It's no secret that the Italian culture is a big part of West Virginia's culture. We see its influence everywhere from the Northern Panhandle to North Central West Virginia, all the way down to Southern West Virginia.



Chirico's Ristorante, located in Logan, brings a little bit of Italian food to Southern West Virginia.

Strawberry Pie Week is legendary in Huntington.

Jim's Steak & Spaghetti serves up their homemade strawberry pie just one week of the year - and it has cultivated a following in recent years.


I've never tried it though I've been to Jim's before, and it's a West Virginia classic, so I made it a point to get my fill this year.


Jim's strawberry pie week starts the Tuesday after Mother's Day each year. So, I took that Tuesday off, woke up early, drove to Huntington and got in line. That's right, there was a line. I actually parked around 10 a.m., took a look and saw two people waiting, so I went around the corner and got a cupcake and a coffee. Took my time and then made my way back around 10:30 to see about two dozen people in line.

That's when I decided I should get in place. Unfortunately, it was about 80 degrees this day and I juuuust happened to be outside of the shade. Just barely.

By the end of this week, if last year's history repeats itself, an astonishing 10,698 slices of pie or more will have headed out the glass front doors of Jim's, the popular downtown restaurant. Made entirely from scratch by Patti and her daughter Michelle, Jim's famous strawberry pie is featured one week only, from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, May 16-20 (Herald Dispatch).

When the doors finally opened at 11 a.m., the crowd flowed inside, and the hostess was triaging as quickly as she could and directly people to sit. Within minutes, the entire dining area was full. Media was swarming to document every moment.

Since I was alone, I sat at the end of the counter and ordered my pie. The service was ON POINT despite how crazy it was. I have no idea how they did it. But, since I just came for pie and not the full lunch, I was one of the first to be served, and I was at the end of the counter, and that made me prime for media coverage. See this pie being delivered here? That's mine, and you can see me and my phone and my camera waiting. That photo above? That was my view to the right.

So, the pie. It is quite delicious. The crust is sweet and crumbly, the strawberries fresh and the cream on top is the perfect touch. I can definitely see why this little bit of heaven has a huge following. Since you can only get it once per year (and two slices of pie per customer!), the line is no surprise to me. If I were local, I might be in line every day to get it. I'm a fan.

And, it's an amazingly well-oiled machine. My longest wait was simply to pay because there were folks also trying to place to-go orders. But, I was in and out within 30 minutes once I was seated. That's impressive for the amount of people packed into that space.

If you didn't get a chance to try the pie this year, mark your calendar for next year. And, get that second piece of pie to go.

Lost Creek Farm hosted an Appalachian Spring Dinner at Rising Creek Bakery on May 8. I've had my eye on Lost Creek Farm, which is a historic family farm located in Harrison County that travels around offering Appalachian-inspired dinners.

Mike Costello is a chef at Lost Creek Farm, which he operates with his partner, Amy Dawson. Located in southern Harrison County, West Virginia, the farm has been cared for by Amy's family for over 150 years. Lost Creek Farm's traveling Appalachian kitchen takes Mike and Amy across West Virginia and the eastern U.S. for their renowned Farm and Forage events, highlighting regionally-inspired foods and traditional ingredients either grown or wild-harvested from Lost Creek and other nearby small farms. In late April, Lost Creek Farm visits Rising Creek for a seasonal five-course dinner. An abundance of wild ramps and woodland mushrooms will pair with spring greens, pastured local meats and a variety of early-harvest vegetables for a unique menu defined by the fresh, bright flavors of spring. 

It's really a lovely combination - these folks who are espousing the virtues of Appalachian cuisine paired with the very traditional Appalachian art of salt-rising bread. It's especially exciting that so much of the products used for the meals are directly from the farm; I think that speaks to that this place-based cuisine.

The five-course pop-up dinner was absolutely delicious. It featured seasonal and foraged items from their farm. That's pretty incredible. Plus, of course, there was lots of salt-rising bread!

1) Wild nettle and WV buckwheat raviolo with caramelized ramp garlic ricotta || wild mushroom brown butter || radish sprouts
Absolutely divine. Who has ever had a caramelized ramp? Just delicious. Plus, this raviolo press was an antique from their farm.


