Recently, I was in the Parkersburg area and had lunch at the mall. The food court has a few local options that I'm slowly working my way through. I started with The Pizza Place, and now we've moved on to China Max.
This isn't the first time I've come across a restaurant named China Max, though I'm unsure if they are connected in any way. I tried some of the sesame chicken, noodles and cheese wontons. The chicken was of meh quality, but I was a fan of the creamy cheese wontons. They weren't dry and crumbly like many others. But, so far, Pizza Place is winning in the race.Grade: C
It's no secret I'm on board the Pizza Place bandwagon. Exhibit A and Exhibit B. But, there's a third contender in the mix now, The ORIGINAL Pizza Place, which is located at the mall in Vienna. What's the deal here?The Original Pizza Place was founded in the Grand Central Mall in 1976 by our current owner, Michael Ruscitto and his Uncle, Franco Scotto-Rinaldi. After expanding their ownership to 5 partners, they opened four more stores in a period of 15 years- two in Parkersburg, WV (across from Parkersburg High School and across from Parkersburg South High School), in Bridgeport, WV, and in Myrtle Beach, SC. In the late 1990’s, the partnership disbanded and each took their own stores. Mike currently owns and manages The Original Pizza Place in the Grand Central Mall, and has recently opened the newest location, in downtown Marietta, Ohio. The Original Pizza Place was voted Readers' Choice "BEST PIZZA" in Marietta, Ohio's Marietta Times and Parkersburg, WV's News and Sentinel in 2013, 2014, and 2015.
I see. So, there was a split. Regardless, it's the same kind of pizza, with thick Sicilian slabs that Im into. I ordered two slices, and I think it may be a touch greasier than the previous two locations. and, it still has the stack-a-zillion-pepperonis-on-top-of-each-other problem. BUT IT'S STILL GOOD. A nice little spice to the sauce and mozzarella just draped over a crisp crust. I need more Sicilian pizza in my life, STAT.Grade: A
Frozen yogurt shops are like a dime a dozen anymore. But, it's not always easy to find one that isn't a chain.
The Green Kiwi Frozen Yogurt in Vienna is a local shop that has a little less than a dozen flavors of yogurt and a ton of toppings to choose from.
I went for Toasted Marshmallow and Sea Salt Caramel Pretzel. Neither tasted too different - just variations of chocolate or vanilla, really, but that doesn't mean they were bad. I wouldn't mind seeing some more options, but these were good. And there was a decent variety.
I got some gummy frogs on one side and mini buckeyes on the other. There are lots of options - both chocolatey and fruity. So many tasty things like Reese Cups, chocolate covered pretzels and cookie dough bites.
If you're into frozen yogurt, check out this place for a local option. Still a good number of products and even better that it's locally owned and operated!
Grade: B
If I had to pick some of my favorite foods in the world, they'd probably be sushi, caramel, ice cream, s'mores, Chinese food, macaroni and cheese, lasagna ... and more sushi. RL and I are always on the hunt for some good sushi, so while in Vienna, we stopped at Tokyo, which boasts thai, sushi and hibachi.
We were there, literally, as soon as it opened, so it was empty. We were quickly served miso soup, which is always eh to me. Looking over the menu, I skipped straight to the specialty rolls section to see what kind of trouble we could get ourselves into.
Side note: I completely missed out on the special rolls written on the white board - lobster, godzilla both sounded good. But I didn't see them until it was too late.
We ended up ordering a Tokyo Roll (fried shimp tempura, spicy tuna, avocado, spicy mayo and eel sauce) and a Yum-Yum Roll (fried crabstick, cream cheese, cucumber, avocado, topped with crabstick, crunchy, spicy mayo and eel sauce). We also got a side of hibachi noodles because yum.Noodles were fine; they only gave us the "yum yum" sauce and not the other. But that's OK. I should've opted for some veggies in there so there was a textural difference. Still good.
