WV Gourmet

Mama Rosa’s is kind of a hidden gem in Charleston’s West Side.  Sure, it’s kind of smack dead in the middle of a somewhat sketchy neighborhood, that doesn’t matter, the food and service are excellent.  My trusty sidekick had been telling me for a year about how great this place just down the hill from her place is, and I had not tried it until recently and WOW was I impressed.  Is the pizza as good as Lola’s?  No, but it’s really damn good and you don’t have to stand around and wait all day to get a seat, nor do you have to pay four bucks for a craptacular beer, like PBR.* 

Both times I’ve eaten at Mama Rosa’s (once take out, and most recently inside), I’ve had the Mediterranean pizza.  The Mediterranean pie has lots of feta and olives on it, so it’s loaded with salty goodness.  The crust is thin and crisp, yet soft on the inside and a bit sweet.  The pie is also served with a garlic butter dipping sauce, which is really good if you’re like me and enjoy garlic and butter. 

For our appetizer, we had the grape leaves.  They were very good, and stuffed with ground lamb and rice.  They were served warm, with a yogurt dipping sauce that went well with them.  I am told that the baba ghanouj is really good, however, I have not had it. 

Also, they have draft beers (nothing special, just Bud, Bud Light, and Amber Bock) for 99 cents or $4.99 a pitcher.  Also, there is a buy one get one free calzone night, though I don’t know which night that is (I’m sure that Megan will post on here with that information).  There are several televisions and a poker room too.  We also saw a really sweet mullet during our visit.  It was probably the best mullet I’ve seen in quite some time. 

In summary, if you’d like a tasty pizza, some middle eastern food, cheap beer, and maybe see a bitchin’ mullet, then go to Mama Rosa’s.

*Yes, I’m aware that Lola’s has a selection of very good beers, such as those from Great Lakes and Rogue, but some folks (not me) don’t like good beers and want something cheap and fizzy and while a PBR at Lola’s is certainly fizzy, it ain’t exactly cheap.  Also, I don’t really remember if a PBR is four bucks at Lola’s, however anything higher than fifty cents for a PBR is highway robbery.

A fond childhood memory shared by many of my friends was that around 1980 and 1981, we all had Darth Vader cakes from the Workman’s IGA bakery.  I’m sure you’re asking yourself, “what the hell is a Darth Vader cake?”  Well, back in the days before all this Ace of Cakes bullshit or this phenomenon of screen printed photos on cakes, the good folks at the Wilton Cake Pan Company made cake pans shaped like popular characters: Bert & Ernie, Superman, Big Bird, R2-D2, and Darth Motherfucking Vader.  Back in those days, Darth Vader was one bad mofo - he had never been a cute little kid, an annoying lovestruck teen, or the old woman who was revealed under the helmet in Return of the Jedi.  He was a badass who could choke you to death from light years away just by pinching his fingers together.

Recently, several of my friends and I had been talking about how great it would be to have an old school Chapmanville birthday party in the backroom of the Chapmanville Giovannis with a bunch of pizzas, Snyders potato chips, and a Darth Vader cake.  During this discussion, I recalled that approximately ten years ago, I was looking around in the crawl space above the bakery at the IGA and saw said Darth Vader cake pan.  I declared that I would make it my mission to find this pan.  A few months passed by and while I was at home on July 3, 2009, I decided that this would be the day that I found Lord Vader.

I spent about an hour digging around up there in the heat, unearthing box of cake pans after box of cake pans, but to no avail.  I found R2-D2 within about fifteen or twenty minutes and after a while I felt that this would have to suffice, but I percerviered.  Eventually, I unearthed Lord Vader.  He was not in a box with other cakes, rather he was underneath some large and heavy metal thing, which I could not identify. 

This is the year that all my friends get a Darth Vader cake for their birthdays.  The first up was Roger.  His birthday was on July 4, but we held off on the Vader cake for a week.  My trusty sidekick (also an excellent baker) was originally going to bake this cake, but she had friends in town that weekend and could not do it.  She did, however, make some delicious macaroni and cheese and host the party.  It was left to me to bake the cake.  The cake (chocolate, of course) itself was very tasty, however, I am not much of a decorator (as you can see from the photographs).

I saw these strong beers at Capitol Market. So far, I’ve only seen some Rogue and Harpoon products.

Taylor Books is one of my favorite places in Charleston.  They have great coffee, good food, excellent baked goods, books, wine, and mopey singer songwriters on the weekends. 

