Sanford was the first place I booked a reservation for when I knew I was going to Milwaukee. It boasts award-winning chefs and an impressive repertoire of incredible dishes. It had rave reviews, and I wanted to try this magnificent place.

As soon as we walked in, I knew we were underdressed. While they do not enforce any dress code, it was abundantly clear this was a certain clientele of a certain echelon. Luckily, I had about three drinks in me at this point, so any self-consciousness was gone. Thank god.



The first thing that made me giggle as soon as we sat down was there were these long, thin, brittle breadsticks right on the table. They are some sort of appetizer in a way, but they were just kind of awkward for me. And not super tasty. Don't worry, it gets better.



The bread, while not warm, was very tasty. It had a nice flavor with some herbs mixed in.



The first bite was this amuse bouche made of lamb chimichurri with tomato. It was a nice palate cleanser.

For my entree, I ordered the "Seared Sea Scallops with Watercress Puree, Wine Potatoes, and Wild Mushrooms with Walnut Brown Butter." The scallops were very, very buttery. There wasn't a thick sear on them, but the flavor was delicious. The bedding had a very earthy taste, which I love, so it was a good combination.

Tony ordered the beef tenderloin, which came with yukon potato puree, escarole, and parmesan truffle dressing. I snuck a bite, and it was quite tasty.

On to dessert:

They are known for their desserts, and they often take some time to prepare. So, we ordered two and split them. We ordered the "Warm Blueberry Clafoutis, Lemon Ice Cream" and the "Banana Butterscotch Toffee Tart with Banana Rum Ice Cream."

The "Clafoutis" is just like a thick pancake that had a nice sear on both sides. The warm blueberry sauce made the experience just like eating a pancake + ice cream. A nice sweet - but not overly sweet - bite.

OK so this one was really, really good for me. The banana butterscotch toffee tart is what my dreams are made of. And typically I don't go after banana-y things. But it was a perfect mix of textures and a dark, roasted toffee flavor with the light floral banana flavor. The ice cream had this sort of gritty texture that was just a perfect complement. The little design thing of a mango and raspberry flavor was an outlier - a bit acidic and didn't mesh as well.

And, in case we hadn't already had enough sugar, we were presented with some petit fours. One was a chocolate chip biscotti (meh), one was a shortcake (eh), and one was a caramel almond square. I know it's shocking, but the caramel one was my favorite.

Overall thoughts: This place is a definitely a bit stuffier than I prefer. And I can do fancy. Just don't love "stuffy." The woman next to me was using a neck roll pillow behind her back for god's sake. A fancy one. BUT, I had such a good time. Maybe it was the few drinks beforehand, or maybe it's because we know how to have a good time, but I had fun and really liked my meal.

Grade: A

I recently traveled to Milwaukee recently for a work conference with Tony. We did the whole conference thing, presented, networked, met up with colleagues. But, of course, we also ate. A lot. And I had a lot of fun, and I want to write about it! So prep yourself for the next barrage of blog posts because they'll be Milwaukee centered.



I never expected to visit Milwaukee. It was never at the top of any list. But, I really, really enjoyed myself. It's a big city, so it has the luxuries of that, but it's not so big that it's incredibly crowded. It was actually quite nice.

We flew in on a Saturday, and I had made dinner reservations at a very nice restaurant that evening. Surprisingly, we actually got into the city, settled in and ready to go way in advance. So we decided to walk toward the restaurant, thinking it would take us some time to get there. Welp. We ended up getting there about an hour and a half early. We looked around trying to figure out what we should do, when we saw "Pleasant Kafe."

I actually thought the name sounded questionable, but it's actually a coffee shop by day and a chill wine bar by night. I can't tell you how much I love this concept. There are two floors, the bottom having the counter space and a few tables, and then upstairs there were folks working on laptops while sipping wine. And, each chair had a different small blanket/afghan to cover up while you enjoy your time. How awesome is that? Why doesn't Morgantown have this? I would literally never leave. I could be there right now as I catch up on all these blogs...

We were there when everyone was drinking wine since it was the evening, so why not do as the locals do? We ended up getting a bottle of their seasonal sparkling cider. That can't NOT be good, right? Right!