The sushi, which I didn't realize, was all fried. I was thinking there were just fried pieces inside. But, that's my bad. The Tokyo roll is quite large, making it a bit difficult to eat, but flavors are good. But I liked the Yum-Yum Roll better. The fried part wasn't overwhelming since there were a lot of other ingredients happening. The spicy mayo and eel sauce can make anything better, I think. Add some cream cheese and crab or shrimp - and you have a delicious combo. It may not even be considered sushi anymore, but it's pretty tasty.Grade: B
Vienna is to Parkersburg as Granville is to Morgantown. I think. I kinda considered Vienna just a small suburb of Parkersburg, but I think its time to do right by it by recognizing it as its own city. Yep.
RL and I recently went to a new BBQ joint in Vienna called Smokin' BBQ and wings. I always love some good southern comfort food (did someone say mac & cheese?), so I was SO. DOWN. If you're here to dine in, they will seat you; otherwise, it looks like you order at the front counter.
There's a good bit of seating here all in a sort-of down-home BBQ joint feel. The menu spans pulled pork and brisket to ribs and chicken. They were out of the pulled pork tots (because they didn't sell enough -- what?!). But. we made up our minds pretty quickly on what we wanted: The Lil' Sampler Platter. That comes with 1/4 lb. brisket, 1/4 lb. pulled pork, 1/4 chicken, 2 bone ribs, 1 side (mac & cheese for me duh) and a roll or sweet corn cake (we went with sweet corn cake).Sauces on the table included a hot and sweet, a sweet and mild, a regular and something else that I can't remember.
The pulled pork was my favorite, with a nice flavor and tenderness. The brisket was lacking a bit of a smoke flavor, according to RL, which I'd have to agree with. The ribs were good and messy, and the chicken was pretty moist. I slathered mine mostly with the sweet and mild sauce, so everything ended up tasting pretty good. The mac & cheese could have had some more flavor; it was a bit mild. But I loved the sweet corn cakes.
It wasn't the best BBQ I've ever had, but it was pretty good. 7/10, would visit again.
Grade: B
I tried visiting WineTree Vineyards before when I was in the area, but I was driving from the opposite direction, and there were no signs really indicating where it was. So we passed it up. THIS TIME, I took I-77 right to the Emerson Avenue exit and found WineTree Vineyards with no problems at all. 
WineTree Vineyeards is a farm, vineyard and winery all in one. Craig and Candice Bandy purchased the WineTree Farm in 2001 to expand their grape-growing abilities, which they had been doing as a hobby for years. They sold the first bottle of wine in 2008, and produce traditional style dry white and red wines, as well as sweet wines.
When we first walked in, there were folks already there. So, we kind of had to mill about the tasting area waiting for our turn. There are no appointments at WineTree; instead, the WineTree Vineyards Tasting Room is open Memorial Day through Labor Day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. From September through May, the tasting room is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. January and February, tastings are available 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday and weekdays by appointment.
This wine tasting differed from the others in that the actual owner was not there to talk us through the wines; instead, the daughter helped out. While she had a good handle on the the wines, there were a few questions she wasn't able to answer. Also odd was two guys who were hovering at the appointment, trying to condescendingly be funny ('Let me guess your names! Is it Brittany?'). So, the vibe here was totally different from the others.
They have a good number of wines, including noiret, cabernet sauvignon, red satin, riesling, chardonnay, traminette, cayuga white, Lighthouse (off-dry white wine), MainSail (a dry white), catawba, angel blush (blend of catawba and fredonia), fredonia, and hummingbird (blend of two North American native grapes and Cayuga white). I liked their sweeter wines more than their dry ones. And I ended up taking home a bottle of the hummingbird!
To visit: Take the Emerson Avenue Exit off of I-77, go west on Rt 68 towards Parkersburg for 200 yards. Jesterville road is directly across from the Emerson Commons entrance. Drive 0.7 miles down Jesterville road and look for the signs. The vineyard, tasting room, and gift shop are on the right side of the road.WineTree Vineyards is located at 772 Jesterville Road, Vienna, WV 26105. 304-865-0507. Main phone is 304-481-4856.
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