The other day, I popped in at lunch time and got soup and a salad to take back to the office for lunch.  The soup of the day on this particular day was cock-a-leekie soup.  Now, I’d never had leaky cock soup, so I had to try it.  For my salad, I went with the BLT salad.  Cock-a-leekie is a simple, delicious soup consisting of chicken and leeks that tastes wonderful.  I will be getting this soup again.  The salad was good, but not great.  The greens were crisp, the boiled egg was okay, but nothing to write home about, and the bacon was decent, but not outstanding. 

I pretty much pop in there every day for a large black coffee on my way into the office.  Every now and then I have to wait behind people who are getting vanilla bullshit things, but the staff is generally pretty quick to get you served.  From time to time, I skip breakfast and get some sort of baked goods to go with my coffee.  More often than not, I go with one of their blueberry bran muffins, which are nothing short of outstanding, however from time to time they serve the elusive bacon and cheese scone.  The bacon and cheese scone is nothing short of breathtaking. 

If you’ve never been, put Taylor Books on your list of places to visit in Charleston.  They’re located at 226 Capitol Street.

I have a friend whom we call Big Snaxx.  Big Snaxx lives up to his name.  The man loves to eat.  He once ordered a rack of ribs as a side item with his meal at Chilis.  Recently, we went to The Cold Spot for 35 cent wing night (Tuesday night).  There was much discussion amongst myself, Preston, and Roger about how many wings Snaxx would order.  I set the over/under at 47.  Snaxx then arrived and after realizing that fifty wings would only be seventeen dollars (practically giving them away), he went with the half century. 

Before I get into whether Snaxx completed the half century, I should probably discuss the Cold Spot and their wings.  The Cold Spot is located in North Charleston/Dunbar in a former gas station.  Their specialty is wings.  They do not disappoint.  The wings are crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and swimming in sauce.  You can add garlic to any of their flavors.  The only downside, which Preston constantly bitches about, is that the wings often tend to be a bit small.  They also have several beers on tap, including Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale – both for only ten bucks a pitcher.  Chomp on that that Bruno’s, home of $20 dollar pitchers of Sierra Nevada!

After that digression, I can tell you that Snaxx completed the half century.  He was not miserable afterwards and probably could have gone for a few more.  He is a god among ants in the world of eating.

No summer trip is complete without ice cream.  During the aforementioned trip to Deep Creek Lake, we had some fantastic ice cream at Lakeside Creamery.  We went there on Saturday night, after our trip to Archie’s.  It was so good that Megan and I made a stop on our way out of town the next day.  On Saturday night, I went with a chocolate shake, Megan and Arthur went with cones, and Judith went with a brownie sundae.  Everyone was happy with their choices.  My shake was thick, but not too thick and full of chocolatey goodness.  Judith’s sundae was huge and looked phenomenal.  The next day, I went with something a little different: a half chocolate/half coconut ice cream milkshake (sort of a Mounds shake, I guess).  My chocolate/coconut shake was out of this world.  Arthur was so busy enjoying his cone that he almost wrecked the car at least three times on the way back home.  You know what?  If I’d died in a fiery crash, this ice cream was almost worth it.

If you find yourself in the area and aren’t lactose intolerant, go to Lakeside Creamery.  Hell, go there even if you are lactose intolerant, it’s worth the pain.

Now that’s a smoke ring

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, my esteemed sidekick and I took a road trip to Deep Creek Lake in Maryland to visit our friends, Arthur and Judith.  While there, we had some really great barbecue at Archie’s Barbecue.

After a long day of alternating between being lazy and swimming, we were hungry and wanted to get something to eat.  After much discussion, we decided to go to load up Archie’s for some barbecue.  Once we got there, we spent several minutes studying the menu to decide what to go with: pulled pork, ribs, sausages, brisket, chicken, or ribs?  These are the questions that try men’s souls.  Well, we all decided to go with the “Taster’s Plate”, which included pretty much consisted of at least three quarters of a pound of pulled pork, about a half pound of brisket, a couple of ribs, cornbread and two sides, all for $18.99.  Arthur and Judith shared a plate, whereas my sidekick and I each got our own Taster’s Plate.  Arthur and Judith also got an order of chicken fingers for their baby. 

Behold the glory of the Taster's Plate

As you can see from the pictures, this barbecue had a perfect smoke ring.  It had great smoky flavor and the sauce (provided on the side) was sweet and spicy.  The barbecue was so good that the baby rejected the chicken fingers in favor of barbecue.  The cornbread was good, but a little sweet for my taste.