Didn't I tell you recently that West Virginia is having a bit of a Jamaican takeover? Quite a few Jamaican restaurants have popped up. This is the first of two in Morgantown - Jamaican Spice.
Located on Greenbag Road, Jamaican Spice is set apart with its unique gray shingled roof on the corner of a small plaza area.
Their menu has staples like jerk chicken, goat curry, oxtail and more. Take a look at their website to see when they host specials.
I put in an order for quite a few things. Let's start with the "Sweet Jamaican Chicken." I've had jerk chicken a number of times, but I've never heard of this. The description states: pan-fry chicken, stewed in a sweet sauce until fork-tender, Served with red bean and rice or white Rice with steamed cabbage. WOW. Yes, it's sweet, but not cloyingly so. I could bottle that sauce and put it on literally everything. Almost like a BBQ, but fruity with a nice sear on the meat, which gives some smokiness.
Then, I got a side of pasta salad, which was in a creamy sauce and added corn and peas. The beef patty was phenomenal. Flavorful, flaky and delicious. And finally, "Jamaican Festival Bread" is a slightly sweet cornmeal. Almost like a sweet-ish cornbread - I'm all here for adding beans for a Jamaican-Appalachian mashup here.
Grade: A
Quick Bites is a new restaurant along University Avenue in Morgantown. It's located right across from the Life Sciences Building at the light. This building has been home to 5 million different restaurants since my arrival in Morgantown in 2007 (yikes!). But, none have been all that memorable.
Quick Bites seems to be specializing in burgers, with the Cowboy (cheddar, BBQ, onion rings), Sunrise (mozzarella, caramelize onion, egg), and the Diablo (pepper jack, jalapenos, buffalo sauce). The inside seems like it will be a late-night college hangout.
They also have some fried apps: french fries, chicken tenders, onion rings, etc. So I wanted to try a little bit of Column A and a little bit of Column B. First up, the mushroom swiss burger. It's a little mushed because it was in my bag in transport, but the flavor remains. A decently seasoned burger, a healthy slice of swiss cheese and some sauteed mushrooms made for a solid little burger. A little ketchup made it even better.
And, here are some macaroni & cheese bites. I always want these to be better than what they ever are. In concept, they sound great. I love macaroni & cheese. But in execution, they're always a little bland, a little greasy and a little dry.
Grade: C
It's time to try the Tudor's biscuit favorite of my vegetarian friends: The Dottie.
Winfield is home to a new-to-me location, so I made my way to their Tudor's Biscuit World. It looks more modern than many locations, with a single level and brick exterior. The menu is standard - they all are. Let's talk about the biscuit.
The Dottie has egg, cheese and hashbrown - no meat. So each individual part here is crucial. And, this is when I learned that a really crispy hash brown just completely changes the sandwich. This all is pretty dense and carby, so I ended up adding some ketchup. But my mind has been changed on the hashbrown. It totally changes the sandwich. If it's cripsy, it's delicious. If it's soggy, don't bother.
Here's another segment of Tudor's Biscuit World. This time: Teays Valley.
Our biscuit of choice: The Miner. This biscuit has bacon, cheese and a hash brown.
First of all, I've realized just how important each element is. When the hash brown is nice and crispy, it's perfection on the biscuit. It doesn't weigh it down; rather, it adds more texture. So, crispy hash brown is key. On the other hand, too crispy bacon just tastes like char to me. Gimme a nice middle ground. And cheese on everything, always and forever.
Grade: B
All work property of Candace Nelson. Powered by Blogger.