Charleston has probably one of, if not the, best farmers' market in the state. The Capitol Market has outdoor vendors with produce and other items. It also has a permanent structure with a few merchants inside: The Purple Onion, The Wine & Cheese Shop, The Fresh Seafood Co. & Market, Holl's Swiss Chocolatier, Johnnies Fresh Meat Market, WV Marketplace and Soho's Italian Restaurant.

I've been to Soho's previously. And, I loved it. It's the only sit-down restaurant in the building.

I've also been to the Fresh Seafood Co. & Market. It was also amaze. It is one of two places inside that provide counter-service lunch options made to order. It offers fresh seafood for purchase, but you can also have a quick lunch.

The same goes for Johnnies Fresh Meat Market - you can purchase meat here, but you can also get a made-to-order lunch.

Johnnies Fresh Meat Market
I'm not sure if there's another butcher shop in town, but this is the only one I know. They have beef, chicken, pork, as well as lamb, chorizo, sausage, duck, veal and more. With all the fresh meat they offer, you can also get a damn good sandwich or salad.

You pick up a slip at the end of the counter and circle what you want. I went with sandwich - sourdough bread, buffalo chicken, pesto-parm ham, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo and honey mustard. With chips and a drink.

It was huge. And pretty delicious. But I'll take half the credit, since I created it.



The traditional lunch places have been taken care of, but there are still a few other shops where you can get some great products.

Grade: A


The others are not made-to-order, so I just want to touch on them.

The Purple Onion
This section is beautiful. It is stocked with fresh fruits and veggies. The wall is lined with snacks - fruits, candies, etc. And the center had some fresh food. On this day, I got some pasta salad. And it was delish.

I've also had a dried apple, yogurt-covered raisin and sesame stick trail mix recently, and that was awesome.

This is probably one of my more favorite shops - though it's hard to decide. But it's so bright and fun in here. And there were some Fall treats that I just am dying to get. 



The Wine and Cheese Shop
While I haven't tried the wine here, I have bought some of the cheese. I got a hunk of gouda, which was just mmmmm. 



Holl's Swiss Chocolatier 
I didn't realize this place was based out of Vienna. In fact, I thought it was more of a corporate, national brand because of its high-end look and feel. But I did get a caramel sample - which they so kindly do - and it was melt-in-your-mouth lovely.    

WV Market
This place kind of reminds me of one of those places you can find at any visitors' center or rest stop that has a "best of" West Virginia section. It is a nice spot to get some West Virginia-made items, like Blue Smoke Salsa.

Laury's is a well-known fine dining restaurant in Charleston, and it had been on my bucket list for some time. But because of the price tag, I didn't get around to going until I went for my going-away dinner with Brittany.


Going away? Yes. I moved back to Morgantown for a new job. Didn't think I'd be saying that anytime soon, but you know, life.

Laury's is right on the river, across from the newspaper offices. Reservations are recommended. This place is decked out with white tablecloths, tuxed servers and cloth napkins, so put on your Sunday best.

When we were seated, we brought the median age level down to probably about 50. Charleston's elite seem to frequent this place, and it was clear we stuck out, but we were having fun. Playing dress up and spending money we don't have. Fun.

They supplied us with a basket full of bread. Nothing to write home about here.

I ordered a salad to start with - a blue cheese salad. It had mixed greens, blue cheese crumbles, bacon, dried cherries, almonds and a mango vinaigrette.

The salad was divine.

I love the sweet and salty. Everything was fresh, and the nutty flavor with the blue cheese is a fav combo. The vinaigrette was sweet, slightly tangy, but delish.

Brittany ordered a caesar salad, which is made tableside. So, that's cool. Our server combined garlic, anchovy paste, mustard, egg yolk, ground pepper, and olive oil. If you're a fan of such things, take Brittany's word for it - she loved it. Me, not so much. Caesar salads don't really do it for me.

But every other salad also looked amazing, so I don't really think you can go wrong. They all have that sweet/savory thing going on, so yes.


My entree was the Cajun Shrimp - I had heard lovely things about it. And it's probably not typically the thing I would go after, but I was in the mood to experiement.

It is shrimp with onions, garlic, basil, tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus with lemon butter sauce and linguine pasta. $25. It was good. I could taste the cayenne, paprika and peppers.

But the flavors were lacking something. It was a fine dish, but I wish it had a little more "oomph." Something to make my tastebuds dance. It was just okay. It was fine. No vibrancy. And on top of that, the tails were still on, which is a terrible idea for a dish like this. So instead of being able to just eat it with my fork, I had to pull the tails off, which was incredibly ladylike. If there's a way to skillfully do that with your fork, I have yet to master it.

