After a couple of false starts over the past two years, it appears the old South Charleston Dairy Bar is indeed planning to reopen this Friday.
The popular ice cream and fast-food joint had previously teased a grand re-opening in the summer of 2022, but that never came to fruition. However, social media lit up over the weekend with the news that its doors are opening once again.
Located a few blocks from the Mound at 120 D St. in South Charleston, the dairy bar serves a variety of hot dogs and hamburgers, plus corn dogs, BBQ sandwiches, chicken strips, chicken sandwiches, grilled cheeses, hot bologna, BLTs and more, along with fries, onion rings and other assorted fried sides.
And, of course, ice cream!
You can end your meal on a sweet note – or just swing by to slay your sweet tooth – with ice cream, milkshakes, sundaes or parfaits.
Stay tuned to The Food Guy for the official word on new business days and hours once the place reopens.
Reader recipe requests
It’s been a while since I’ve shared any reader recipe requests, so I’m coming at you with two different ones this week.
“I enjoy reading your articles and just enjoyed the one on Restaurant Week,” Ken Wilcox writes.
“We used to really enjoy the Cuban at Capitol Roasters Café on Summers Street. We have had lots of Cubans since they closed, but none are even close. Is there a possibility you can obtain the recipe?”
Oh, how I miss that place! Located on the corner of Quarrier and Summers streets where Black Sheep Burrito & Brews now stands, Capitol Roasters was one of Charleston’s first independent coffee shops after Taylor Books.
In addition to offering good coffee and a great, large lounge for dining, drinking, listening to music, working or just hanging out, Capitol Roasters was also known for exceptionally delicious food.
There were breakfast and lunch wraps stuffed with all sorts of good things – and a handful of other sandwiches, too – but they were most known for their hot-and-gooey paninis.
The Alaskan Salmon Melt with lemon and smoked mozzarella cheese. The Chicken Athena with feta, roasted red pepper and sun-dried tomato pesto mayo. The Florentino with oven-roasted turkey, baby spinach, marinated artichokes, roasted red pepper and Havarti cheese. The Chicken Chutney with gorgonzola spread and apple-pear chutney.
And that spicy little Cuban number with pulled-pork tenderloin, thinly sliced ham, jack cheese, dill pickles, cracked pepper and chipotle mayo that was so, so good.
I actually reached out to a friend of mine who used to work there but, alas, he did not have the recipe, Ken.
Hopefully the description above from their old menu, though, will help get your culinary creative juices flowing.
And from Cuba to Italy …
“The only dish I really, really loved at Fazio’s was their Italian pepper steak, but they took it off their menu a few years ago,” writes Kimberly Keys Fisher. “I have tried several times to recreate it without success. Since Fazio’s is now selling their restaurant, do you think you might be able to convince them to provide you with that recipe? I and many others would be very grateful!”
Although the Fazio family holds its recipes pretty close to the vest, maybe there’s someone out in Food Guy land who might share a little insight into how that dish came together?
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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.