It's like High Street is sprouting new restaurants by the minute.

Another newcomer to the Morgantown restaurant scene is Tortoni's. Located on the corner of High and Fayette streets downtown, Tortoni's takes the places of the downtown Tudor's location. I'm honestly surprised the Tudors didn't do well there, because I was under the impression it was open late-night, and that seems to be the perfect West Virginia drunk food. But what do I know.

I - and some of my most favorite coworkers - went to Tortoni's soft opening on Thursday as the restaurant trained employees and learned their menu. They're good eggs, as Marissa would say, for dealing with my shenanigans. My friend Afton tipped me off to the restaurant opening, and we headed over around noon.




There wasn't much indication the restaurant was open, aside from the flashing "open" light in the window, so it wasn't busy. The restaurant front is all windows, so it's nice for people-watching from the few tables in the front of the restaurant. Along the right side, some tables line the wall. And the main centerpiece is the giant chalkboard above the cash register carrying the menu.

The focus seems to be on the pizza, with lots of specialty ones, like a ranch bacon cheeseburger, taco, Hawaiian, buffalo chicken, broccoli chicken and more. They also have a selection of pastas, salads, subs and wraps.

We ordered two pizzas - a pepperoni and their signature Tortoni's pizza - and a chicken salad. The salad actually looked pretty good and has a bunch of toppings, but I would suggest listing all the ingredients in the description because it didn't mention cheese or croutons there and for someone with a dairy allergy, that could be dangerous. Having coworkers who are cautious of dairy and peanut allergies has definitely made me more aware of ingredients in food. Just a thought.

The pizzas were OK. The dough was very round (ahem, premade), and it wasn't crispy enough. Tony - Italian coworker who believes he cooks Italian better than anyone ever - said the oven needs to be hotter to get that nice crisp. I hate to say it but it reminds me a bit of a frozen pizza. That's not necessarily terrible. Some frozen pizzas are OK. Some.




The Tortoni's signature pizza has a sort of cheese sauce with lots of cheese, huge chunks of onion and meatballs. Something, to me, is missing from this pizza. It needs something fresh - tomato? Something because it just feels very heavy. And the onions need to be not in huge chunks. I had a bite that was just layers of cooked onion. Too much. I liked the meatballs, though.

Overall thoughts - crust needs to be crisper. Onions smaller. More fresh ingredients. We split the two pizzas and each had a drink from the cooler and only spent about $7 per person. So the price is nice.

They had a sign saying they will have a late-night window, so that might be popular with the downtown crowd. And it looks as though they'll add some homemade desserts. That would be nice. We'll see how it pans out.

Grade: C

The Greeks is a new restaurant located in the bottom of Beech View Place on Beechurst. A few others are set to open in that building, but The Greeks is leading the charge. A little more Greek food in my life? I'm happy with that.

First things first, don't do what I did and drive around hunting for parking. If you go to the bottom garage and on the side NOT closest toward Lavender Cafe - the other side - go there and park. Apparently when you eat at The Greeks, they'll give you a token to use, which I'm assuming will pay for your parking.

Inside, there is a menu behind the counter: potatoes, gyros, salads, souvlaki, platters, chicken and more. I went for a "gyro meat" gyro (lamb(, which comes with choice of spread, tomatoes, onions, parsley and fresh cut fries. I like that there is the rotisserie of meat in the back, and the folks working gave us samples of the spreads - a spicy cheese, hummus and tzatziki.

I love their spicy cheese! But I wanted the full gyro experience with the tzatziki sauce. The guys working were super helpful and eager to please. The gyro was so good. Fresh veggies, well-seasoned meat and a thick sauce. Definitely delicious. Best in town.

AND if you venture around to the back side of the restaurant, they have a little cafe with crepes and coffee. Plus a nice little view of the interview of the apartments, which is very nice.











The girls making the crepes were new and clearly not part of the Greek family on the front end. Instead, these are students learning. Which made my crepe turn out less than ideal, but I think they just need some more practice.

I ordered a sweet crepe with The Greeks Bougatsa Custard. Sounds good, right?

 


OK, so the image is questionable. BUT it was good. It was like a cinnamon rice pudding sort of thing. There was just way too much, and the technique wasn't quite right. So it was a bit of a fail.

But the flavors were there, and I think I would give it another go.

Grade: B

Wine & Jazz is my favorite Morgantown festival. There aren't many, but this is perfect. It's a shady spot out at Camp Muffly. It's $20 for unlimited samples of all the wineries: Daniel Vineyards, Watts Roost Vineyard, Forks of Cheat Winery, Lambert's Vintage Wine, Potomac Highland Winery, West-Whitehill Winery, and Heston Farm Winery. Plus a keepsake glass and bottle opener if you want to have a bottle right there while listening to the jazz.

Lots of food vendors, too: Madeleine Marie's, Russ' Ribs, Lambert's Pizza, Chico's Fat, Garcia's Latin Market, Jersey's, Ramada Inn, Slight Indulgence.

Madeleine Marie's, as I found out, is actually the catering company in Forks of Cheat. I had jerk chicken, with peanut sauce, and smoked gouda cheesesticks there. The chicken was great; the cheesesticks were a tad mushy, but still tasty overall.

