With the start of Charleston Restaurant Week just days away, there’s a flurry of folks still scrambling to score last-minute reservations at their favorite places. Love that.
One of the primary goals of this annual event is to help celebrate (and fill!) local restaurants during what is typically a slow time of year for them, so knowing there will be packed houses next week already brings a smile to my face.
And in case you missed it after menus were released last week, latecomer Barkadas has also signed up as the 16th participating restaurant for the weeklong event Jan. 30-Feb. 4.
That Filipino bistro at the foot of Fort Hill in Charleston will be offering a $30 three-course meal that includes your choice of a tropical garden salad or pork/veggie lumpia spring rolls appetizer, a marinated beef or chicken adobo bowl entrée, and a peanut butter banana cheesecake or brownie blondie toffee crunch situation for dessert.
As you’re out and about next week, be sure to share your Restaurant Week photos with WV Food Guy on Facebook. I can’t wait to see your favorites!
HENS & HEIFERS COMING TO ELKVIEW
A new restaurant offering fresh local beef and chicken dishes is coming to the Crossings Mall in Elkview.
After years of sitting vacant, the old Ponderosa building is being remodeled to house Hens & Heifers, an Elk River-based company run by JJN Enterprises with an anticipated opening this spring.
Promising a “more casual American dining experience,” the restaurant’s signature items will be steak burgers called “Heifers” and hand-breaded chicken strips called “Hard-Up Hens” that can be tossed in a variety of sauces. An array of appetizers and pastas will also be offered, along with a full-service bar – something previous restaurants at that location were not allowed to have in the past.
You can follow the restaurant’s progress and get details on an eventual opening date on the Hens & Heifers Facebook page.
SUPER WEENIE REOPENS IN EXPANDED SPACE
After a series of starts and stops due to COVID and construction, downtown Charleston’s Super Weenie has reopened in expanded space on Quarrier Street that not only includes more room in the restaurant, but also a new market adjacent to it that will offer a variety of convenience items once complete.
That’s great news for local hot dog fans, who have come to love Super Weenie’s selection of exceptionally delicious, top-quality hot dogs, sausages and more, many served with unique toppings.
And it’s great news for downtown in general, with the addition of a new bodega-like “corner store” offering basic conveniences right next door.
Since this endeavor has required owner Jason Myer to juggle, as he says, “two very different business models” that will require lots of work ahead, the reopened restaurant will mostly focus on a limited menu of its best-selling dogs for now, with plans to land on an even larger menu than before in the near future.
While construction on the market continues, Super Weenie hopes to be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, although Myer warns those regular hours are subject to change due to equipment deliveries, inspections and such. If that happens, he’ll post those changes on the restaurant’s Facebook page.
“Once I can open the store and increase staffing, we should finally be able to resume being open 5 days a week,” Myer said.
“The past few years have been quite a struggle and I doubt I could have made it to this point without such a great group of customers,” he said in a recent post on social media. “Thank you so much for your patience and your support!”
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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.