Dessert: Bananas. Foster.

Tableside.

Bananas, vanilla ice cream, nuts, whipped cream, oh my. Served as a flambe.

Pretty good.

While it's a good place for the occasional fancy dinner, it's definitely not  place I could go to all the time.

The food was good, but more than that -- not sure.


Grade: B

Over the past couple of years, food trucks have become insanely popular. They used to be these sort of quick fixes for those on the go with less-than-desirable options many times. And were mostly in larger cities.

But then they became trendy. They began offering more creative and upscale options. And places outside of San Francisco or Los Angeles got them.

Morgantown has some hotdog stands and a taco truck, and a few Charleston establishments have their own mobile versions - Mission Savvy and Bridge Road Bistro. There's even a Twitter account devoted to tracking some of the food trucks' locations.

Spork:Truck, a new addition to the Charleston foodtruck scene, has been trying to raise money to get its truck up and running to compete in that market. In the meantime, Sam Canterbury - pork lover and owner - has been setting up shop all over town.

Spork aims to be a tasty, full-time, local food truck. It will be the first not associated with a brick and mortar building, and I think it's already making a name for itself.

Sam, who I know personally - disclaimer there, sets up all over town. On this particular day, he was on Lee Street, so I went to get my fresh taco fix.

I ordered up one chicken taco and one pork taco with a side of his homemade tortilla chips.

The food is fresh, simple and good. A well-seasoned piece of protein topped with cilantro and onions, wrapped in a tortilla. There aren't thick, creamy sauces dumped on top or a heap of toppings that mask the flavor.

It's simple, it's fresh and it's good.

Tortilla chips were good - but the pico was probably the best I've ever had. Epitome of fresh - beautiful blend. This is what it's supposed to taste like.

 Grade: A

What does the typical person do when they see a somewhat rundown building in not the best area? Opt for a better dining option?

We all know I'm not typical. I didn't even know it was a restaurant, really. I was thinking more of a bar with maybe some food. But my friend Matt saw it and was excited to go.


When I casually asked friends if they've heard of Bruno's, most shook their heads or said yeah, but were ambivalent about going. That made me all the more interested.

It's pretty big inside with a few segmented areas. We sat in the center section with booths while we got acclimated. It's pretty laidback. Kinda dark. But the people were super friendly. Our waitress greeted us right away and brought out our drinks. She also offered her suggestions for dishes when we asked.

First up were the crab balls. Because why not?

These were good. There were only four for $10, so as good as a $2.50 per ball could be. Kind of like a crab cake but bite-size. Cajun mayo was fine. Nothing too extravagant here.

For our main dish,we had to go with a brick oven pizza - our waitress said they were too good to pass up. We chose the signature white pizza: spinach, goat cheese, garlic and tomato.

I love the irregular shape to homemade pizzas. It was huge, too. And I was pleasantly surprised. The goat cheese was fairly mild, little salty, but awesome with the tomatoes, spinach and soft crust.

Pizza was a winner - not sure about all the other combos, but this one was good. I'll pass on the appetizer next time.

Grade: B

I've been to The Cold Spot in Glen Jean. Twice, actually. My opinion of the place had risen since my first visit as I had the chance to meet the owner on my second visit to that location. I, again, went with photographer Tom Hindman, who knows everyone. The owner genuinely cared about our meal - though there were no worries - it was great.

So I visited the Charleston location recently with my friend Carl. You know those nights when you kind of just want to "bro" out and have some beer and wings?

Yeah, that.

When we got here, I'm not going to lie - I was a little confused about the layout. It is sprawling in non-linear way. Maybe it's just the way they section it off. Didn't matter - Carl knew his way around and we made our way to the bar. First-class service was executed all night - maybe because he had been here a time or 3,000 before - but the woman behind the bar was fantastic. Got us a pitcher of beer as soon as we sat down. Friendly, on top of her game. Give her a raise. It'd help if I remembered her name.

Anyway.

I ordered 12 boneless sweet BBQ wings. They were pretty busy that night, but when we got our wings, they were piping hot. In typical fashion, I had been starving so I actually got filled up pretty quickly. But that's not to the discredit of the wings.

They're good.

Crispy on the outside, covered in a sweet and tangy sauce, the wings are general crowd pleasers, I'm sure.

I didn't even have ranch or bleu cheese. I think I just forgot about it. But I think that speaks to the quality of the wings.

Grade: A