I recently took a day trip to Huntington because I had never been before. One of my first stops as I was exploring was Austin's Homemade Ice Cream.

We just had a large lunch (which I'll talk about soon) and had a hankering for something sweet. Austin's is awesome. There are all kids of different flavors and options.

I was feeling classic: Strawberry. It was light, cool, refreshing and just hit the spot. The warm day prescribed those ice cream cones to us, I think.

I asked for a medium, which I figured would be a good compromise between what my head told me I wanted and what my stomach knew I could handle.

The medium means two scoops. For a normal person, that's more than enough. I wasn't able to finish it just because it was SO much ice cream. But I so, so wanted to.

Grade: A

South Hills Market and Cafe is located up on Bridge Road and has been a sought-after lunch spot for some time. It's really not too far from work, but it does require a short car ride.

It's nice inside, kind of upscale for a lunchtime place. I believe they do also do dinner, so that would explain the expansive liquor collection on the shelf.

The lunch menu has a variety of sandwiches, wraps and salads. A couple things jumped out to me: the house made egg rolls and the ham and brie sandwich.


The egg rolls are made with braised bacon, Kanawha County kale, and served with vinegar-spike apricot dipping sauce. My mouth is watering before I even finished typing that.

The ham and brie is made with smoked ham, triple cream brie, whole grain mayonnaise on a griddled panini. I got half a sandwich and a side of the eggrolls so I could sample both.

The sandwich was good - if not a little on the plain side. I was expecting chunks of ham, rather than sliced lunchmeat pieces, but it was still delicious. If I were to have a ham sandwich for lunch, it would be this one.

The eggrolls were fantastic. I love the slightly bitter bite to the kale paired with the sweet, indulgent apricot sauce. Mmm.

I got a cookie because they are sort of legend in these parts. Maybe mine was old - but it was a little stale - broke apart when I took a bite into it. And not in the soft, crumbling way. In the pieces everywhere because it's hard way. Meh.

Tired of hotdogs or plain burgers? Give this place a try. Give your tastebuds a treat for lunch.

Grade: B

You know how those tiny little dive restaurants are the ones that tend to churn out the best food? I have sat through many an unpleasant experience at hole-in-the-walls, looking for that diamond in the rough.

Doug's Topside Tavern is it. It's one of the best kept secrets in town.

The dive-like, kind of rough bar is located in South Charleston. It's across from the chemical plant and neighbors some motels, gas stations and other areas. From the outside, it looks like a building that has seen some better days and could use a solid scrubbing.

But go on a Friday night and be amazed.

On a grill in the front of the building, they grill steaks that have been marinated - I've been told - for at least 24 hours.

There is a downstairs and an upstairs. Because we got there around 7 or so, the downstairs was completely full, so we hiked upstairs.

The deal is that the meal contains a huge ribeye, salad and potato for $15. The salad bar is located downstairs. Some basics for the veggies, but any kind of dressing you could ever possibly want. All varying degrees of used, and some are homemade.

The potato also has its own dressings - butter, cheese, sour cream. Yum.

This puppy rides the comfort food train to heaven.
(What a weird phrase. Go with it.)


The steak - one of the best I've ever had. It may have been the best I've ever had if I didn't have to wait nearly three hours. Three. Hours. for it. We would keep saying - well, we've waited this long, it's gotta be soon.

Three hours later, we got our food.

And it's not a fast food place, I get that.

But three hours is a ridiculous amount of time to wait.

Thank god that steak was the most tender, juicy, delicious one that side of town.

Grade: B

I went home recently for Father's Day, and in my family of three, whoever's day it is that we're celebrating, that person gets to choose where we have dinner.

So, my dad chose Chinese. I wouldn't say the Northern Panhandle has a a wide selection of Asian food. Growing up, we didn't have any options for that until a small take-out shop opened up in Follansbee during high school.


Before then, our only options beyond local diner food, fast food or Italian were Pittsburgh, really. I remember going to work with my dad one day and eating lunch from a Chinese street vendor. It was the first time I ever had an eggroll, and it was my first exposure to any sort of ethnic cuisine.


Which, I think, is why Chinese food remains my favorite. And the fact that I didn't grow up with that variety makes me interested in trying as many new places as possible.

Just dropped a little knowledge on ya.

So the Imperial China Buffet is relatively new at the Ft. Steuben Mall. I want to say it came in when I was in high school? I guess that's not relatively new anymore. But the mall in Steubenville was the closest mall to us, and even though it was kind of sad, we would go in high school if we didn't feel like traveling the extra half hour or so to Pittsburgh's mall.

This Chinese buffet is good by the area's standards. There is decent variety, with a couple different islands, and they have the basics like General Tsos, Coconut shrimp, crab cheese rangoons, lo mein, etc.

They even had some basic sushi rolls.

There wasn't anything that was exceptionally prepared, though I did have a half-dozen stuffed mushrooms. And I really think it's a good option in the area. And, it might even be better than some of the places I've been to in Morgantown.

If you're looking for a Chinese buffet in the area, it's probably the best bet.

Grade: B

Bluegrass Kitchen's bottomless mimosas and bloody Mary's may be the best/worst thing I've discovered in Charleston.

Bluegrass is quickly rising to the top of my favorite restaurants in Charleston.

And you can get endless mimosas or bloody Mary's during brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday for $10? Yes, please.

They're usually $3.25. So drink at least four to get your money's worth.