Wine & Jazz is my favorite Morgantown festival. There aren't many, but this is perfect. It's a shady spot out at Camp Muffly. It's $20 for unlimited samples of all the wineries: Daniel Vineyards, Watts Roost Vineyard, Forks of Cheat Winery, Lambert's Vintage Wine, Potomac Highland Winery, West-Whitehill Winery, and Heston Farm Winery. Plus a keepsake glass and bottle opener if you want to have a bottle right there while listening to the jazz.

Lots of food vendors, too: Madeleine Marie's, Russ' Ribs, Lambert's Pizza, Chico's Fat, Garcia's Latin Market, Jersey's, Ramada Inn, Slight Indulgence.

Madeleine Marie's, as I found out, is actually the catering company in Forks of Cheat. I had jerk chicken, with peanut sauce, and smoked gouda cheesesticks there. The chicken was great; the cheesesticks were a tad mushy, but still tasty overall.

I'm a fan of sweet - but not too sweet - whites. Or sweeter reds. And semi-sweets.

Favorite wines: Always Forks of Cheat. Bad Cat is one of my favorites. Also, all the fruit ones.

I also liked Heston Farm Winery a lot. They have cute names for each wine named after farm animals. Vicki was a fan of their Bastion. I liked Prudence & Penelope.

West-Whitehill is a new-ish one to me. I liked their semi-sweet Aurore Blush.

Potomac Highland Winery had a nice riesling. Also a new winery to me.

Lamberts Winery is one I really want to visit because it's not too far. A few favorites for me were their symal and the fredonia.

Watts Roost is one I actually have been to - love their Sweet Charlotte and Sweet Lucie.

Daniel Vineyards had our favorite blackberry wine.

I'm already excited about next year. Who's going?

I went to the Preston County Buckwheat Festival for the first time this year. I just had to try the buckwheat cakes. Everyone told me "don't expect pancakes!" and I didn't. I expected something awful, but I was pleasantly surprised.

First of all, I really have no idea what I'm doing 90 percent of the time when I'm navigating, but Kingwood wasn't too difficult to find. I got on the Kingwood Pike and just drove straight for a while. That was helpful.

But I had no idea what I was in for. I thought I could just find a nice little parking spot somewhere about a half hour before the parade starts. Uh, no. Every single square inch was taken up. Then I started getting trapped when roads started closing for the parade. Some lovely man saw my desperation and allowed me to park near his garage. For free. And it was super close.

We watched some of the parade and headed off the hall for our buckwheat cakes. It was an adventure to swim through a sea of people waiting for their high school band to come through the parade. We were careful.

After I paid my $9 at the window, I walked inside to the window. A slew of workers prepped my plate of two buckwheat cakes and two sausage patties. I picked up a small carton of milk before finding a seat at the communal tables. Between the butter and syrup, these tasted just fine. They were pretty thin, and to be honest, I really liked them. Some find them more sour - but when they're drenched in syrup, I don't think it matters. I'm a fan. The sausage was pretty dark in areas, but still good.

There are barns full of pigs, sheep, goats, crafts, and produce and other items the local 4H kids grew. Giant pumpkins, cabbages, and whole displays of vegetables, plus a photo contest and flowers! It's pretty neat. Plus tons of rides and games - all of which is lit up at night. Just beautiful.

On our way out, I got a corndog from Frank's. Top notch.

The Wonder Bar has a spectacular reputation in the state. It's known as one of the best, and since it's located right in Clarksburg, Vicki and I saw it fitting to try it for a celebration dinner. The restaurant is located atop a hill bearing its namesake, giving it a beautiful view of the city.

We arrived for our reservations around 6:30 and were seated in a back room. I noticed the dark, old-school interior and how the part we were in looked like it was an addition. The main area had dark red walls, and the ceiling was slightly different.

Our waiter brought us out menus, and we ordered a special appetizer - crab-stuffed shrimp. There were only a handful, but they were good. Some melted butter on the side.

