After searching through the forums, I've found a few recommendations here and there. I know Whitegrass Cafe is great and I've heard Amelia's and Sirrianni's mentioned. Is there anything else I'm missing that is a must see / do for dinner in the Valley?

Thanks.

PS Please no sarcastic comments about the cafeteria at T-line

Canaan valley resort and conf center is always a 1st class experience...the food is excellent and while dining you will be over looking wild deer and the outdoor ice skating rink thru large windows which is always a plus to go with the very nice decor inside...

Try "The Anchor" restaurant on right just as yo exit the valley toward Harman.
The Colonel

Hellbenders burritos in Davis make a nice meal as well. Picture Chipolte with a more homegrown feel and much larger selection, plus beer.

wrong forum JONG!

Don't mind him. Thought he was logged in to TGR...

...in the valley Breakfast---Breakfast Nook for quick in and out, Amelia's for sit down (Biscuits' & Gravy recommended)...in the valley Dinner---Sirianni's for beers and pizza's, Big Al's for beers and wings, whitegrass....in Davis for Dinner---Hellbender's for beers and burritos, Mutley's for beers and stake,Sirianni's in Davis as well...in Thomas there are also a few options---Tip Top, Thomas Brew Pub...

Purple Fiddle in Davis has good food and beer and great music at night.

What's the name of the place near Ski Barn that has changed ownership numerous times?

Big Al's, try the fried pickel chips, decent salads too.

Trail mix near Tline base has decent "to go" sandwiches if you're looking for a quick lunch option.

After some delicious food this weekend and several trips over there this winter and last there are plenty of good places to find grub near the valley, the key is to know which places are good. For breakfast the Bright Morning Inn in Davis is really good. Boomtown Java makes great lattes and is a cool place, however it isn't open usually when I want it to be, I wanted to stop in and get some caffeine on my way to the slopes as I passed through Davis on Saturday, unfortunately it was closed at 8:30, a few weeks ago I wanted some caffeine on my way back to Arlington on a Sunday afternoon unfortunately it was closed at 5:20 , but when its open it is great. Muttley's and Siriannis in Davis both are delicious. Big Als is great for lunch, never crowded and quicker than eating at Timbers, I like to ski at one resort in the morning get lunch off the slopes, and switch ski areas in the afternoon. The Purple Fiddle in Thomas is a must for drinks and live music if you like live/folk music in the slightest. Unfortunately I didn't have great luck with Blackwater Brewing Company, their beer was mediocre and on a busy night they were woefully slow. Big John's Family Fixings is ok, but quite mediocre compared to places in Davis.

...can scratch the Big Al's and fried pickle chips...Big Al's closed after short go at it...the curse of Tucker's location seems to keep on track...

Something in the name??

Bummer, I enjoyed Big Al's.

Maybe it is in the water!!
Or Global Warming since everything else gets blamed on it!!
The Colonel

grubbaria is not even a word

Too bad about Big Al's. Another in a long list of failed ventures at that location. Almost as bad as the old Gas N Grub/Glenfiddich location.

I've always wondered how the Tucker's/etc location struggles but the Golden Anchor just keeps ticking along. Never seems to be a significant crowd down there but they are still open.

Golden Anchor has more ways to make money than just selling food, the menu is simple and I have been told the (sea)food is excellent. Big Al's menu had sooo many items with clever names by the time I was done reading it I wasn't hungry anymore. Tucker's, MR DUcks, BigAls is a great location but if it's not about the food...............

The Tucker location/building has an out of town owner that probably charges way too much rent. I'll bet Anchor Inn owns the property. Makes a big difference in a thin-margin venture.

...word on the street is bad food and issues with staff was the reason for abrupt downfall...the food quality kept the customers away and an out of town owner with no oversight of staff resulted in what would be expected to result with a staff with no customers and to much time on their hands...that the rumors I guess...an over the top frozen food menu and 70's music didn't really stand a chance,imo...

...that location is killer and would be simple---good home made burgers, maybe a home style dish or two and wings with a good beer selection and some bar starters is all that is needed, throw in parties for mountaineer games and wed. darts and its that simple...maybe in a few years turn the front dining room into a small brewery...

^^^make it so numbah 1


Big problem in Tucker Co is limited tourist $$ to chase, that and the major problem of finding adequate wait staff or even someone who is willing to work.

How about a nano brewery with a tap/tasting room?

Hard to find good enough folks who are willing to work in restaurants around here. Heck even the extremely successful Hellbender Burritos is now closed on Tuesdays simply because of lack of staff.

