Tucked away in South Park, Gene's Beer Garden might be missed if you weren't looking for it. While it was easy to spot along 461 Wilson Avenue, it's not along a well-traveled path. That might explain why the crowd is a bit older, a bit more local and bit more down-to-earth - no offense, college kids.

I had heard that Gene's was the place for a cheap beer and a good hotdog. I found my way there for just that. South Park is a bit different with their parking, so make sure when you park along the street that you're not on a colored line. This bar is small, so it's not like you're fighting with a ton of other people for a spot. There are actually two doors to the bar, one to the left and one to the right. We walked in the right to discover a small counter, a couple booths, a center table and a stage. A band was playing, quite loudly, in front of a lit-up wooden West Virginia cutout. The walls were decorated with WVU memorabilia. I felt at ease right away.

It's a total local bar, and I think that's why I love it. You can come in in jeans and a hoodie and feel at home here. The lady behind the counter was sweet and helpful. I ordered a beer and a hot dog and made my way to the one empty booth. After a few minutes, she walked over with our hotdogs in hand. Complete with chili, mustard and onions, the hotdog was fine. The chili was toppling over the bun, and it had a little bit of a kick to it. It was a solid hotdog overall, especially for the price. It was even better with the ice cold beer.

There's a larger, more relaxed room to the left, which is where the other door leads to. It was much quieter here, so I could talk with my friend. There was a comfy wraparound couch and a pinball machine. Sitting here, you can watch the army of people outside having a cigarette, enjoy some local music, some good hospitality and a fine hotdog. I felt like I belonged here - and I think they felt that way, too. I think my total came to around $3, with tip $6, so it can't be beat.

Grade: A

I noticed a new sign reading "La Baba" in the plaza behind Hibachi on University Avenue, where Albasha was located. After much digging, the only information I could come up with about La Baba is its Facebook, which stated it was open for dinner and looked to be of Middle Eastern cuisine.

I trekked over with a couple friends to check it out. They have a handful of tables in the center, with a bar area along the back. It looked as though they had just opened, but I asked the girl working and she had replied they had been open for two months.

The counter had four, maybe five, serving trays and a few bowls on the counter. It all looked so temporary. It wasn't built into the restaurant. In fact, when my friends and I stepped in, they pulled a few plates out of a refrigerated area and put them on the counter. They only offer a buffet here, which is $10. You can get a drink out of the refrigerator for another $1.50 - no fountain soda.

The girl working asked us if we had been there before, and when we replied no, she took us up to the counter and told us what each of the items were. Apparently they change daily, but they didn't look like it. The "buffet" included some meat pies, spinach pies, a chicken dish, a beef dish, dolma, tabbouleh, hummus, baba ghanoush, pita from a bag, baklava, and awamat. These would all be great if they were all good, but I found very little here that I actually enjoyed.

Everything tasted as though it was old and sitting in that pan for days. The sauces were nearly coagulated. The dolma was soft and mushy. The awamat, those crisp doughnut balls in syrup, are usually a favorite because they're so sweet, were so hard I had to use some pressure to shove my fork into it. I even tried eating it - only to be surprised with that thick syrup mixed with oil. Not good.

I barely even used my buffet privileges, trying another plate, because there really wasn't anything that was that great. I took to the rice since I was starving, and I think it's difficult to mess up rice.

While the girl helping us was very sweet and attentive, I just was not pleased by the food. It was old, hard, bland and not worth my money. But they did have some other people in the restaurant, so maybe it's just not my cup of tea.
 
Grade: D

Located underneath Dollar General on High Street, Billiards and Cue is pretty easy to miss. Unless you're looking for it. As you descend the stairs, you feel like you're entering another world: that of Morgantown's bar scene. Seriously, why are all the bars underground here?

Anyway, I was shocked at how big it was. Shocked. Pool tables, tons of seating, as well as lounge areas. This was going to be good! Or so I thought. It was still early, maybe 9ish, so there were only two other people in the place. They were playing pool.

My group of friends sat at one of the tables in front of the bar. The bartender saw us and walked the other way. That's odd. I assumed he'd say something since we were the only ones there. We waited, still nothing. We got up to go over to the bar area once the bartender came back and quickly learned that everything on tap was kicked. Bottles were our only option.

A few of my friends ordered their bottles. I was next in line when the bartender went to a back room, took a few bites of a piece of pizza, then came back to take my order. Maybe he didn't think we could see him through the opening to the back area? C'mon, really?

When he came back, I ordered a beer and looked at the menu. He said they only had cheese pizza and pepperoni pizza. What a buzzkill that was, since their menu looked yummy. But, I put in an order for a large cheese pizza. I said thank you. He ignored me and walked away. I get it, you're a college kid, you're working, you're unhappy. But I was just being civil; there's no reason to completely disregard me.

We went to sit at a booth. We tried to find one that was not completely sticky, but to no avail. This place was grimy. One of my friends remarked it was like a frat house's basement. Truer words were never spoken.

When the pizza was done, the bartender brought it over to the table. One of my friends asked if she could get another beer, too. The guy said she'd need to go over to the counter. She asked if he could just put it on her tab that she had open, and he said no. I was ready to leave at this point.

The pizza wasn't awful. We still ate it. It was pretty average. The cheese was tasty, but the crust was like what you'd get if you microwaved a pizza. Kind of soft and crumbly. Not ideal. If the pizza wasn't keeping me from coming back, the "service" sure would.

Grade: D

I have only been to Ali Baba's once during my time in Morgantown. I don't remember much of the visit, except it was with one of my best friends who is no longer with us. I'm also pretty sure I wrote about it for the newspaper. (Edit: I did, three years ago)

It's located in the airport - not beside it - IN the actual airport. So you drive and park in the passenger area. It's odd to see the lack of security around the airport and whatnot. You enter the building and go up to the second level and follow the signs. It's like a miniature abandoned airport. There was no one around when my friend Mel and I first walked in, and we were essentially walking through empty terminals. It was strange. But then I saw a flashing sign reading "Ali Baba's," and suddenly this building was re-energized.