I ordered the petite filet mignon (6 oz.), which came with a house salad. Our waiter got a little confused. I asked for blue cheese on mine with their house dressing, but somehow ended up getting the blue cheese dressing with mozzarella cheese. Vicki had an incorrect salad altogether, but when they brought out the wedge, it looked great. Mine was tasty, despite it not being exactly what I had ordered.











We were served some bread along with our entrees.

We had the option of adding onions or mushrooms to our steak, so I got mushrooms. Plus cheese melted on the top of the steak. For my side, I got pasta with their blush sauce. The steak came with bearnaise sauce, and it was just truly delicious.

It was cooked to a perfect medium, the cheese was amazingly rich, melty and creamy. Mushrooms added a nice flavor, and the sauce was just a different level of rich. The meal overall was spectacular. Nice attention to detail and additions to make the meal customized.

The pasta on the side was an after-thought, and I mostly ate this leftover since I had so much for my entree. But the sauce was a good - a nice mix of their red and white.

At this point, I was super pleased with our meal. From start to finish, I had great food. The appetizer was good, the salad was good, the entree was incredible, and the sides were all great. So, I figured I'd top it off with dessert.

I ordered this mousse for dessert. By this time it was around 8:30. We didn't eat especially slow, but we had a few different courses, and they weren't always the quickest to come out. But I noticed that we were literally the only table left in the dining area. They had pushed all the tables to the edges and literally began sweeping right beside our table.

If there's a more blatant way to say "get out," I think it would be to verbalize that statement. There were people coming in and setting up. Apparently they booked that room at 8:30 for some event. If that's the case, I'm not sure why you would sit someone in there at 6:30. Unless they assume we would get an entree and leave. But they also weren't quick to deliver each dish.

Regardless, it really left a sour taste in my mouth. The dessert was great. I could've probably bathed in it. And I highly recommend it, but if I'm paying in the three-digits for a meal, please don't be sweeping literally right beside my table, urging me to leave, as all that dust is flying into my $13 dessert.


Grade: B

I went to the Art is Food event a few years ago and had a great time. When I heard about this year's, I couldn't wait to sign up. A nice lineup of restaurants were in attendance: Mother India, Black Bear, The Cupcakerie, Garcia's Latin Market, Morgan's High St. Diner, Chaang Thai and the Lebanese Bistro.

First up - Mother India's channa masala, basmati rice, naan and a vegetable pakora. I appreciated they really made an entire dish. And it was vegetarian-friendly, so two birds with one stone. Good flavors all around.



The Lebanese Bistro had their baklava and another almond cake sort of dessert. The baklava is good. One of my favorite things from them. Flaky, moist, good. The Cupcakerie had a bunch of cupcakes: chocolate mousse, pumpkin spice, peanut butter, lemon blueberry, red velvet, apple pie. Red velvet is my go-to. Always good.



Black Bear was good, but I feel like it wasn't as inspired as in year's past. They had a pumpkin curry soup and an apple, bacon, chicken, lettuce wrap. I guess it's an overall crowd-pleaser, though.



Morgan's High St. Diner is really what I was most excited about since it hadn't opened yet. They had their meatloaf, mashed potatoes, chocolate cake and coconut. Everything was delicious and my favorite thing there. Meatloaf had just a little bit of tang, potatoes were nice and salty, the desserts were rich. Super excited for this place.






Chaang Thai is consistently one of my favorite restaurants. They brought their pad thai - one of my favs. He admitted it doesn't heat well in a buffet environment - it's meant to be served right away. Still delicious, though. Also loved the side of rice.




And Garcia's Latin Market is another one of my favorites. They had their tacos pre-made and you could choose which you wanted. I went with chipotle - the best one. Tasty, plus a side of salsa.



If you haven't been, it's definitely a great way to get a taste of local restaurants and meet the folks serving your food. Plus, we don't have a ton of community events like this (I wish we did), so the more support we throw toward them, the better chance we get more like this.