Here's the mail, it never fails, it makes me wanna wag my tail. When it comes I wanna wail MAIL.

Blue's Clues, anyone?



It's my favorite mail day: when my J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works Appalachian Mercantile monthly subscription box arrives!  And, it's a fun one! 

J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works: Toffee Crunch Peanuts - In partnership with Belmont Peanuts, these amazing hand cooked Virginia peanuts have a fresh, crunchy, crispy flavor. Available in three great flavors, Salted, Salt & Pepper, and Toffee Crunch.

Asheville Tea Company: Snow Day Blend - Enjoy a cuppa with these delectable teas from Asheville Tea Company. These local craft teas are blended by hand in small batches using the finest locally sourced seasonal botanicals. The inspiration for these blends are found in the unique flavors of the town of Asheville, NC. Box of 20 tea bags. Three blends: Asheville Grey, Chamomile Lavender, Jasmine Gold

Simple Products: Spiced Pear Syrup - Simple Products Pear Syrup is a delicious compliment to any breakfast. Made from organically grown Ohio pears, organic natural evaporated cane sugar, orange juice, ground cinnamon, and ground clove. Simply perfect.

Brookstone Soaps: Peppermint - These hand crafted soaps are made by Brookstone Soap in Huntington, WV.

Plus Tait Farm Foods herbed biscuit baking mix and this adorable bowl from Heartmoss Pottery.

New Huntington restaurant 9th St. Diner has an old-town feel. The diner is fairly small with some counter seating, booth seating and random memorabilia on the walls. 



They serve up breakfast and lunch - and recently added dinner. The menu focuses on fries, breakfast, salads, burgers and soup. The dinner options are TBD. 



Breakfast food is not my favorite - sometimes I'm in the mood for it. But usually, I'd rather have dinner for breakfast than breakfast for dinner. So the hamburger jumped out to me - which can be topped with cheese, bacon or eggs.



I went with a burger topped with cheese, and wanted onion, ketchup and mayo but added those at home. I think those are my ideal, go-to toppings on any burger. I like a tomato, but they're so often watery and mealy. And lettuce is just too unwieldy. Ketchup adds some sweetness Mayo adds some creaminess. Onion adds some crunch. It's the perfect trifecta. And cheese is always necessary.



So let's talk about this burger. It is thin and cooked on the flat top so it gets nice and ever so slightly crunchy on the outside, which I love. And with that perfectly melted cheese, it makes for the perfect proportions. The bread is homemade and fluffy and really tasty ... but I don't know that it's the best burger bun. It's soft and not super hearty to stand up to a greasy burger. I really enjoyed them both - maybe not together. 



I also went with a side of potato salad, which was okay. Overall, it was a decent meal, and I'm excited to see what they'll offer for dinner.

Grade: B

Andy's Grill has a storied history in Institute. The former restaurant served WVSU students for years with its legendary wings. 



"Andy's Grill: In 1957, Andrew Johnson opened his locally famous restaurant, Andy's Grill, on Route 25 in Institute. The business operated for over 40 years as a family restaurant that provided service to the Institute campus and the entire Kanawha Valley. The grill was best known for hot bologna sandwiches, ribs, shrimp, chicken, his secret sauce, and grilled honey buns. Johnson, affectionately known as "Mr. Andy," always greeted guests with a smile and made everyone feel at home."



I, however, knew none of this when I saw "Andy's Wings" from Brandon Johnson pop up on my Facebook feed saying they were having a pop-up and dozens of people commented that they were coming through. Let me first state that I do not encourage anyone to reach out to a stranger on facebook, drive to their house and pick up food, but that's exactly what I did. Do as I say, not as I do.

Brandon is the grandson of Andy and carries on the tradition through pop-ups at his home. He offers the wings plain or tossed in the famous sauce. He also occasionally does ribs. He also sells bottles of the famous sauce. After a little wait, I had a whole box full of wings and headed home to dig in. First of all, these are not tiny drumettes - these are whole wings. And the sauce is this sweet and tangy sauce that is addictive. I licked my fingers after each bite. The wing itself is good - but that sauce - is really tasty.

Grade: A

One of my favorite ways to eat is to order a bunch of little snack size options and share so that everyone can try a little bit of everything (unless I'm really hungry, then I want my own dish because I am ready to throw down).



So, I kinda recreated a tapas concept at Panda Chinese Kitchen in Wheeling. 



The longtime Wheeling favorite is a pretty standard go-to for Chinese food in the downtown area. They were still primarily takeout when I went, but they made it a pretty simple process. 



I had called in an order for sweet & sour chicken, pineapple chicken, vegetable lo mein, and general tso chicken combination to go.



So I took this home to my parents' house and we had a little bit of everything. They don't do shellfish or pork, so our dinner was pretty chicken heavy. 



Sweet and sour chicken is always a crowd-pleaser. It's white chicken meat covered in a batter and dipped in a sweet sauce - it is universally beloved. That's an easy win in case the other selections weren't as favored.



The general tsos was not my favorite rendition. Pretty chewy and stringy - though, honestly, that seems to be the norm nowadays. Or maybe I'm more cognizant of it? I'm not sure. But I don't want to feel like I'm chewing on an old piece of chicken - even if dredged in a tasty sauce.



The pineapple chicken was the same quality of meat, but it does give me a faux sense of "health" when there's a fruit involved. It definitely makes it sweeter, but this sauce was almost soupy. The chicken breading got kinda soggy. Flavor of the sauce wasn't bad; just the texture wasn't my favorite.



And veggie lo mein - this was a hit. Simple, straight-forward and tasty. 

Grade: B

There's a brand new Irish pub in downtown Hurricane, and it's making a splash in the Guinness already. 



Hurricane has a small, but strong, downtown with some really stellar restaurants, and Connolly's Irish Pub is the newest addition.



They're still in their soft opening phase and were just serving select parts of their menu when I went - but I just couldn't wait to get my hands on fish & chips.



I can't say enough good things about the service. I placed an order to go, they got me taken care of, paid for, and out the door in a number of minutes. The food was good, too. The fries are like those crispy batter-fried fries that have a nice seasoning on them - nice crunch. The fish also had a nice batter. I do wish it was just a bit thicker to get some real tooth-sinkable bites of white flaky fish. But, of course fillets vary, and I'm excited to try more.

Grade: A