I went to Indiana to visit my friend Kayla, who moved out there for work. I hadn't been, so she had me traveling all over the place, trying all kinds of new restaurants. I know most of you don't care, but I had fun. I'll keep these next few posts brief.

The Overlook overlooks the Ohio River. The menu is comfort, classic country food. I ordered the chicken cordon bleu. It came with two sides - I went for mashed potatoes and cole slaw.

The chicken cordon bleu was pretty baller. Swiss cheese, ham and chicken rolled in breadcrumbs and pan-fried and topped with a butter sauce. I loved cutting into it and just having Swiss cheese ooze out. I mean, awesome.



The mashed potatoes were not homemade, I don't think, but kind of reminded me of school lunch. Which isn't bad - I actually kinda liked them. Plus there was a thick, country gravy to top it off with. The cole slaw was very good. For dessert, I had their special, which was a peanut butter pie. I've had better peanut butter pie, and the chocolate was pretty bitter, but I mean, I'm splitting hairs. Overall, pretty good.




Grade: A

Afton and I headed to Richwood to experience the Feast of the Ramson in the ramps capital of the country: Richwood, W.Va. That will be a separate post, but while in town, we figured we'd check out a local restaurant. Local Twitter troll @ASourAppleTree recommended Mumsey's Iron Skillet.

It's a cute restaurant with lots of cast-iron skillets and tools on the walls. Bright red walls and chairs. And a dessert case to die for.

I was told their burger was the way to go, so I ordered their cheeseburger for $4.59. No fries or sides because my eye was already on dessert.


This was, by all accounts, a pretty good burger. It was pretty big, a little loppy - which says homemade to me - and juicy. A pretty solid burger all around - and a sesame seed bun! Who doesn't love that?








Dessert, though.

I got a pineapple piece of cake. I don't really know why. It just looked so.. huge. And delicious. It was. Moist and a ton of sugary icing. Layers of cake were lined with pineapple bits and cream. Delish.




Grade: A

While we had our full meal already, I wanted to soak up as many Wheeling eateries as I could. Another I hadn't been to was Later Alligator.

It's not even a block from the Centre Market, so we stopped by for some snacks and smoothies.

We grabbed menus and sat at the bar as we figured out what we wanted. I ordered their soup special: corn chowder with shrimp, while my parents both got smoothies.

They had salads, savory crepes, sweet crepes, and wraps/sandwiches.

After waiting for a bit - well, quite a while - we received our items and headed for home. It was a little pricey.


The soup was still piping hot when we got home, so I dove right in. It was tasty - creamy, with huge chunks of shrimp. I was a fan. Little too expensive and a long wait. But the food wasn't bad.



Grade: B

I have been to the famous Coleman's Fish Market in Wheeling just once. It was time to revisit.

The Centre Market is kind of the main market area in Wheeling with lots of bordering antique shops, stores and little restaurants.

Coleman's is housed inside. There's a special line for their original fish sandwich - since they get many orders for that (which really confused me because I was with my parents who didn't want that, so I didn't know which line to get in). Rest assured, we got in the specialty line, and everything was fine.

In addition to steaming hot fish prepared to eat right away, they have a number of fresh seafood available to purchase so you can go home and make your own dinner. Scallops, crab, any kind of fish you can imagine, and more. This is the place to go for seafood in the Northern Panhandle.


After placing our order at the front, my parents waited around until our order was ready while I left the shop to find seating in the open Centre Market area.

After a bit, my parents marched down the stairs to join me. Inside a large brown bag was our lunch. I unwrapped the wax paper to find two three-ounce fillets of fresh North Atlantic pollack deep fried between two slices of what bread (For the deluxe sandwich - with wheat and tartar - the regular is on white).



Okay, and now for the sandwich:



Yum! Steaming hot and full of white fish. Fresh. The tartar is the perfect balance of a mayo base and relish. I hate too much relish. But this is perfect. And a pretty hefty sandwich, at that. One of my favorites.

There's nothing like it.

Grade: A
 

It's rare I make stops in Beckley anymore, but on the way back from Lewisburg, our tummies were rumbling.

Pasquale Mira's is well-known in the area for some of the best Italian food. We were seated in an terrace area, with views outside. It was cute.

The menu had classic American Italian pasta dishes: spaghetti lasagna, ziti, ravioli, manicotti, eggplant parmesan. Oh, and my favorite - jumbo shells.

But first, a salad with their housemade dressing.

Blah. Some iceberg lettuce with may two or three small, tasteless pieces of tomato all soaked in the the dressing. I don't really know why people seem to be fond of this. Boring.

They brought out a basket of cold bread that was ... well, bread. Nothing too special there.

Okay, but onto the shells, florentine actually. I also ordered a side of meatballs because I was curious. I tried them first.

Not bad, actually. They crumble easily - they were well-seasoned, though. And I liked the marinara sauce. Not super powerful and hearty, but like a better-seasoned basic sauce.

The shells weren't bad, either. You can't really go wrong when there's a blanket of melted cheese atop some pasta. I do wish there had been a bit more filling inside the actual shells with more flavor. It kind of all blends together, but a little bit more seasoning. Maybe another kind of cheese. But still, overall good. Slightly above average.

Grade: B