River and Rail Bakery in Huntington scored a spot on the 101 Most Unique Places to Dine in WV list this year. Which means it became a priority.

The bakery is located in Heritage Station, which also houses other great places like Butter It Up, Bottle & Wedge, and Summit Beer Station. It is known for its handcrafted artisan breads, fresh pastries and direct-trade organic coffee.

We stopped in just briefly for a sweet snack. There were a number of cookies and scones, as well as fresh bread. But one of my favorites was available: brownies! I ordered one and had a seat at one of the couple of tables available. It wasn't overly sweet, and there were bits of semisweet chocolate chips inside - not my favorite. But, it wasn't bad. I imagine this would go well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. And maybe some caramel to sweeten things up a bit. Have I mentioned I have a sweet tooth? :)



Grade: B

Chef Damian Heath first popped up on my radar when I began looking into the James Beard Foundation awards. He has been nominated for years now, and he's the only one from West Virginia in recent memory to do so. So each year I saw his name and his restaurant, Lot 12 Public House, come up, I rooted for him. And while he hasn't made it past the semifinalist round (yet!), he's definitely made an impression on the culinary scene in the Eastern Panhandle.

I made a trip out here to talk with Chef Heath and his wife, Betsy, for a story for Taste WV Magazine. The restaurant is in a historic building, which is where its name comes from. I was super fortunate to try many of their menu items. Which, really, were all amazing.

The crisp roasted duck is a house specialty with rosemary potato cake, pear chutney and bourbon pan juices. Because of the way it's cooked, there's no real layer of fat. It's perfectly moist duck with a crispy skin outside. Just incredible.

Another great dish was the shrimp and grits with tasso, andouille sausage and bell peppers in a cream sauce with creamy garlic cheese grits. Amazing. Plump shrimp, a delicious creamy sauce, huge chunks of tasso and sausage. Plus a nice little piece of toasted bread to soak up all the extra sauce.

A few more that I didn't get to taste, included toasted gnocchi with roasted garlic, sauteed mushrooms and parmigiana reggiano; a quail and waffle dish and a cheese appetizer.










The food at this restaurant is some of the best I've had in West Virginia. It rivals Cafe Cimino as one of my all-time favorite restaurants here, I think. Go in, enjoy a bit of luxury and taste some of the best food in this state.




Grade: A

Berkeley Springs Brewing Company is a newcomer to the craft beer scene in West Virginia. The bathwater brewpub, as it's affectionately called, was created by Karl and Denise Wagenbrenner out of what started as just a home brewing shop + classes. It still has the Mountain Man Brew Supply products on one part of the brewpub.

I went out here to talk with the owners to learn a little more about what they do for a future issue of Taste West Virginia Magazine. So, I won't get into too much here, but I do want to touch on the super delicious beer and food I had.

I was able to try a full flight of beers, which included their caCapon Kolsh, American Amber and Berkeley Brown. Plus there was an apple butter beer, and oh my gosh. He was also working on a pawpaw beer, which resulted in me taking home a fresh pawpaw.


I also ordered from their menu their specialty "tater waffle," which is just what it sounds like - a bunch of tater tots placed in a waffle iron so the entire outside gets perfectly crispy. Their weekly special tater waffle was a "south of the border" edition with chili, sour cream, tomatoes, cheese and onions.

This is so good! It's so simple, but it's awesome to have this super crispy tater waffle. Perfect pairing for the beer, too.

Stop through, get a tasty beer and a quick tater waffle to fill you up.

Grade: A

While passing through Charles Town, I stopped for a lunch. Dish, a new American bistro, features salads, burgers, chicken sandwiches, flatbreads, and more on its menu. Its dinner menu also seems pretty fabulous.

I was seated at a small table; the interior of this restaurant is a bit upscale with a kinda artsy touch. I ordered the "Mountain State Brewing Company Beer-Battered Fish + Chips," which came with traditional tartar sauce and malt vinegar.

The fish, while it had a good flavor, was cooked a bit too long. The breading completely separated from the fish, which nearly disintegrated when I stuck my fork in it. Fortunately, the breading was tasty, and the fish was good, too. Just a minute or two less, and it'd be nearly perfect.





Grade: B

While hanging out in Berkeley Springs for the day, I stopped into the Cottage Cafe for a quick lunch. This small coffee house features locally roasted coffee, loose leaf tea, a Hershey's Ice Cream, Trickling Springs Creamery bar, bakery and lunch options.


I ordered a chicken salad croissant to start off with. Chicken salad isn't usually my first go-to, but it sounded good for something tasty and filling, but not too heavy. It arrived on a freshly baked croissant (super tasty!) and a side of chips. The chicken salad itself wasn't bad - I think it could've benefitted from some fresh celery bits to break up the texture. The croissant was buttery and tasty.