I'm a fan of sweet - but not too sweet - whites. Or sweeter reds. And semi-sweets.

Favorite wines: Always Forks of Cheat. Bad Cat is one of my favorites. Also, all the fruit ones.

I also liked Heston Farm Winery a lot. They have cute names for each wine named after farm animals. Vicki was a fan of their Bastion. I liked Prudence & Penelope.

West-Whitehill is a new-ish one to me. I liked their semi-sweet Aurore Blush.

Potomac Highland Winery had a nice riesling. Also a new winery to me.

Lamberts Winery is one I really want to visit because it's not too far. A few favorites for me were their symal and the fredonia.

Watts Roost is one I actually have been to - love their Sweet Charlotte and Sweet Lucie.

Daniel Vineyards had our favorite blackberry wine.

I'm already excited about next year. Who's going?

I went to the Preston County Buckwheat Festival for the first time this year. I just had to try the buckwheat cakes. Everyone told me "don't expect pancakes!" and I didn't. I expected something awful, but I was pleasantly surprised.

First of all, I really have no idea what I'm doing 90 percent of the time when I'm navigating, but Kingwood wasn't too difficult to find. I got on the Kingwood Pike and just drove straight for a while. That was helpful.

But I had no idea what I was in for. I thought I could just find a nice little parking spot somewhere about a half hour before the parade starts. Uh, no. Every single square inch was taken up. Then I started getting trapped when roads started closing for the parade. Some lovely man saw my desperation and allowed me to park near his garage. For free. And it was super close.

We watched some of the parade and headed off the hall for our buckwheat cakes. It was an adventure to swim through a sea of people waiting for their high school band to come through the parade. We were careful.

After I paid my $9 at the window, I walked inside to the window. A slew of workers prepped my plate of two buckwheat cakes and two sausage patties. I picked up a small carton of milk before finding a seat at the communal tables. Between the butter and syrup, these tasted just fine. They were pretty thin, and to be honest, I really liked them. Some find them more sour - but when they're drenched in syrup, I don't think it matters. I'm a fan. The sausage was pretty dark in areas, but still good.

There are barns full of pigs, sheep, goats, crafts, and produce and other items the local 4H kids grew. Giant pumpkins, cabbages, and whole displays of vegetables, plus a photo contest and flowers! It's pretty neat. Plus tons of rides and games - all of which is lit up at night. Just beautiful.

On our way out, I got a corndog from Frank's. Top notch.

The Wonder Bar has a spectacular reputation in the state. It's known as one of the best, and since it's located right in Clarksburg, Vicki and I saw it fitting to try it for a celebration dinner. The restaurant is located atop a hill bearing its namesake, giving it a beautiful view of the city.

We arrived for our reservations around 6:30 and were seated in a back room. I noticed the dark, old-school interior and how the part we were in looked like it was an addition. The main area had dark red walls, and the ceiling was slightly different.

Our waiter brought us out menus, and we ordered a special appetizer - crab-stuffed shrimp. There were only a handful, but they were good. Some melted butter on the side.

I ordered the petite filet mignon (6 oz.), which came with a house salad. Our waiter got a little confused. I asked for blue cheese on mine with their house dressing, but somehow ended up getting the blue cheese dressing with mozzarella cheese. Vicki had an incorrect salad altogether, but when they brought out the wedge, it looked great. Mine was tasty, despite it not being exactly what I had ordered.











We were served some bread along with our entrees.

We had the option of adding onions or mushrooms to our steak, so I got mushrooms. Plus cheese melted on the top of the steak. For my side, I got pasta with their blush sauce. The steak came with bearnaise sauce, and it was just truly delicious.

It was cooked to a perfect medium, the cheese was amazingly rich, melty and creamy. Mushrooms added a nice flavor, and the sauce was just a different level of rich. The meal overall was spectacular. Nice attention to detail and additions to make the meal customized.

The pasta on the side was an after-thought, and I mostly ate this leftover since I had so much for my entree. But the sauce was a good - a nice mix of their red and white.

At this point, I was super pleased with our meal. From start to finish, I had great food. The appetizer was good, the salad was good, the entree was incredible, and the sides were all great. So, I figured I'd top it off with dessert.

I ordered this mousse for dessert. By this time it was around 8:30. We didn't eat especially slow, but we had a few different courses, and they weren't always the quickest to come out. But I noticed that we were literally the only table left in the dining area. They had pushed all the tables to the edges and literally began sweeping right beside our table.

If there's a more blatant way to say "get out," I think it would be to verbalize that statement. There were people coming in and setting up. Apparently they booked that room at 8:30 for some event. If that's the case, I'm not sure why you would sit someone in there at 6:30. Unless they assume we would get an entree and leave. But they also weren't quick to deliver each dish.

Regardless, it really left a sour taste in my mouth. The dessert was great. I could've probably bathed in it. And I highly recommend it, but if I'm paying in the three-digits for a meal, please don't be sweeping literally right beside my table, urging me to leave, as all that dust is flying into my $13 dessert.


Grade: B