We got our carafe and flutes and sat on the second floor overlooking other folks as they walked in or chatted or what have you. And it was so, so tasty. It was sweet, sparkling and refreshing. It doesn't get much better than that. It was housemade with champagne, and as champagne usually does with me, it tricks me into thinking it's not that strong and then I'm three glasses in and giggling to myself.

It was a lovely precursor to dinner in a very sweet little shop.

Grade: A

One thing Morgantown is missing is a good deli. I'm talking fresh sandwiches, with pastrami and corned beef, with pickles and other Jewish specialties ala New York-style restaurants. OR, for less urban areas, deli can also be a place to get cold cuts and made-to-order sandwiches. But, that's just my interpretation. It can be ambiguous.



So, when Tony's Deli in Westover opened (in the previous Agresti's location with same owner), I had high hopes. I liked Agresti's, though I had only been once. Just not a convenient spot for me. So, I thought this place could have potential.

Tony's Deli has a counter where you can order your choice of salad, appetizer or sandwich. There's a seating area with a few tables and a cooler with a few desserts, like cannoli and a few random deli meats. Of the options available, the meatball hoagie sounded best to me. I placed that order, paid in cash (cash only!), and found a table.

My meatball hoagie arrived cold. So cold that the cheese on top wouldn't even melt. Also, there was just one large meatball in each half of the sandwich, which made eating this cumbersome. The meatball itself, though, had decent seasoning. I think it would have been more enjoyable warm, though.

My friends found their sandwiches tasty, and their housemade ribbon chips were pretty good - though I wish they came with the purchase of the sandwich. They also had fancy San Pellegrino drinks for sale.

Overall thoughts - average. Nothing really outstanding. Not yet, at least.


Grade: C
 

So, I feel like I need a disclaimer at the beginning of this blog post.

Last month, I spent a whole day at the Bramwell Oktoberfest having a super fun and drunk time. But, a huge part of even making this day trip to Bramwell was to try The Corner Shop, a restaurant listed on the 101 Unique Places to Dine in WV list. But after an entire day of drinking delicious beer after delicious beer after delicious beer, you kind of lose track of ... well ... everything.

It was later in the evening when I realized the restaurant was closing, and I HAD to get there because I traveled all this way and I needed to check them off my list! I, I'm sure, gracefully stumbled into the restaurant as they were closing. I said, I'm sure, in a super pathetic tone - "Can I still order something!" I was met with some shaking heads. Devastation. Then I jumped to the third level of dealing with a devastating situation: bargaining.

"But ... Can I ... just get an ice cream? Please please? I've been wanting to come here all day!" What is wrong with me? They either felt really sad for me or just wanted me to leave, so they made me an ice cream. Bless their hearts.

As a side note, The Corner Shop is this super adorable soda fountain, which is located in a former pharmacy. It's a very cool place, and if you have the opportunity to try more than just ice cream, please do so. They have floats, shakes, sundaes, splits, cones, as well as "millionaire" burgers, hotdogs, pulled pork sandwiches, paninis, soups, salads and more homemade items.

I can't even remember what specific ice cream flavor I got; I just remember it was caramel-ly, and it made my night. Delicious, light - almost fluffy ice cream - and very sweet. I was SO happy they accommodated me, they had a delicious ice cream flavor, and I got my sweet fix at the end of the night. Nothing better.

EDIT 5/5/17: I was able to go try their food - I got a cheeseburger with macaroni & cheese (mmmm), onion rings and a butter pecan milkshake. They were all absolutely delicious!











Grade: A
 

There are three Berkshire's Old Fashion Frozen Custard locations in West Virginia: Princeton, Beckley and Crab Orchard. I was first introduced to the custard stand in Princeton when I would excitedly anticipate each new week's flavor.



Because I don't like unfinished lists, I wanted to check out their locations in Beckley and Crab Orchard. I actually called Crab Orchard the day before asking if they would be open. They assured me they would be. When I finally arrived, there was a handwritten note on their stored saying they were closed. Annoying.

I hopped over to the Beckley location to at least knock that one out. They had JUST opened, like, a minute before I got there. I pulled into the drive-thru and ask for a strawberry cone. They were out of strawberry. So, I asked for a chocolate cone. After they put money in the cash register, they handed me my change and my ice cream cone, and I was on my way.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt - maybe the machine didn't have time to "get started," or something. But this was not great. And, for the ice cream-aholic that is me, that's saying something. First off, it's very, very thick. Like, you have to actually bite it. And the flavor tasted ... chalky. Not my favorite rendition of chocolate.