After the owner and another worker sang the praises of Trickling Springs Creamery, I had to order a scoop. Or two. I tried the salted caramel and the cookies and cream. The salted caramel was a sweet buttery flavor, but the cookies and cream was really, really good. Super creamy with nice tasty bits of chocolate cookies. So tasty.

This little specialty coffee shop is a lovely place to relax, get a quick bite to eat and hang out a bit.

Grade: B

J.W. Thirsty's 341 Grill is the new restaurant located on Chestnut Street in the former Big Whiskey and Dragonfly location. The restaurant is aiming to straddle the line between bar and restaurant, though my personal feel is that it leans toward the bar side judging by the specials listed on their Facebook and general ambiance.

The menu for the restaurant includes the usual appetizers, like buffalo chicken dip, nachos, cheese sticks. Quesadillas, soups, salads, wings, sliders, burgers and stuffed burgers make up the bulk of the menu. A little beer glass denotes some of their specials. Tony went for chicken strips. But the sliders caught my eye. When don't they? An easy-to-eat bit-sized sandwich that can easily portion out ingredients is always a favorite.

Four options of sliders were available: buffalo chicken, pork BBQ, cheeseburger, and grilled roast beef and swiss. Buffalo chicken seemed like a tasty option.

When my plate came out, I was surprised to see small chunks of chicken topped with a hot sauce, rather than either shredded chicken or maybe a small fillet. There's just not a lot to it - some sort of more flavorful sauce or cheese would have helped. With that said, it wasn't bad. The bun was a sweet roll, which totally was a good call. I certainly ate my fair share of it. A few touches could make this much better than average.

I liked the Brew City fries a lot - they're battered and super crispy with a perfect ratio of potato inside. Very good. The slaw, not good at all. Odd flavor.

TL;DR: More of a bar than a restaurant with some average food. If you go, get the Brew City fries.

Grade: C

Wheeling Brewing Company is a relatively new addition to downtown's historic Centre Market district. It neighbors antique shops, great restaurants and other cute stores, plus there's a good bit of street parking right outside.

Wheeling Brewing Company offer a menu full of items like "hoppy hummus" made with their Moondog IPA; three cheese, reuben, and sweet and savory chicken sliders; and meatball or pulled pork hoagies. Specials on the board that caught my eye were a lobster ravioli and stuffed hot peppers. Everything sounded quite tasty, but because we just had dinner, we were only looking for beer.

We were in luck, because Wheeling Brewing Company featured seven of their own draft beers plus a guest beer. This night was Bridge Brew Works' Long Point Lager. You could get a half flight with four beers or their whole seven + guest. We went for the latter.

As we waited for our beer, we talked about the scenery. It's a super chill environment. Dark, but relaxed. An exposed brick wall, cool lighting and an open view into the brewing area set the tone. I would so, so hang out here just for fun.

Somehow, the photo of the flight didn't turn out. But some quick thoughts. I love, love the Panhandle Pale Ale 1 - because of the name and 2 - because it's tasty. Shoutout to the only Northern Panhandle Brewery. The McColloch's Wheat is light and crisp. And that raspberry wheat? Ohmygod. Came home with me in a growler, which I plan to enjoy over the next week.


Grade: A

West Virginia made an appearance on Thrillist's 33 Best Burgers in America list thanks to Avenue Eats' Diner burger. The Diner burger is made from fresh, daily ground, grass-fed beef and topped with sharp cheddar cheese, lettuce, onion, pickle, diner sauce on a kaiser roll. And, of course, I had to try it.



I met my parents at Avenue Eats for dinner. The restaurant is fairly small, with just four tables that can accommodate more than two people. There is an orange accent wall decorated with some old photos of the building. The menus come in cute brown display folders, and water is delivered in glass bottles at your table. A nice little environment.


I've heard great things about all of Avenue Eats' burgers - like the brie and grilled pear burger, the smoked gouda burger and the poutine burger. I'd love to stop by to try all of these burgers at some point. But we started with a grilled lamb chop appetizer.

The lamb chops were cooked well, though there were some pretty fatty pieces. The chimichurri was a nice addition and really brightened up (and freshened up) the plate.

My burger was pretty good. Ordered medium, so it was definitely a bit overcooked. But the flavor was on point. The bread was nicely grilled, sharp cheddar cheese blanketed the whole burger, and the diner sauce - which I had been curious about - was like a cheesier, tangy Big Mac sauce. The onions added a hint of sweet, and there were a whole lotta pickles - but it was nice to have a bit of crunch. The fries were homemade and heavily salted. Could have been a bit more crisp. Overall, though, a really good, tasty meal.

Grade: A