Thanksgiving, by design, is a day to stay home and celebrate with friends and family, so I know you’ll be boycotting any big-box stores open that day. (Right?)
But with holiday shopping-palooza striking full force come Friday, you’re going to need a few strategically placed lunch spots to provide energy to make it through the season — and sanity to deal with the crowds.
Since you’ll be supporting local, independently owned businesses (right!?) your travels may very well take you downtown. When hunger strikes, there’s a new spot on my restaurant radar that you’ll want to check out.
And throughout the holiday season, I’ll offer similar updates on new, newly discovered or newly re-opened restaurants that may offer a much-needed respite from retail madness.
How’s the new sushi place at Capitol Market? Will Chipotle live up to its hype? Does the rebuilt Cold Spot still have the same, um, “charm” as the place before it? Plus, Celsius is now open for lunch, Blossom Deli is welcoming guests again and a renovated Laury’s will re-open its doors Jan. 4. Finally!
So buckle up, folks, or rather unbuckle. You may want to slip on your stretchy pants!
I recently took a shortcut from Summers to Capitol Street, crossing Brawley Walkway, and noticed a crowd enjoying lunch inside a small storefront spot. Faithy’s Corner Café looked kind of quaint (and everyone was smiling, which was a good sign) so I made a mental note to return some day. In the meantime, I asked readers if anyone had heard of the place.
Faithy, you’ve got some fans, girl! People quickly started calling and writing to sing the restaurant’s praises.
Most went on about the food, including hearty home-style specials, freshly baked yeast rolls, piping hot soups and delicious baked goods. Others mentioned its “family owned and operated” appeal, plentiful portions, reasonable prices, spotless kitchen and friendly service.
Needless to say, I popped down that same day and it’s as good as advertised. Nothing fancy, for sure, just good food, service and a nice place to sit a spell. Guests walk up to the counter, place their order, then take a seat at one of only six small tables scattered across a black-and-white checkered tile floor.
If you need to grab-and-go, the café does a brisk take-out business and offers downtown delivery and catering as well.
Although the restaurant opened under the Faithy’s name earlier this year, turns out it’s really not a new spot at all. Had I known its back story, I would’ve expected nothing less than success.
It’s the latest iteration of Diana’s Downtown Café, a popular spot owned and operated by Diana Thomas in a couple different locations for the previous 17 years. She moved to the current location a few years ago and sold the place to her daughter-in-law, Faith Thomas, late last year.
I’m not sure what took me so long, but I’m glad I’ve discovered it now.
Longtime customers will be pleased to know Diana’s smiling face is still there looking after the kitchen, teaching the staff her longtime recipes and ringing up customer orders. Meet her once, you’ll like her. Meet her twice, you’re friends.
She remembers many names and most orders, since people keep coming back for no-frills food prepared from scratch each day.
Food like burgers with fries or onion rings, grilled cheese with soup, hot dogs, wraps, salads and such. And daily specials like turkey with all the trimmings, pinto beans and cornbread, chicken and dumplings, cabbage rolls, stuffed peppers, meatloaf, chicken quesadillas, taco salad or a fried bologna sandwich.
Good breakfast options are a rarity downtown, but Faithy’s opens bright and early each weekday serving made-from-scratch biscuits, eggs, French toast, cinnamon rolls, bagels and a variety of breakfast platters, wraps and sandwiches.
So far (yeah, I’m going back) I’ve enjoyed pretty good biscuits and sausage gravy, a richly flavored chili with just the right kiss of heat and a nice pulled-pork barbecue sandwich with house-made sauce and slaw. Some of those daily specials mentioned above will draw me back and I suspect they do pretty good burgers and dogs, too.
On the occasions I’ve visited, I’ve seen many of the same faces stopping by to say hi and grab a bite to eat. Regulars like that are how a restaurant keeps going — and it looks like Faith has the fans to keep the next chapter of this business afloat.
First-time visitors get a free homemade brownie, too! So really, what are you waiting for?
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Speaking of good home cookin’, a longtime reader reached out to me last week hoping I could help her track down a lost holiday recipe in time for tomorrow’s feast.
“Five or more years ago, the Charleston Gazette published a slow cooker stuffing recipe,” wrote Valerie Burgraf. “Unfortunately, I have lost this recipe and it was sooooo good! I was hoping that you could help me find it?”
She recalled some of the ingredients (dried bread cubes, celery and onions sautéed in white cooking wine, chicken broth, thyme and maybe fresh sage and mushrooms) but couldn’t remember the exact steps or proportions.
“I could go ahead and rig it up,” she continued, “but the amounts were perfect and it turned out so well. I’m afraid I’d ruin it.”
I’ve been in similar shoes, so I quickly searched the archives and sent her a recipe that sounded like it just might be the one.
“Steven, you found it! I am so thankful for your time and effort,” she wrote. “Try this some time; I don’t think you will be disappointed.”
Although we’ll be enjoying our family’s favorite dressing and stuffing recipes tomorrow — one provided by mom, the other courtesy of my mother-in-law — this easy-breezy version is definitely going on my to-make list.
And with that, folks, Happy Thanks-Eating to all!
Steven Keith writes a weekly food column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail. He can be reached at 304-380-6096 or by email at dailymailfoodguy@aol.com. You can also follow him on Facebook and Pinterest as “DailyMail FoodGuy,” on Twitter as “DMFoodGuy” and read his blog at blogs@wvgazettemail.com.
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Slow-Cooker Stuffing
12 ozs. bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 to 4 tablespoons butter
2 large tart apples, peeled and diced (about 2 1/2 cups)
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
2 stalks celery, chopped (about 2 cups)
½ cup vermouth or dry white wine
2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme leaves
12 cups dried bread cubes
2 ½ to 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
Salt and pepper
FRY bacon in large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp and brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel.
ADD butter to pan to equal about 7 tablespoons fat total and add apples, onions and celery. Saute until softened, 12 to 14 minutes. Add vermouth or wine and thyme; simmer until wine is almost evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes.
MEANWHILE, mix bread cubes and eggs in very large bowl. Add apple-onion mixture, reserved bacon, 2 cups chicken broth and parsley. Season with salt and ground black pepper to taste.
PUT into 6 quart slow cooker. If the mixture looks dry, pour an additional 1/2 cup broth over the stuffing. Cover and cook on low for 1 hour. Check to see if mixture looks dry; if so, add remaining broth and stir.
Note: Makes about 10 servings. If you want the outer edges to get crunchy, do not stir for remainder of cooking time, which should be around 2 to 2.5 hours. If you want the stuffing to be uniformly cooked, stir every hour. Stuffing can be kept at the warm setting for up to an hour before serving.