Grade: C
 

The final drive in in West Virginia! Finally! I visited Lynn's Drive In in Bluewell on a rainy Saturday. (And, since I've gone to all of them now, I just want to gripe about how they all spell "drive in" differently. It can be "drive in," "drive-in," drive inn," "drive-inn," etc. Grumble)

Since it was raining, I felt super bad that the carhop came to my window. Especially when I didn't really know what I wanted. I asked for a few minutes to look over the menu written on the window. She said to just honk when I was ready. Is that aggressive? Honking?

The menu consists of items you would expect at a drive-in: burgers, hotdogs, some salads and some "plated" entree meals. Plus tons of ice cream. If it wasn't so chilly already, I would've had at least three milkshakes.

After a few minutes, I saw someone actually go up to the window to order. I felt like that would be more polite than honking so I went up to the window and placed an order for a hotdog with chili, slaw, mustard and onions, as well as an order of the broccoli and cheese bites.

I returned to my car and a few minutes later, she delivered our plate full of food. Hotdog - not bad! The chili wasn't especially memorable, but I liked the slaw - a nice consistency with good flavor. The broccoli and cheese bites just OK. I didn't honestly get much of a "cheesy" flavor; it was more of a fried flavor with the thick breading. But decent, fried food from a drive in? Check.

Next time, I need to try one of those 32 ice cream flavors!

Grade: B

A new pizza joint has opened in downtown Morgantown! Just what we need, right? Amidst the sea of Casa D'Amici, Tortoni's, Bent, Vintage Room, Zaytun, Vocelli's, Little Caesars? But this one is a little different.

Lotsa Mozza, located in the former Daniel's Men's Clothing store on High Street, is a build-your-own pizza shop that pops out your wood-fired pizza in under five minutes from start to finish. This fast casual pizza place is also open late-night (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday from 11 a.m. to midnight; Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.; and Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 a.m.). So, customizable & late-night? Seems like they may be on to something.

Walk in, wait your turn, and once you're at the counter, the decisions start. Traditional, ancient grain or gluten free dough? Then, they shape the 11" pizza right in front of you. Next, choose your sauce: red sauce, spicy red sauce, buffalo sauce, alfredo, olive oil or BBQ sauce. Then, cheese: mozzarella, shaved parmesan, blue cheese, fresh mozzarella, romano, feta, provolone, ricotta or cheddar jack blend. You can get more than one! Move down the line to toppings.

Then, it's toppings time! Artichokes, arugula, basil, black olives, kalamata olives, caramelized onions, red onion, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, chopped garlic, roasted garlic, banana peppers, bell peppers, roasted red peppers, jalapenos, fresh spinach, mushrooms, pineapple, zucchini blend, roasted rosemary potato, bacon, meatballs, chicken, salami, Italian sausage, Italian ham, pepperoni, prosciutto, anchovies, scrambled eggs, shrimp and flat iron steak.

Finally, you can complete it with a "finish" - pesto basil, olive oil, old bay butter, blue cheese, balsamic glaze or arugula.

They also have their signature pizzas available (so less thinking for you!): BBQ chicken, bianca (olive oil, ricotta, tomatoes, basil), breakfast, buffalo chicken, hawaiian, margherita, meat lovers, shrimp old bay or veggie. And, they also have salads.

Finally, the pizza is thrown into the wood-fired oven (800 degrees!), where it cooks in three minutes with a char around the edges.

My pizza was a traditional crust with red sauce and mozzarella AND ricotta cheese. Toppings included mushrooms, roasted garlic and meatballs. It is like the Subway of pizza shops, so it's nice to see everything made right in front of you. Their claimed chewy, thin crust wasn't so much for me - I wish it was crisper. In fact, it actually got quite soggy. Their red sauce recipe is also not my favorite. The toppings were pretty good, though. I love, love roasted garlic. So, nice toppings but not loving the crust. However, I see the value in the concept of a very quick customized pizza all hours of the night. And, their branding is pretty impressive.

Grade: B