Short Story Brewing is a Rivesville-based brewery that recently opened a second location in downtown Charleston. I love their original location and was excited to see their brews a little closer to home. 



Their addition creates this little craft beer corner with them, Fife Street and Black Sheep. Then, skip on over to the Charleston Nano-Brewery to complete a local beer crawl.



The Short Story space is lovely - large, open, dark green accents, floral touches and greenery. It was beyond busy the first night open; downtown was bustling; holiday lights were twinkling; and people were having a joyous - and very loud - time. I enjoyed a "Neon Gardens Sour," with passionfruit, blood orange and raspberry. If growlers were allowed, I would have taken one home with me. It was just a little tart, pleasantly so, and a hint sweet and just well-balanced for a perfectly delicious beer. 



Have you been? What's your favorite?

Grade: A

Yoyogi Market in Hurricane is an Asian market that has a little bit of everything!



It’s interesting to see the variety - with everything from quail eggs to pineapple-stuffed rambutan.



There are plenty of pantry goods, frozen foods, and even some fresh sushi from a local restaurant.



There are even some notable brands like Momofuku and Cafe Du Monde.



I bought some banana ketchup and other snacks. 



Have you been? 

Guess what? As of the time of this writing, I have officially visited all of the Gino’s locations in the state. I just have a few more to share here. 



On this day, I visited one of the Beckley locations, and I’ve really grown to enjoy their pizza. So I got one with just mushrooms, and it was a little extra-done. I liked it; it gave some more crispy texture and lots of stretchy cheese. Solid pie. 

Foxglove Bakery is a home bakery based in Beckley that came across my radar when I ordered the Hungry for Humans game.



The bakery is featured in the game, so I knew I had to try it out. I found the bakery on Facebook and direct messaged them to find a current menu and flavor options. I ordered 3 pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting, 3 peanut butter cookies, 6 pear galettes with caramel drizzle an 6 apple hand pies with vanilla bean drizzle.



The pumpkin cookies are one of the best cookies I've ever had. I had serious doubts I would even like them because I'm not typically into pumpkin desserts (besides pie), but these were so moist, so delicious and so flavorful. 



The galettes and handpies have the same type of filling, but teach were tasty in their own right. 

Grade: A

A soul food restaurant opened up on High Street called Lin San Soul Food. 



Soul food is special, and I certainly think Morgantown - and West Virginia as a whole - would benefit from having more of this homestyle, homemade cooking that often incorporates family favorite recipes. 



I struggled a little bit to catch them open and then when I caught them open, they weren't actually ready to serve yet. So the timing was a bit chaotic. But once I passed that hurdle, I was excited to see what they were offering.



On this day, it was only mac & cheese and oxtails while I was there. That was OK, because it was what I wanted anyway. The mac & cheese was OK, but not fully warmed up all the way through. That would've helped because the flavor wasn't bad. And the oxtails lacked a little bit of that deep, rich flavor that melts in your mouth. They were still good, but a little tougher than I've had elsewhere. Again, not bad but a little room for improvement. I'm happy to see them there and think some of these kinks can be worked out. 



Grade: C