There is no shortage of good Italian food in North Central West Virginia. We are blessed with some of the best red sauce this state has to offer.

So, I'm always down to try any Italian restaurant in the area. Raymon's Catering & Restaurant is known for its Wednesday specials - all you can eat pasta!

Raymon's Restaurant in Harrison County is about the family, Its a family-run business and the most popular dishes come from family recipes. Since 1980, Raymon's has offered catering parties for wedding, anniversary, Christmas parties, class reunions, and other events. Raymon's also sell our popular Italian Dressing. After 35 years we are still going strong. Please stop by and see us.

Parking can be a bit precarious, but we found a spot. The interior was open with some old-school artificial flowers and blue tablecloths. We waited a few minutes before being seated.

The all-you-can-eat menu on Wednesdays consists of spaghetti, rigatoni, manicotti and lasagna - or Bit of Italy, which is a sampling of each. And, when you order this, you first get bread and salad.

Their Italian dressing is a crowd-favorite, and it certainly is generously served with the iceberg lettuce salad.


For my first entree, I got the Bit of Italy because little bits of everything are always better. I think my favorite of the bunch was the manicotti. Anytime I can get a bunch of ricotta in my mouth, I'm happy. The sauce is a bit sweet, but good overall.

And, I had to get a second plate just because it was all you can eat. And, I absolutely stuffed myself. On the second plates, you apparently don't get the topping of cheese or the side of meatball. And, you can switch it up, too. You can get the Bit of Italy for the first round and then just pick the one you liked best for the second round.

The meal also comes with dessert. It was a chocolate sheet cake with a peanut butter icing. Not bad.

Overall, if you're hungry and need a decent Italian fix, this is a solid choice for a Wednesday evening. It's pretty cheap, you can get your fill, and it's tasty. Plus, it's a tradition in the area.

Grade: B

Each Valentine's Day, one Clarksburg restaurant serves up its famous heart-shaped pizzas.

Chunki's Pizza & Subs heavily advertises their Valentine's Day special, and since I had no plans this year, I decided now is as good of a time as ever to finally check it out.

You have to call and reserve a pizza; otherwise, you could have a verrryyy long wait. So, we called, and they said they could have ours between 6 and 7 p.m. We got there early, told the folks at the front our name, and then took a seat. The dining room space is strange - tons of pizza boxes take up half the space, and other general merchandise is scattered about. I get the impression that maybe folks don't eat in often? Or, maybe it was just because they were so busy?

Just a little while later, a heart-shaped pizza was delivered to our table. I was so excited to have a heart-shaped pizza on Valentine's Day! But, I was less excited about the actual taste. The dough was a little thick, the sauce was a bit bland, and that mozzarella was so greasy, nearly all cheese flavor was lost. Pretty average pizza - not bad! Just not super exciting, either. Still, it's a tradition. So, getchu one next season.

Grade: C

But, it's time we talk about another Pittsburgh specialty: the french fry salad.


That's right. A pile of greens, veggies, chicken or steak and french fries. I took my latest visit to the Clarksburg Primanti's location where I met up with best friend and college roommate Kayla (and that new baby!) to espouse the greatness that is the french fry salad.

One possible origin for the salad, as noted in Serious Eats’ culinary history of Pittsburgh, is Jerry’s Curb Service, a drive-in originally located just north of the city, which claims that "on a fateful night in the early 1960s… a customer placed a rather unusual order — a steak sandwich, hold the bun, add fries and salad dressing." Donna Reed, Jerry’s wife, made a version for herself but "placed her sliced steak, fries, and salad dressing atop a fresh bed of lettuce." Jerry’s however, simply calls this "staple in the restaurant industry" a "Steak Salad." Like any restaurant dish whose highly convenient origin story involves a quirky customer order or a chef/owner’s inventive use of constrained ingredients — see: the negroni, the Caesar salad, Buffalo wings — the tale is hard to definitively disprove, but of course, no one really knows (Eater).

This Primanti's location is fairly new, and modern - like most of the branch locations. A nice open area, dark colors and the same humongous sandwiches (and french fry salads!) that the area has come to love.

So, I ordered the Sirloin Steak Salad with Fries - seasoned strips of sirloin steak, house salad mix, tomato, chopped egg, roasted peppers, bacon, crumbled and creamy bleu cheese and housemade croutons.

The salad came out on a humongous plate with a flat grilled beef amalgamation covering the bed of iceberg lettuce, slivered tomatoes, red onions, and not-quite-crispy fries. For the most part, I'm super into this salad. I feel like it's reasonably healthy with a bit of indulgence. The nice salty fries make for a tasty combination with the creamy dressing and crunchy veggies. It's a classic of the Pittsburgh area, and I know some friends who even specifically seek out this dish at restaurants. Gotta try it - at least once!

Grade: B

I've heard great things about Julio's Cafe - from a New York Times piece to praise from locals. My friend Kayla recently visited this place and once again raved about the meal. I implored her to go once again - with me - so I can finally experience it.

