WV Gourmet

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.

Friday night, I put on my kevlar and waded my way through the downtown Charleston, WV transit mall to go to Rio Grande (or Big River in English). I could write about the food, but I’m not going to say much about that. It’s your basic local Mexican place where for a twenty dollar bill, you can get a belly full of pretty decent Mexican/Tex-Mex food AND have enough margaritas to float a battleship. I’m not going to write about the service, other than to say that the folks there are very quick to get your food to you. I’m going to write about the art, specifically the cockfight mural, which I have given the name: Little Jerry and El Guapo.

In this work of art, you will note that there is no audience, only the roosters and their trainers.  Mano y mano.  Pollo y pollo.  This is a pride match, not unlike the fight between Rocky and Apollo at the end of Rocky III.  Don Eduardo, whom you see in the forefront, taught Marcelino everything he knows about cockfighting.  Now, Marcelino and his young up and comer Rooster, Little Jerry, are engaged in a vicious cockfight with Don Eduardo and his prized rooster, El Guapo, who has a 73-0 record.  Little Jerry is closer to the viewer.  El Guapo has the upper hand right now, but you can see the fire in Little Jerry’s eye.  This is far from over.  There is no money on the line.  There are no spectators.  Just two men and their cocks, fighting for pride.  Who will win?  I don’t know.