Bōc-Hord Brewery & Bakehouse opened in September 2024 at 833 Mercer Street in downtown Princeton. The business combines a brewery and bakery under one roof, serving house-brewed beers and fresh, made-from-scratch food. Owners J.W. Groseclose and Ginger Conley bring backgrounds in brewing and artisan baking, respectively. The name “Bōc-Hord,” taken from Old English for “library,” reflects their focus on craftsmanship. The brewery’s early lineup includes Golden Goose Ale, Bitter Queen ESB, and Irish Ord’s Stout. The bakehouse produces pretzel buns, sourdough loaves, and bread bowls, which are used in sandwiches, pizzas, and soups. The Creamy Crab Dip served in a bread bowl is exactly what you want when you’re ready for something hearty. You get a deep, hot bowl of rich crab‑cheese dip, full of lump crab meat and seasoned just enough to let the seafood shine, surrounded by a freshly‑baked bread bowl that soaks up every bit of the creamy sauce. It’s indulgent and heavy, and the bread makes it fun to eat—tearing off chunks, dipping, scraping the bowl. The Golden Goose Ale (4.7% ABV), is light, clean finish and very drinkable. Grade: A

Big Bite Restaurant in Princeton, West Virginia, is located at 1210 Stafford Drive and opened in April 2023 with the goal of bringing a “big city feel” to the area. Owned by Tarek Abdelwahed, the restaurant offers a wide-ranging menu influenced by Mediterranean flavors, featuring everything from pasta and seafood to burgers, subs and pitas. The shrimp scampi is a generous portion of fettuccine tangled with sautéed onions and bell peppers, all in a little bit of buttery garlic scampi sauce. It’s a comforting meal that's basic and could use some zhuzh. A side crab cake delivered a mild seafood sweetness with subtle seasoning - all in a thick, fried breading. Grade: C

Evan’s Sweets in Princeton, is a hometown favorite known for its frozen custard, chili dogs, and other classic fast-food staples. Located at 509 Rogers Street, the shop has an old-school, retro vibe with a drive-thru. I ordered the "custard & cobbler" - frozen custard base (rich, creamy, ice-cream-like) topped with fruit cobbler. The dish brings together rich creaminess and warm, fruity sweetness. Grade: A

Wild Roots Coffeehouse in Princeton is a new-to-me local shop on Mercer Street that is half coffee and half art.



Walking inside, Wild Roots has a casual coffee shop vibe with funky art hanging on the walls. The room toward the back is more of a lounge vibe with even more artistic flair.



The menu features coffee, smoothies, pastries, soups and sandwiches. On this day, I chose the Sweet Falls Mocha, which had caramel of course.



My drink was decent - like a chunky coffee milkshake. I think I've been a bit spoiled by places that add an extra caramel swirl in the cup to be *fancy.*



Next time, I'll need to add on a baked good.



Grade: B

Yummi Japan in Princeton is a takeout sushi spot all the way at the (nearly) very bottom of the state. 

 
You can simply place an order online and pick it up through a plastic enclosure that was erected during COVID19. Not sure how long they plan to keep this up - if not indefinitely - but it's possible it could already be down.



The menu includes teriyaki dishes, rice bowls, yakisoba, sushi rolls, smoothies and boba. I ordered a spicy crab meat roll, which had spicy crab, tempura crunchies and seemed to be missing spicy mayo so a bit dry. But fine.



And I also ordered shrimp hibachi, which also would've been better with some sauce. But, noodles, shrimp, veggies, all good. Would've been great with teriyaki.



Grade: B

One of my favorite new-ish stores in West Virginia is the Blue Ridge Bee Company in Princeton.



"Blue Ridge Bee Company is based in the heart of the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia. When we started hearing of the mass honey bee die-off we became interested in saving this valuable creature. After much studying, we started our honey operation in 2014 and have expanded each year since.



In December 2019, we opened our store on Mercer Street in the Grassroots District. We came to this district with a vision of opening a store that was reminiscent of an old-timey general store, selling local bread, meats, honey, jewelry, soap, and more, while also supplying customers with beekeeping equipment and training. Our main goal is to teach people to keep bees properly, helping them thrive throughout the year and rebuild the bee populations."



This lovely storefront, in addition to selling a wide variety of local honey, has so many local goods. There are old-fashioned candies,  local breads and baked goods an even ice cream.



Of course, I had to try the honey - but specifically the WV Wildflower honey. You may think that all honey tastes the same, but when you try a few, you can notice the floral notes or woody notes or whatever type it may be.



One really cool thing they also have here is a line of canned specialty goods under their brand name. Chow chow, dilly beans, jams, jellies, relish - I love these items because they have that Appalachian twist and are not always something you can find in a grocery store. 



In addition to getting some of the name brand products (which are all delicious!), I went for some other local ones, like this Moonstruck Maple Syrup. Which is SO tasty.



This makes me think... I need to do a whole list on WV honey and maple syrups. 



Have you been here before? 

Princeton is consistently improving and adding all kinds of new, fun things. One of those new things is Totally Glazed, a donut shop on Mercer Street. 



The shop has a sorta retro vibe with the awning and then some graffiti art. Brick walls lay the way for bright, white counters full of donuts. FULL OF DONUTS.



As I perused all the different flavors, I matched the chalkboard menu on the wall with the options in front of me. Lemon Glazed. Oreo. Peanut Butter. Pumpkin.

They also have donut holes - or BITES - with cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, peanut butter, maple bacon, and more. 



Since I wanted to try out a bunch of different flavors, I went for a half dozen with six different options.



But here's some delish donut p0rn for you adore.



Peanut butter! Maple pecan!



Pumpkin! Fruity pebbles!

 

And here's my final six: peanut butter, pumpkin, cookies & cream, maple pecan, fruity pebbles and I think regular glazed. I think it's a bit tough to mess up a donut. And these were good. Not especially different, but good, solid and reliable.

Grade: B

Geminellis Bistro is an Italian restaurant in Princeton from the same owner as Brandon's BBQ & Grill in Pipestem.



"At Geminellis, we take pride in bringing authentic Italian cuisine with an American flair to West Virginia. With decades experience in the restaurant and food service business, our goal is to provide the best quality ingredients, prepared and served with passion. All of our items are made from scratch, never frozen and definitely not prepared elsewhere and shipped in on trucks to be reheated. Try Geminellis today and we know you’ll be impressed with the quality, service and price."


The menu features items like lasagna, seafood manicotti, calzones, pizzas, chicken parmesan and more.


First, a small house salad with greens, cucumbers, pickled onions, tomato, croutons and bleu cheese dressing.


For my entree, I went with "Chicken & Wild Mushroom Ravioli," which is made with handcrafted raviolis stuffed with shredded chicken breast, mushrooms and cheese. It was served with an herb cream sauce.




Have you ever been?

I first visited Appalachian Coffee House in Mt. Nebo, and they've since expanded to Summersville and Princeton/

So when passing through Princeton, I had to stop to check it out.

Princeton has changed so much from when I first visited, and I'm loving the new small businesses and public art.

It's really growing with a kombucha shop, cool coffee shop and more.

Appalachian Coffee House has a number of coffee drink specialties. I've tried a few before so I went with a new one this time: "sweet falls" which is mocha crush with a shot of caramel.

They also have a variety of specialties - like honey lavender latte.

And, there are pastries, too!

I went for a cheese bagel with cream cheese.

... And maybe a blueberry scone, too.

Yum!

Have you been to any of the locations yet?

And, if so, what have you tried?