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The Purple Fiddle is one of those places that I would pay to have a location in Morgantown.
It's a cafe with great food, beer and music. It's comfortable, eclectic and full of character. There's a bar along the right side where they dish out ice cream, a main counter to the front where you can order and a stage off to the left.
Along the way, you can pick up bumper stickers, buttons or other momentos characteristic of West Virginia.
Once Brittany and I got to the front, we grabbed some menus and looked over our options. We ordered the Fiddle platter, which had hummus, feta, olive tapenade and pico de gallo with pita. Plus a slice of pumpkin cheesecake.
The platter was served in individual ramekins and was pretty good. I loved the feta and fresh pico. The hummus was tasty - though I tend to like mine a good bit more garlicky. And the tapenade was good, too. Most of my pita bites tended to have a thick slathering of each ingredient.
The cheesecake was super indulgent. Rich. Tasty.
Oh, and I also got a blueberry pop. I was going to get something different - something more local, maybe. But I had a hard time passing up this adorable little label.It's Maine Root, and it's kind of a little bit of heaven.
First of all - have you ever had blueberry soda? If you have, you're already way ahead of the game - from me, at least.
I wish blueberry soda was a more common thing. Why isn't that a common flavor? It's delicious. Somebody, make this happen.
Or ship me some of these, that would work just fine too.
OK.
The Purple Fiddle is great, and I'm actually hoping to do a piece on them for Taste WV soon. So, I will hopefully have more details about the history and background in the future. In the meantime, go go go if you haven't. Super cool vibe, good food and an awesome environment.
Grade: A
I'm doing a story on Blackwater Brewing Company for Taste WV Magazine, so I was lucky enough to try some of their beer and food while there. You'll have to check that out for their awesome story and plans for the future.
The restaurant features a handful of beers and a weekly rotating menu during the weekends.
Let's start with the beer: They have some German-inspired beers due to the owner's brewing history. They have the Canaan Valley Kolsch, a 3200 Alt Bier, The Goldenrod Gold Ale, The Laurel Run EPA, and The Angus Macker Hardy County Sweet Oatmeal Stout. I had a taste of the Goldenrod Gold Ale and had to get a growlette of it to take back to Morgantown with me.
It's smooth and uses a local honey. How cool.
OK - food. He literally serves food only Friday-Sunday and it changes weekly. As far as a theme, he tries to play on seasons, and there's usually a soup or stew. He had a beef carbonnade, which is a Belgian beef dish with cubes of beef in a rich broth incorporates the Belgian blonde ale as the base. Hot and flavorful. With a side of beer bread.
Then there was a bratwurst that incorporated his Kolsch bier, served with homemade potato salad and sauerkraut. This potato salad was so delicious. It was warm and hearty. So loved it. The bratwurst was delicious and on a nice toasted bun.
My favorite, though, was this beautiful peperonata di patate soup, which had four types of peppers and potato. For one, it's beautiful. And two, it had this really deep, slightly spicy, slightly sweet soup with some potato for some substance. Just super good. Plus some nice buttered crostini.
So, if you go during the week, get a really good beer. If you're there on a weekend, choose one of his meals (there are only a couple options), but I know it'll be worth it.Grade: A
The Mediterranean Market went out of business, and a new Tex-Mex restaurant has replaced it: Dos Bros Cantina. They've been pretty active (and funny) on Twitter. When they opened, they sent out a tweet. A few days later, I visited with some coworkers.
The outside has some wood panels, and the awning is no more. Inside, bright vibrant colors paint the chairs, the walls and the floor. We walked up to the counter but then someone seated us. Then we moved because my chair was wobbly and I'm a diva, apparently.We were brought some chips and salsa. It was fine. I'll be honest when I say this isn't typically my most favorite type of food. I tend to gravitate toward sweets and creamy, rich sauces. Just personal taste. However, I try to judge it based on what it is. And the chips and salsa were just fine to me.
The menu seems to be evolving a bit. It is slightly different than the one they posted on the storefront, and when another friend visited, it looked slightly different from that. So here's the menu I ordered from, and I think it's mostly the same.
You have your burritos, combo meals, some house specials, appetizers and salads. I ordered off the lunch special menu: Lunch Special No. 8 - shredded beef enchilada, chicken enchilada and rice.
There were definitely some kinks in service, which is to be expected during soft openings. We waited quite a while and none of our orders were totally correct. I got two shredded beef tacos (instead of one with chicken), another coworker had the burrito meat and taco meat switched, another had a kind of beef and a kind of pork instead of beef and chicken.
We had waited so long for our food, we didn't really have time for them to remake something else. We had to get back to work. So it was fine. I really liked my rice. That probably sounds like a lame thing to say - but I did. It was fresh tasting. When I've had it at other places in town, I feel like it's often turned to mush by the time I get it. Plus peppers and whatnot. It was good.
My enchiladas were fine, too. Not totally what I was expecting - the tortilla was dried out and cracked. But honestly, the flavors were just fine. Kind of your run of the mill Tex-Mex. Nothing here that really stood out to me, but the food wasn't terrible either.
A manager asked how our food was, and I was honest in that the orders were all sorts of mixed up. He apologized. I totally get it - new, busy, trying to figure things out. But I wanted to let him know, too. The owner came over and apologized and said they're disorganized right now but to bear with him. He was kind. He then took 10 percent off our bills. Our meal wasn't much to begin with - the lunch specials are very cheap. But we paid even less.
I appreciated his concern and his gesture. That meant a lot. Seems like he's aware of where their weak points are, and he's working to fix them. If you're into Mexican food - and especially if you're downtown - give it a go. It seems on par with the others in town to me. I think they'll work out the kinks and be similar to the others around.
Grade: B
The Davis-Thomas area has always been attractive to me. It's been out of the way from my main paths of travel, it's near Blackwater Falls, and it plays host to a a number of really cool local restaurants. It's one of those pockets in West Virginia that just has a really cool local culture - like Fayetteville or Lewisburg.One restaurant I've been wanting to try is Hellbender Burritos. The name just sounds really cool - like they're super spicy or something. But, nope, they're actually named after a kind of salamander - also known as a snot otter - I learned about at work. But they're native to the Davis area.
They opened at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, and my interview for a story was at noon. So, we were there right at 11:30. We parked right along the main road (for free) and walked to the restaurant. It was the first time I saw snow this season, so I was super happen to see a nice fireplace in the front room. We walked down the steps into the next area where there was a man at the bar (and some folks at another table). He told us we could sit anywhere, so we chose the room closer to the fire to warm up.The inside is cute and cozy. A server brought us menus fairly quickly. They have specialty burritos, including items named "Gendarme," "Treehugger" and "HooDoo VooDoo." I gravitated toward "The Hellbender," which is shrimp or chicken in a spicy garlic buffalo sauce, with rice and homemade bleu cheese dressing. I got the shrimp.
I think it was something about the homemade bleu cheese that did me in. That just sounded amazing. So when it came out, I instantly knew I would need a to-go box. They are giant burritos, served with a side of chips and slaw. Instead of using a fork, which I assumed would lead to a mess, I picked it up and dug in.
Full of rice and a creamy bleu cheese sauce, it packed just a slight heat and some fresh shrimp. Incredible. Flavors of garlic and smokiness are made all the better with the rich creaminess of the bleu cheese dressing and light shrimp. Even though chicken goes well with this flavor combo, the shrimp gave me something different. I dug it.
Chips and slaw were fine. That burrito, though, delicious.
Grade: A
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