New China in Parkersburg is a Chinese-American restaurant serving up many of the classics: General Tso's chicken, pork fried rice, and the like.



For their crab cheese wontons, they use the folded-over method, which I like. It seems to have more cream cheese inside. I didn't notice much - if any - crab, but I do not mind. I like the fried cream cheese with sweet-and-sour sauce.



The egg roll was pretty run-of-the-mill. It seemed to have a lot of cabbage, and not much else. But that seems to be the norm locally.



For my entrée, I ordered sesame chicken but with white meat chicken. this is my favorite hack when it's available. All the delicious flavor of the sweet and tangy sauce, but over top of white meat chicken. No stringy or gristley pieces. Just fresh, tasty bites of chicken with some zing.



Do you have a favorite Chinese-American menu hack?



Grade: B

Cereal bars have become trendy in the last several years, though they do seem to have fallen out of favor more recently. A few months ago, I stopped by Morgantown's rendition of a cereal bar: "Day & Night Exotic Cereal Bar." It seems like they're currently closed, at least temporarily. But, I want to share a little bit about it - because I do think it's neat. 



Let's take a step back to talk about what a cereal bar is - tons of different, unique, fun kinds of cereal, usually different kinds of milk and even the option to make the cereal into a cereal or coffee drink. These could be hard-to-find cereals, or you can mix and match cereals. It's a novelty, really, but that's what makes it a fun experience. 



Day & Night is located on High Street and seemed to be a bit inconsistent with its hours. Once I finally caught them open, I walked inside to find not another soul there. I looked around for a while to take in all the options. They offer both bowls and shakes, so I kept that in mind as I perused the cereal options.



There was Reese's Puffs - always good - but theen others like Hershey's Kisses, Elf on the Shelf, Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch, and Cinna-Graham Toast Crunch. French toast crunch used to be one of my favorites.



Some maybe looked less appetizing - like Nickelodeon Slime. Though, as a kid, I'm sure I would have loved it. Plus, there were some vintage boxes that I think were just for display. Pretty neat looking, though.



Lucky Charms Honey Clovers caught my eye because Lucky Charms are great - at least the marshmallows. The bland cereal part is less exciting, but if they are honey-flavored, now we're talking. 



I went for the Liquid Gold shake, which had peanut butter crunch, honey clover lucky charms and cookie butter. It was a bit messy and sticky, but that's to be expected when dealing with sugar on sugar on sugar.



It was a sugar bomb, for sure. A once-in-a-while treat that is a bit whimsical. One thing to note, much like cereal itself, it does get soggy. And when that happens, it's just no good.



Grade: B

Carnival food at restaurants seems to be a popular trend lately. There was a Charleston restaurant that opened recently serving this kind of fare, and now Huntington has its own local establishment: Carnival Food Place.



They have all the good stuff: funnel cakes, cotton candy, deep-fried Oreo cookies and other carnival snacks like hot dogs, corn dogs, chili cheese fries and boneless BBQ wings.



The deep-fried Snickers bar was sinfully enticing so I put in an order for that as well as a cheeseburger because life is all about balance, right?



It's hard to say anything bad about a deep fried Snickers. truthfully, I'm not sure that the breading adds a whole lot, but it being warm and gooey makes it even more delicious. it sure was messy and a little misshapen so it's not visually perfect but your taste buds will tell you otherwise. The burger was average. It did not have a ton of flavor or texture. I prefer a hand-pattied, fresh, juicy burger. When I went, though, they were still working out some kinks, so I'd be curious to see how things have changed since.



Grade: C

Have ice cream, will travel. I love some good ice cream, so any time I see a dairy bar, I am inclined to check it out. Such is the case with Dairy Delite in Logan. It's like a local version of Dairy Queen, complete with their own version of blizzards.



My once-in-a-blue-moon treat is a peanut buster parfait, so I went for a peanut fudge "Polar Pete," which has some savory peanut butter and sweet ice cream for a delicious, classic combo. Yes, all day every day.



Grade: A

The mission has been completed. The goal of visiting every single Gino's location in West Virginia has been achieved after my recent dining experience at the Man location. Yes, if you weren't aware, there is a town named Man in West Virginia.



This location was a bit odd, because they were actually preparing to move spaces. So the menu was limited, but there were some options that I hadn't seen elsewhere. Like burgers, for example. So I decided to try just that.



My cheeseburger was on grilled toast, and I had it topped with mayo, ketchup, and onions. It was a bit underwhelming, but not necessarily bad. The burger was OK; the bread was a bit larger than the patty itself; and I may add more toppings next time to kind of fill it out. Not bad, not great. Not too memorable.



Grade: B