The 16 locations signed up for this year’s Charleston Restaurant Week include two new places, several old favorites and three restaurants that have participated all 10 years of this annual culinary celebration.

Joining the fun from Jan. 30 through Feb. 3 this year are Fernbank Public House, the hot new bar-bistro-café on Bridge Road in South Hills, and The Volstead Room, the hip new underground bar on Hale Street downtown.

They’ll be participating alongside Bridge Road Bistro in South Hills, Ichiban on Capitol Street and Soho’s at Capitol Market, all three of which have been with Charleston Restaurant Week since the very beginning back in 2014.

Other returning restaurants this year include:

1010 Bridge, Barkadas, Black Sheep Burrito, Bricks & Barrels, Dem 2 Brothers & A Grill (downtown location only), Ristorante Abruzzi, The Lookout, Tidewater Grill, Adelphia, Sam’s Uptown Café and DT Prime.

During the designated dates, each of these restaurants will be offering special three-course meals where guest can pick their choice of an appetizer, entrée and dessert at a price each restaurant can set.

Barkadas is coming in with the least expensive meal this year at $25, with Fernbank at $30 and Ichiban, The Lookout and The Volstead Room all at $35. Black Sheep and Sam’s are both $40, Tidewater will be $43 and 1010, Bricks, Dem 2 Brothers, Abruzzi, Bridge Road Bistro and DT will be $45. Soho’s tops the list at $48 for a three-course meal. (Adelphia had not submitted their price points by my deadline.)   

While the big reveal of all menus is still to come, I’m starting to get a few sneak peeks of what you can look forward to that week. We popped into Bridge Road Bistro with friends to hear some live music Saturday night and got a glimpse of Chef Joshua Reedy’s Charleston Restaurant Week lineup.

Guests there can start with either a Mandarin Orange Salad with dried cranberries, almonds and ginger-soy dressing over spring greens or the restaurant’s signature Roasted Red Pepper Bisque with chive crème fraiche.

A choice of four entrees includes Smoked Airline Chicken with sweet cornbread, collard greens and white BBQ sauce; Beef Tenderloin Medallions with whipped potatoes, bone marrow butter and sauteed asparagus; Miso-Glazed Baked Salmon with long-grain wild rice and fried Brussels sprout leaves; or a Stuffed Black Bean Pepper with sliced avocado over rice.

Dessert options are a Flourless Chocolate Torte with espresso whipped cream or Blueberry Cobbler Cheesecake.

Stay tuned for more menus next week!

Sumthin’ Good rolls up sumthin’ tasty

A great little dining spot in South Charleston is making waves with its soulful take on a traditional Chinese favorite.

Sumthin’ Good Soul Food at 4837 MacCorkle Ave. SW is now offering “soul food eggrolls” featuring Grandma Cookie’s greens, Mama Fran’s mac ‘n’ cheese and candied yams paired with either pulled pork, brisket or chicken fried to perfection inside a crispy buttery eggroll.

Sign. Me. Up!

Although I haven’t tried these tasty little morsels yet, I’ve been hearing good reports and the photos look delish.

In addition to these new rolls, the restaurant still specializes in a variety of sandwiches and combos featuring soul food favorites like BBQ, baked or Southern-fried chicken, chicken and waffles, pulled pork, fried catfish or whiting, beef brisket, ribs and pork butt.

You can pair them with sides like cooked cabbage, stewed greens, candied yams, mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread, mac ‘n’ cheese, pinto beans, baked beans or potato salad.

And be sure to leave room for banana cake, peach cobbler, peanut butter cake or sweet wine cake for dessert.

• IF YOU GO: Sumthin’ Good Soul Food at 4837 MacCorkle Ave. SW in South Charleston is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday. For more information, call 304-768-0968, visit www.sumthingood.com or check out the restaurant’s Facebook page.

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Steven Keith is a food writer and restaurant critic known as “The Food Guy” who writes a weekly column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail and has appeared in several state, regional and national culinary publications. Follow him online at www.wvfoodguy.com or on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. He can be reached at 304-380-6096 or at wvfoodguy@aol.com.