I've finally made it to my first Malden Salt Fest.

The 3rd Annual BB&T Malden Salt Fest will be Saturday, September 28th! This event is free to the public and will host artisans, food vendors, musicians, lecturers and activities from all over Appalachia to celebrate the history of the Kanawha Valley. Specifically the history stemming from the Salt Industry that once thrived in the valley, and now, thanks to Nancy Bruns and Lewis Payne, continues to prosper in a new light. 2019 marks the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the Presbyterian Church in the Valley. We will celebrate this as well.

While I didn't have much time to spend here, I made a quick trip to check out some of the vendors and food, of course.

My first stop was for a pepperoni roll from Kelli's Catering.

She had this huge banner that said "Pepperoni Rolls" and I almost asked her where she got it because I would also like one.

Instead, I went for a homemade pepperoni roll!

And, as if one pepperoni roll wasn't enough, I made my way to the Salt-Works Snack Shack.

They had a list of pretzel, popcorn, chips, and pepperoni rolls.

Initially, I thought these may be homemade at JQ Dickinson.

But, they were from Swiftwater - still one of my local favorites!

Did you get a chance to go?

The China Palace in Lewisburg is a local Chinese buffet that also features bubble tea and smoothies.

While in Lewisburg, my friend and I were hungry so we stopped by this Chinese buffet to get our fill.

The buffet features General Tso's, sesame chicken, crab rangoons, a cheesy seafood bake, chicken & mushrooms and more.

It's not a huge buffet, but there is a nice little variety here.

One of my favorites was coconut chicken and dumplings. Have you been?

I've been to Shoney's a few times - in Princeton and in Morgantown.

But I've been wanting to try the Charleston location because it's the city where Shoney's was born.

In 1947, Alex Schoenbaum opened the Parkette Drive-In next to his father’s bowling alley in Charleston, West Virginia. After meeting with Big Boy founder Bob Wian in 1951, Schoenbaum became a Big Boy franchisee on February 7, 1952, now calling his several locations the Parkette Big Boy Shoppes. In May 1954, a public "Name the Parkette Big Boy Contest" was announced, and in June 1954 Schoenbaum's five Parkette Drive-Ins were rebranded as Shoney's.

Shoney's (the Parkette) was originally the Big Boy franchisee for West Virginia; however, Schoenbaum rapidly grew the chain through subfranchising, expanding his Big Boy territory through the southeastern United States, excluding Florida only because the rights already belonged to fellow Big Boy franchisee Frisch's.

Schoenbaum's earliest subfranchisees operated under their own names. In 1955, Leonard Goldstein became a subfranchisee in Roanoke, Virginia. Originally operating as Shoney's, he eventually changed to Lendy's Big Boy after another Shoney's subfranchisee called Yoda's Big Boy opened across town. In 1956 a subfranchise was sold to the Boury brothers in northern West Virginia, who operated as Elby's. Elby's, Lendy's, and Yoda's units were originally listed with Shoney's units on the back of the Shoney's menu. Also in 1956, Schoenbaum sold a subfranchise to Abe Becker in Rochester, New York, for Becker's Big Boy. Two Philadelphia area subfranchises, Tunes and Arnold's, were opened during this period as well. In 1959 Shap's Big Boy was subfranchised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, later assuming the Shoney's name. After this, all subfranchises went by the name Shoney's.

Doubling in size every four years, Shoney's became the largest Big Boy franchisee, operating over one third of the Big Boy restaurants nationwide. As Shoney's dominated Big Boy, a 1959 franchisee named Raymond Danner would dominate Shoney's, acquiring the company in 1971 (WIKIPEDIA).

The great thing about Shoney's is that it's close to my work, and they have a buffet. So, it's an easy lunch trip. I met my friend Dawn and we happened to be visiting on a "comfort food" buffet day.

So there was meatloaf, lasagna, fried chicken, fish, etc.

I piled a plate full of some of my favorites - including mac & cheese, pulled pork and garlic bread - and was stuffed to the gills for my lunch. Have you been?

Now that I've conquered all of the DiCarlo's within West Virginia, I'm starting to branch out into Pennsylvania and Ohio.

And a very convenient location for me is the Washington, PA, DiCarlo's.

This location is on the path between Morgantown and Wellsburg - an area that I often travel.

So I called in an order of two pieces of pizza with mushrooms.

It was so, so warm inside that I broke a sweat just waiting for the few minutes I was there.

But I did get to see they had pepperoni rolls prepared so I purchased one of those, too.

This was a really nice rendition of a DiCarlo's slice. It's my favorite kind of cheese - the little bits, instead of shreds. Mmm.

The pepperoni roll is large and in charge - plus a side of marinara.

Dwight's is a well-known restaurant in St. Albans.

Known for its homestyle cuisine, this restaurant is a mom and pop spot that is much beloved.