...yet oddly enough there are multiple subsidized low income housing units going up in Davis as we speak...something ain't rite---established employers can't find anyone to work, but for some reason there is a need for subsidized low income housing in the same exact area???

If you got paid to sit home, watch your big screen, talk on your Obamaphone AND get food stamps...would you work?

Geez, shouldn't talk about B's new house like that.

Chaga - Isn't HB's closed on Monday's as well?

I ate at Big Al's on several occasions this past season and I found the food to be subpar.

The development authority should have a new motto: "Come to Tucker County where you can be a total slacker and still live in comfort"

yeah SCWVA, hellbender's has always been closed mondays, but mainly to give the owner/operators a break.

Thought that was what he was talkin about as well . My guess is Big Al decided to pull the plug when it was time to renew the liquor license, or at least that was the last straw. I'd like to see Siriani's in the Valley add a few different items like a steak and a nice fish dish. Condense the menu a little to get service times down. If they did not have the exact same menu as the store in Downtown Davis then they wouldn't be competing with themselves and might get two shots at the same tourist.

...I guess all the seats are full in the peanut gallery today...

Service work isn't known for paying well, so I'd expect the few who are working as wait staff for these places may be the same that need the low income housing.

Maybe they are hoping that new low income housing will bring in new low wage workers for those new vacationers they are suppose to get at Canaan.

A key point to raise. Thanks.

Standing room only!

Got to see B's house for the first time in person last week. The house is sweet! Quite envious of his man cave.


Is the low income housing being built for the general population or are they trying to attract "Resort" workers like a lot of resort towns out west do?

Who yins callin a peanut??

Nothing wrong with some section 8 housing but let's look at a few fun geography facts. Worshington DC is a hudge area of 68.25 square miles inhabitated by 632,000 citizens; the state of Rhode Island, 1545 sq. miles/1,050,000 Islanders and Tucker County WV is 421 sq. miles and wait for it, 7100 Tuckers, ooooh imagine, that's a lot of donuts. We really need a nice mass transit system in Tucker County or moar subsidies of some sort would be ok. Commuting from Downtown Davis to the resorts in Canaan Valley costs $5-6 per day round trip unless you carpool. How much did it cost to build the metro? Maybe the federales could just make gasoline free in Tucker county to make it fair for residents and tourists since there is no mass transit. I bet it would be cheaper.

I have observed the economics around here for a while now, and it's just not as hunky dory as an occasional visitor might think just because it's a "resort area". Besides the obvious issues with staffing, the other thing about a successful restaurant around here is the ability to attract the locals to come because besides from holiday and summer weekends, the locals are all they have when the tumbleweeds are blowing through town on a tuesday in april for example. Hellbenders and Tiptop Cafe in Thomas are examples of just that, and have defied the odds with a unique product and catering to locals. Their locations in town help huge also. I think Hellbenders could possibly have worked in the valley with their unique product, but I doubt Tiptop would be sustainable in the valley. Another restaurant in the valley is a huge gamble in my opinion no matter how great the product is. Davis/Thomas is a much more reliable place for clientele and staffing basically because they are towns with more people and more transit.
As far as my opinion on what would work as the next successful restaurant around here...an "asian fusion" place.

A restaurant like the "Lucky Corner" in Fredneck with its awesome Vietminh cuisine and afford able prices would be tits.

Mass transit in Tucker County = Doc's chairlifts. Prolly more reliable than WMATA.

I rode the Yinzer mass transit in Picksburgh. Exact change only.

...Jimmy, I am offended by your smilies, and appalled by the corrections in spelling and puntiation....

...there is soon to be another restaurant opening in the valley in the Deerfield location very soon...there is also a saloon opening up in Thomas in the old gas station...

I was wondering what was going in there. Noticed it getting a facelift this year.

..general population...the resorts will need some much greater/drastic improvements/changes if they are going to attract full time or even fulltime seasonal workers, IMO...although, on its facebook page---timberline has announced heavy lobbying at the boyscout jamboree this past week..

...Trail Mix now closed down...

The valley needs a nice, basic, diner, run by a Greek family of course.

Valley has The Breakfast Nook, serving breakfast and lunch. I don't know if they're Greek but I will vouch for the breakfast.

I saw that. What could be better than having every boy scout from VA/DC/MD at Tline?? How about boy scouts from across the country?? Think the Bunkhouse could hold them?

Are those the regular boy scouts or the gay ones?

On another note looks like the local cops are in need of money and are cracking down on businesses and patrons in Thomas/Davis. Several DUI have been handed out lately and reports are business licenses are being scrutinized.

