I'm usually focused on scoping out the new restaurants, rather than paying attention to current specials going on at already established restaurants (cue idea for next blog post). But there are a few weekly specials at restaurants that deserve some attention. Table 9's 1 Burger, 1 Bourbon, 1 Beer (hey George Thorogood) is one.

Table 9 features a weekly burger special every Tuesday that comes with a bourbon and a beer for a total of $15. Each week's house ground burger features something new. The one photographed up top is fresh, local beef, swiss cheese, bacon, fried egg, pickled onions, lettuce, tomato, garlic aioli on brioche with a side of fries.



Sher, local food photographer extraordinaire, never misses a Burger Tuesday. Take a look through some of the great burgers that have been offered as part of this special!

Burger w/ Red Onion Compote, Sweet Potato Planks, Mushroom Port Reduction, and Swiss
Ranchero Burger - Fire Roasted Veggies, Zucchini, Squash, Peppers, Onion, Cheddar, and Creme Fraiche


BBQ Pulled Chicken Burger with Cheddar, and Slaw

I am a bit fan of lists. I like checking things off lists; I like complete collections. I have lists of lists.

I'm sure that comes as no surprise, as I've been ticking off things on the WV's 101 Most Unique Places To Dine list and the 55 unique things to do in the Mountain State list that are sometimes seen through this blog.

This prompted me to accept the personal challenge of trying all The Custard Stand locations. I've already been to a couple: Flatwoods and Oak Hill. And since I was driving up from Logan, I drove right through Danville - another Custard Stand location.

The Danville Custard Stand is actually housed in an Exxon, but don't fret, as the restaurant actually has its own separate dining area. I think the folks who work the actual gas station also work the ice cream part, because there was no one around when I first walked up.

I looked around for a second until I saw a girl scurry over. I said hi! She half-heartedly smiled and just continued to stare at me, like "hurry up and tell me what you want." So I ordered a small chocolate cone. Easy enough, right?

I didn't love that she didn't use a glove or a napkin to hold the cone as she filled it with ice cream, as she was probably handling money at the cash register previously. But, hell, I've probably eaten worse, and this is ice cream we're talking about.

Thankfully, it's still the same ice cream I know and love. Smooth, creamy, delicious. I know the Custard Stand is big on their chili, but I just ate three THREE lunches, so ice cream was the perfect finish.

Just three more to go after this: Elkins, Mannington and Webster Springs!

Grade: B

I'm rounding the last corner on my trip to try all the drive-in restaurants in West Virginia. If you haven't been following along, West Virginia has just about a dozen drive-in restaurants left in the state. Most of the remaining drive-ins are located in the southern part of the state. I've made my way to many, including Sterling Drive-In in Welch, the Pinnacle Drive-In in Pineville, the Tunnel Drive-In in Williamson, the King Tut Drive-In in Beckley, the Frostop Drive In in Huntington, Jim's Drive In in Lewisburg and Biggie's in Grafton (the last two have not yet posted at the time of writing this post). Just a few more to go!

Because there are three drive-in restaurants located right in Logan, I made the trip there to try all three of the restaurants during lunch. The first was a chicken sandwich at Janet's Park &Eat. The second? Parkway Drive In's cheeseburger. And the best for last: Morrison's Drive Inn!

The three Logan drive-ins are owned by the same family and each feature similar menu items, though they all boast individual recipes. Morrison's, though, does the most business by far. It was also named as one of the bets hotdogs in the state. That made my decision here pretty easy. We pulled up, saw a carhop nearby, asked if we could just place our order with her, and headed over to the picnic tables nearby to have our meal.

Once she brought out our hotdogs, I first noticed they're wrapped in cellophane - that was a first! It definitely keeps in ALL the heat and would prevent leaking through paper. But since it holds in heat so well, eat it quickly! The chili, slaw, mustard and onions all began to run together, so the individual ingredients were hard to distinguish. But the combined flavor overall was on point. I liked the chili a lot - good flavor. The slaw was a bit piecey - I kind of like a more paste consistency. But I'm just splitting hairs. I liked this hotdog. I'll defer to the West Virginia Hot Dog Blog on the official weenie ranking, but as far as Candace Lately goes - get it!

Grade: A

I'm rounding the last corner on my trip to try all the drive-in restaurants in West Virginia. If you haven't been following along, West Virginia has just about a dozen drive-in restaurants left in the state.

