Oryza is one of my favorite "new" restaurants in all of Morgantown.

When they first opened in the Suncrest area, I fell in love. And now, they've opened a second location at the University Town Centre.



Oryza is a fast-casual Asian grill concept where you order at the counter, they make it right in front of you, and it's all fresh.

You choose from a few options:
1) Format: Bowl, Salad or Wrap
2) Protein: Chicken, Spicy Chicken, Steak, Chicken & Pork Meatballs, or Organic Tofu
3) Veggies (pick 3): Black Beans, Sauteed Vegetables, Asian Green Beans, Charred Corn, Kale, or Egg
4) Sauce: Garlic Yum, Ginger Yum, Spicy Yum, Sambal Salsa, Thai Curry, or Sweet Sriracha Red
5) Toppings: Herb Salad, Carrot, White Raddish, Cucumber, or Cheese
6) Finish: Sesame Seed, Crispy Garlic, Crushed Peanut or Thai Chili
So I went with a bowl with red rice, with chicken, suateed vegetables, Asian green beans, charred corn, garlic yum, cheese and crispy garlic.
 
It's just delicious - and fairly healthy! That is, until you add a caramel tart (and you should add a caramel tart).

Grade: A

Rawabi is a brand-new restaurant on High Street in Morgantown. It replaced Jasmine Grill. It serves up Mediterranean food, including falafel, gyro, kebab, shawarma and hummus - or those just tend to be my favorites.

My friend Sam and I went to check it out right when they opened. They weren't open at the time I thought they would be, so we killed some time and came back to see all the lights on and folks dining inside.

So, we walked in to the large space. Lots of images of food on the walls and decorations. There's a large cooler in front that displays fresh fruits and other prepared items.

The menu is a good size, so I spent some time looking through it.

Main entrees include shish tawook and shawarma. Traditional plates included lamb shank and roasted chicken.
 
Then, there are sandwiches like falafel wrap, gyros, kebabs, and more. Plus, they have a ton of coffee - including Turkish coffee, which Sam enjoyed.

It's pretty strong - but take a look at that beautiful serving ware!

But wait, there's more! Hummus, kibbeh, fries, tabbouleh, grape leaves, and then fatayer - which looked beautiful and I don't think I've ever had before. I ordered the veggie platter 1, which had hummus, falafel, grape leaves and tabbouli and tahini sauce. Plus the cheese fatayer.

The veggie platter was great - I especially looove the garlic sauce and the grape leaves were great.

The fatayer is kinda like a cheesy bread, but even more herby and tasty. Then, we were even treated to little bites of baklava! Can't get enough of all the goodies here.

Grade: B

Puglioni's has been one of my all-time favorite restaurants. From the bread to the housemade pasta and everything in between, it consistently delivers a delicious experience.

So, when I heard the restaurant had closed down a few months back, I was distraught. However, just recently, it reopened under the name "Pug's" - which is what it was affectionately called. And, many of the same recipes and staff have returned.

First, the space looks just the same to me as it did before. And the smells are the same. The dim lights and welcoming environment. The menu has a lot of similar options - including my absolute favorite: pasta carbonara.

First, that beautiful freshly baked loaf of bread. Absolutely saturated in butter and garlic, this bread is the best in town - maybe state. It was a touch darker than I'd like, but that didn't stop me from carb overload.

Then, my house salad. They easily have one of the best house salads around. No iceberg here. Fresh romaine, tomatoes, onions, croutons, olives - the works. I hope they add a French dressing option to the lineup in the future.

And, there it is. The pasta carbonara with handmade fettuccine, bacon, ham, and I added mushrooms. It's creamy, rich, and delicious. It's amazing. It can get a bit heavy, so it would be nice to have maybe a pop of fresh peas or a drizzle of balsamic glaze to cut through some of the fattiness. That being said, I will order this dish again and again and again because I love it.

Grade: A

It's always fun to discover a new restaurant - for me, at least. And on one of my most recent trips to Morgantown, I stumbled upon Uncle Mike's Bar-B-Que.

Located in Westover, this BBQ restaurant once started as a hot dog cart - called Summertime Hot Dogs - and has now expanded to include pulled pork, brisket, smoked kielbasa - and hot dogs.

While I do love pulled pork, I think you can almost get a better feel for a place by trying the brisket because it requires a certain finesse. So I went with a brisket platter with sides of Mike's Mountain Man Beans and potato salad (forgot my cornbread, so I'll have to try that next time).


The flavor of the brisket was great. There were some burnt end pieces of bark, which were nice. Admittedly, the owner said the trainees need a bit more work with slicing the brisket. But as long as it tastes good, I'm happy. And those pork & beans had a bit of heat, but they were good. The potato salad was tasty, too, though those carrots are a bit crunchier than I'd like. Overall, a good plate.

Saffron has opened back up in Morgantown on the Mileground.

While in the area, I stopped by for takeout.

And my go-to is always Chicken Tikka Masala.

So that, plus some vegetable samosas and gulab jamun.


Chicken tikka masala is creamy and a little spicy and delicious.

The samosas came with a tamarind sauce, which I love. And they were packed full of veggies.

And the dessert? I ate every last bit.

JACs is no more in the Mountainlair. Now, it's Jazzmans Brew & Bakery.

This coffee shop has removed all of the interior shelving and replaced it with seating, a gourmet coffee shop and freshly made pastries.

And I went with a caramel latte, which was phenomenal.

They also have fresh-baked pastries daily.

Cookies, muffins, bagels and more.

So I went with a blueberry muffin. Yesss.

A new Turkish restaurant opened in Morgantown recently.


Istanbul Restaurant is located along Patteson Drive and serves a large menu full of classic favorites.


As I was perusing the menu, the owner gave me a taste of baklava and another sweet treat that I didn't catch the name of.


Wow - both were sweet and delicious.


That made me want to sample more. So I went with a sampler appetizer and a sampler entree.


The sampler appetizer came with ezme, hummus, tabbouleh, shaksuka, dolma, babaganos, tzatziki and piyaz.

And then the combo dinner had chicken gyro and lamb gyro.

So I took these back, and my mom and I had a little feast.

Since the restaurant didn't have all the items in stock, we substituted a few items.

But the lamb and chicken were both delish. And I loved the rice and salad, too.

Each of the appetizers was tasty, too.

And, I particularly liked the eggplant dish.

Just wish we had pita for everything.