The large dining room is draping in beautiful reds, golds and greens. Some interesting lighting fixtures and draping make this a warm, inviting environment. Our server came over, menus in tow, to welcome us. I had a good idea of what I wanted from looking at their website, but I continued to narrow down my choices. I was immediately drawn to the Ali Baba specialties, of course. One of which was spinach lasagna. Interesting - lasagna at a Mediterranean restaurant? But it was a specialty. I was too curious to not try it. It came with a salad - a Mediterranean salad: hummus, baba ghannouj, tabbouleh, or tahini. I opted for the hummus. But I needed some more Mediterranean flavor, so I ordered an appetizer of samboosas, too.

After a few minutes, we were greeted with two small plates - hummus for me and baba ghannouj for Mel. I'm pretty picky with my hummus, as I feel like it's just usually bland and strong. But I really enjoyed this hummus - the flavors were more subtle. The little kalmata olive on the top was also a nice touch. The texture of the mashed chickpeas was like whipped or pureed, and it's blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. Served with pita bread, I ate my entire serving.


Shortly thereafter came our entrees. Mel got a kabob, and I got my lasagna - layers of pasta stuffed with spinach, onions and ricotta cheese, topped with marinara sauce and provolone cheese for $12.95. It tasted straight-up Italian, but I did love it. It was a large chunk, creamy, with a pretty flavorful sauce. I was impressed. I also tasted Mel's kabob - which was grilled chicken. I love that grilled, slightly smokey taste. Yum.

I asked our server where the samboosas were, and he went to check on them. Apparently there was some miscommunication, but they came out a few minutes later. I didn't mind eating them alongside my entree anyway. The samboosas were mega greasy (I soaked them in my napkin), but after that, the crispy fried thin pastry was delicious, stuffed full of the spicy meat and onion mixture. It came with a yogurt dipping sauce. Delicious!

For dessert, it was knafa - shredded dough stuffed with a mixture of sweetened ricotta cheese. Baked. Goodness. I love ricotta, so I was probably already sold on this one. But I like the depth of this dish. It was creamy, warm, gooey, creamy .. all those other words that make you say "mmm." Our waiter even gave us dessert on the house - most likely because the samboosas came out late. So I only paid around $20 for my meal.

If it's not along your main route, take a detour one evening. It'll be worth it. Oh, and we got to see airplanes taking off and landing right from our table. How awesome! I can't wait to get home and have my leftovers after this.

Grade: A

Arts Alive on the River Festival was last weekend, and I went with a couple friends to check it out. They had everything from live shows to jewelry vendors to wineries and - of course - food. I purchased a small "tweezer" from Allegheny Treenware, which I plan to use as chopsticks. And of course I got some food.

I didn't buy a glass because I didn't really have the time, but the wineries were:

• Vu  Ja De Vinyards
• Heston Farms Winery
• Kirkwood Winery
• West-Whitehill Winery
• Kenco Farms Meadery

Breweries:

• Yuengling
• Morgantown Brewing Company
• Mountain State Brewing Company
• Bridge Brew Works
• North End Tavern and Brewery

Lots of other great vendors were there - especially the local food places: Zul's Lemonade, 123 Pleasant Street (I didn't even know they did food - I need to stop there whenever they're cooking again), Chico's Fat Burritos, Richwood Grill, Yellow Submarine Sandwich Corp., and Jersey's Subs.

I got a lemonade from Zul's, a lemonade truck. I got a strawberry-flavored one. It was sticky sweet in the hot sun and huge. Yum!

I looked around at all the vendors - I actually need to review Chico's and Jersey's, but my first thought was to try the Yellow Submarine Sandwich because 1) it was in a bus and 2) the other places I can get year-round. However, looking at their menu was like looking in my refrigerator - just bunches of sandwiches alternating meats and toppings. Nothing too exciting here. Lunch meat, cheese, bread, check.


So I looked around. Richwood Grill looked to have some awesome stuff, but I had just been there. 123 also looked like they had a cool burger, and I'm not sure when I'll get to eat there because I don't believe they serve food all the time. But, they only had one or two items. Jersey's just had their cheesesteak, which I'll get at some point. But Chico's had the most expansive menu. I need to review them, as well. But their menu was amazing - things like chips and guacamole or queso, of course. But also things like their quesadilla - sweet/spicy marinated roast pork, jack cheese, green onions, served with guac and sour cream. Deep fried Mexican Mac & Cheese with smokey chipotle tomato sauce. It took some willpower to ignore that one. And their fish tacos - panko encrusted tilapia, baja slaw, jalapeno creme fraiche. The last one sold me. It was so tasty, too. Yes, the fish was like deep fried, and the slaw lacked some depth, but the combo of the crispy panko breading and the creme fraiche was great. It was tiny, and I was still starving. I should've gotten more than one. If this is any indication of what their restaurant is like, I can't wait to review it.


For dessert, we headed over to  Chocolate Occasions, based out of Virginia, to get our sweet fix. They had lots of little packaged up chocolates. But the chocolate-covered pretzel was first on my list. For only $1, I grabbed it up. It melted almost instantaneously, but I shoved it in my mouth and enjoyed the Belgian chocolately delight. Not too bad.

As you can see from the photos, lots of hippie types here. But it was awesome to see the local culture showcased. I loved seeing the local artisans, performers and all the vendors. It was fun. I wish we had events like that more often. I spent less than $20 overall, and I even had some left over. I call that a success.