Are they doing unreasonable search and seizure or just stopping people for speed ing and such?

Do not have any first hand info if its unreasonable searches, apparently they are cracking down on lawless Tucker Co. Could be they are skirting inside the letter of the law as many douche bag cops will do.

They are scoping people leaving the Purple Fiddle so be aware if out and about in Thomas.

No more beer/wine license at Muttley's. BYOB for a fee.

Word I had is Muttleys is changing to a deli.

The Muttley building is going to become 3 storefronts:
1. An expanded wine shop.
2. A deli where the current dining room is.
3. Muttley's restaurant moves into the former-outdoor-now-enclosed area, without an alcohol license. BYOB for a fee.

That sucks.

So you've got to buy your own beer, then pay someone to be able to drink it?

Peculiar...

Peculiar is too nice a word.

Kinda like a bank charging you to access your money.

...there is always timbers pub---great ambiance, fast service, fantastic award winning ribs/famous crab cakes/shrimp entrees, and uniquely different/enjoyable themed music every weekend played at the appropriate volume for the space...

that's exactly how I would describe Timbers... the uniquely different part anyway.

Tucker, did you ever think about going into advertising?

He's too tactful for advertising

Pretty good fish tacos at HB's Wed.

Just got back from visiting my Norsky Relatives up at the lakes in Minnesota..(they all live in Fargo,ND)...They Catch Walleye up there which is one of my Fav fresh water fish to eat...I know they have some at Deep Ck...Anywhere else?...Never ate a freshwater trout..how r they?..Whats the best eating local fish to dine on in CV?....Crayfish?...Smoked Hellbenders?

Rob smokes a mean trout.

The new deli is now open in the Muttley's building in Davis.  It's called Big Belly Deli.  That gives them the 3 storefronts mentioned earlier in this thread.

In the Valley, the Deerfield Pub is now open....don't know if it has expanded to include the restaurant, yet.  Any update from the locals?

Deerfield has been place to be lately, quickly becoming local hangout again and seems to also be attracting lots of seasonal business...I had a great burger there the other night and also sampled a good tasting wings...haven't seen the restaurant side open yet, but I don't know for sure...I would recommend checking it out...they are also doing delivery!!

At least no used sarcasm to describe the cafeteria as requested ;). To further move this thread off course, Out of curiosity I did a quick look at workforce in tucker county. Of about 6500-7000 population, about 40% are under 18 or over 65. Leaving around 3900 to 4200 working aged individuals. I also found that 2500-3000 folks are employed. This leaves maybe 1200-1400 unemployed. Assuming there are some stay at home mom/dads and some percentage of disabled you are probably looking at around 500 people not  currently employed. The medium income is slightly less then 20k, so don't expect local folks to go out to eat a lot and they are not going to be big tippers. So assuming a resurarant is paying waiter/waitress wages these folks are making a few dollars an hour and in off season not picking up much in the way of tips. There is one household for about every 3-4 people and home ownership is about 80% and a pretty high number own homes with no mortgage. So am guessing, most of the unemployed live in a household that has some income generation. So the actual number of folks that really want a low payng high stress waiting job is probably very very low. They could probably contribute more to the household by hunting and fishing. Realize these are all quick estimates because I am too lazy to really work through the numbers, but it paints a really unique circumstance for someone trying to start a new business, particularly a resturant. The available workforce is very small and it will be difficult to attract high quality staff with out some major investment.  Below are a couple of the sites I looked at data.

http://www.city-data.com/county/Tucker_County-WV.html

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/54/54093.html

Its called "Mountain time",  once you get on it you caint get off.

 

+1 for new Deerfield pubby food, za was particularlly good, better than the other place IMHO.

Some photos on facebook  https://www.facebook.com/Deerfieldrestaurant?ref=stream

I stopped by at Boomtown Java just at 5 PM on the past Saturday and they are closing. The lady who works there doesn't seem very friendly and she just told us that Tiptop in Thomas is much better than here..  Really?? I know that they are closing but   you just want to give your business away like that?

Thanks to her, we decided to drive a little further to Thomas to check out TipTop for the first time and I was really surprised to find such a nice place like that in Thomas. It beats most of coffee places in DC plus it has a bar and great baked goods!

On the way driving back home on Sunday, we stopped at Boomtown Java again and the same lady was working there.. The service was very slow and not very friendly.. Seem like nobody want to hang out there.. The coffee was still good though.

Oh, the mini grocery store next to Boomtown is great! Picked up some great tasting honey, granola .. Noticed that they are also selling soups from Whitegrass cafe. Hope they can stay in business...