We went to Julio's after work one week night. When we walked inside, there was no one to greet us -- for at least 10 minutes. It was uncomfortable. There was one other couple in the front dining space that just kept casually looking at us as we lingered around the large wooden bar waiting to be seated. Kayla even wandered to the back to find someone, but no one was in sight. Finally, someone came out and told us to sit wherever we wanted. No apologies for the wait. Meh.

We were handed menus, which was nice because I know that they sometimes (or at least used to) not give out menus and rather simply read off the list of menu options.


I quickly put in an order for the "Signature Tomato Plate" because I was starving, and I'm a sucker for anything "signature." Fresh tomatoes paired with fontanella, provolone, pecorino romano, bocconcini mozzarella and topped with their homemade secret sauce. Count me in.

The thick chunks of tomato were delicious, and there were three hunks of fresh mozzarella, and delicious crumbly wedges of the fontanella. I didn't love the thin slices of provolone - I feel like they could've been thicker or not at all. Also the secret sauce was essentially a pesto - and a balsamic would've been delicious. But, it was tasty and a nice fresh first bite.

While waiting for our entrees, I noticed how cool the dark tin ceiling and wooden accents and art was. A lava lamp accompanied each table. Its vibe harkens back to an old-school Italian restaurant - apparently with roots in Calabrian cooking. Many of the immigrants in the Glen Elk area hail from the province of Calabria, so having a restaurant that reflects that type of homestyle cooking makes sense.

We were served a basket of garlic toast, alongside olive oil, crushed red pepper and grated Parmesan cheese to make a small pool of yummy.

Next up was pasta e fagiole with beans and pasta in a light broth. I wish I were a bigger fan of beans, but they just don't do much for me.

My entree arrived in a massive heap. Layers of pasta took turns with a delicious cheese mixture and meat to create a tasty tower covered in a perfect red sauce. This sauce has a great flavor - a deep, rich tomato base with a nice spice and sweet. Not too thick, but not too runny. Very good.

Kayla ordered the Costanza, which was sundried tomatoes in a vodka cream sauce. I snuck a bite, and it was also quite good! I love a vodka sauce. I was surprised the sundried tomatoes weren't chunks within (which would have been a good texture variation), but rather were integrated into the sauce. Tasty.

We couldn't pass up the dessert. I went for a brownie with vanilla ice cream, and Kayla went with a butter pecan ice cream dessert. Both delicious; both diet-busters. Worth it? Yes.

I think, for the most part, this is a lovely little restaurant. I think it has some good, traditional food, and I think it has a great history. I think the first 10 minutes of my experience here set a not great tone, which was a bit hard for me to overlook. Fortunately, the food is tasty - and the basics here (like the red sauce) are phenomenal.

Grade: B

Home Industry is a huge pepperoni roll producer, known for their small red, green and purple packaged pepperoni rolls. They serve plain, cheese and hot pepper cheese. They even have one the has sauce and peppers inside, too.

While a lot of the other bakeries produce pizza shells and hoagie buns as well, Home Industry mostly focuses on the pepperoni rolls.

They're a little smaller than some of the others, but they're packed with sliced pepperoni. And they're super tasty.

Grade: A

Rogers and Mazza's is a well-known bakery that took over Marty's Bakery in Clarksburg. They sell a traditional pepperoni roll with harder Italian bread and stick pepperoni that Marty's used to sell, but they also have their own pepperoni roll - the Rogers and Mazza's pepperoni roll is a bit different.

Rogers and Mazza's pepperoni roll is made with a sweeter dough and sliced pepperoni and comes in three different varieties: plain, mozzarella or hot pepper cheese. These can each come in six ounces or three ounces. They also produce mini pepperoni rolls with plain or mozzarella cheese.


I loved these mini ones and dipped them in a sweet pepper sauce they sold. Delicious.





Grade: A

Old-fashioned, regular food is the name of the game at Parkette Family Restaurant. Chicken dinners? Check. Baked steak? Check. Liver & Onions? Yep.



Once seated - and it took a little while considering it was a Sunday afternoon and we were in solid church-crowd territory - we looked over the menu. The first thing that jumped out at me was creamed turkey and biscuits - oven-roasted, shredded turkey with homemade gravy over biscuits. This takes me back to high school days with the one day a year when everyone ate hot lunch - creamed turkey day.



So, I ordered that, and it came with two sides. I went with coleslaw and mashed potatoes. My coleslaw came out on its own first, which was odd. I didn't want to just eat a bowl full of coleslaw, so I kind of picked at it until my main entree came out. It was also a little heavy-handed on the mayo.


The plate was full of this gravy/turkey/biscuit mess - and I mean mess as a term of endearment. A made a forkful of mashed potato, biscuit, turkey and gravy in every bite, and it was pretty good. Really good? Nah. But pretty good, yes. Hot comfort food - not as good as when mom and dad make it - but a decent substitute for now.

Grade: B