A new pizza joint has opened in downtown Morgantown! Just what we need, right? Amidst the sea of Casa D'Amici, Tortoni's, Bent, Vintage Room, Zaytun, Vocelli's, Little Caesars? But this one is a little different.

Lotsa Mozza, located in the former Daniel's Men's Clothing store on High Street, is a build-your-own pizza shop that pops out your wood-fired pizza in under five minutes from start to finish. This fast casual pizza place is also open late-night (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday from 11 a.m. to midnight; Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.; and Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 a.m.). So, customizable & late-night? Seems like they may be on to something.

Walk in, wait your turn, and once you're at the counter, the decisions start. Traditional, ancient grain or gluten free dough? Then, they shape the 11" pizza right in front of you. Next, choose your sauce: red sauce, spicy red sauce, buffalo sauce, alfredo, olive oil or BBQ sauce. Then, cheese: mozzarella, shaved parmesan, blue cheese, fresh mozzarella, romano, feta, provolone, ricotta or cheddar jack blend. You can get more than one! Move down the line to toppings.

Then, it's toppings time! Artichokes, arugula, basil, black olives, kalamata olives, caramelized onions, red onion, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, chopped garlic, roasted garlic, banana peppers, bell peppers, roasted red peppers, jalapenos, fresh spinach, mushrooms, pineapple, zucchini blend, roasted rosemary potato, bacon, meatballs, chicken, salami, Italian sausage, Italian ham, pepperoni, prosciutto, anchovies, scrambled eggs, shrimp and flat iron steak.

Finally, you can complete it with a "finish" - pesto basil, olive oil, old bay butter, blue cheese, balsamic glaze or arugula.

They also have their signature pizzas available (so less thinking for you!): BBQ chicken, bianca (olive oil, ricotta, tomatoes, basil), breakfast, buffalo chicken, hawaiian, margherita, meat lovers, shrimp old bay or veggie. And, they also have salads.

Finally, the pizza is thrown into the wood-fired oven (800 degrees!), where it cooks in three minutes with a char around the edges.

My pizza was a traditional crust with red sauce and mozzarella AND ricotta cheese. Toppings included mushrooms, roasted garlic and meatballs. It is like the Subway of pizza shops, so it's nice to see everything made right in front of you. Their claimed chewy, thin crust wasn't so much for me - I wish it was crisper. In fact, it actually got quite soggy. Their red sauce recipe is also not my favorite. The toppings were pretty good, though. I love, love roasted garlic. So, nice toppings but not loving the crust. However, I see the value in the concept of a very quick customized pizza all hours of the night. And, their branding is pretty impressive.

Grade: B
 

Yes, it really is kind of ridiculous to review a small counter-service restaurant at an airport. But, I have a point, promise. Mostly, I want to set up the fact that I traveled to Milwaukee for a work conference! So I have a good bit of Milwaukee posts coming up. I know they're probably not applicable to the majority of my audience, but I had a lot of fun and want to share that with you all. Plus, maybe you'll have to check out Milwaukee sometime -- you'll have a good food guide to start off with right here! :)



So, Rice & Noodle is a counter-service Asian spot in the common area of the Pittsburgh airport. There are a number of other places for a quick bite - like Bruegger's Bagels, McDonald's, Nature's Kitchen, Quiznos, and Villa Italian Kitchen. I try to go for the more local option whenever possible, and this was Asian. So.



Rice & Noodle opened in 2009, and serves up sushi, Japanese-style noodle soups and typical American Chinese classics like General Tso's chicken ... yes, I got General Tso's chicken. It's comfort food for me. And at an airport, which is generally pretty stressful, it's welcome. Was it good? Yeah, it actually wasn't bad. Decent quality of meat; everything was hot. The sauce was a decent balance. For quick, American Chinese, not awful.

Grade: C
 

Just two C.J. Maggie's locations exist now: Buckhannon and Elkins. Since I had already been to the Buckhannon location, I was curious to see how Elkins' location stacked up in comparison.

As I've mentioned before, C.J. Maggie's boasts an incredibly expansive American grill menu - like, maybe the biggest one I've ever seen. Chicken fingers? Check. Wings? Check. Queso? Check. Bacon & cheddar fries? Check. Pizza, salads, steak, pulled pork, salmon, Italian sausage, pork chop, lasagna, jambalaya, macaroni and cheese, quesadillas, sandwiches, burgers? Check.

We came in for just a snack. The "40 Miles of Bad Road Nachos" sounded perfect: tortilla chips, chicken, peppers, tomato, onion, black olives and cheddar. Served with a side of salsa.

The first thing I noticed was that the sour cream was an odd tube-like string spread across the top of the chips. Odd. But I dove into the heap of nachos that had a nice solid layer of cheese melted. Perfect. I noticed the chicken wasn't the best of quality - some hard, cartilagey pieces. These were stacked so high by the time we got to the center, everything was completely soggy. But overall, it wasn't bad. I love a good plate of nachos.

Grade: B

The 1863 Grill had already won me over with its name. I love everything West Virginia, and this is no exception.

I went for lunch with Mary Kay and was surprised to find it mostly empty. It was a busy weekend in Elkins, so most people were downtown celebrating the festival, I figured. Plus, that just means more attentive service, right?

1863 Grill features sandwiches, burgers, sandwiches, steaks, chicken, pork, seafood, pizza, pasta and a large page of Kansas City-style barbecue. A little bit of everything. On this day, they had a lunch special of a fish sandwich. I'll take that with a side of macaroni and cheese, because are there two things that go better together? No. The answer is no.

My sandwich was good. I wish maybe the breading wasn't so thick or maybe the fish filet itself was thicker. But that's being picky; it was good. The tartar sauce was just OK. I think it could've used a bit more flavor; it was a bit bland. And the macaroni and cheese was terrible. There, I said it. It was totally dry - like they forgot to put the cheese on. And it was completely cold.

However.

They serve these amazing cinnamon rolls after your meal. It's like dessert built in! And this, unlike most other cinnamon rolls I've had, makes me realize why people like cinnamon rolls. It was hot and had a lovely caramelized sugary cinnamon coating. Very tasty.

Grade: B

Bramwell's Oktoberfest is the longest-running beer festival in the state. I've been to a number of other Oktoberfests around the state, but I had my heart set on checking out the oldest one -- plus there were a few restaurants in Bramwell I wanted to hit up.

The Bramwell Oktoberfest featured great breweries all around the state: Greenbrier Valley Brewing Company, Bridge Brew Works, Morgantown Brewing Company, Wheeling Brewing Company, Big Timber Brewing Company, Chestnut Brew Works, Dobra Zupas Restaurant and others outside of the state.

You can check out a list of winners here. It was a pretty rainy day, but I certainly got my fill of delicious beer from all of these are breweries. And I met some cool people.