2) Lamb sausage and wild mint soup with roasted farro and charred spring onions
So far, I'm learning that they are very in tune with texture because the nice chew of the raviolo was amazing, but this farro was really great too. I had never had farro before, but it combined with the lamb sausage was beautiful.

3) Spring panzanella salad with Rising Creek salt rising bread || shaved asparagus || baby greens || buttermilk ramp dressing
This was very fresh and very tasty. Plus, buttermilk ramp dressing = rampch. New favorite word.

4) Heirloom blue corn crusted trout filet with knotweed confit || mashed turnips with ramp butter || pureed maple braised collards || salt roasted spring carrot || woodland herbs
Those mashed turnips blew my mind with the ramp butter.

5) Salt rising bread pudding || buttermilk ice cream || dandelion flower syrup || candied flowers from the field
I am a bread pudding lover, and this one did not disappoint.

If Lost Creek Farm is coming to an area near you, definitely check it out. They're doing Appalachian cuisine right, and I can't wait to see what else they have in store.

I've been making good progress on trying to hit up all the local groceries in the state. Most recently, I made a trip to Arthurdale to visit the Arthurdale Co-Op Store.





The shop is historic, and has a little bit of everything - fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, cheese, honey, jam, maple syrup, snaps, coffee, tea, chocolate and more.

The Arthurdale Cooperative Store advertised in the May 14, 1937 “Arthurdale Builder” newspaper: two pounds of ground beef cost 31 cents, a 25-pound bag of sugar was $1.27 and a pound of extra-fancy peanut butter cost 19 cents. 

The store also sold work clothing and shoes to the residents of Arthurdale, the first of Roosevelt's 100 New Deal planned subsistence homestead communities founded to improve the quality of life of impoverished Americans. 

Later it became a sort of convenience store, said Jeanne Goodman, executive director of Arthurdale Heritage Inc., the nonprofit organization charged with preserving and promoting the properties. 

A co-op store is once again operating in Arthurdale — in a building that originally housed an Esso gas station. 

The shop is decorated with some historic pieces, including a display of Pharis Roadgripper Tires. Lined up in a case are cans that held pipe tobacco and snuff and boxes of candy no one younger than a Baby Boomer has ever heard of: “Hollywoods 5 cents” and “Pecan Chills 3 cents.” 

Located on W.Va. Route 92 in Arthurdale, the co-op is open from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 

The manager of the co-op that opened for business Sept. 1 is C. Lee Martinec, Ph.D., former general manager of Mountain People's Market Co-op in Morgantown. The retired university professor is also a clinical exercise physiologist and natural lifestyle practitioner (WV Always).

One of the best presents you could ever get me is just a basket full of West Virginia goodies. I love West Virginia products, like Appalachian Mountain Specialty Foods.

They have a variety of sauces, like Zest Sauce, The Real McCoy Mustard Sauce, Uncle Roy's Old Fashioned Ramp Dressing, Orange-Berry Basil Salad Dressing, and Old-Fashioned Wilted Lettuce Salad Dressing. Plus Copperhead Bloody Mary Mix, Old Fashioned Pickling Brine and Mason-Dixon Mix'N Glaze.

I learned about them recently because my friend Carlee wrote a nice piece about the business:

Veronica Stover couldn’t stand to see her favorite salad dressing just disappear. 

For years, Veronica and her husband, Greg, had enjoyed a Wilted Lettuce Salad Dressing — made in Sandyville by the West Virginia-based company, Appalachian Mountain Specialty Foods. 

But one trip to get some more of their favorite dressing in 2013 changed everything.
“I went to get a bottle of Wilted Lettuce and the owners said, ‘This is it. This is the last bottle you’re going to get. We’re moving to Florida,’ ” Veronica Stover said. “I texted my husband and said ‘We need to talk tonight.’ ” 

That night, Veronica pitched her idea to Greg: She wanted to purchase the company.
Greg agreed, and the rest is now history. 

Today, the Stovers own and operate Appalachian Mountain Specialty Foods from a 30-by-60-foot facility in their hometown of Spencer.

Carlee brought me two different products: the wilted lettuce dressing and the ramp dressing. I have fallen in love with the wilted lettuce dressing.