A whole café devoted to Crepes? Is this Charleston or France; I’m confused. TWO cafes?

The Creperi Café has two locations: one in Kanawha City and another at Trace Fork in South Charleston. My friend and I tried to hit up the original location in Kanawha City, but it had closed for the evening. So we trekked over to the location in South Charleston.

They offer both sweet and savory crepes. So, if you’re feeling breakfast, you can get some stuffed with eggs, cheese, bacon, ham, etc. Lunch and dinner options include smoked salmon, shrimp and a Greek version.

But of course I went for dessert.

Chocolate, strawberries and ice cream on top was my selection. After I placed my order at the counter, I took a seat and awaited my dessert. If you can, catch a glimpse of them making it. Kinda nifty.

Maybe I hyped this up in my mind, but the chocolate was SO overpowering, that I barely was able to taste the cool, sweet strawberries or the fluffy crepe pastry. There are few times when I say to tone down the chocolate, but this is one. It simply didn’t let the other flavors shine through and instead covered the elements sloppily. Less chocolate, and I think this would be delicious. I was pairing ice cream with bites of chocolate to tone down the flavor.

And all the other offerings on the menu are enticing, too. I’ll have to take another shot.





Grade: B

Adelphia is one of the few "classic" restaurants that I hadn't been to in Charleston. There are a handful of classic restaurants - Bluegrass Kitchen, Tricky Fish, Vandalia Grille - that I think of when folks come to town, and these are usually some of the first restaurants people try here. I finally was able to try Adelphia - which is this interesting combo between Greek food and sports bar.

It's located on Capitol Street, so parking isn't so fun. However, it's worth it once you get there. There is some outdoor dining available - and we actually saw a couple with their dogs outside while they ate. So, that's cool.

The menu is a hybrid between sports bar and Greek, complete with tons of large TVs adorning the walls and miniature speakers for the table to tune into the TV of your choice.

I decided to go classic and tried their gyro. We also got an appetizer of fried feta cheese because the menu said it was their original. If you want to essentially have bar food but feel a little classy in the process, get it. It's deep-fried goodness. Giant chunks of fried feta cheese atop a piece of pita lightly seasoned and topped with an olive? Um, yes, please. Two, actually.

The gyro was also tasty. The ingredients were all fresh and not greasy - I tend to think of a festival gyro where it's soaked with sauce and dripping. But this had perfectly seasoned strips of meat, enough sauce to taste it and fresh tomatoes and onions on top. Very good. Also - the sweet potato/waffle fries came with a cream cheesey cinnamon sauce that was an interesting combo. But good. I'm a fan of the sweet/salty, so it won me over.

I also got the baklava, which was decent. It was heavier on the honey than what I'm used to, but if that's your boat, get to it, gravy. They have some other desserts that look pretty tasty though.

Grade: A

For one of my first nights in Charleston, a friend took me to Umami - a new sushi restaurant in the East End. Umami is supposed to be the fifth sense of taste - most often the mushroom is used as an example for this flavor.

Umami is located on Washington Street East, next door to the locally famous Main Kwong. The owners of the two businesses are said to be friends.

Parking is around the back of the building, and I haven't seen that get too busy yet. The interior has clean lines and vibrant colors, and the menu has around 100 dishes, many of which being sushi rolls. I like that they denoted the rolls without raw items. They also have a hibachi grill.


I got a spicy California roll and an eagle roll. The spicy California is pretty straight forward, but I did appreciate their spicy mayo sauce. It had a little tang, but not too much. And the eagle roll was pretty tasty - tempura shrimp, avocado and spider sauce. I think the difference between mediocre sushi and sushi that blows you away is the freshness. Umami is fresh. Simple ingredients, but fresh and prepared correctly make all the difference. For under $15, you can't really beat it.

Umami Sushi and Hibachi Grill, 1401 Washington St. E., is open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and then again from 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Saturday, it is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. On Sunday, it is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Call 304-343-8989 for more info.

Grade: A

I went to Fujiyama in Fairmont a while back because I just wanted a change from Morgantown sushi joints. It seems as though there's a small chain of Fujiyama Japanese Steakhouses, but this one looks to be unrelated.

Located at 422 Marion Square, the restaurant instilled some trepidation in my veins upon approaching it. The area doesn't seem to have been updated very recently, and the building? Looks like a solid double-wide trailer.

Walking inside, though, is a different story. The decor is sleek and elegant. Not something I was expecting. But it is modern and made me feel more at ease.

I ordered crab rangoons that were out. of. this. world. I really have developed a preference for the super creamy, indulgent ones. Most takeout places have this blocky, chunky mixture inside, but this was the opposite. Something about the crunchy exterior and the smooth center does something to my tastebuds. This just got all sorts of romantic novel-like. Moving on.

I ordered two rolls: a boring Hollywood Roll - cream cheese, avocado, crab roll. I tend to do these "buffer" rolls in case I'm not a fan of the other. Can you go wrong with crab, avocado and cream cheese? Not in my book. It's always a solid choice.

 The other roll I ordered was the Bayridge Roll, and it included salmon, asparagus, crab, and cream cheese, and was topped with masago, eel sauce, spicy mayo and house mayo. It was different, but also tasty - maybe the combination of a thousand sauces making it sweet and tangy had something to do with it.

Grade: B

I tried Anthony's Pizza once before without much satisfaction. My order got messed up, and I just wasn't pleased...

Fast-forward a year or two, and I'm ready to check out their new location in Cheat Lake. I had my eye on this place because it used to be "Cheat Lake Pizza 'N Pasta," which didn't sound much too appetizing. Luckily, Anthony's can reuse the incredibly descriptive "Pizza" lettering above the shop.


It's much larger inside than I anticipated, and there are a few booths and tables if you choose to dine in. I decided to keep it simple this time and just got a cheese pizza and some breadsticks.

The breadsticks were just ... bland. Could've used a generous amount of garlic and another coating or two of cheese.  Maybe I'm being overly critical. They were just average.

The pizza, too, fell into that category. The pizza was pretty greasy; the sauce tasted canned. I liked my pizza even flatter than this. While my order was correct, and the people working seemed great, I just wasn't impressed by the food.

Grade: C