guy working on the sound. We awkwardly walked inside - it was kind of dark - but they said they were open. We meandered over to a table and sat, wondering what we were doing there. The guy who was supposed to be there came not too longer after, then a few more people trickled in. He came over and apologized because they were having a meeting. Okay, great, I don't really care. At this point, I was annoying at the maze I had to get through to get in and then there was nobody there. Whatever. Just feed me at this point.

He brought us menus, and in the meantime, the man who was working on the sound warned us it would get really loud for a few minutes. It got really loud for a few minutes - so loud I couldn't hear Heather across the table from me. He was testing the bass and whatnot. Clearly they were more concerned with the ridiculous country dance party they were going to be having that night than the two customers trying to have dinner in the restaurant portion. First sign this place is a bar masquerading as a restaurant. And not a very good one at that.

Prices are a bit steep, but the brisket platter was $14, so I ordered that. It came with a side, and I got slaw. As we were waiting, we were looking around. It really does have nice finishes - it's trying to be an upscale country place. Dragonfly was gorgeous inside, so it's a shame that a restaurant with a similar theme couldn't come in. But the interior is nice, but the focus is on the dance floor and bar.

When our food came out, I was kind of surprised to see zero sauce with the brisket. Nada. You gotta be pretty confident in your smoking abilities to not need any garnish. Rare in West Virginia. They shouldn't be so confident.

It was a pile of meat that had a hint of smokey flavor, but not enough to garner no additional sauce. Some pieces were really fatty, too. Others were fine, but just kind of bland. It was kind of greasy in a way, and for the price, bleh. The slaw was surprisingly much better with pickles and a more oil base than mayo. For $15, I felt very unfulfilled. Very mediocre. And considering the subpar service, I wasn't happy.

It doesn't help that just a week later, I was walking past this business around 7 p.m. and the bouncers - presumably for Rocktop - catcalled my friend and I. Bouncers, really? When I voiced my displeasure via Twitter, Rocktop responded that the parking lot was just for Rocktop and Big Whiskey patrons after hours. Uh, what? You're condoning their behavior if you think I parked in that lot? A - I did not park there. B - What in the actual hell? I sent a few more tweets, and apparently I'm still not over the whole experience because I'm voicing it here. Hate everything about this place. Food is mediocre, at best. Service is atrocious. And apparently they don't care.

Grade: D