Most of the remaining drive-ins are located in the southern part of the state. I've made my way to the Sterling Drive-In in Welch, the Pinnacle Drive-In in Pineville, the Tunnel Drive-In in Williamson, the King Tut Drive-In in Beckley, the Frostop Drive In in Huntington, Jim's Drive In in Lewisburg and Biggie's in Grafton (the last two have not yet posted at the time of writing this post). Just a few more to go!

Because there are three drive-in restaurants located right in Logan, I made the trip there to try all three of the restaurants during lunch. The first was a chicken sandwich at Janet's Park & Eat. The second? Parkway Drive In.

I have heard this group of restaurants, who all have the same owner but with individual recipes, have good cheeseburgers and hotdogs. So I went with a cheeseburger on this one ... and maybe a strawberry milkshake, too.

I'm told for cheeseburgers, they make a grilled cheese and open it up to add a burger patty. Did they do that for this one? I dunno. Kinda looks like a regular burger to me. BUT, it was a good one. Maybe it was because I got lettuce, onion and tomato on it? I'm not sure. But it really is quite tasty. The cheese oozed out and was perfectly melted.

Oh, and the strawberry milkshake ... I've decided strawberry milkshakes are on of life's greatest pleasures.

Grade: A

I'm rounding the last corner on my trip to try all the drive-in restaurants in West Virginia. If you haven't been following along, West Virginia has just about a dozen drive-in restaurants left in the state. I love that there are some of these restaurants still leftover from a different era - more than a half century ago - when eating out wasn't the norm, and a trip to the restaurant was spent in your car with carhops on roller skates bringing trays full of burgers and shakes to you.

The first drive-in restaurant was Kirby's Pig Stand, which opened in Dallas, Texas, in 1921. In North America, drive-in facilities of all types have become less popular since their heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, with drive-throughs rising to prominence since the 1970s and 1980s.

Most of the remaining drive-ins are located in the southern part of the state. I've made my way to the Sterling Drive-In in Welch, the Pinnacle Drive-In in Pineville, the Tunnel Drive-In in Williamson, the King Tut Drive-In in Beckley, the Frostop Drive In in Huntington, Jim's Drive In in Lewisburg and Biggie's in Grafton (the last two have not yet posted at the time of writing this post).

That means I just have a couple left in the Huntington area, one in Bluewell and THREE left in Logan. I'm much more likely to get to Huntington or Bluewell along my travels, so I planned a specific trip just to get to Logan (because who actually ever travels through Logan regularly?) to try these drive-ins.

Yes, Logan has three drive-in restaurants. At first glance, I thought it was strange, too. However, it makes more sense once I read that all three are owned by the same family. According to the article, Jay Mayhorn manages Janet's Park & Eat, Parkway Drive-In, and, the most popular, Morrison's Drive Inn. John Morrison opened Morrison's Drive Inn eatery in 1947. Jay Mayhorn's grandfather, Leonard Refeitt, started working there the next year and would eventually become the owner. When he died, ownership passed to Robert Mayhorn, Jay's father.

All three have similar menu items, but they each have their own recipes. And for a town of 1,779 to support three curbside restaurants in 2015? That's pretty cool. I wanted to try all three.

I met up with my friend BJ Hatfield to embark on a back-to-back-to-back lunch at Janet's Park & Eat, Parkway Drive-In and Morrison's Drive Inn. Up first was Janet's Park & Eat (mostly because it opens the earliest). Janet’s is open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 7 p.m. Sundays.

The restaurants was fairly quiet when we first pulled up. In fact, I wasn't sure they even actually offered curb service anymore. They assured us they did, and later on as we were leaving, I did see a carhop taking an order on a paper pad, running it to the kitchen and returning with hot, often fried food. But for this first stop, we actually went inside.

There are a few separated dining areas with old-school booths. We grabbed a seat nearby and a server immediately stopped by. The menu spans everything from a 10 oz. ribeye and oysters to spaghetti and meatballs and chicken livers. I remember reading that the three restaurants are known to have good hot dogs, good cheeseburgers and good chicken. So, why not spread the love? I ordered the breaded chicken specialty sandwich here. BJ opted for the "Whatchamacallit," which had fried bologna, salami, lettuce, and onion.

Considering I still had two more lunches to eat after this one, I didn't get the "basket" option. When my sandwich came out, I realized that maybe I should have gotten the chicken planks to get the chicken that everyone was talking about, because this was a chicken patty. But, it was actually really tasty. It was lightly breaded but not dry or minced. It was tasty.

As for BJ's whatchamacallit, I think he was happy, too.




Grade: A